User:Ocaasi/Forsyth

''The goal of these questions is to tell a story, your story. Please feel free to share instinctual answers as well as considered commentary, any tensions you feel about issues, or neat anecdotes that will help another editor see through your eyes.''

What do you think of Jimbo's strong stance against direct editing of articles by COI editors? Do you ever edit articles that you are paid for directly?
====What do you think of the long list of scandals dating back to MyWikiBiz up through WikiScanner and BellPottinger, in which COI editors have been exposed, blocked, or embarrassed. If you were Gregory Kohs in 2006, would Jimbo have blocked you? Why do you think you are still in good standing with the encyclopedia?====

You're getting paid to do what many do for free. Do you think that's unfair? Can the community survive with a split between those who are volunteers and those who are employees?
====What do you think is a bigger problem, paid editing, or upaid advocacy? Do you think it's unfair that paid editors have a target painted on them while unpaid advocates can civilly push their point of view without consequence?====

What is the difference between being a paid editor and a 'consultant'? What types of services do people pay your for?
====You've done significant work with WikiProject Oregon. Although your editing has not been paid, do you think it's important for paid editors to contribute to the encyclopedia on a 'pro bono' basis? At heart are you a regular Wikipedian who gets paid for working on Wikipedia on the side, or a consultant who occasionally does editing unrelated to your company?====

====For the following list of problems--no visual editor, few women, poor editor retention, pending changes, lack of civility, BLP issues, vandalism, lack of global south editors--how would you rank them in order of urgency and importance, and where would paid/coi editing fit on that list?====

Do you think COI disclosures should be required for paid editors?
====What article or project are you most proud of in both your unpaid work and your paid work? What article or project was most controversial or unsuccessful, both in your unpaid work and your paid work? What did you learn from it?====

What's your favorite quote or piece of advice about Wikipedia?
====You emphasized to me in setting up this interview that you do not get paid for editing Wikipedia. But you do get paid and you do edit Wikipedia. What do you mean? What is the difference? Where is the line?====

====You've said that you don't edit articles directly, but you do edit the text of client drafts, which are later posted to Wikipedia. Can you be sure that these clients are following COI best practices by disclosing their COI, and seeking other editors to review the text; in other words, that your clients are not editing directly? If they were editing directly, does that mean you're paid editing by proxy?====

====Is the role of 'consultant' a loophole in the general antipathy towards direct paid editing? How is it truly an independent, ethical position versus how is it a politically correct way to exploit the system?====

====Is the encyclopedia failing in some way? By not cracking down on paid editors more harshly, or by leaving gaps and inaccuracies about living people and corporations that paid editors have an interest in fixing?====