Talk:Cheaters Detective Agency

Spam Tag
After reviewing the edit history on this article and the contributions made by Alibond, I believe the only reason this article was created and continues to be edited is for the purpose of promoting "Cheaters Detective Agency" on Wikipedia.

The link to the company's website, found here and on Cheaters, goes straight to a web site that displays a prominent link to a franchise/business opportunity with the company. The following was added to this article in March: "In 2007, the Cheaters Detective Agency Headquarters opened in Orange County, California, taking on confidential investigations not to be broadcast on the television show. The headquarters also began licensing the Cheaters Detective Agency trademark to other private investigators across the country. "The phone number 1-800-CHEATERS is answered in Orange County, California, and it fields over 16,000 phone calls a month from across the country".

Attempts to add a notability tag have been reversed twice without cause or discussion. Woxd 02:35, 14 April 2007 (UTC)

After reviewing the contributions by Woxd, I have determined that his account was created two days ago to mainly go after one of my first contributions to Wikipedia. This seems like a personal attack. My account has been working on articles for more than a month now, and Woxd's first edits begin 2 days ago?

I am not here just to promote Cheaters or the Cheaters Detective Agency. I started on Wikipedia with something I knew about, and edited it. I also went on to create this article. I am an expert on the show Cheaters, and it is a major part of the show. In fact, most of the show is about the investigation done by the Cheaters Detective Agency. This is a feature of a show watched by 5 million people per week. It is notable.

The notability tag was removed twice by me, after I continued editing and adding of references to the article. Many major news outlets have covered the Cheaters Detective Agency, including ABC, NBC, and AP Newspapers. 5 million people per week watch their work. I believe it fits Wikipedia's notability criteria.

Phone number for contacting them has been deleted. Link to their website has been deleted. How much more are you going to screw over my first attempt at creating an article here? Alibond 05:11, 14 April 2007 (UTC)


 * Nothing personal. It is what it is, an article about a company and it only contains a phone number, the number of calls they get each month, their success rate, a reference to a franchise opportunity and a link to a page where people can learn more about the franchise opportunity. Promotional. After I added the notability tag you added one reference with no link or discussion. When I found this reference online I discovered one sentence that contained the words "Cheaters detective agency's", a remark that I take to be company generic and not a direct reference to this company. Woxd 07:45, 14 April 2007 (UTC)

Meatpuppet activity
Alibond, you've asked other users on Wikipedia to join your side in this debate. Please read the following: "Advertising and soliciting meatpuppets: It is considered highly inappropriate or unacceptable to advertise Wikipedia articles that are being debated in order to attract users with known views and bias, in order to strengthen one side of a debate. It is also considered highly inappropriate to ask friends or family members to create accounts for the purpose of giving additional support. Advertising or soliciting meatpuppet activity is not an acceptable practice on Wikipedia. On-Wikipedia canvassing should be reverted if possible. " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Sockpuppets#Meatpuppets Woxd 09:10, 14 April 2007 (UTC)

Speedy tag removed
I have removed the speedy deletion tag, and I am the second admin to have done so. This should not be taken as a sign that the article should not be deleted, but that it does not fit the speedy deletion criteria. The article is not overly self-promoting ("blatant advertising requiring a significant re-write"), and the notability is established both inherently through its TV presence, and through an independent reference. The next stage in the deletion process should be WP:AFD. -- zzuuzz(talk) 19:07, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks for reviewing the issue and adding your comments. Woxd 02:00, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

Intro is biased and misleading
Alibond, the introduction to this company is not only misleading it is not true. When I tried to correct that, with a source, you immediately reverted my edit. Your introduction makes it sound like Cheaters Detective Agency is not only performing investigative work, but also licensing other agencies to do the work. Neither is true. The following page on the company's web site site clearly states they are not accepting assignments. It also states the licensing is done by a company called C.N.E. Inc., not by Cheaters Detective Agency: http://www.cdacase.com/cda/License%20Interest%20page.html If you want to expand on the article and explain how phone calls are forwarded to other agencies, be my guest but please include a source. Woxd 01:44, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

This is how the above page on the CDA website read when I retrieved it and used it as a reference:

''Yes, Cheaters Detective Agency is Licensed, and in good standing, as a Private Investigative company in the State of CA under the CA Dept of Consumer affairs license# 2532. Although we maintain an active investigative license we are not actively accepting new work at this time, Instead we are completely focused on providing advertising, marketing, and investigative business support to licensed investigative agencies who choose to join the expanding Cheaters national brand, as independently licensed and operated offices.''

This is the same paragraph on the Cheaters' web site after my edit was reverted: 23:50, 24 April 2007 Alibond (Talk | contribs) (1,312 bytes) (Undid revision 125488723 by Woxd (talk) Their site says, " ...cases are directed to our nearest licensed office...".)

''Yes, Cheaters Detective Agency is Licensed, and in good standing, as a Private Investigative company in the State of CA under the CA Dept of Consumer affairs license# 25322. Although we maintain an active investigative license, generally cases are directed to our nearest licensed office. We act as the headquarters office and also conducts most of the advertising, marketing, and investigative business support to many licensed investigative agencies who have chose to join the expanding Cheaters national brand, as independently licensed and operated offices.''

Woxd 03:41, 26 April 2007 (UTC)


 * I don't control that page, so I don't know about the changes you quote here. But the phone number 1-800-CHEATERS has been investigating for people for years now. Maybe they realized a mistake, or even saw us writing about them here on Wikipedia. Alibond 19:03, 27 April 2007 (UTC)

Are you sure that Cheaters Investigation Agency is the same company as the TV show. I was able to verify that they only got licensed in California for Private Investigations on November 27th, 2006. This is according to the Department of Consumer Affairs Bureau of Security and Investigative Services verify a license website located at: http://www2.dca.ca.gov/pls/wllpub/WLLQRYNA$LCEV2.QueryView?P_LICENSE_NUMBER=25322&P_LTE_ID=651

Were they operating illegally prior to being licensed? This should be investigated as possible fraud! Are they even related to the original Cheaters TV show because if they are not then this should not be merged under TV shows as is reported to happen.