NATOBob
Joined 1 April 2025
Latest comment: 1 year ago by ProClasher97 in topic Managing a conflict of interest
Managing a conflict of interest
edit
Hello, NATOPublicDiplomacy. We welcome your contributions, but if you have an external relationship with the people, places or things you have written about on Wikipedia, you may have a conflict of interest (COI). Editors with a conflict of interest may be unduly influenced by their connection to the topic. See the conflict of interest guideline and FAQ for article subjects for more information. We ask that you:
- avoid editing or creating articles about yourself, your family, friends, colleagues, company, organization, clients, or competitors;
- propose changes on the talk pages of affected articles (you can use the {{edit COI}} template), including links or details of reliable sources that support your suggestions;
- disclose your conflict of interest when discussing affected articles (see Wikipedia:Conflict of interest § How to disclose a COI);
- avoid linking to your organization's website in other articles (see Wikipedia:Spam § External link spamming);
- do your best to comply with Wikipedia's content policies.
In addition, you are required by the Wikimedia Foundation's terms of use to disclose your employer, client, and affiliation with respect to any contribution which forms all or part of work for which you receive, or expect to receive, compensation. See Wikipedia:Paid-contribution disclosure.
Also, editing for the purpose of advertising, publicizing, or promoting anyone or anything is not permitted. Thank you. ProClasher97 ~ Have A Question? 07:56, 1 April 2025 (UTC)
- Dear ProClasher97, many thanks for this information it is greatly appreciated. We are new to Wikipedia and are trying to explore ways we can update information about NATO and correct factual inconsistencies. We do not intend to make edits to the way the organization is represented or regulate civil society discussion, but just to make small edits which reflect changes to NATO structures etc. As a small example, something called the Alliance Ground Surveillance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance_Ground_Surveillance_Force has been renamed the NATO Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Force, but the change is only reflected in part of the page currently. We are also hoping to link references to our topic pages e.g. https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_48892.htm?selectedLocale=en to provide the public with the latest accurate information. Would you have any advice for going about this? Is it possible to contact page editors directly to implement these changes? Are we able to make these small factual changes ourselves without it presenting a Conflict of Interest? Thanks very much in advance! NATOPublicDiplomacy (talk) 08:11, 1 April 2025 (UTC)
- @NATOPublicDiplomacy: Because you do have a conflict of interest in this area, I would recommend that if you are looking to make an edit on a page in this topic area that isn’t like a small edit (such as fixing spelling or grammatical errors), especially if you are looking to add or change information, you propose the changes first on the talk pages of the articles you are looking to edit. Those are places where any editor can comment and discuss making changes to the article, and it would be a good place to discuss what you plan to add or change within the article. I do also notice your username, and I want to make sure you’re aware of our policy against shared accounts. In general, the rule is “one editor, one account,” and your username suggests that it may be a shared account between multiple people. Because of this, I would recommend changing your username if you would like to continue using this account, you can make requests to do so here if you would like to do so. Let me know if you have any more questions! ProClasher97 ~ Have A Question? 09:55, 1 April 2025 (UTC)
- Thank you again for all this information. Indeed the account is just one person so I will change the name of it to avoid the confusion. Would a "small edit" as you describe it include changes to the names of certain programmes or changing numbers (e.g. changing 16 to 17), or does that constitute a larger edit that requires approval from an external editor? I guess it depends case by case? Thanks again for all your help. NATOPublicDiplomacy (talk) 10:00, 1 April 2025 (UTC)
- @NATOPublicDiplomacy: It does kinda depend on a case-by-case basis, I would say changing a number like that should be fine though, especially if it’s just a minor change like that. ProClasher97 ~ Have A Question? 10:04, 1 April 2025 (UTC)
- Thank you again for all this information. Indeed the account is just one person so I will change the name of it to avoid the confusion. Would a "small edit" as you describe it include changes to the names of certain programmes or changing numbers (e.g. changing 16 to 17), or does that constitute a larger edit that requires approval from an external editor? I guess it depends case by case? Thanks again for all your help. NATOPublicDiplomacy (talk) 10:00, 1 April 2025 (UTC)
- @NATOPublicDiplomacy: Because you do have a conflict of interest in this area, I would recommend that if you are looking to make an edit on a page in this topic area that isn’t like a small edit (such as fixing spelling or grammatical errors), especially if you are looking to add or change information, you propose the changes first on the talk pages of the articles you are looking to edit. Those are places where any editor can comment and discuss making changes to the article, and it would be a good place to discuss what you plan to add or change within the article. I do also notice your username, and I want to make sure you’re aware of our policy against shared accounts. In general, the rule is “one editor, one account,” and your username suggests that it may be a shared account between multiple people. Because of this, I would recommend changing your username if you would like to continue using this account, you can make requests to do so here if you would like to do so. Let me know if you have any more questions! ProClasher97 ~ Have A Question? 09:55, 1 April 2025 (UTC)