Wiki Community/For Profit Restrictions

When Wiki Spot (the host for Davis Wiki) became a 501(c)(3) non-profit (in Dec 2009) some new guidelines for what was appropriate content for wiki pages came along with it. See Community Guidelines/Business promotion questions for the Wiki Spot list of questions and answers.

The Wiki Spot terms of service state:

For-profit businesses are always free to contribute, respond, and help maintain pages 
about their business on a wiki. These pages are maintained by the community as a whole,
and the pages should be written in the voice of the community, not in the voice of the
business. Pages about businesses should serve to inform and teach the community as a
whole, not promote a particular for-profit business.

What's this mean? This means that adding stuff like promotional material (without any
other value, e.g. it's not historical, newsworthy or otherwise interesting) and
advertising is generally not okay on pages about for-profit businesses. We tend to
consider things like long product price lists to be promotional in nature, but there are
exceptions.

Historically Davis Wiki had always tried to keep pages from becoming too commercial in nature. Good information about businesses was always valued, but when pages started reading like advertisements instead of informational pages then they were marked with the Advert marker.

Keep in mind that business owners are still totally allowed to participate in all aspects of the wiki! And that's what makes all our pages so great. In this case, they simply can't upload like crazy giant logos that flash or write things like "COME TO OUR STORE!!!" We, as a community, usually edit that kind of stuff out anyway.

Problem Entries

List of pages that are currently tagged with the Advert include:

(Note: You can ignore "Advert", as that's tagged because it is the include.)

Discussion surrounding guideline

When is the 'promotional' line crossed?

For now- go with your gut.

Some possible indicators: Written in the first person instead of third person. Too much bold. Lots of exclamation marks. Inviting you to come to the store or what-have-you. Lots of over-the-top adjectives not counterbalanced with anything remotely negative. Glossy pictures that look nothing like what an ordinary community member would take. —CovertProfessor

What's definitely not okay?

Overt advertising generally isn't okay unless it's historical or educational (e.g. recording history). Long price lists aren't usually okay.

How about menus on restaurant pages?

Good question! We're still discussing that. Have thoughts? They're useful to some folks.

2010-06-07 15:44:49   I think having restaurant menus on the wiki is awesome! That much, at least, doesn't seem like advertising to me. —ScottMeehleib

2010-06-07 16:40:37   Where do you draw the line between a restaurant menu and a long price list? Aren't they essentially the exact same thing? Don't get me wrong, a restaurant menu appeals to me far more than a salon "menu," but I'm not sure where or how you make the distinction. —TomGarberson

• Here is one reason to distinguish between them: with an online restaurant menu, I can go to the page, look at the menu, and make a phone call to initiate a delivery or pick-up. Whereas with a salon, it's not as though I can make a phone call and get a haircut. Indeed, once I know the general price range at a salon, I can call and ask about the specific service that I want. But I can't call a restaurant and ask them to read me the menu, or ask them for the price of a specific menu item unless I already know what is on it! —CovertProfessor
• 2010-06-07 19:27:54   I agree with the professor, with a caveat. A restaurant menu doesn't have to have prices listed just because it's a menu, and neither does a salon menu. And salon menus can be important. I don't do "texture" treatments, or children's haircuts. Clients might like to know this before they book with me. —Davidlm
• David, I do think that a salon page should have all of its services listed, and perhaps services not offered, if that would be helpful. As for prices on a restaurant menu — I might not make that order over the phone if the food is too expensive, so I think that is useful. Again, it's also useful to have a rough idea of a salon's prices. —cp
• Believe it or not (you can check my page), I don't think there should be any prices on the wiki, food or service, I can always link to my website for that.-dm
• I believe you. :-) It's just that some restaurants don't have websites, or don't put their menu on their websites (how stupid!) or put the menu on with some irritating format like flash. As a hungry Davisite and customer, I very much enjoy the convenience of a readily available menu. It doesn't hurt salons if restaurants have full menus, does it? —cp

2010-07-06 15:15:35   could somebody help me by pointing out what exactly on the Graduate Movers page makes it cross the advert line? Is it the customer reviews? Because we didn't even put those up to begin with, a wiki happy customer did. If someone could take a look and help us out that would be great.

as for the Restaurant pages as someone who has a pretty specific dietary practice in a town full of people like who do, menus and even ingredients info would be amazingly informative. As long as it isn't written too provocatively, trying to make mouths water and such. —Joy&Taylor

2011-07-11 18:29:06   How is Fiesta DanceN'Fitness's page specifically adverty? To quote CP, "I do think that a salon page should have all of its services listed, and perhaps services not offered, if that would be helpful". In this case there is a list of dance classes offered but not the prices, and the list is so extensive that it is the same as calling a restaurant and asking them to read the menu. What specifically can editors do to make this page less of an advertisement? It seems purely informational to me. Thanks! —LilyS