Having a Wikipedia page can be a beneficial part of your online marketing plan. As one of the most used sites on the internet, it often comes up at the top of search engine results. A Wikipedia article for you or your business can bring you online recognition and drive traffic to other sites.
With that all being said, what are the costs associated with Wikipedia articles? If you want a Wikipedia article, do you have to pay money for an editor? Read on as we take a deep dive into how Wikipedia editors are paid.
Does Wikipedia Pay Editors?
As such a large and popular organization, you would think that Wikipedia would hire paid editors to keep up to date with all of its articles and pages. However, this is not the case due to the structure of the website.
Wikipedia Business Model
Wikipedia is a nonprofit organization under the Wikimedia Foundation that runs on donations and a large team of volunteer editors. People who edit Wikipedia on this volunteer basis do not receive compensation from Wikipedia.
The point of Wikipedia is to be an open-access and open-source encyclopedia that anyone in the world can edit. Every single one of us, including you, reading this, has the ability to contribute to Wikipedia. They don’t hire their own editors because it is supposed to be open to everyone to edit.
Paid Wikipedia Editors
Even though Wikipedia does not pay its editors, individuals and businesses still do hire paid editors. Wikipedia itself does not hire editors, but outside organizations may choose to do so if they want the benefits of having a Wikipedia page.
There are some extra rules that paid editors must follow
- They should disclose that they are being paid, as it is a conflict of interest issue.
- As with all Wikipedia articles, they must take extra care that their writing style is not promotional of their client in any way.
- They may need to use the talk page to make edits to an article for a client to avoid conflict-of-interest issues.
Frequent Questions About Editing On Wikipedia
Does It Cost Money To Edit On Wikipedia?
No, it will never cost you money if you want to make edits yourself to any Wiki pages. Wikipedia is open-source, and the goal is to get people from all over the world to contribute their knowledge to the platform. Wikipedia will never charge you in order to make edits.
You may sometimes see a donation request at the top of a Wikipedia page. The organization runs on donations as a nonprofit, but this is optional, and you do not need to donate in order to make edits.
How Much Does It Cost To Get A Wikipedia Page?
If you want to create a Wikipedia page today on your own, it is absolutely free.
Individuals and businesses may choose to use paid editing services to create and manage their Wikipedia articles. The cost to create a Wikipedia page through a paid writer varies considerably – anywhere from a hundred dollars to a few thousand. Depending on the circumstances, hiring an expert editor can be useful for a number of reasons, including:
- A specialized editor will know about all of the intricacies of Wikitext so that you don’t have to learn it.
- They will know what mistakes to avoid when it comes to making edits on Wikipedia to ensure an article gets published.
- They will be able to tell you if your subject fulfills notability requirements so that you don’t waste time writing your article just to have it rejected.
- Editors are familiar with the style in which Wikipedia articles need to be written in.
- If needed, they can manage your article over time by making sure no vandalism occurs and updating information as needed.
How Does Wikipedia Get Edited So Fast?
It would be easy to think that Wikipedia editors get paid since Wikipedia is edited so quickly and frequently. The reason for this is the sheer number of volunteers who dedicate their time to fact-checking the website. Anyone can do this, but a little more than 100,000 editors do so regularly.
Since there are so many editors on the site from all around the world, tons of people are constantly making edits to the website and creating new articles. All of these people care about Wikipedia’s goal of collecting the sum of all human knowledge. Most people are making edits because they have a passion for information, not because they are being paid.
Is It True That Anyone Can Edit Wikipedia?
Yes, anyone can edit Wikipedia pages. However, not all articles can be edited. Administrators on Wikipedia are able to restrict the editing of certain articles that they deem to need protection. There are many different levels of protection that a Wikipedia article could potentially have, from basic edit protection to full protection.
Articles may be put in a protected status if they are at a higher risk for vandalism or to avoid an editing war. Many articles are only protected temporarily. If you want to edit a protected article, you can still request edits through the talk page. Administrators will then review the request and either accept the edit or reject it.
When this happens, you will see a lock symbol in the top-left corner of the article.
How Do I Become A Wikipedia Editor?
If you want to start editing on Wikipedia, it is best to set up an account with them. This will give you access to several different benefits and will hide your IP address in favor of a chosen username. Wikipedia also has a lot of resources for you to learn how to edit pages if you are new to it.
Closing
Paid editing on Wikipedia is a huge topic, which can be controversial at times. If you are looking to hire someone to write and maintain your Wikipedia article, make sure you find someone who does so in an ethical manner and knows all of Wikipedia’s policies. Browse through our other articles to find answers to all of your Wikipedia questions.
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