View source for Submissions:2017/Horror and humor:The effects of paid editing

{{2017/Capacity}}

;Title: 
Horror and humor: The effects of paid editing

Note that this is meant to replace [[Submissions:2017/The future of paid editing: Policy, enforcement, and legal issues]]
;[[Submissions#Proposal Themes|Theme]] (optional): <!-- Advocacy & Outreach/Community/Technology/GLAM/Education - if no particular theme, write "N/A" -->
Community; Paid editing
;[[Submissions#Presentation Types|Type of submission]]: <!-- Panel, workshop, or presentation -->
Lecture
;Author:
Smallbones
;E-mail address: <!-- This field must be entered, otherwise, submission will not be checked -->
pdekman@gmail.com
;Username:
Smallbones
;Affiliation: <!-- Organization, company, Wikimedia affiliate, etc. -->
English language Wikipedia, Commons
;Abstract: <!-- At least 300 words to describe your proposal, can also link to any pages, slidedecks, etc. that you may have. -->
It is often argued that paid editors do not damage Wikipedia; that all we need to do is enforce our normal rules, such as NPOV, and any problems will disappear. This presentation will show the extensive damage that paid editors cause, making the above argument untenable.

A mere list of the horrors caused by paid editors would be terribly depressing. To lighten up the presentation, some of the absurdities passed off by paid editors will be highlighted. Topics include:
*A brief recap of the classic paid editing scandals (with links to existing material). Note that these are all ongoing problems
**The Morning77 scandal (Fall 2013)
**The Orange Moody scandal
**The Bell Pottinger scandal

*Examples of absurd articles on Wikipedia that could only have been written by paid (or COI) editors, e.g.
**the article about a specific NY City coffee truck
**about a mysterious all-white food truck that never discloses its location
**about the made-to-order lingerie business which has a single seamstress (who won an award)
**about a donut shop "chain" with an article written just after it went bankrupt. It is now down to a single (you guessed it) donut truck

*The million dollar ripoff company Banc De Binary (as I wrote up in the Signpost, with updates) and other financial ripoffs with formerly pro-company articles in Wikipedia
**Articles on other players in the binary industry (most now deleted)
**The retail forex industry in Wikipedia which encourages speculation on foreign exchange rates. One CEO was quoted by the Wall Street Journal (approx.) "15% of our customers make money." But what happened to the business? the article? the customers? and to the other 50+ articles on companies in the business.

*Medical articles (this is deadly serious business, but I'll try to find one that is funny)
*Summary on the damage done by paid editors
What will attendees take away from this session?

Attendees will understand that paid editors damage Wikipedia in ways that are often horrific, and sometime incredibly funny (in a black-humor way)
;Length of presentation: <!-- 30-45 min. for panels, 30-75 min. for workshops, 15-30 min. for presentations -->

30-45 mins, lecture
;Special requests: <!-- For example - technology requirements, can not present at specific times, etc. -->
Overhead projector for computer
;Preferred room size: <!-- How many do you think will be in audience? e.g. 10, 25, 50, 100. We will try to match, but larger rooms have limited availability. -->
25-50
;Wikimania submission?: <!-- Yes/No if your proposal was also submitted for Wikimania 2017's programming -->
Was submitted, not on program
;Will you attend WikiConference North America if your submission is not accepted?:
Yes
<!-- Do not edit the section below. -->
== Interested attendees ==

'''If you are interested in attending this session, please sign with your username below. This will help reviewers to decide which sessions are of high interest. Sign with four tildes. (<nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>).'''

# [[User:Funcrunch|Funcrunch]] ([[User talk:Funcrunch|talk]]) 17:46, 23 July 2017 (UTC)
# [[User:MonikaSJ|MonikaSJ]] ([[User talk:MonikaSJ|talk]]) 16:01, 27 July 2017 (UTC)
# ''Add your username here.''

[[Category:Submissions/2017]]