Setting the Standard: How Beutler Ink Champions Ethical Wikipedia Consulting
Beutler Ink has always been guided by a commitment to ethical practices in our approach to Wikipedia. We have also helped set the standard for how individuals with a business conflict of interest engage with the editing community.
Over a decade ago, we helped many of the largest public relations firms agree to and publicly announce their intention to uphold Wikipedia's rules. Our ethical approach is something we are known for, and we are extremely proud of that. However, it is not something we have outlined in a specific way in a public setting. Recently we asked ourselves: Why not? In fact, we think it's very important to enumerate our principles clearly and continue to set an example for others to follow.
Our Principles
Therefore, it is our pleasure to announce that, for the first time, we have published an ethics statement that outlines our commitment not only to our clients, but to Wikipedia as well. It spells out, for the first time, the approach we have taken to our work over the last 14 years—and will continue to promote as long as Beutler Ink offers Wikipedia consulting services.
This ethics statement is posted publicly to avoid any ambiguity on the philosophy that guides our Wikipedia work and memorializes Beutler Ink's core principles for working on Wikipedia:
One
A Wikipedia-first approach
Two
Support for the Wikimedia movement
Three
An unyielding ethical commitment to collaborating with Wikipedia's editing community
Four
Operational transparency across all communication
Our Perspective
Reflecting on our conversations with potential clients, it is not uncommon for them to have misconceptions about the purpose of Wikipedia and how they are supposed to interact with it. Usually, that is due to lack of familiarity: Wikipedia is much different than other platforms and channels professional communicators are used to working on. Indeed, Wikipedians surely do not think of their encyclopedia in such terms.
Occasionally we encounter potential clients who are less than well-intentioned. At times, we have been asked to make Wikipedia a mirror image of a corporation's website, make negative information "disappear", or even add negative material to competitors' pages. We never have done this type of work, and we never will.
We count among our duties to our clients explaining Wikipedia's core values and how we can support them, by seeking improvements to the encyclopedia in an open manner according to Wikipedia's conflict of interest guideline and paid contributions disclosure policy. If the would-be client is not amenable to these values, we will not take on that work. We prefer to spend our time with clients who are willing to see Wikipedia as an information resource worth protecting.
Our Commitment
We work not just for our clients, but for the betterment of the largest reference work in human history. We recognize that companies, organizations, and individuals can benefit the encyclopedia by providing information about the subjects they know the most about: themselves. But we also recognize this participation must be bound by Wikipedia's self-directed rules, and we can play a critical role in helping our clients comply with them.
As the statement says, "We believe in Wikipedia’s core mission to provide a freely accessible sum of human knowledge for the public good. This principle drives everything we do. Our goal is not just to help our clients achieve their objectives, but also to contribute positively to Wikipedia as a public resource."
This principle has guided us since our founding in 2010, and it is the principle we continue to actively encourage others in our profession to observe as well. Wikipedia's mission is to provide every single person on the planet free access to the sum of all human knowledge. Our mission is to contribute to it with integrity.
