Brian Bergstein of AP reports that Microsoft has landed in Wikipedia’s doghouse after it offered to pay a blogger to edit technical articles on the community-produced Web encyclopedia site.
While Wikipedia is known as the encyclopedia that anyone can edit, founder Jimmy Wales and his group of volunteer editors, writers and moderators have blocked PR firms, campaign workers and anyone else with a perceived conflict of interest from posting self-serving or slanted entries. “So paying for Wikipedia copy is considered a definite no-no,” writes Bergstein.
UPDATE: Microsoft is saying that this was an unauthorized move by a low-level employee, that no offer of payment was involved, and that the motives were to improve a listing on Wikipedia that appeared biased. Lisa Barone has a good run-down of events at the Bruce Clay blog.