I was contacted by a well-known journalist about a message he received from
someone who said he created Wikipedia articles for GHC250/$62 each, and
could do one for him.

I was told of 2 additional cases all in the space of a week. And these wiki
business people even leave their contacts for further negotiations.

I was given advice by a Wikimedia staff on how to go about this as a
community. Here it goes:

"1. Expose this person and (gently) shame him for undisclosed (presumbly he
does not disclose this?) paid editing, which is against the WMF Terms of
Use.

2. Drafting a press release describing that practice and explaining how
articles are written on Wikipedia, about whom, and how no amount of payment
could guarantee non-notable people or orgs would be covered, or keep
promotional language in or negative facts out."

*Interpreting the above advice, it means that when people do paid-editing,
they are to disclose it in the manner stated here
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Paid-contribution_disclosure>. If
not, WMF terms will be breached.*


*Secondly it will be good that we draft the suggested press release and
make sure Ghanaians online are aware of the situation.*
Additional reading:

Wikipedia:Paid editing (policy)
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Paid_editing_(policy)>* (Failed
proposal)*
Wikipedia:Paid-contribution disclosure
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Paid-contribution_disclosure>
Some People Get Paid a Lot of Money to Edit Wikipedia Pages
<http://time.com/money/3994949/wikipedia-paid-editors/>
Should I pay for a Wikipedia article?
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/09/21/on-paying-for-wikipedia-articles/>

Finally if you have any comments, suggestions, or want to volunteer for
anything at at all regarding this matter, please hop on.


Regards,
--
Sandister Tei
Video Journalist | Head of Social Media – Citi FM | Rep – Wikipedian
Community (Gh)

*Letters to Marissa <https://medium.com/letters-to-marissa> | Wikipedian
Community (Gh) <http://www.wmgh.org/> | Purple People
<https://www.facebook.com/thatpurplelife/>*
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