My Wikipedia page could be better
Wikimedia Australia is contacted regularly by people who have a Wikipedia page about them and are either not happy with some things that are written, or would like it to be improved or updated. If you are one of them, here are a number of things that you can do.
Contributing via the article’s Talk page
Editing your own page of Wikipedia is considered to be a Conflict-of-Interest (COI), and individuals, and people closely associated with them should not edit their pages. It also relates to the Neutral Point of View (NPOV) policy.
However, you are welcome to contribute material, cite reliable sources or make suggestions for edits on the article’s Talk page - this allows independent editors to make updates to the article.
If you feel insufficient attention is being paid to problems with an article about you, try placing a note on the help desk detailing the problems.
For more information see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Autobiography
Paying someone to edit your page is frowned upon within the volunteer editing community but is not expressly disallowed by Wikipedia, however, they are governed by this policy and all instances of paid editing should be disclosed
Add a photo
Having a photo on your Wikipedia page can be both good for the person being covered and the page itself because, as the common adage states, a picture is worth 1,000 words.
Biography articles can benefit significantly from a photograph of the subject.
Wikipedia hosts the majority of images at our free media repository, Wikimedia Commons, which means that they can be used in all language versions of Wikipedia (more than 300 languages!). You are encouraged to upload your photograph here.
For more information see:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Uploading_images.
Ownership of content and copyright
No one "owns" content, including articles or any page on Wikipedia. When an article is created or edited, other editors have the ability to make changes, and it is not possible to prevent them from doing so. Additionally, edits should not be undone without a valid reason.
You must not upload pictures of which you do not own the copyright unless you are licensed to do so!
Alternatively, you can email an image you wish to be uploaded to photosubmission@wikimedia.org
An image of you used on Wikipedia will be seen very widely so please select one that is well-lit and in focus. The preference is for a portrait photo, including your head-and-shoulders, although photos of all kinds are welcome.
A recent picture is best unless you're best-known for something you did many years ago.
For more information, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:A_picture_of_you
Key policies to be aware of:
- Neutral Point of View (NPOV). All content must be balanced and unbiased.
- Conflict of Interest (COI). You cannot write about yourself, your workplace, colleagues, family, or friends. These topics are considered too close for you to remain neutral.
- Biographies of Living Persons policy. Editors must take particular care when adding information about living persons
- Paid-contribution disclosure. Editors receiving payment must disclose their employer, client, and affiliation, on their user page, talk page, or in edit summaries
You can see all the Wikipedia policies and guidelines here.
A note regarding the role of Wikimedia Australia
Wikimedia Australia is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to supporting Wikipedia and other Wikiprojects (eg, fundraising, technical, grants, governance, etc), and we are an affiliate of the international Wikimedia Foundation (WMF). However, we do not oversee or control the content on Wikipedia.
The volunteer editing community have editorial control of Wikipedia and has developed robust guides and policies that aim to ensure content quality. Every edit made is logged and can be accessed by everybody in the 'View History' tab to ensure transparency; you can view the Wikipedia policies and guidelines here.
Image: Han Cheng Yeh, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons