You might be asking yourself...

"I'm considering moving/copying some content from my site to the TechNet Wiki but I'm concerned that I will lose the traffic that allowed me to build my reputation or even sell products. So can I link to my personal or company web site from a Wiki page when I contribute content? "
"Can I post "teaser" content to the Wiki to actively drive people to my own site? "

"I want to be a good community player and not as a spammer. But where is the line? "

Legitimate Credits versus Spam

Some Wikis, like Wikipedia, see each article as a shared piece of work. The concept of a single author does not apply and articles are not even signed.
Below are example of activities, with recommendations on how to handle on the TechNet Wiki:

• Give credit in a Reference section at the end of the article: Usually OK
• Give credit at the beginning of the Article (example "This article is based on a document from Contoso Ltd"): Usually OK but use discretion as this may discourage contribution.
• Copy content from external source and give credit: Usually NOT OK. While giving credit is good, but copying other people's content is not. According to the Wiki Terms of Use, you must own or otherwise control all of the rights to content that you publish on the Wiki.
• Copy content from another Microsoft site, such as TechNet forums or Library: Sometimes OK (and appreciated) but always confirm with a Microsoft employee. Link to the original source.
• Explicitly promote a non-Microsoft product or service (example: "use a capture tool such as Fiddler to determine what that xxxxx"): Use Discretion and consider asking the community in the forum.
  • Even then, you would only consider this if the product compliments an existing Microsoft product.
  • And be even more careful if you own the product, because you do not want to appear as a salesman in Microsoft communities.
• Start an article on the Wiki that continues on another site: Usually NOT OK
• Promote a product or service that violates Terms of Use or a site that makes these available (warez, password crackers, etc): NOT OK
• Everything that falls under the existing SPAM guidelines (content not relevant to Microsoft technologies, blatant advertising, etc): NOT OK
• Blatant advertising or SEO (the article has limited value besides directing to another site): Usually NOT OK
• Create a personal page (see Wiki Life: User Pages ): Use Discretion

Legitimate Quotes versus Plagiarism

Detailed procedure at: Wiki: Best practices for source references and quotes

In short:

• Use entire, 1-to-1 textual copy of 3rd party article: NOT OK
• Use partial information of 3rd party article: Use discretion
• Add proper reference to: source article, original author, publisher: MUST DO
• Add proper quotes (double quote at begin and end) and casing (italic) for text quoted: OK 

Reference

• Signatures Credit and Personalization section in the Wiki: User Experience Guidelines
• TechNet Wiki discussion forum
• Terms of Use
• Plagiarism at TechNet Wiki - First Empirical Data and Analysis
• Types of Articles Not Appropriate for TechNet Wiki

See Also

• Wiki: Governance and Guidelines Portal