User:Guido den Broeder/Compatibility of interest
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
WP:COI reads: "A Wikipedia conflict of interest (COI) is an incompatibility between the aim of Wikipedia, which is to produce a neutral, reliably sourced encyclopedia, and the aims of an individual editor." The relevant entity is the article, or sometimes a group of articles or a part of an article.
By itself, a conflict of interest is neither bad nor good. It just exists, whether the individual has edited the article or not.
The aim of the individual editor will typically be to get attention for a certain topic, view, fact or source - or on occasion to draw attention away.
There is nothing wrong with having such aims. On the contrary, it is recommendable that people get involved with what happens in this world. The purpose of Wikipedia, however, is a different one, and the two may be incompatible on various grounds:
- The topic, while perhaps interesting, may not be sufficiently notable.
- The view, while perhaps respectable, may not lead to a neutral text.
- The fact, while perhaps true, may not be verifiable.
- The source, while perhaps relevant, may not be reliable.
In such cases, the normal rules apply. Users are not allowed to further their aims at the expense of the aim of the project, but that is no different from other edits that fail notability, neutrality, verifiability or reliability. In some cases, however, the conflicting interests may be compatible.
[edit] Compatible interests
It is important to note that attention is not the same as promotion. Attention may well be neutral, whereas promotion never is. WP:COI does not discuss this distinction, which is the root of many misunderstandings between editors.
[edit] Incompatible interests
[edit] External links
- [1] Ralph Arthur Hall, "Measure of Truth", 1995, chapter 5: The Dilemma of Logic and Ethics
