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:Conflict of interest - Misplaced Pages

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Editors should generally follow it, though exceptions may apply. Substantive edits to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on this guideline's talk page.

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This page in a nutshell: Avoid editing articles where your interests in editing those articles conflict with your obligations to abide by Misplaced Pages's policies and guidelines. Instead, engage in discussion with the community.
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A conflict of interest occurs when your interests, or the interests of those that you represent, conflict or potentially conflict with your duties or obligations. A Misplaced Pages conflict of interest occurs when your interests in editing Misplaced Pages, or the interests of those that you represent, conflict or potentially conflict with your obligations as an editor to abide by Misplaced Pages's policies and guidelines, particularly the neutral point of view policy.

If you are in a position of conflict of interest in relation to one or more articles, then you are generally discouraged from:

  • editing those articles,
  • participating in deletion discussions about those articles, or
  • creating new articles in relation to which you would have a conflict of interest.

Instead, you are encouraged to:

In short, when you have a conflict of interest, seek the involvement of the community rather than performing an action yourself.

When does a conflict arise?

You probably have a conflict of interest with respect to one or more articles if any of the following conditions are met.

Note that there is no tidy list of criteria to help editors determine what counts as a conflict of interest. These conditions are simply the most common situations in which a person may have a conflict of interest, and it is not an exhaustive list of such situations. A conflict will arise any time that your interests, or the interests of those you represent, conflict or potentially conflict with your obligations as an editor to abide by Misplaced Pages's policies and guidelines.

Articles about you or someone you represent

If an article is:

  1. about you,
  2. about members of your family,
  3. about your business, employer or organisation,
  4. about your business associates or partners, or
  5. about your client or anyone else that you represent,

then you probably have a conflict of interest with respect to that article.

You or someone you represent stands to benefit from editing an article

If you or someone that you represent:

  1. is being paid (in money or in kind) to edit an article,
  2. expects to be paid (in money or in kind) to edit an article, or
  3. expects to otherwise gain some financial or other benefit from editing an article,

then you probably have a conflict of interest with respect to that article.

You have some close connection with the subject of an article

If you or someone that you represent is participating in, involved with or otherwise connected to:

  1. legal proceedings involving the subject of an article, or
  2. advocacy or campaigning with respect to the subject of an article,

then you probably have a conflict of interest with respect to that article.

Any situation where strong relationships can develop may trigger a conflict of interest. Relationships that involve a high level of personal commitment to, involvement with, or dependence upon, a person, subject, idea, tradition, or organization, will often lead to a conflict of interest. Friedrich Engels, for example, would have had difficulty editing the Karl Marx article, because he was a close friend, follower and collaborator of Marx. In the words of Isaiah Berlin:

In his own lifetime Engels desired no better fate than to live in the light of Marx's teaching, perceiving in him a spring of original genius which gave life and scope to his own peculiar gifts; with him he identified himself and his work, to be rewarded by sharing in his master's immortality. (From Berlin's Karl Marx, 4th edition, p. 75.)

This description covers several aspects of what it might be to stand too close to a subject.

What do I do if I have a conflict?

If you are in a position of conflict of interest in relation to one or more articles, then you are generally discouraged from editing those articles, or participating in deletion discussions about them.

However, there are other ways that you can contribute:

  • Use talk pages. You are always welcome to raise issues with an article's content, or make suggestions for changes to the content, on the article's talk page.
  • Submit a request for comment. A request for comment is an open discussion, part of the dispute resolution process, by which editors can seek broad input regarding disputes over article content. You are always welcome to seek outside opinions in this way.

Exceptions

In certain limited cases, it is not discouraged to edit articles even though you are in a position of conflict of interest:

  • Correcting factual errors in biographies of living persons. Misplaced Pages adopts a strict approach to its content policies with respect to articles that contain biographical information about living persons, and unsourced or poorly sourced contentious material should be removed immediately and without discussion from such articles.
  • Making edits after gaining approval from other editors. If you have discussed some changes you would like to make with other editors on an article's talk page, or in a request for comment, and there is consensus that your edits are consistent with Misplaced Pages's policies and guidelines, then you are welcome to make those changes.

How to deal with someone who may have a conflict of interest

If you think that another editor might be in a position of conflict of interest, then let them know. Educate them about these conflict of interest guidelines, and about other Misplaced Pages policies, particularly the neutral point of view policy. Invite them to use article talk pages, or other community discussion methods.

Remember to remain civil and assume good faith, and don't be unnecessarily hasty in making claims about conflicts of interest.

A noticeboard for reporting and discussing incidents related to the application of these guidelines is available at Misplaced Pages:Conflict of interest/Noticeboard.

See also

Related policy and guideline pages:

Special advice for PR and SEO people:

Other pages:

Category: