Should we change the blocking policy for corporate/shared user accounts to address concerns about conflicts of interest? The proposal is informed by this Idea Lab discussion. agtx 18:35, 24 July 2015 (UTC)
This proposal is designed to help us better handle shared/corporate user accounts and their associated conflicts of interest. The proposal first to tries to avoid the creation of shared accounts. Second, it tries to make sure that if such an account is created, we handle it in a way that encourages the user to disclose their conflicts of interest.
Consider what happens when a novice user creates a new account to make edits related to their job. They visit Special:UserLogin/signup and pick a username that relates to their company -- something like "CompanyX." They make an edit or two about their company, but it's nothing super promotional or spammy. In the current model, once that user gets reported, they get a note like this:
Welcome to Wikipedia. I noticed that your username, "CompanyX", may not meet Wikipedia's username policy because it appears to represent a group rather than an individual person. Shared accounts are not permitted. If you believe that your username does not violate our policy, please leave a note here explaining why. As an alternative, you may ask for a change of username by completing this form, or you may simply create a new account for editing. Thank you,
If they don't respond to the note, then they get a block message that looks like this:
Your account has been blocked from editing Wikipedia with this username. This is because your username, CompanyX, does not meet our username policy.
Your username is the only reason for this block. You are welcome to choose a new username (see below) and continue editing.
A username should not be promotional, related to a "real-world" group or organization, misleading, offensive or disruptive. Also, usernames may not end in the word "bot" unless the account is an approved bot account.
Adding {{unblock-un|your new username here}} on your user talk page. You should be able to do this even though you are blocked, as you can usually still edit your own talk page. If not, you may wish to contact the blocking administrator by clicking on "E-mail this user" on their talk page.
At an administrator's discretion, you may be unblocked for 24 hours to file a request.
Please note that you may only request a name that is not already in use, so please check here for a listing of already taken names. The account is created upon acceptance, thus do not try to create the new account before making the request for a name change. For more information, please see Wikipedia:Changing username.
As the text of the block warning suggests, the block that the corporate user receives specifically allows creation of a new account. In both messages, we encourage them to simply create a new account to get around the username issue. We have this policy in place mostly because we want to prevent people from having shared accounts, which is a good idea for many reasons that need not be enumerated here.
The first problem is that Special:UserLogin/signup itself provides poor guidance to users who are trying to select a user name. The "help me choose" link goes directly to the username policy, a weighty document to say the least. It is unlikely that new Wikipedia users will read this entire document before creating their account, nor should they have to. Signing up for an account is supposed to be a low barrier.
The second problem with the policy as it stands is that it deprives us of valuable information, already cheerfully volunteered by the user in question, that we could use to identify and manage conflict of interest problems. When the corporate user creates the account under the company's name, they're telling us that they have a conflict. They haven't done enough to comply with the TOS requirements yet, but it's an clear indication to the rest of the community that we have to manage a conflict.
What do we do with that information? Well right now, we tell them to create another account under a name that doesn't sound corporate. Effectively, we're asking them to hide their conflict. When they create the new account and continue to make COI edits, they're still violating the policy, but we don't have any way to know. Worse, unless they're super blatant about their edits, they're unlikely to get confronted about it because accusing another editor of being a company shill without solid evidence is, to put it mildly, frowned upon.
Simply put, that means that we have an editor with an undisclosed conflict whose conflict we could have known about if we had handled the situation differently. We've also taught that editor from their very first day how easy it is to create a brand new account. Of course everyone is entitled to their clean start, but that policy isn't intended to make it easier to hide your conflicts.
A few policy tweaks could help us solve this issue.
Change the "help me choose" link at Special:UserLogin/signup to direct to the username policy equivalent of WP:42. That is, a short, concise statement of what kinds of usernames are OK and what kinds aren't OK (as opposed to the entire detailed policy). We might also consider putting that information on the signup page itself, perhaps collapsed.
Remove the language from both templates suggesting that the corporate/shared user create a new account. Add in information about conflicts of interest, and tailor the language of the templates to target specifically users who have shared accounts with the possiblity of a COI.
If the user ignores the warning and gets blocked, impose a block that prevents account creation too.
Once the user requests a name change, change the user name, lift the block, and remind the user that they must disclose their conflict.
This solution first tries to prevent the shared account problem to begin with. Then, if a shared account gets created anyway, it discourages the new user from hiding their conflict. It creates a record of their old user name connected to their new user name, so even if they change their name to something innocuous, a record of the potential conflict is still attached to the user and readily available if it becomes a problem. I don't mean this to be a kind of Scarlet Letter, but merely a way for us to make sure that we are able to effectively communicate our conflict policy to users who were already more than happy to tell us who they worked for. If the user really does want to make a clean start for reasons other than hiding their conflict, they can easily do so after they request a name change on the blocked account.
Welcome to Wikipedia. I noticed that your username, "CompanyX", may not meet Wikipedia's username policy because it appears to represent a group rather than an individual person. If you want to have the name of company or organization in your username, you can choose a username like "Erica from Company X" to make it clear that the account belongs to an individual. However, note that because the account belongs to you personally, you will keep it even if you no longer work with the organization. Finally, remember that if you plan to edit articles about a company or organization that's paying you to edit (as an employee or otherwise), you must disclose your conflict of interest to comply with our terms of service.
To change your username, complete this form. If you believe that your username does not violate our policy, please leave a note here explaining why. Thank you,
And the block template:
Your account has been blocked from editing Wikipedia with this username. This is because your username, CompanyX, does not meet our username policy.
Your username is the only reason for this block. You are welcome to choose a new username (see below) and continue editing.
Usernames cannot be shared by multiple people at a company or organization, so a username like "Company X" is unacceptable. If you want to have the name of company or organization in your username, then choosing a username like "Erica from Company X" is permitted. However, please note that because Wikipedia usernames are meant to represent one person, account creators keep their accounts even if they no longer work with the company (although they may be asked to change their username).
You are encouraged to choose a new account name that meets our policy guidelines and request a change in username by:
Adding {{unblock-un|your new username here}} on your user talk page. You should be able to do this even though you are blocked, as you can usually still edit your own talk page. If not, you may wish to contact the blocking administrator by clicking on "E-mail this user" on their talk page.
At an administrator's discretion, you may be unblocked for 24 hours to file a request.
Please note that you may only request a name that is not already in use, so please check here for a listing of already taken names. The account is created upon acceptance, thus do not try to create the new account before making the request for a name change. For more information, please see Wikipedia:Changing username.
Remember that even after your name change, you must comply with our conflict of interest policy if you intend to edit articles related to your organization. Specifically, if you are being compensated in any way for your edits (including as an employee), you are required to disclose your affiliation.
Welcome to Wikipedia. I noticed that your username, "CompanyX", may not meet Wikipedia's username policy because it appears to represent a group rather than an individual person. Shared accounts are not permitted. If you believe that your username does not violate our policy, please leave a note here explaining why. As an alternative, you may ask for a change of username by completing this form, or you may simply create a new account for editing. Thank you,
