Conflict of Interest Policy

For the purpose of this policy, the term "conflict of interest editor" (COI editor) refers to anyone who wishes to edit the wiki and who

• makes any money related to TMS,
• owns a website, or
• has any similar conflict of interest (if you have any questions about whether this last category applies to you, then ask).

TMS professionals and authors are a highly valued part of our TMS Wiki community and we strive to make them feel welcome. However, we take conflict of interest (COI) issues very seriously and hold our COI editors to very high standards regarding both actual COI problems and the appearance of COI problems. We think that the resulting policy is good for the TMS community as a whole, including the COI editors.

If there is any possibility that you might be a COI editor, then if you choose to use this website, you are responsible for reading and understanding the entire COI policy. If you find the terms of the policy too onerous, you are welcome to leave the website.

It is your responsibility to follow not just the letter but also the spirit of the policy.

This policy is still evolving, so we welcome feedback or questions from anyone, including COI editors, in the discussion threads at the bottom of the page.

Editing the main wiki

On the main wiki, the following are considered "COI content:"

• content about yourself or the products and services that you sell
• viewpoint that contradicts the "consensus view" of TMS or Dr. Sarno's view of TMS if you are a COI editor and that viewpoint is part of what you teach.
• anything else where you wonder if there may be COI or the appearance of COI. If your gut tells you that it might be a grey area, then you should assume that it is COI content and use the procedures below in order to develop a good reputation on the wiki.

COI editors are encouraged to edit non-COI content as much as they would like. If you would like to add COI content to the main wiki, then you can post a request on our COI Edit Requests page, following the instructions there.

Eventually, we wish to have a different page for each TMS professional, author, book, and DVD. We want these pages to be full of high quality information. COI editors are welcome to help us achieve greater coverage of themselves and their products by following the above procedures.

Profile and user pages

You account profile is a chance to tell TMSers about yourself--to connect with them on a more personal level. Advertising is not permitted, but if you have a website, we encourage you to link to it. If you if you would like to mention products that you authored, you should link to the relevant wiki page, rather than off the site (the wiki page on the product can contain links off of the site, but you need to follow the process above to add them). This will maintain the integrity of the site.

If you would like to add more content than can fit well on your profile page, we suggest a "user page." Our policy on user pages is still rapidly evolving, so you should contact an administrator before doing this to discuss the project. As elsewhere on the wiki, no advertising is permitted. Some ideas of user pages that would add to the wiki:

* book excerpts
• descriptions of a TMS professional's services
• lists of links to success stories
• essays about TMS
• any other quality content that you would like to add to the wiki but would like to write using your own voice rather than the "voice of the wiki."

By joining the site, you give administrators the right to edit your profile and user pages in order to enforce this policy.

Editing by proxy

If COI editors would like to add content about themselves to the main wiki, they can do so by using the COI Edit Requests page.

The purpose of this COI policy is to ensure that people who add content to the wiki have no agenda other than furthering the mission of the wiki. Anyone who has any other agenda (such as selling a product or service or helping a beloved TMS professional) may have their objectivity compromised. In this case, they should recognize their own conflict of interest and should use the COI Edit Requests page as an alternative method of achieving their agenda.

Because TMS patients often feel a tremendous debt to the TMS Professionals who helped them heal, their objectivity may be compromised. It is therefore a violation of the spirit of this COI policy to contact a patient or other interested party to have them make an edit involving COI content on your behalf. Similarly, the intent of the COI Edit Requests page is to create an environment where experienced editors can carefully review proposed edits, insisting that they meet high standards of the wiki for objectivity. It is therefore a violation of the spirit of this COI policy to direct patients or other interested parties to the COI Edit Request board.

Any violations of this policy prior to March 4, 2009 are exempted from the policy

If an wiki editor feels that a COI editor has violated this portion of the policy, s/he should contact the "proxy editor" and

1. explain the importance of the COI policy to the health of the wiki
2. direct them to this portion of the COI policy, explaining that all COI editors are responsible for understanding and complying with the entire policy
3. ask them if they have been contacted by the COI editor

They should also contact Forest, who is currently acting as a coordinator (and central store of information) for all COI issues.

Other important rules

• All COI editors must clearly disclose their financial stake in TMS in their user profile page.
• The usernames of COI editors must indicate their identity.
• Anonymous edits of COI content will be immediately undone. Contact Forest if you make an anonymous edit by mistake, and he will fix it. This is an important step because it makes clear that you take the COI policy seriously.
• If you would like a waiver from the preceeding 3 rules, contact Forest. (No one has yet done this.)
• COI members are asked not to contact other wiki members to advertise their services.

Technical information

• Links from the TMS Wiki cannot improve your web site's rankings in search engines because Wetpaint uses the "nofollow" on all links off of Wetpaint in order to prevent link spam.

Search box shortcut: scoip