MediaWiki talk:Spam-blacklist/archives/October 2013

=Proposed Additions=

icax.co.uk
Appears to be keyword spammed link farm designed for SEO positioning. It's a low value link and scattered around numerous articles related to alternative energy Cantaloupe2 (talk) 12:48, 19 August 2013 (UTC)

sgs.com
Sockpuppet SPIs have been adding links to SGS press releases to numerous articles. See Sockpuppet investigations/Schmetterling5/Archive. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 15:34, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

angellis.net
Various editors, mostly anonymous IPs have been using this website as a reference on several articles about prehistoric animals, but, the site is not a reputable source by any stretch, being a fanmade site filled with original research of very little value.--Mr Fink (talk) 16:54, 11 July 2013 (UTC)

mosler-safe.de / .com


IP range adding a dubious link to the German website of a "Mosler Safe Company" to various safe-related articles, including Mosler Safe Company, a historically famous American safe manufacturer that went bankrupt in 2001. --McGeddon (talk) 09:25, 1 July 2013 (UTC)
 * This spammer is still going a month and a half later. --McGeddon (talk) 17:42, 19 August 2013 (UTC)

sports-rings.com
VQuakr (talk) 04:18, 9 July 2013 (UTC)

soulinterviews.com
IP has been adding the same link since 2012 -- Glaisher  [talk]  16:22, 15 July 2013 (UTC)

lawrenceindia.com
First it was through the user name which was bloked from editing. After that another username
 * – It has come to my notice that articles on Indian Tourist Trains Maharaja_Express Palace_on_Wheels Royal_Rajasthan_on_Wheels Fairy_Queen_(locomotive) Mahaparinirvan_Express The_Golden_Chariot are repeatedly vandalised by users which I have strong reasons to belive are involved in promotion of one particular company
 * was created to add only external link which was reported for vandalism after warning.
 * Yet again a new username Rawat14 User_talk:Rawat14 is created whose contribution is to add the external link to website of same company. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6


 * I would like to request banning all these usernames from further editing to avoid repeated vandalism of these pages in question. And I would also request to block these websites in question to deter the company from creating yet another username and indulging in vandalism of these articles in question.
 * Here are the websites in question.
 * ....Nikhil Chandra (talk) 08:39, 17 July 2013 (UTC)
 * ....Nikhil Chandra (talk) 08:39, 17 July 2013 (UTC)
 * ....Nikhil Chandra (talk) 08:39, 17 July 2013 (UTC)
 * ....Nikhil Chandra (talk) 08:39, 17 July 2013 (UTC)


 * A typo in one of the above, it should be:
 * and the spam for this continues, with frequent changes of the spammer's user name. - David Biddulph (talk) 09:42, 17 August 2013 (UTC)

maharajasexpresstrains.com

 * Spammers
 * Diffs 1
 * Diffs 1
 * Diffs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
 * Diffs 6 ...Nikhil Chandra (talk) 11:25, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

thepalaceonwheels.com

 * Spammers
 * Diffs 1
 * Diffs 1,
 * Diffs 5, 1] ....Nikhil Chandra (talk) 11:33, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

spywareloop.com

 * Links being spammed


 * Spammers

... etc. User has been spamming this on dozens of articles today. -- Mesoderm (talk) 22:25, 27 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Diffs


 * Well, Mesoderm, thank you for your concern about Spamming. But the actual fact is that I am not related to any kind of Spamming. I am currently working with the virus and Spyware sections and that's why added the references. The reason why I was mentioned is that I have used the link of spywareloop.com on several articles. I am also adding references and information from other websites to Wikipedia's (Spyware related articles) within course of time. So, there is no need to see it as Spam. I am well aware of Wikipedia's policies and am always against spamming. If what I did makes me spammer, then I think I will have to be even more careful from future. Again thank you for notifying the matter. I really had no intention of spamming and will never have that intention. Thank you all who have used their valuable time to read it. Sourov0000 (talk) 13:50, 28 July 2013 (UTC)

thealternativepress.com
thealternativepress.com



This is nothing more than sites like the Examiner and Associated.As I am checking the WP refs, the links are copied press releases and things plagiarized from other sources.Maybe not all but it looks like it so far. I noticed it popping-up today in a seriously overlinked article Teresa Giudice, and The Real Housewives of New Jersey. I read the linked reference and it was nothing more than reconstituted info. that had already been published by news organizations.(edited to add: it was actually word-forword copied from The Star-Ledger!)Housewifehader (talk) 22:39, 31 July 2013 (UTC) There is no need for this site to be used as a reference here unless it contains original or exclusive content.I hope that I have formatted this correctly;). Here is the example of where the ref. goes as used in these articles : http://thealternativepress.com/towns/west-essex/sections/law-and-justice/articles/nj-housewives-star-theresa-guidice-and-husband-iHousewifehader (talk) 21:51, 31 July 2013 (UTC)Housewifehader (talk) 21:45, 31 July 2013 (UTC)


 * just a note to add that since i posted this earlier, I have checked this site out a little closer, and there is plagiarism, copied press releases, broken links, but also it appears that there is some site-original content available. It looks like when they started they focused on an area in North Jersey with local writers-so I am hoping to see another opinion about this, TYHousewifehader (talk) 03:02, 1 August 2013 (UTC)

gtax.co.uk


This has been ongoing for some time from different IP adresses, the latest bout of spammers are:

(see the diffs from July 30 to August 3).

Really disruptive spamming since it replaces valid links and information with links to this company. Sjö (talk) 07:38, 3 August 2013 (UTC)
 * And just to show that it's been going on for quite some time, WikiProject Spam/LinkReports/gtax.co.uk is from 2009-2010. Sjö (talk) 20:23, 12 August 2013 (UTC)

shaligram.com



 * Spammers

MER-C 11:53, 8 August 2013 (UTC)

investmentunderground.com
This "source" is only used by the Morning277 a.k.a. Wiki-pr.com spammers. Examples found in a big box of junk:

                

As I write, there are 20 of these links in the article space of the English Wikipedia, and 30 elsewhere. This outfit has multiple people working on insertion of new articles, restoration of deleted articles, and maintenance of their preferred content in articles. I understand that the links are normally removed before blacklisting. If this is approved, I'm willing to remove the links from the English Wikipedia afterward.

— rybec 00:36, 14 August 2013 (UTC)


 * There's no requirement for links to be removed before blacklisting. Before or after, it doesn't matter. Isn't this one of those sites that these socks are removing anyway to avoid detection? ~Amatulić (talk) 23:42, 14 August 2013 (UTC)
 * I don't have a diff that shows them removing this particular one, but it's one of the sites I listed at Long-term_abuse/Morning277. There are now 13 12 articles that contain it and 24 other pages . I have a suspicion that the PR company arranges for stories to be written about its clients on the Investment Underground site; then the Investment Underground story lends an appearance of credibility to the Wikipedia article. New page patrollers see an article written in fluent English with inline references, and leave it alone. After examiner dot com was blacklisted, this outfit started just writing "Examiner" without providing a URL, so I'm not sure blacklisting will be entirely effective, but it may help. — rybec  23:56, 15 August 2013 (UTC)
 * There are so many publications called "Examiner" that if the URL is missing, it's probably a decent sock detection signal.
 * I'm uneasy about blacklisting a source that isn't unambiguously being used for abuse. This seems more indirect, citing possibly-paid-for articles on investmentunderground as a means to preserve articles on Wikipedia posted by the PR firm. Needs some discussion. It might be an easier decision if this site had little editorial oversight like examiner.com, but I'm not sure that's the case. ~Amatulić (talk) 00:21, 16 August 2013 (UTC)
 * If there are good faith uses for this source, but most links by new accounts are spam would this be a good Xlinkbot candidate? VQuakr (talk) 01:09, 16 August 2013 (UTC)

In the past, the Morning277 editors always became autoconfirmed before posting their articles. Recently, they've stopped doing that, but I'm sure they wouldn't mind going back to their previous behavior. If I understand correctly, XLinkBot does not affect autoconfirmed editors. Below, I contend that good-faith use of this URL occurs in at most one article on the English Wikipedia.

The Wikipedia search says there are 13 results, but only shows 12 articles on the results page. I assume it's because one article contains two Investment Underground citations.

User:Sublimeharmony/sandbox11 contains 75 distinct articles; of those, 17 linked to this site (22.6%). Of the 4,306,170 articles on the English Wikipedia, only 12 link to Investment Underground (0.00027%). Arithmetically, there's not much ambiguity, even if all 12 articles were unrelated to the spamming PR firm. However, I believe that all or nearly all were placed on Wikipedia by that PR firm. If the relationship between Investment Underground and the company placing these Wikipedia is what I suspect it is, it should be obvious why they would choose not to disclose that. For further evidence, look at the timing of when stories appear on investmentunderground.com and vatalyst.com, and the first appearance of the Wikipedia article.

Here are the 12 articles which cite Investment Underground, and some of the reasons why I think they're all products of the same company:
 * 1) David Stewart (alternative medicine) cites Vatalyst (one of only 8 articles which do), CNN Ireport, an Andrew Moran article in Digital Journal
 * 2) Banc De Binary An article about its CEO is in User:Sublimeharmony/sandbox11.
 * 3) Citadel EFT Its creator did minor edits to existing articles until autoconfirmed, pasted this article into a sandbox, and abandoned his account the same day he moved the article to the main space on the English Wikipedia. These habits were all characteristic of Morning277 prior to mid-July 2013.
 * 4) EFans (social network) This one is a little ambiguous, I admit. The editing habits and writing style differ from Morning277's usual. I do notice that it cites www.business2community.com, another of Morning277's preferred sources, and the refnames are two-letter, capitalized abbreviations. Also, it's about an obscure Web site (its Alexa rank is 415,792 globally and 149,308 for India). The efans.com domain is registered to someone in La Jolla, California. Morning277 activity has been seen from the San Diego area; La Jolla is a suburb of San Diego.
 * 5) Enigma NMS Cites California Business Journal and Business 2 Community, two more of Morning277's habitual sources. Had a minor edit by, a Morning277 account which re-spammed Cleeng as Cleeng (Company)—see.
 * 6) Key Realty School LLC Previously spammed at Key Realty School, now recreated under a different name—a hallmark of Morning277.
 * 7) Linode Also cites California Business Journal, Technorati and Yahoo Voices, which are among Morning277's preferred sources. Heavily edited by and, both blocked as  socks. MooshiePorkFace is believed to work with Morning277.
 * 8) Search Engine People another of the 8 that cites Vatalyst, just like David Stewart (alternative medicine) and Zorpia
 * 9) SmartFile (company) Also cites an Andrew Moran article in Digital Journal, just like Tim Grayem and David Stewart (alternative medicine).
 * 10) Tim Grayem Also cites an Andrew Moran article in Digital Journal, just like David Stewart (alternative medicine) and SmartFile (company).
 * 11) W Athletic (talent agency) Previously spammed at W Athletic, now recreated under a different name with unnecessary disambiguation—a hallmark of Morning277.
 * 12) Zorpia Is another of the 8 that cites Vatalyst, just like David Stewart (alternative medicine) and Search Engine People.

To belabor a point, there are 4.3 million articles on the wiki, of which 12 cite Investment Underground and 8 cite Vatalyst, with an overlap of 3 articles that cite both! For that to happen by chance is like having three people in your city who each won a lottery grand prize, got struck by lightning and were bitten by sharks. Also, for two of them, there were stories by Andrew Moran in Digital Journal (he's not their only writer). It's as though the same shark came back and gave two of those people a second bite. It would make sense if the three subjects had a great deal in common, or if Investment Underground, Vatalyst, and Andrew Moran all produced a huge volume of stories—but they don't. The assumption that they all have the same publicist, who has an "in" with the ostensible journalists, is the only reasonable explanation.

Another thing I notice is that the domains wiki-pr.com, vatalyst.com, investmentunderground.com and cabusinessjournal.org are all registered with Godaddy and the whois information is private. While Godaddy is a very popular registrar, this is suspicious by itself.

The only article where I see this site used that isn't very obviously a Morning277 write-up is the EFans article, and I think I've shown it's reasonable to have suspicion about that one. I just don't see this site used by non-spammers. Morning277 is hardly likely to send in a signed affidavit disclosing its relationship with Investment Underground, Vatalyst, and the California Business Journal. — rybec 02:50, 16 August 2013 (UTC)

vatalyst.com
The rationale is the same as for investmentunderground.com above.

This site was referenced in 22 Sublimeharmony articles:                      

This is currently used as a reference in 8 articles on the English Wikipedia: — rybec 07:48, 16 August 2013 (UTC)
 * 1) IDrive Inc. has two Vatalyst citations. Was created by, an editor in good standing.
 * 2) Search Engine People discussed in investmentunderground.com section
 * 3) Zorpia discussed in investmentunderground.com section
 * 4) Rivalus also cites Digital Journal, CNN Ireport, Yahoo Voices
 * 5) National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists also cites Business 2 Community twice, Yahoo Voices, CNN Ireport, and California Business Journal
 * 6) David Stewart (alternative medicine) discussed in investmentunderground.com section
 * 7) Krinos Foods Canada Ltd also cites California Business Journal, Business 2 Community, Yahoo Voices, Examiner
 * 8) Geoffrey Edelsten Philanthropy section with citations to one Vatalyst story was added  by, an editor in good standing.

dividendkings.com
The rationale is the same as for investmentunderground.com and vatalyst.com above.

This site was referenced in Sublimeharmony articles:


 * 1) Sollensys
 * 2) Echopass


 * 1) Security Innovation
 * 2) Loyaltyworks


 * 1) Oren Laurent
 * 2) NewYorkStay.com


 * 1) Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Lemelson
 * 2) American Writers and Artists Inc.

It is not currently used in articles on the English Wikipedia, although there are three sandboxes which refer to it:

has been blocked. The draft cites Vatalyst, Dividend Kings and Yahoo Voices as its only sources.
 * 1) User:Alcedine/sandbox about Casino.org, sourced from Dividend Kings, Yahoo Voices, Vatalyst, pameladeter's blog and a Digital Journal piece by Andrew Moran as its only sources.
 * 2) User:Jvn mht/sandbox about QuoteWizard, a previous Morning277 subject;
 * 1) User:Gem 1981/sandbox about TestCountry, a previous Morning277 subject. It cites Vatalyst, Dividend Kings and a Digital Journal piece by Andrew Moran as its only sources.

Besides the pameladeter blog, all the sources for these three sandboxes come from the short list I posted at Long-term_abuse/Morning277. — rybec 15:51, 16 August 2013 (UTC)

cabusinessjournal.org
The rationale is the same as for investmentunderground.com, vatalyst.com and dividendkings.com above.

This site was referenced in Sublimeharmony articles:


 * 1) ModelManagement.com
 * 2) Brosix
 * 3) NewYorkStay.com
 * 4) Sweet Couch
 * 5) Emmanuel Lemelson
 * 6) American Writers and Artists Inc.

The uses on the English Wikipedia include many of the same articles I mentioned in regard to investmentunderground.com, vatalyst.com and dividendkings.com. You'll see those sites cited along with this one. All the uses look like Morning277's work, or discussion of it. Right now it's in only six main-space articles:

— rybec 19:00, 16 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Krinos Foods Canada Ltd
 * Enigma NMS
 * Search Engine People
 * National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists
 * Linode
 * IDrive Inc.
 * A Project Spam report now exists. — rybec 18:18, 17 August 2013 (UTC)

celebritiesheight.com
This website is currently being spammed by numerous hit 'n run accounts. So far I have caught:



Looking at the search results when searching for the domain, there are probably at least 30 more accounts spamming the website. Nymf (talk) 17:06, 16 August 2013 (UTC)


 * 1) -- stale for CU
 * 2) -- stale for CU
 * 1) -- stale for CU
 * 2) -- stale for CU
 * 1) -- stale for CU
 * 2) -- stale for CU
 * 1) -- stale for CU
 * 2) -- stale for CU
 * 1) -- stale for CU
 * 2) -- stale for CU
 * 1) -- stale for CU
 * 2) -- stale for CU
 * 1) -- stale for CU
 * 2) -- stale for CU
 * 1) -- stale for CU
 * 2) -- stale for CU
 * 1) -- stale for CU
 * 2) -- stale for CU
 * 1) -- stale for CU
 * 2) -- stale for CU
 * 1) -- stale for CU
 * 2) -- stale for CU
 * 1) -- stale for CU
 * 2) -- stale for CU
 * 1) -- stale for CU
 * 2) -- stale for CU
 * 1) -- stale for CU
 * 2) -- stale for CU
 * 1) -- stale for CU
 * 2) -- stale for CU
 * 1) -- stale for CU

SPI filed. MER-C 04:06, 17 August 2013 (UTC)
 * ✅ Reaper Eternal (talk) 20:36, 17 August 2013 (UTC)

fncy.it
is a 302 redirect to bitly.com

— rybec 07:01, 17 August 2013 (UTC)
 * URL shorteners go on the global blacklist. I've posted a request there. MER-C 07:53, 17 August 2013 (UTC)

blogintomystery.com


. Of the 30 or so links I have removed, all of them were added by that /17. MER-C 08:09, 8 June 2013 (UTC)
 * ✅ Reaper Eternal (talk) 19:14, 29 July 2013 (UTC)

easybusinessposters.com



 * Spammers

MER-C 06:52, 10 July 2013 (UTC)
 * ✅ Reaper Eternal (talk) 19:21, 29 July 2013 (UTC)

42.com
Site redirects to malware, per Norton, added to Phrases from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (diff). - Pointillist (talk) 20:37, 4 August 2013 (UTC)
 * .. if it damages the readers, it is of interest to all of mediawiki to block this. --Dirk Beetstra T  C 05:49, 5 August 2013 (UTC)

obitree.com
A minor 'obituary' website which is being spammed into external links sections of articles on recently-deceased as a link to a 'memorial' or similar. There is no indication whatsoever that the site is operating in any way on behalf of relatives of the deceased. Furthermore, material on the website is frequently copied from our own article - without attribution (see for example Princess Fawzia Fuad of Egypt[http:// obitree.com/PrincessFawzia.Fuad], James Gandolfini,[http:// obitree.com/James.Joseph.Gandolfini],Jim Kelly (martial artist)[http:// www.obitree.com/Jim.Kelly] etc.). Thus not only is this clear spam, but linking it might encourage circular referencing (it is also incidentally a breach of copyright..). Note that after I warned an initial contributor regarding spamming (see User talk:Ikristin), new accounts have been created for each instance. AndyTheGrump (talk) 13:10, 14 July 2013 (UTC)


 * Is anything going to be done about this website?: This has been listed for almost two months now, and are still spamming articles on recently-dead persons. The latest trick, which I'd not seen before is to replace a link with one of their own - in this case to findagrave.com, which is arguably spam too, but I think we should be the judge of that, not boosters of a competing (?) website. Note that they are using disposable one-edit accounts - they clearly know what they are doing isn't approved of.  AndyTheGrump (talk) 23:46, 7 September 2013 (UTC)
 * ✅. I've also blocked roughly thirty sockpuppets.... Reaper Eternal (talk) 11:59, 8 September 2013 (UTC)

adelaide-classifieds.info

 * ✅ Reaper Eternal (talk) 12:13, 8 September 2013 (UTC)

cinemastan.com



 * Spammers

MER-C 10:48, 12 September 2013 (UTC)
 * All are ✅. Reaper Eternal (talk) 20:55, 16 September 2013 (UTC)

cuttinglet.com
The only edits by have been to spam links to this questionable, unreliable blog through citations. ViperSnake151  Talk  18:40, 13 September 2013 (UTC)
 * ❌. Talk to the user. Reaper Eternal (talk) 20:37, 16 September 2013 (UTC)

kuaiyilicai.com

 * Potential scam website purported to be a money exchange website currently being spammed by . User has been making URL additions in a bait-and-switch manner (e.g. replacing official government website URLs with this spam URL). Diffs:  . -- benlisquare T•C•E 06:09, 15 September 2013 (UTC)
 * ✅ That totally looks legitimate. Reaper Eternal (talk) 20:50, 16 September 2013 (UTC)

= Proposed Removals =

Free Web Town
freewebtown.com/ Just need it because I can only access it if I make a link to it in the sandbox (most sites are blocked on my computer). Why was it blocked? Pubserv (talk) 19:20, 22 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Could you please tell us which domain/link, just leave off the 'http://' from the beginning and we will see what you are talking about. Thanks!  --Dirk Beetstra T  C 07:18, 28 July 2013 (UTC)

freewebtown.com/ Pubserv (talk) 19:34, 29 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Not blacklisted here on Wikipedia. It's blacklisted globally. See meta:Talk:Spam blacklist/Archives/2008-12.
 * if you want to contest this listing, but it's unlikely you will succeed because free web sites are highly unlikely ever to be appropriate for linking or referencing on Wikipedia. ~Amatulić (talk) 23:48, 31 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Never mind. Defer means delay so that doesn't make sense. Why is it blacklisted globally? And how? Even at Google? Pubserv (talk) 19:15, 11 August 2013 (UTC)
 * In this context it refers not to delay, but to submit to, IE Ill defer to your judgement in this case. Meta-Wiki is the central project that oversees global issues (Stewards, global blocks, global rights, crosswiki blacklisting ect) freewebtown was an issue for multiple projects (which may or may not have included enwiki) and it was deemed that blacklisting there was needed. Since it wasnt blacklisted locally we cannot remove it from the blacklist. You would need to file a request there. In regards to the term global it refers to all Wikimedia projects hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation. Werieth (talk) 19:23, 11 August 2013 (UTC)

Pv-magazine

 * Added because an employee was spamming articles. They have stopped, and pv-magazine is a valuable source for solar news. For example, care to find a story about the upcoming solar auction in Russia somewhere else? Apteva (talk) 11:28, 5 July 2013 (UTC)
 * 'They have stopped ..', I am afraid that is because it is blacklisted. I would suggest to .  --Dirk Beetstra T  C 13:32, 7 July 2013 (UTC)


 * There was a request in this section (by the same person) that sat here quite a while, unanswered, and it fell off this page during the June archiving. See MediaWiki talk:Spam-blacklist/archives/June 2013.


 * We make a point to say we consider de-listing requests from trusted, high-volume editors. Apteva isn't exactly "high volume" but certainly trusted (especially since Apteva is a legitimate alternative account), and I see no evidence of a COI as with a previous de-listing request from 2011. Apteva has posted a request twice now. It deserves some consideration and discussion.


 * It seems that Pv-magazine is the authoritative reliable source for photovoltaic topics, and it is often difficult (I have tried) to find alternatives. Deferring to the whitelist may create an undue burden there if it needs to be sourced frequently. I suggest perhaps 'promoting' the domain from the blacklist to XLinkBot and monitoring it for a while. ~Amatulić (talk) 02:33, 8 July 2013 (UTC)
 * I should have been more specific. They promised to stop. It was also requested removed by a second editor earlier, here. Apteva (talk) 07:17, 13 July 2013 (UTC)
 * It seems pointless to put this domain on both the white and black lists, with the same affect that it is on neither. Apteva (talk) 01:47, 21 July 2013 (UTC)
 * It's not the same as being on neither. The blacklist restricts the whole domain, the whitelist is where you would go to request use of a specific page that is hosted on the domain. This allows you to use it as a source without allowing the publishers to have their marketing interns link every article they write on every page they can think of. - MrOllie (talk) 02:39, 21 July 2013 (UTC)
 * I have no interest in having to ask permission for each link. I think it is reasonable to believe that the publisher understands that they can not spam WP. Apteva (talk) 14:51, 21 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Redemption is always possible. Do any other admins here object to my suggestion to move this site to XLinkBot and see what happens? ~Amatulić (talk) 23:51, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

PresentViewer.com


This site was added to the blacklist for some reason. I can't see why. The site provides information of products so I reckon it could used as a valuable resource. Thanks LumCel1 (talk) 17:10, 26 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Seems dead to me. My browser reports "no data received." ~Amatulić (talk) 23:40, 31 July 2013 (UTC)


 * See w:Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Lauriejackpot1. Short answer: .  Ask for whitelisting of specific links, but this is better blacklisted.  I would not even consider delisting if Jimbo himself would request de-listing.  So many socks and so many spammed domains .. this is better blacklisted for some time so it does not get spammed again.  --Dirk Beetstra T  C 15:11, 2 August 2013 (UTC)

MicrostockGroup


I am trying to add some additional references to the Yuri Arcurs page and this domain seems to be blacklisted. Yuri has been posting in various threads on this site and it would be useful to use some of his posts as the source of the information. Specifically I was trying to use this link microstockgroup.com/14213/14213/msg218934/#msg218934 where me mentions a decline in earnings.


 * Generally, forum sites are not to be used as sources per WP:ELNO although in this case your purpose would be for quoting the subject of the article. I don't see a reason to completely remove it from the blacklist, but if you want to link a single page, to request white-listing of that page. ~Amatulić (talk) 04:13, 10 August 2013 (UTC)


 * OK, will do — Preceding unsigned comment added by 23.29.200.210 (talk) 04:31, 10 August 2013 (UTC)

PowerSupplies.net


Could you please remove this valuable resource site from the Wikipedia blacklist? The site started more than 10 years ago, it is a valuable source of information, for several years was #1 in Google search for “power supplies” words, never used link exchange to boost page ranking, does not send email to sell unsolicited products. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 143.166.255.115 (talk • contribs) 17:02, 30 July 2013‎


 * Some information:
 * Blaclisted in July 2012.
 * Wikipedia talk:WikiProject_Spam/2012 Archive Jul 2 indicates this was an attempt to maximize Google AdSense revenue.
 * COIbot report says the link was added 8 times.
 * That said, the intent didn't seem to be to advertise. The web site itself is simply a browsable database of power supplies, and published technical spec sheets. It seems to be more of a portal, with no ads, no "buy it here" links, or anything spammy.
 * I see it more as a tool to find specifications for individual power supplies than a possible reference site for citing on Wikipedia. If any of those spec sheets need to be referenced, powersupplies.net links to the external sites that host those spec sheets, so they can be referenced instead.
 * Question: What possible use would this site have on Wikipedia? ~Amatulić (talk) 23:37, 31 July 2013 (UTC)
 * There is a description here (www.smps.com/) of what appears to be their three websites. I can see using them as a reference for a specific power supply company, although I was trying to see if we even have any articles about any power supply companies. Power supplies are like circuit boards. They are inside your computer and no one knows they are there or what they do, but without them you would not be able to use your computer. The other two websites are more interesting though (both also blacklisted). Apteva (talk) 07:14, 4 August 2013 (UTC)


 * If you go back to the original report, many of the IPs were either from Texas ISPs or they were Dell IPs; Dell is based in Austin, Texas as is the owner of some of these domains. The IP above is a Dell Computer IP.


 * . If an established, trusted editor wants to link to a particular page; they can request it at MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist
 * -- A. B. (talk • contribs • global count) 17:04, 29 August 2013 (UTC)

123greetings.com.net


I'm not sure why it was blacklisted, possible spamming at one point in the past? It's wiki entry is valid so I'm wondering if it can be delisted from the spamlist as there are some pages I'd like to use? Josh769 (talk) 08:27, 14 September 2013 (UTC)
 * see Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Spam/2010_Archive_May_1. A LOT of spamming in the past.  I would suggest to carefully only whitelist pages that need to be used.  .  --Dirk Beetstra T  C 03:58, 15 September 2013 (UTC)

dailyreckoning.com.au


It took me forever to find the log in the mess of words and links on this page and the warning notice when I tried to use a link from here. When I finally did find the block log, it has no record of why it was blocked or by whom. It looks like the site is fine to me, so it should be unblocked.--Metallurgist (talk) 23:11, 14 September 2013 (UTC)


 * Not sure what mess you are talking about, however.
 * It has a clear record, very large case of COI spamming with many socks. See Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Spam/2008_Archive_Oct_2.  The site may be fine, but a quick search showed me that there it looks that there is still an SEO busy spamming these sites (quite successfully .. I'll poke  who did the original additions).  I would not unblock this, but whitelist specific links on these servers that are of use, so .  --Dirk Beetstra T  C 04:05, 15 September 2013 (UTC)

= Troubleshooting and problems =