Hi Wikipedia gurus. I'd like to write a new article about the company I work for, but would like to avoid any inkling of Conflict of Interest. I understand Wikipedia's policies regarding neutral points of view and no original research. I would like the article to be strictly the facts and to provide useful information to individuals seeking information about my company. The article I intend to write is brief, meticulously sourced, and, to the best of my ability, unbiased.

I'm not within the marketing department at my company; I would simply like for useful information about my employer to exist on Wikipedia.

I'd be happy to have the article vetted one it's posted, just so that any doubt about my interests is clear. Is there a process to get the editors' blessing or vetting for an issue like this? Are there any guidelines that I can refer to when drafting my article, beyond the COI pages I've already read?

Much thanks!

Gabrieldillon (talk) 19:55, 1 March 2011 (UTC)Reply

Greetings, Garbrieldillon! First, thank you for being up front about the situation and asking for help. It certainly is getting you off on a good foot with the community.
Make sure your company is a notable company. Articles about non-notable companies are subject to speedy deletion, whether the creating editor has a conflict of interest or not. One way to show notability is to provide references to reliable sources independent of the company, such as newspaper and magazine articles about the company.
As for vetting the article, the easiest way is to post another {{helpme}} request once the article is in place. If you want to play it on the safe side, start the article in your user space rather than the main encyclopedia (i.e., title it User:Gabrieldillon/XYZ Company instead of just XYZ Company). That will save it from being speedy deleted if it doesn't show the notability of the company. Conversely, if it the article does look okay, it will show that an editor other than you moved the article into the mainspace, which will mitigate some of the conflict of interest concerns.
Hopefully that gives you some tips for starting. Feel free to ask if you have any further questions; I'll be watching your user talk page, so I'll see if you post any. Happy editing! —C.Fred (talk) 20:04, 1 March 2011 (UTC)Reply