Violet Blue writes at CNET News:

Concerned Wikipedians raised the alarm Monday that two trusted men -- one a trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation UK, the other a respected Wikipedian In Residence -- are allegedly editing Wikipedia pages and facilitating front-page placement for their pay-for-play, publicity-seeking clients.

According to Blue, one of the men, Roger Bamkin, a "trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation UK, whose LinkedIn page describes him as a high-return-earning PR consultant, appeared to be using Wikipedia's main page 'Did You Know' feature and the resources of Wikipedia's GLAM WikiProject (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) initiative to pimp his client's project."

Said client happens to be: "The country of Gibraltar," Blue writes.

"At the same time Bamkin's consulting work as a representative of Wikimedia Foundation reared its ugly head," Blue continues, "Wikipedia community members exposed the SEO-focused, PR-strategy Wikipedia page editing business run by respected GLAM editor Max Klein."

What to make of this? "Many people would consider the idea of 'Did You Know' -- and Wikipedia's front page -- being successfully used in a for-profit commercial venture by any entity to be harmful to Wikipedia, reputation or otherwise," Blue observes.

"But then again," Blue concludes, "Wikipedia and alleged conflicts of interest are not known to be handled with practicality -- or clarity. Just ask Philip Roth."