- MyWikiBiz
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Coordinates: 39°56′23″N 75°36′42″W / 39.939586°N 75.611783°W
MyWikiBiz Type Private Founded 2006 Founder Gregory Kohs Headquarters West Chester, Pennsylvania, US Key people Gregory Kohs (CEO) Slogan Author Your Legacy Website www.mywikibiz.com Type of site Wiki Advertising Google AdSense Registration optional (required to edit pages) Available in Multilingual Launched 2006 Current status Active MyWikiBiz is a wiki directory that allows people and enterprises to write about themselves. The brand began as a service creating Wikipedia articles for paying corporations; the founder and owner of MyWikiBiz, Gregory Kohs, was soon blocked from Wikipedia.[1] As of August 2011[ref], the MyWikiBiz directory contained over 70,000 pages of content about corporations and individuals. The business is headquartered in West Chester, Pennsylvania.[2]
Professor Jonathan Zittrain of the Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society discussed the case of MyWikiBiz in his book The Future of the Internet – And How to Stop It.[3] Kohs appeared on Attack of the Show! on January 25, 2007, and discussed MyWikiBiz.[4] Heise Online expressed a suspicion that while MyWikiBiz’s “attempted corporate infiltration” of Wikipedia was discovered, MyWikiBiz was not an isolated case.[5]
History and controversy
Kohs and his sister started the MyWikiBiz venture in Pennsylvania in July 2006, initially as a paid editing service, writing content for inclusion in Wikipedia and other community-edited sites.[6][7] The idea came from Wikipedia's "Reward Board", where interested parties would offer cash rewards or gifts to create or improve Wikipedia articles.[2] MyWikiBiz's prices ranged between $49 and $99 for adding entries that conformed to Wikipedia's standards and policies.[2] No official Wikipedia policy prohibited paid-for contributions at the time.[8] Kohs argued that there were tens of thousands of clearly notable companies and nonprofit organizations unrepresented on Wikipedia.[9]
Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales called the commercialized editing "antithetical" to Wikipedia’s mission and "absolutely unacceptable"[2] and blocked Kohs' account from editing Wikipedia.[3] However, in August 2006, Wales issued a "mutually beneficial" compromise[10] where he encouraged MyWikiBiz to author and post content on a GFDL-compliant section of MyWikiBiz.com, which could then be scraped by non-paid, independent editors into Wikipedia and other GFDL sites.[3]
In October 2006 Wales again blocked Kohs from Wikipedia, and cautioned any business from using its services. In late October 2006, Kohs formed a partnership to promote and market a wiki-based directory at Centiare.com,[2][11] but when the site's owner discontinued the site, Kohs negotiated a transfer of its contents to MyWikiBiz.com.
References
- ^ Read, Brock (2007-01-24). "Wikipedia Blocks a Pay-for-Play Scheme". The Chronicle of Higher Education. http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/1831/wikipedia-blocks-a-pay-for-play-scheme. Retrieved 2008-08-27.
- ^ a b c d e Bergstein, Brian (2007-01-24). "Idea of paid entries roils Wikipedia". MSNBC/Associated Press. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16793247/. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
- ^ a b c Zittrain, Jonathan (2008). The Future of the Internet – And How to Stop It. Yale University Press. p. 140. ISBN 0300124872. http://yupnet.org/zittrain/archives/16#48.
- ^ dvinson (2007-01-15). "Attack of the Show: Blog, January 15, 2007". Attack of the Show: Blog. G4TV. http://www.g4tv.com/pile_player.aspx?video_key=14996. Retrieved 2007-10-15. "Gregory Kohs, webmaster for mywikibiz.com and Molly Wood, the Executive Editor from C-Net join us tonight at 7PM to discuss!"
- ^ Jellen, Richard (2007-03-31). "Edit-War um Friedrich Merz (Edit War on Friedrich Merz)" (in German). Heise Online. http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/24/24930/1.html. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
- ^ MyWikiBiz.com (2006-08-08). "MyWikiBiz press release: Wikipedia – Open For Business". 24-7 Press Release. http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/view_press_release.php?rID=16892. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
- ^ Metz, Cade (2008-02-06). "Wikipedia ruled by 'Lord of the Universe'". The Register. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/06/the_cult_of_wikipedia/page6.html. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
- ^ Peer, Mathias (2006-08-24). "Wikipedia-Artikel, die man kaufen kann (Wikipedia articles that you can buy)" (in German). Die Welt. http://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article147789/Wikipedia-Artikel_die_man_kaufen_kann.html. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
- ^ Noisette, Thierry (2006-08-11). "Wikipedia, nouvel enjeu de relations publiques (Wikipedia, a new issue of public relations)" (in French). ZDNet. http://www.zdnet.fr/actualites/internet/0,39020774,39362654,00.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-27.
- ^ Wales, Jimmy (2006-08-09). "MyWikiBiz". WikiEn-L. http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2006-August/051897.html. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
- ^ "Centiare on the heels of Wikipedia". press release. 2007-01-05. http://www.sbwire.com/news/view/9912. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
External links
Categories:- Internet companies of the United States
- Commerce websites
- Organizations based in Pennsylvania
- Companies established in 2006
- Privately held companies based in Pennsylvania
- Companies based in Pennsylvania
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
