This page exists to discuss the content on Wiki Community/Welcome Business Owner. Remember that comments can contain wiki markup. As always, we ask that you review our etiquette page.
PURPOSE
Some suggestions and discussion for clarification of conventions governing business owners submitting and editing RocWiki content.
To the Business Owner: We hope this page helps you to understand the viewpoints of the RocWiki editing community. They intend to help and preserve the integrity and purposes of this Rochester Community Resource.
To the RocWiki Editor: We hope this page helps to clarify generally recommended and accepted community expectations and to serve as an additional guideline in your editing of Business Entries.
ISSUES
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A wiki may suffer from disputes among contributors, administrators, and/or moderators about content and intent of wiki entries.
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Wiki rules/conventions should be clear, fair, evenly applied, respect open discussion, but encourage a respectful and courteous atmosphere
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Wiki contributors have a stakeholder interest in the acceptance and success of the wiki.
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Wiki contributors have a stakeholder interest in their contributions to the wiki.
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Business Owners have a stakeholder interest in their company entries, the entries of their competitors, and entries about their local community.
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Wiki contributors may have legitimate concerns about contributions which could generate controversy or disputes, especially where wiki conventions discourage anonymity.
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Wiki's reputation, and search engine rankings, can be degraded by instances of excessive Search Engine Optimization related outbound links on wiki pages.1
SOME THOUGHTS
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Press Releases: discourage the posting of business press releases or links to press releases; encourage the alternative - a link to the Press Releases page of the business's website.
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Unsubstantiated Claims: discourage the posting of significant claims for products or services without specific documentation or third party sources.
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Opinions in the Comments or Reviews Section: discourage opinion in the main entry; encourage Review entries and contributors expressing opinion in the comments section
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Excessive Content: discourage the posting of detailed company or product data; encourage the posting of summary and outline information with links to the company or other website.
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Links for Search Engine Optimization: discourage including excessive links to the company or related websites for the purpose of increasing search engine rankings for those sites; encourage links to a few top-level sites rather than multiple deep links.
RECOMMENDATIONS
TBD
Comments:
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2008-07-10 17:27:49 Okay, so first of all, an article about a business should be confined to those aspects of the business that are relevant to Rochester. For instance, a [Walmart] page on RocWiki might list all of the local Walmarts, but it should NOT have a whole section about a humanitarian effort funded by Walmart in California, for instance.
The "unsubstantiated claims", "excessive content", and "Links" thoughts provided by BradMandell are also a very good start. It is okay for local business owners to let the public know about what they do, upcoming events, etc., in an even-handed and non-promotional way. But this should not become a free venue for advertising. —JaySweet
2008-07-10 18:08:12 Lots of good thoughts in the "some thoughts" section.
On "opinions in comments", we have that policy elsewhere so probably a link would be best.
On "excessive content": We have a precedent for lengthy factual content (for example, one place has their whole menu on RocWiki). As long as it is well-organized, not redundant with their website content, and updated regularly, it's probably consistent with our mission to be a guide to Rochester. —RottenChester
2008-07-10 23:43:41 I was thinking about the excessive content, and I have two comments:
First, on the plus side, I think this is probably okay if it is off in a separate section and stated as neutrally as possible. For instance, a carpeting place providing their basic price scale would be welcome, I would think. (Not welcome would be "Can you believe our low, low prices?!?!?!!!!!!!") As long as it is in a separate section, e.g. "Pricing," "Services," "Menu," etc., I think it is clear that we are separating it from the factual content. That said, this should only be allowed for local businesses, or for information that is only locally valid.
Second, on a pedantic note, a menu could be a copyright violation if we did not have the owner's permission... —JaySweet
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