User:Josve05a/How to handle (suspected) paid editors

As of writing this there are no policies or guidelines on how we as editors are supposed to handle or deal with (suspected) paid editors.

Relating to the latest "paid editing scandal" that has developed, we helpers on IRC who meet multiple paid editors on a daily basis asking for help are wondering what the best practises are. Since the IRC logs in the help channel are forbidden to be logged and therefore can not be used to prove or disprove if someone is a paid editor, nor be used by us to prove that a user has disclosed off-wiki on their user page.

If we question a user, or believe that they are a paid editor (which happens a few times a day) but refuses to disclose such on his or her user page, what can or should we do? The user may or may not have disclosed that they are paid in the IRC-channel, which means that we may have serious beliefs that they are being paid, but we can not use such information to prove it, nor force them to disclose either.

When helping users on IRC, multiple users tend to be hired to edit a page, but have not disclosed such fact on their user page. Almost all helpees, as they are called, have a COI when writing, but not everybody is a paid editor or let this on in the IRC-channel. So, to differentiate between a "normal" COI-editor and a paid editor is really hard. However, if the user discloses sush information in the IRC-channel, it is pertinent that we ask the user to do so. If said user refuses to respond to these requests, then the problem gets … problematic.

What should a user (helper as they are called on IRC) do? Should s/he report the user to the CA-team at the WMF for violating the ToU, to the ArbCom to get them involved some how? Is there a warning/notification template to issue (suspected) paid editors to get them to disclose?

There are a lot of questions, and not a lot of answers.

What is most needed are some guidelines. Some best practises which users can follow. Such as:
 * 1) If found eveidence, or suspicion without a doubt, that they are a paid editor, notify the user on their user talk page that they need to disclose such information before editing, with e.g. Paid.
 * 2) If the user does not disclose such information, within one week, or has made more than five edits within since the message was left on the user's talkpage, send an email with your evidence and/or why you believe the user is a paid editor to the ArbCom.

These are just ideas to get the ball rolling, these are not what I suggest or anything, but something is needed, that much is sure. That's why I am starting this RfC to get your input on how to deal with these situations.