Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 15:45, 29 January 2014

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met. (January 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Wiki-PR

Industry	Public relations
Founded	2010
Founder	Jordan French Darius Fisher
Headquarters	Austin, Texas, U.S.
Key people	Jordan French (CEO) Darius Fisher (COO)
Website	Wiki-PR.com

Wiki-PR is a consulting firm that formerly marketed its ability to edit Misplaced Pages. It was then banned, including all of its employees, contractors, and owners, by the Misplaced Pages community for unethical editing. Despite the ban, the firm currently markets its ability to consult clients on how to interact with the Misplaced Pages community. The company gained media attention in 2013 after a sockpuppet investigation related to the company that saw 250 Misplaced Pages user accounts blocked or banned.

Company

Wiki-PR was created in 2010 by Darius Fisher, its current COO (chief operating officer), and Jordan French, its current CEO (chief executive officer). Confirmed clients include Priceline and Emad Rahim, and suspected clients include Viacom, among many others. The firm claimed to have administrator access enabling it to manage the Misplaced Pages presence of more than 12,000 clients. Wiki-PR has been reported to use "aggressive email marketing" to acquire new customers.

Investigation and company reaction

External audio
Public Relations and suspicious pages on Misplaced Pages, CBC Radio, interview with Simon Owens, October 24, 2013

An investigation of sockpuppet accounts on Misplaced Pages, beginning in 2012, implicated hundreds of accounts. Wiki-PR's involvement was confirmed after four customers of Wiki-PR spoke anonymously to Daily Dot journalist Simon Owens, and two, Priceline and Emad Rahim, spoke to Vice journalist Martin Robbins. In addition to violating rules against sockpuppeting, Wiki-PR violated Misplaced Pages rules by citing articles planted on business content farms and various other websites that accept contributions from any Internet user as sources for Misplaced Pages entries, creating a false impression of credibility. The same websites were used repeatedly, and their presence in various Misplaced Pages articles aided investigators in identifying articles the company had worked on. The use of a company to manage the content of Misplaced Pages violates several Misplaced Pages rules, including the rule against asserting ownership of a page, and has led to the Misplaced Pages community blocking hundreds of paid Misplaced Pages editing accounts believed to be connected with activities of Wiki-PR contrary to Misplaced Pages's rules. In 2014 the New York Times described Wiki-PR's methods as:

(Wiki-PR) uses a lot of people, with different identities, to edit pages for paying customers and to manage those pages. The paid sock puppets are ready to pounce on edits that don’t adhere to the client’s vision.

In The Wall Street Journal, French stated that Wiki-PR is a research and writing firm, counseling clients on "how to adhere to Misplaced Pages's rules." French stated that its paid work is part of the "fabric" of Misplaced Pages, complementing the work of unpaid volunteers. French acknowledged that Wiki-PR had sometimes made "bad calls" on notability of articles. He also stated "We do pay hundreds of other editors for their work—they're real people and not sockpuppets."

Misplaced Pages and Wikimedia reaction

As of October 25, 2013, Wiki-PR, including all of its employees, contractors, and owners, were banned from Misplaced Pages. Sue Gardner, executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, stated that the Foundation was "exploring our options". On November 19, 2013, Wikimedia's law firm, Cooley LLP, e-mailed a cease-and-desist letter to Wiki-PR. French told The Guardian that Wiki-PR "is working with the Wikimedia Foundation and its counsel to sort this out," and hoped to have further information in a week's time.

Notes

1. The sockpuppet investigation concluded that, among other accounts, an account named Morning277 was operated by a Wiki-PR employee. The account was prominently named in many media reports. However, the International Business Times reported that the operator of the Morning277 account was not a Wiki-PR employee as had previously been reported, but rather was Mike Wood, the proprietor of LegalMorning.com, who said in an interview that "I am not Wiki-PR nor do I have a relation with them."

References

1. "Wiki-PR: Misplaced Pages Writers For Hire". Wiki-PR.com. Retrieved 2013-10-22.
2. "Misplaced Pages probe into paid-for 'sockpuppet' entries". BBC News. 2013-10-21. Retrieved 2013-10-22.
3. ^ "Leadership". Wiki-PR website. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
4. ^ Robbins, Martin (2013-10-20). "Is Misplaced Pages for Sale?". motherboard.vice.com. Retrieved 2013-10-20. We'll both directly edit your page using our network of established Misplaced Pages editors and admins
5. "Wiki-PR: The Misplaced Pages Consultants". Wiki-PR.com. Retrieved 2013-12-27. We consult thousands of people and companies on how to interact with the Misplaced Pages community
6. http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/10/wikipedia-editors-locked-in-battle-with-pr-firm-delete-250-accounts/
7. "Wiki-PR homepage". Wiki-PR. Retrieved 2013-10-19.
8. ^ Owens, Simon (2013-10-08). "The battle to destroy Misplaced Pages's biggest sockpuppet army". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 2013-10-20.
9. ^ Robbins, Martin (2013-10-19). "Is the PR Industry Buying Influence Over Misplaced Pages?". VICE. Retrieved 2013-10-19.
10. "Misplaced Pages:Ownership of articles". English Misplaced Pages. Retrieved January 29, 2014. All Misplaced Pages content is edited collaboratively. No one... has the right to act as though he or she is the owner of a particular article.
11. "Misplaced Pages:What Misplaced Pages is not - Misplaced Pages is not a soapbox or means of promotion". English Misplaced Pages. Retrieved January 29, 2014. ontent hosted in Misplaced Pages is not for... Advertising, marketing or public relations.
12. "Misplaced Pages:Spam - Advertisements masquerading as articles". English Misplaced Pages. Retrieved January 29, 2014. Articles considered advertisements include those that are... public relations pieces designed to promote a company or individual.
13. "Misplaced Pages:Conflict of interest". English Misplaced Pages. Retrieved January 29, 2014. Do not edit Misplaced Pages in your own interests or in the interests of your external relationships.
14. Stampler, Laura (2013-10-21). "Misplaced Pages Bans 250 Users for Posting Paid, Promotional Entries". TIME. Retrieved 2013-11-19.
15. Newman, Judith (January 8, 2014). "Misplaced Pages-Mania Misplaced Pages, What Does Judith Newman Have to Do to Get a Page?". New York Times. Retrieved January 11, 2014.
16. Fowler, Geoffrey (2013-10-21). "Misplaced Pages Probes Suspicious Promotional Articles". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2013-11-17.
17. Burrell, Ian (2013-10-21). "Misplaced Pages: We have blocked 250 'sock puppets' for biased editing of our pages". The Independent. Retrieved 2013-11-19.
18. "C&D letter to WikiPR from Cooley" (PDF). Via Email
19. Fowler, Geoffrey (2013-11-19). "Wikimedia Steps Up "Sockpuppet" Fight". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2013-11-19.
20. Arthur, Charles (21 November 2013). "Misplaced Pages sends cease-and-desist letter to PR firm offering paid edits to site". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
21. ^ Halleck, Thomas (22 November 2013). "Misplaced Pages Sends Paid Editors Cease-And-Desist: Sockpuppet Account Morning277, Not Wiki-PR". International Business Times. Retrieved 27 January 2014.

External links

• Official website
• "Extensive network of clandestine paid advocacy exposed," The Signpost, 9 October 2013.

• 2011 establishments in the United States
• Companies based in Austin, Texas
• History of Misplaced Pages
• Public relations companies of the United States
• Research and analysis firms of the United States