[WikiEN-l] How to deal with direct requests for articles?

Fri Sep 29 07:20:24 UTC 2006

> On 9/28/06, Stephen Streater <sbstreater at mac.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>> On 28 Sep 2006, at 12:36, Oskar Sigvardsson wrote:
>>
>>> On 9/28/06, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> My phone number and email are publicly available for media contact
>>>> purposes. This means, of course, I get emails and calls about
>>>> *everything*.
>>>>
>>>> A common call is "How do I get an article about me/my book/my
>>>> achievement?"
>>>>
>>>> Now. What's a helpful answer to this? Better than "You don't,  
>>>> someone
>>>> else has to write one," because you *know* they'll just write a
>>>> really
>>>> bad one themselves and it'll all end in a tearful AFD entry and
>>>> someone hating or fearing Wikipedia henceforth.
>>>>
>>>> Assume that referring them to a web page or policy page is less  
>>>> good
>>>> than being able to answer on the phone right there.
>>>>
>>>> Ideas please?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> - d.
>>>
>>> Fist off all, this should really be in our FAQ (I've just skimmed  
>>> over
>>> it, man it's big, and I couldn't find it). Someone should put  
>>> that in.
>>>
>>> To answer your question, if I were to get those calls I would calmly
>>> explain that we have fairly high standards on what people can be
>>> subjects of articles. Tell them that if they deserve to have an
>>> article in wikipedia, they will. Just not written on request or by
>>> themselves. Point out that if they do write an article on  
>>> themselves,
>>> it is very likely it will be deleted and it is not always a nice
>>> discussion to read. You might also want to point out that you  
>>> yourself
>>> doesn't have an article, I can imagine that would convince some  
>>> people
>>> ;)
>>
>> I would suggest that they start contributing to Wikipedia.
>> After a period, their name will be recognised by other
>> passing editors who will be surprised that they don't have
>> an article yet, and they will write one.

On 29 Sep 2006, at 04:16, Akash Mehta wrote:
> Hang on, if the PR people start contributing, odds are that sooner  
> or later
> they'll write an article (not on themselves or a client, just in  
> general)
> and then they'll have a confronting AfD and leave Wikipedia  
> permanently.
> What can we do about encouraging people to contribute without creating
> policy violating articles? Of course, I know when I started out  
> editing, I
> created [[Php MMORPG]] and [[Telstra India Call Centre Clip]]. The  
> former I
> speedied and the latter was prodded by another editor, then prod2ed  
> it and
> in the end both were deleted. These articles didn't conform to  
> policy in
> terms of notability or referencing, and weren't worth keeping, but  
> I (as a
> relatively normal policy-unaware contributor at the time) didn't  
> know any of
> this. Maybe the welcome templates should link to simplified  
> versions of
> article creation guidelines?

Why are you suddenly talking about PR people contributing?
It's more useful to have the achievers themselves helping out.