Wikipedia talk:Plain and simple conflict of interest guide

Misleading claim in lede

This page claims to be "an explanatory supplement to the Wikipedia:Conflict of interest page". It then says, in its lede:

you are bound by some restrictions. The short version: [...] Do not edit articles about yourself, your family or friends, your organization, your clients, or your competitors.

Nobody is bound by such a restriction; and that is not what Wikipedia:Conflict of interest says. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 20:49, 14 April 2021 (UTC)

Do you consider it bad *as an initial guide*? It seems to me that it's more or less true, because what the COI page *does* say ends up (correctly and fairly) placing so many restrictions on the activities of such editors that they're likely to feel as though they might as well not bother.

If you're going to expect this page to be strictly true in all respects with no simplifications, then IMO you might as well propose that this page be deleted. TooManyFingers (talk) 23:16, 21 August 2021 (UTC)

"What to do when something goes wrong"

The author of a deleted article is asked: "Did it fail to assert the subject's importance?"

Shouldn't the word "assert" be changed to "establish" or "demonstrate" or some other word? Merely asserting importance requires nothing but the statement "This is important." TooManyFingers (talk) 22:54, 21 August 2021 (UTC)

What is meant by "friends"?

I am not sure, whether the word "friends" can apply to all people an editor may have known in real life. - If, for example, an editor has attended concerts by a musical artist, and even has talked or exchanged emails with them before editing an article about this artist, would this be a "friend" and mean a COI? Of course, the editor would have to adhere to the usual principles of editing and stick to a strictly neutral style of writing. - I think the notion of "friend" needs a closer definition. Munfarid1 (talk) 06:58, 4 September 2024 (UTC)