Should PR agencies be allowed to edit Wikipedia?

Matt

I personnally believe that PR agencies should be allowed to edit a client's Wikipedia, in the same way that a client's website is edited for example. Surely a company has a right to edit copy that descibes what it does and how it approaches CSR etc on one of the worlds largest websites?

I do not agree with editing another 3rd party's wikipedia without their consent or using wikipedia / blogs for "astroturfing" ( which is what the americans refer to when PRs / Lobbyists create a false grass roots support for a project or building initiative.)

M@
David Gerard

The reason why can be seen by the public and media reaction to the results from the WikiScanner: they're bloody outraged.

PR people can reason amongst themselves that it's "just another form of media" or that they've worked out something that slips through Wikipedia guidelines on writing about oneself or conflict of interest - but when the rubber hits the road, the public hit the roof.
weee

It's an interesting question. The recent outings of Wiki editing will just mean people edit it from home or cloak their IP address which will hide the problem rather than solve it.