User:Thespian/Sandbox/Links/

=Proposal=

To create a portal that would allow organizations to post links to pieces of information that they would like included in relevant articles on Wikipedia.

=Reasoning=

Many organizations which are clear, reliable sources, and working in fields which have articles on Wikipedia, are not represented in relevant articles. Often, this is because editors use tools such as Google, which ranks according to hits.

Often, if the organization has not had contact with a Wiki, they will not have the knowledge to use the standard 'post to a talk page and ask an editor to consider the link' that Wikipedia recommends.

Why doesn't the information just get added?
There are several reasons why small organizations don't add to the site:
 * 1) avoiding conflict of interest
 * 2) lack of technical knowledge
 * 3) unsurety about where the information should go
 * 4) items being added, but deleted because editors declare them invalid because of WP:RS
 * this can happen because of unfamiliarity with the field, or unfamiliarity with the site, and I mean it to be taken as separate from real incidents where the site just truly isn't reliable.

Things this will help
Things that will hopefully be avoided by collecting this information:
 * 1) single-source spamming; a site is a good source for information, but a user goes and adds 50 links to a variety of wikiarticles, bringing the site under issues for WP:SPAM
 * 2) organizations feeling that because wikieditors aren't seeing their site through google, they might feel the need to hire editors to add their links
 * 3) articles becoming unbalanced because sites with solid information are not found and cited

=Scope=

For Non-Wikians
Adding information should essentially be as simple as this: "I have this information. It is on this subject. It is at this location on the web."

People adding information should provide a title of the document, a short summary, and a url. They can then proceed to tag it with a few relevant tags, a la Digg or Del.icio.us, to allow for sorting, or leave it.

For Wikians
Wiki editors can also tag things according to the content, to help other editors find things

In addition, editors who use a cite will be asked to list what page they have used it on after adding it (optional).

Possibly there should be a rating system; no removal of links, but instead, a way to provide state comments 'site is not reliable because of ______', 'site is down', etc.

Additionally, this project could allow general/meta review of sites for WP:RS; if an editor is in doubt that a site is an RS, they could also look up sites (as opposed to individual articles, as in the above step) and see what other editors have said ("This site corrects errors quickly and transparently.", "This site tends to overwrite old files with new info." "This looks like a news site but is a portal for a PR site.", as examples).