Suppose you are a prominent person or an owner of a company, and you noticed that a Wikipedia page about you or your organization is inaccurate or harmful. Even a tiny erroneousness in the content can put your business in a bad light. How do you expect people to trust you if you can’t even maintain accurate online info? If you are unfamiliar with how this website works, you will probably think about two possible solutions; you may either edit it or ignore it. Unfortunately, an improper approach can lead you to an undesirable result. You need to understand how the process works to avoid being blocked by the administrators.
How Should You Fix an Inaccurate Wikipedia Page?
Let us first give you some scary facts. Wikipedia serves as the go-to source for your prospects when looking for information about you. Unfortunately, most Wikipedia page articles are wrong most of the time. The content of this site will show in 70% of the search results, but more than 60% of them are false. Therefore, you must check and verify the veracity of information about you on this site. Otherwise, you could be losing some business opportunities.
Can I Suppress Wikipedia on the Search Result?
Before you learn how to edit a Wikipedia page, you probably want to know if you can suppress it from the search result. It is possible, but it will be tremendously difficult. To do this, you need a more authoritative site to contain an article about your company. On the other hand, even if you managed to suppress the negative article, you can only demote it to the ranking on the first page. The usual way to do this is to produce relevant and high-quality content and aggressively promote it on different websites. Due to the amount of work that needs to be done, we do not usually recommend suppressing Wikipedia on the search result. Even a seasoned marketer will find it challenging to defeat a Wikipedia page on the search ranking.
Should I Request to Change the Wikipedia Page?
Not all of us will be aware of the guidelines of this site. However, if you know that a piece of erroneous information about you exists on Wikipedia, you could file a request, and someone will edit the page voluntarily. You can quickly achieve this by posting your comment directly on the talk page of Wikipedia. Simply click on the ‘Talk’ link, and you will be redirected to the proper channel.
What is a Talk Page?
The Talk Page, which is linked with a particular Wikipedia page article, is a channel where you can discuss the page. Often, the editors will judge whether a piece of information should be deleted, added, or corrected through the participants’ inputs. It is a perfect place where you can discuss the errors on the page. Simply add your comment informing them about the issue. It will be best to provide additional or supporting details like links to the resources.
How Long Will it Take?
Once you make that request, you should not expect that the change will take effect immediately. Wikipedia is composed of hundreds of thousands of articles, and the number of volunteers is gradually declining. The time you need to wait before the corrections are reflected on the page may take a long time. Sometimes, it would be better to learn how to edit Wikipedia page yourself. However, as the company owner, you may have this tendency to be biased about your business. It would be better if you could correct the errors from a neutral standpoint.
The Problem in Providing References
When making edits, Wikipedia will require the contributor to provide a reference. Sadly, most of those articles are based on Journavism. Journavism comes from the combination of the word journalism and activism. It is an act of new reporting that is tainted with propaganda. The problem with these references is that they do not have the neutral information that consumers need. You may notice that an article is perfectly objective, but once the content developer mentions his opinion, all sense of objectivity will disappear. Journavism has also become a crucial ingredient in Negative PR campaigns. When the editor recommends a reference filled with Journavism, it will lead to an inaccurate Wikipedia page.
How to Implement Incremental Change?
If editing, suppressing, or requesting for a change on your Wikipedia page article is not an excellent method, you might be wondering what the best alternative is. As mentioned above, editing the articles to achieve fairness and balance is almost impossible due to journavism. If this happens, an incremental change in the article would be your best approach. Adding simple changes over time will make people unaware of the changes that occur.
Consider it like the frog in the pot analogy. Put a frog in the boiling pot, and it will jump out in panic. However, if you place the frog in a pot with tepid water and incrementally brought them to a boiling point, it will not be aware of the changes. It might suspect that there’s something amiss, but it will not care, or it won’t be able to prove such things.
The same thing can be applied to an inaccurate Wikipedia page. When you want your page to have a balance and neutrality, the significant changes on the page will not go unnoticed. However, if you choose to apply minor and incremental changes, it may be an effective way to fix the negativities and inaccuracies. Insignificant changes that multiple users have conducted will usually be ignored.
Using Sock Puppet to Alter Wikipedia Page
Sock Puppet is a term used by Wikipedia to refer to the multiple accounts managed by one person only. This method is against the practice and policy of Wikipedia. If he administrators prove or sometimes suspect that you are using this method, they can ban your accounts. You may think that it is not fair, but if a seasoned editor has the suspicion that you are using a sock puppet strategy on a Wikipedia page article, they do not need to prove it and will immediately ban your account. Nevertheless, You are not left without any options; you can file a request to have this account reinstated. However, Wikipedia usually ignore requests like.
Defending Your Edits
It would help to remember that the edit you are making on your Wikipedia page article is rational and factual. If you can’t seem to provide proof on your edit, then you should not be making this in the first place. Nonetheless, even on the off chance that the changes you made are verifiable and fully compliant with Wikipedia’s policy and guidelines, the page can still revert to its original state. It is for this reason that we recommended that you should not implement significant changes at once. The best way to improve an inaccurate Wikipedia page is to introduce small changes over time.
How to Protect Your Wikipedia Page
It will not be unusual for your Wikipedia page to receive controversial edits. If you have fixed the inaccuracies, you probably don’t want others to mess with them. Admin can protect your page from possible vandalism, and they can also support you in fixing any content disputes. Remember that Wikipedia is a platform that anyone can edit. To start, visit the page that you wish to protect. On top of the page, you will see a ‘Protect’ tab. Click it, and you will be directed to the next page.
You should see different boxes on the next page, such as Pending Page, Move, and Edit. With the edit box, you will be able to provide your page with different levels of protection against textual edits. Usually, your only option would be the Edit box; the default box checked would be the “allow all users” option. By changing it to “Allow autoconfirmed users,” you are semi-protecting your page. However, protecting your Wikipedia page article is only for a limited time, and it will often have an expiration date. Moreover, you will also have to state your reason and click the confirm button.
Asking an Administrator to Intervene on Vandalism
If you have been a constant victim of vandalism, the administrator can prevent this from happening. Vandalism pertains to the method of editing the article maliciously. Wikipedia has been struggling to maintaining the balance between open contribution and protecting the information’s accuracy. By sending a report, Wikipedia will block and/or ban the accounts or IP addresses of individuals committing such acts. Blocking the vandals is not a method of punishment since it is not a criminal act. It is only an approach of Wikipedia to control an unethical practice.
Make sure that you are aware of all the guidelines of Wikipedia if you plan to add, edit, or modify the information. Without a complete understanding of their policy, you could end up with a group of irate editors who will block you from carelessly editing the Wikipedia page. Small changes that you will implement gradually are better. If there are any discrepancies on your tiny edits, the most severe punishment that you will receive is a warning.