User:Johnuniq/ccTLD

This report concerns disruptive edits to articles related to ccTLD (country code top-level domains). A discussion occurred here.

See discussion at ANI (July 2017).

Overview
Recent activity can be seen in "related changes" for ccTLD:
 * Special:RecentChangesLinked/Template:CcTLD
 * 500 changes in last 30 days

ccTLD articles edited by the IPs:
 * .al .ar .bf .bi .bj .br .cd .cg .ci .cl .cn .co .cu .dz .ec .et .gh .gm .gn .hr .hu .id .il .in .ir .jp .ke .kp .kr .ly .md .mk .ml .mn .mx .my .ne .ng .pe .ph .pk .ro .rw .sd .sn .td .th .tn .tr .tw .ua .ug .vn

IPs from above (BTnet UK Regional network):
 * (all contribs, x-wiki)
 * (all contribs, x-wiki)
 * (all contribs, x-wiki)
 * (all contribs, x-wiki)
 * (all contribs, x-wiki)
 * (all contribs, x-wiki)
 * (all contribs,x-wiki)
 * (all contribs, x-wiki)
 * (all contribs, x-wiki)
 * (all contribs, x-wiki)

The IPs are active cross-wiki (click the x-wiki link for cross-wiki global contributions). Example: 10:55, 20 July 2017.

Outline of problem
Many diffs show unhelpful changes of this nature:
 * Adding many unlikely or unhelpful or blatantly false assertions, often with citation needed tags.
 * Adding unhelpful empty sections, sometimes with an empty section tag.
 * Adding nonsensical dates ("as of 2018...", or "active since 1990" contradicting a known start date of 1994).
 * Adding fake statistics with ("" registered domains at .co and .ng and .sn).
 * Nonsensical edit summaries, for example:
 * 500 Internal Server Error
 * ARREST OF 8 SAMPAGA MEMBERS FOR THE MURDER OF 7 COLOBONG MEMBERS
 * IMBESTIGADOR JULY 22, 2017
 * MURDER SENSENG
 * OBJECT REFERENCE NOT SET TO AN INSTANCE OF AN OBJECT
 * S.O.C.O. JULY 22, 2017

Reliable sources
ICANN manages the process whereby domain names are allocated on the Internet. Page 117 of their document ICANN study on the African DNS market states:
 * "Research data† from November 2016 indicates that a total of just over 2.9 million domains are active under the African ccTLDs."
 * [This shows the absurdity of the above 69,000,000 value for Nigeria and Senegal.]

The †research data page includes a table with counts of all domains in each TLD. An extract from that table follows. The "spurious count" column shows values entered by the IP.

Sample of diffs

 * .al by 86.134.240.162 diff 19:07, 7 July 2017
 * Added
 * Presently, these .al website domains increased to 690,000 making them the very popular .al domain since 2018.
 * which has the made-up "690,000" and future 2018 date.


 * .ci by 86.134.240.162 diff 19:01, 7 July 2017
 * Included
 * registereddomains=9,500,000
 * however the .ci registry page shows "9158 NOMS DE DOMAINE EN .CI" (9,158 domain names in .ci). That value is more up-to-date than the 8,837 count above.


 * .co by 81.135.204.201 diff 15:19, 19 July 2017
 * Included
 * actualuse = Very Popular in Colombia; .CO top level domain has become the leading global alternative to .com for innovators, entrepreneurs and startups. This domain is also widely used in Colombia.
 * (other articles have similar "very popular" language; examples below).
 * Included
 * registereddomains =
 * Included future date:
 * As of 2018, this domain is re-established by Colombian Network Information Center.
 * Included (URL added twice)
 * http://www.nic.net.co Colombian Network Indormation Center - in Colombia (another website)
 * but that URL is for a non-existent domain.


 * .gm by 86.134.240.162 diff 21:20, 5 July 2017
 * Included:
 * actualuse=Very Popular in the Gambia; uses primarily and Frequently
 * registereddomains=650,000


 * .in by 86.134.240.162 diff 14:58, 8 July 2017
 * Included:
 * registereddomains = 945,699
 * http://www.nic.net.in/
 * but that URL displays:
 * If you are seeing this message, the website for is not available at this time.


 * .ng by 86.134.240.162 diff 09:25, 6 July 2017
 * Included
 * registereddomains=
 * and
 * http://www.nic.ng/ Nigerian Network Information Center (another website)
 * but that URL shows a "Buy this domain" parked domain.


 * .ng by 81.135.204.201 diff 10:22, 23 July 2017
 * Included six empty sections, each with, and
 * As of 2017, they are currently 90,969 domains registered, currently, they are domains registered in the .ng Domain.
 * while the infobox said
 * Registered domains 90,969 (July 22, 2017)[1]
 * the [1] source in the article takes a long time to display, but it clearly verifies 90,969.


 * .pe by 86.134.240.162 diff 14:26, 8 July 2017
 * Included:
 * registereddomains=500,000


 * .pe by 81.135.204.201 diff 10:31, 23 July 2017
 * Added
 * 9 made-up factoids, each with
 * 4 unhelpful empty sections, each with


 * .ph by 86.134.240.162 diff 20:20, 14 July 2017
 * Included
 * sponsor = PH Domain Foundation, http://www.nic.net.ph/ Philippine Network information Center
 * but that URL shows a "This domain may be available" parked domain with text unrelated to domains.
 * Included
 * registereddomains = 690,000


 * .sn by 81.135.204.201 diff 20:02, 22 July 2017
 * Included:
 * Registered domains (June 27, 2017)


 * Masgouf by 81.135.204.201 diff 15:50, 24 July 2017
 * Added (this example shows that more than ccTLD articles are subject to nonsense):
 * -Turkish