User:GreenReaper/Conflict of interest

I believe that conflict of interest is fatally flawed in that it simultaneously penalizes those who are trying to do the right thing and fails to have any impact on those who are not. Therefore, I do not follow it. Instead, I try to ensure that my contributions are not similar to those which resulted in its creation - that is, I consciously avoid making non-neutral edits when I am editing articles relating to my work and activities.

I do not believe it is in Wikipedia's best interests to turn away well-written contributions from those who have the deepest knowledge of a topic. I've run my own wikis for the last two years (as of December 2006), as well as contributing here - I know writing biased material is a recipe for trouble, so I don't. I do make good faith contributions that I try to keep neutral on topics I am personally involved in, as well as others that I am not. I have no intention of trying to "own" such articles, but I do intend to create and/or update them just as I would any other article, because I think it's the right thing to do.

I will continue to do so until this guideline becomes official policy. . . at which point I will either defy that policy or exercise my right to leave the project (quite possibly both, especially if the admins have their boots on :-). It's literally not worth my time to contribute if I have to wait for someone to OK my edits, rather than just making their own if they don't like mine. That's not how a wiki works, and it makes it far less fun to contribute. If others care about the article enough to edit, I'll be more than happy to work with them on a version we can both agree on, but I won't spend my life waiting for someone who may never come. After all, if I do my job right, nobody will have to come.

As a practical matter, everyone has biases - also known as "opinions". Whether or not we can ignore them when writing (a rather interesting form of doublethink) is what matters here. There are fans of my company who are far, far more likely to write something that would be considered wholly inappropriate for Wikipedia, just as there are furry fans who think the best way to deal with uncomfortable issues is to pretend they don't exist - and edit accordingly. Others have learnt that such things are not necessary if you really are in the right - the facts will bear you out in the end. GreenReaper 10:41, 31 December 2006 (UTC)