User talk:MER-C/archives/49

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paid editing
This is obviously some sort of COI/paid editor who is just ignoring warnings. They've also recreated content previously created by this user you recently blocked. Praxidicae (talk) 20:31, 6 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Quarantined and blocked, but not as a sockpuppet. MER-C 18:52, 7 April 2020 (UTC)

Shore City Shopping Centre
Shore City Shopping Centre has been created by a new user as their first article-space edit. It's about as promotional as you would expect, and I suspect the creator is either a sock or meatpuppet of the person that's been paid to create this article.  Ravensfire  (talk) 01:05, 7 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Deleted and blocked. MER-C 12:36, 7 April 2020 (UTC)

AbelWagner
Hi MER-C. Take a look at new user, who has made an edit on Draft:PCloud, a UPE/PROMO piece whose author was blocked. I would suspect that AbelWagner's other major edits on Axcient and Byron Williamson indicate that they are also clients of his firm (several other editors have been blocked on these), and some of AbelWagner's edits have been reverted as promotional (plus they has another article, Draft:Perfect Money G11'ed in draftspace. Britishfinance (talk) 10:22, 9 April 2020 (UTC)
 * And, as expected, they just moved Draft:PCloud to PCloud. Britishfinance (talk) 10:55, 9 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Dealt with. Also blocked: and  for associating with these users on Draft:Sergei Eremenko (scientist). MER-C 11:48, 9 April 2020 (UTC)

new upe
you might wanna take a look at the new creator here Praxidicae (talk) 13:50, 9 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Sock blocked. MER-C 16:18, 9 April 2020 (UTC)

You've got mail
. - FitIndia  Talk Commons 14:03, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

Edits flagged for possible conflict
After reading the complete conflict of interest guidelines, I am more unclear about why anything was flagged on a Wikipedia page that was edited. I am requesting a detailed explanation, please.

There was absolutely no copyrighted material used on the edited page. The first response from Wikipedia referenced a photo that was used by another website, but that photo and its rights are used with permission. That particular photo is used all over the web with permission. Now the Wikipedia page has reverted back to a very old version of Wikipedia page with a majority of significantly outdated information, including reference to organizations that no longer exist.

All of the edits on the Wikipedia page in question were factual, containing information about the current artistic/musical organizations with whom the referenced person is connected. There was no soapboxing, promotion, or advertising.

I am requesting a detailed explanation of your actions, please. Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sbyess (talk • contribs) 20:57, 11 April 2020 (UTC)
 * >> There was no soapboxing, promotion, or advertising.
 * That is demonstrably false. From the removed text, which was very similar to http://nmsymphony.com/conductor:
 * > Celebrated for his work in opera, Byess has conducted acclaimed productions
 * > Byess is a passionate advocate for the arts
 * > Equally adept with symphonic, opera, operetta, musical theatre, and ballet repertoire,
 * If you don't understand why that is promotional, you shouldn't be editing. Wikipedia readers aren't interested in what Mr Byess has to say about himself. I regret not revoking your editing privileges for making that edit. MER-C 09:49, 12 April 2020 (UTC)

EricFullMetal
I was looking at the block on Eric and the unblock request. Some digging moved me to leave the following comments there. Just in case Eric decides to delete from own Talk and stop editing, I wanted to share the same observations with you. I have come to believe that this is an operation with people are contracted to create articles, and then other editors clean up and falsely assign high classifications. Posted at Eric's Talk:
 * Setting aside the relationship/no relationship with DoshNomad (currently blocked), it can reasonably be inferred from your article creation behavior that you are an undisclosed paid editor. You registered with Wikipedia on 10 Feb, and then starting on Feb 12 created an article about Merrin D. Garretson. Then, between March 19 and April 10 you created eleven short articles on people or businesses that have no connection with each other - different countries and different careers - strongly suggesting that this is paid work for which you are given assignments and a handful of possible references to create articles. MER-C has converted most (missed Hatsuye Yamaguchi and Berrell Jensen) back to draft state and tagged as possible undeclared paid. David notMD (talk) 19:13, 13 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Additional concerns: After you have created these articles, User:Lenticel follows by assigning Categories and User:Ipigott does some clean-up. Ipigott is also extremely active converting the classifications of scores of articles from Start to C-class or B-class. David notMD (talk) 19:31, 13 April 2020 (UTC)
 * I am probably wrong on Ipigott being involved. Instead, appears that Ipigott - a long-time, experienced editor - may be just a bit too enthusiastic in upgrading articles. As to why Ipigott showing up as editor on articles created by Eric, could be that Ipigott is finding these by doing new article patrolling. David notMD (talk) 19:31, 13 April 2020 (UTC)

Your primary observation is correct. There are other things that don't add up about Eric, which I won't go into here for opsec reasons. The two I left are deceased and a lower spam risk. Your observations about Lenticel and Ipigott are probably wrong - if they do what you describe indiscriminately then they will end up editing spam articles inadvertently. NPP is the subject of active infiltration attempts by spammers though. MER-C 19:52, 13 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Only for the two subjects of articles who are not alive, their children, and for one, grandchildren are named (I deleted names), so it is possible that children contacted to have the articles created. David notMD (talk) 21:12, 13 April 2020 (UTC)
 * I just add cats and assessment tags in bio articles which shows up at Category:Unassessed biography articles. I usually work on the "A" articles since that get filled up with articles quickly. -- Lenticel ( talk ) 00:08, 14 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Understood. Coincidence is not necessarily conspiracy. David notMD (talk) 01:38, 14 April 2020 (UTC)
 * See my talk page for further explanations.--Ipigott (talk) 09:04, 14 April 2020 (UTC)

User:Paxkahlo
Mind having a look at /the page Judi Rever? The page is setting off a lot of my "UPE" alarm bells - large creation by a brand new user with lots and lots of citations. It also sure looks like it has an agenda to push, since the "Controversy" section goes out of its way to refute all of the controversies. creffett (talk) 19:39, 13 April 2020 (UTC)

Praxidicae (talk) 11:56, 14 April 2020 (UTC)

Emma Rydal
Hi, I am trying to create this page for Emma Rydal. I made her website at Laal Marra Productions and have copied the material from there. It is my content that I am copying. There is no sensitive intellectual property or copyright material there. How long does it normally take for the page to be published and available in searches? Thanks, Rob Robstato Robstato (talk) 19:11, 16 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Blocked for advertising. MER-C 19:22, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

Cfd
Hi MER-C, there's a bunch of people active these days at CFD, and I've been tackling the old backlog, but if you could spare a little time again, may I ask for your help to close some of the oldest dozen cases at Categories_for_discussion/Old_unclosed_discussions as I'm WP:INVOLVED? – Fayenatic  L ondon 19:31, 16 April 2020 (UTC)
 * I'll take a look, but I will not promise anything. Closing CFDs leaves me far too thinly stretched. MER-C 16:43, 17 April 2020 (UTC)


 * For some reason two categories you closed as to be relisted (from Feb 3 and March 18) do not yet appear on today's CFD page. Is this just a matter of (im)patience or did something go wrong? Marcocapelle (talk) 21:18, 17 April 2020 (UTC)
 * It's all right, they are on tomorrow's page. That works! Thanks for these and the others that you closed. – Fayenatic  L ondon 22:08, 17 April 2020 (UTC)

Message for MER-C
Excuse us sir, are you British or American so we can present you with the appropriate barnstar. As on User talk:GSS. Md Abdul Big Boy (talk) 06:35, 18 April 2020 (UTC)

Thank you for this information. I am not aware of this thing and I apologise to wekipedia and others. I hope that you forgive me and can't block me. Thank you Hardipsinhjadeja1 (talk) 05:02, 21 April 2020 (UTC)

Questions about the apparent move and subsequent deletion of the pages for Rain Man (DJ) and Kris Trindl
Hello. Forgive the length of my inquiry, as I'm relatively new to this type of request.

I've reached out to User talk:TonyBallioni who refered me to you.

I was interested in reading about Rain Man (DJ) who is Kris Trindl on Wikipedia. However, the articles were deleted. As I looked into it, I couldn't find the reason that they were deleted.

Based on the tags I see on the deleted pages, it looks like there was a consensus to move the page Kris Trindl over to Rain Man (DJ). So the Rain Man (DJ) page was deleted with a G6 tag (non-controversial/make way for the move).

However, the Rain Man (DJ) page is no longer up, apparently due to problems with copyright.

I did, however, manage to find my way to the page Wikipedia:Copyright problems/2020 April 5, where I found the entry for Rain Man (DJ) listed on that page.

So far, I've been unable to locate any of the discussions related to the move or the deletion.

My interest as an editor is to see if I can fix the article. If it is a steaming pile of unsalvagable garbage, I'd like to attempt to rewrite it. For these reasons, access to the talk pages Talk:Rain Man (DJ) and Talk:Kris Trindl would be very appreciated.

Per Wikipedia guidelines, contacting you, the administer responsible for the deletion of the pages is the first step in this process.

Regards,

Fantasticawesome (talk) 22:21, 18 April 2020 (UTC)
 * There is nothing stopping you from rewriting the article. There is nothing that will help you rewrite the articles on the talk pages. What I can give you, however, is this: User:Fantasticawesome/Temp. MER-C 18:40, 21 April 2020 (UTC)

Nicholas Samartis
Hi, I created a page for Nicholas Samartis (artist), however it was deleted because I used a blurb based on one that had already been authored by me for another source. I'm creating original content for the wiki article now. Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by FREDVECCHIO (talk • contribs)
 * What is your connection with the subject of this article? Have you declared any conflicts of interest or financial relations you have with Mr Samartis? MER-C 18:45, 21 April 2020 (UTC)

Deleted wiki page for Kunal Sharma
Hi Mer-C,

Hope all is well. Sending you a quick message to see if it's possible to find out the exact reason Kunal Sharma's wiki page, which seemed to be in draft mode was deleted. Is it possible to recover the contents of that page or has it been lost to the intrawebs forever? I'm asking because i'm currently collaborating with him to get an online presence built and thus wanted to make sure that we get the wiki page up after of course making sure everything is properly cited and vetted.

Thanks. Looking forward to hearing from you.

--Kaoskuri (talk) 19:02, 21 April 2020 (UTC) Kaoskuri
 * I'm afraid that your request is entirely inappropriate and as such, you should leave Wikipedia. MER-C has a message at the top of this talk page explaining that Wikipedia is not an "online presence" and yet, you've posted here without bothering to read. Draft:Kunal Sharma was deleted for being advertising. Please understand, Wikipedia is not the place for this!! Next time, offer money. Chris Troutman  ( talk ) 19:10, 21 April 2020 (UTC)
 * And if you insist on doing so, I will remove your editing privileges. MER-C 19:12, 21 April 2020 (UTC)

Thanks for the reply back. I'm brand new to the world of wikipedia and do understand that it is not a place to be used as an "online presence" or place of advertising, that was a poor choice of words on my part and I apologize for that. There are several mentions of him in various published Wikipedia articles, so I was actually trying to get those all articles connected back to "his" wiki page, which does not exist. I realize that the wiki needs to be well written and vetted before it can get approved to be published. I was just trying to get some background information as to why the previous page was deleted or if any of the information from that page could be recovered to see what mistakes had been made and make sure that I myself repeat those mistakes as this page would not be used for advertising. I'm not trying to be rude or get myself removed, i'm just trying to understand the process here. --Kaoskuri (talk) 19:50, 21 April 2020 (UTC)Kaoskuri

Mail
SamHolt6 (talk) 17:37, 22 April 2020 (UTC)
 * banhammered. MER-C 18:04, 22 April 2020 (UTC)
 * ...and the Lord did grin. SamHolt6 (talk) 18:08, 22 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Sorry for the repetition MER-C but you've got another one headed to your inbox. SamHolt6 (talk) 18:57, 25 April 2020 (UTC)
 * There was a third article that was paid for (Rahul Narvekar). Blocked. MER-C 12:36, 26 April 2020 (UTC)

upe
quackity quack quack, check out this super shady creation, sourced entirely to fake outlets (and i'm talking truly fake, not like TOIs publishing of ill repute.) Appears to be a sleeper account too from 2006! Praxidicae (talk) 18:16, 22 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Blocked. Bagged another UPE account and managed to get to a sleeper  before they spammed. MER-C 18:38, 22 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Thanks. I have a couple more things on my watchlist that are bound to pop up soon based on these black hat sites. It also appears our friend has already appealed with the same bullshit excuse they usually do. Praxidicae (talk) 18:52, 22 April 2020 (UTC)

Thanks for the unblock
Hi MER-C, thank you for unblocking my account. I will do my best to follow the suggestions and instructions put forward by you and ToBeFree.

I just wanted to confirm one thing with you. From the list of articles I provided that I was going to create, is it all right if I create the ones that are not biographies and companies? I mean, articles about koya-dofu (a type of food), wildfires, Regulation H, drones and wildfire management, and Kumu/Komo people. Of course, any articles I create will be published through AfC as you and ToBeFree asked me to.

P.S. I have already submitted a draft for Koya-dofu. Thought about asking you only after I did. If it is not okay, I'll gladly take it down myself.

Thank you! NawJee (talk) 20:32, 23 April 2020 (UTC)
 * I am concerned about the food and drones because they have SEO potential. I don't object to you writing about them, you just need to be very scrupulous with your sourcing. MER-C 18:06, 24 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Is there a particular guide or essay to avoid such problems? What kind of sources to 'not consider' when writing about such topics? NawJee (talk) 20:19, 24 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Reliable sources. MER-C 09:50, 25 April 2020 (UTC)

Please check Divya Ajith Kumar
Hi, I was fixing Wikilinks in this article on Divya Ajith Kumar. It is listed on the Community Portal. However, the entire article is way too promotional. One thing that bugged me was that it was edited by 23 editors/bots before me, but nobody fixed or tagged it for the obvious promotion (or even the wikilinks for that matter). I searched the subject on Google, and she seems to be notable at a quick glance, but please take a look. Thanks. NawJee (talk) 02:06, 25 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Welcome to Wikipedia's long tail, where there are literally tens, if not hundreds of thousands of articles like this. My advice is not to worry about it too much: pick one of the templates at Template index/Cleanup, tag it and someone will come around to review it... eventually. MER-C 11:21, 25 April 2020 (UTC)
 * I understand. I came across dozens of one/two-line articles while going thought the 'Add an image' list on the community portal. I'll do the needful. Do I need to register myself as a participant with a particular WikiProject to tag articles? NawJee (talk) 19:30, 27 April 2020 (UTC)
 * P.S. I understand that there's probably nothing wrong with 'stubs', just that they should be expanded. But, I have this conundrum and I couldn't find an adequate answer to it anywhere. I see that many stubs are created because there is a lack of information on those subjects out there, on the interwebs. Does that not tantamount to lack of notability? I would like to hear your thoughts on the matter, please. NawJee (talk) 19:39, 27 April 2020 (UTC)

Tamil Rockers
Hey there, not sure if you're interested, but this article I just discovered today, Tamil Rockers, appears to be a haven of awful spammers! I've blocked several accounts and some of the IPs are just pure garbage pushers. I've indeffed some accounts, but if you wanted to collect shitty spammer sites, you might want to look here! Regards, Cyphoidbomb (talk) 05:44, 25 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Wow. I performed a little more cleanup. MER-C 09:49, 25 April 2020 (UTC)

Confused over recent edits revoked
Was a little concerned over recent edits that have been revoked regarding references to copyrighted material. The text was from my own material and I was updating to reflect the history of article of the club. Not quite sure what triggered your response. As a committee member of said club, was merely attempting to correct and enhance the material in Wikipedia. Suspect you get plenty of feedback such as this, but if I cannot update then suspect the information will be left sparse and not updated. regards — Preceding unsigned comment added by Roygm (talk • contribs) 17:04, 26 April 2020 (UTC)
 * 1) How am I supposed to tell? When you pasted the text the only information you gave was your username, which tells me nothing copyright-wise.
 * 2) Let's say you are correct. The text is not suitable for inclusion in an encyclopedia anyway because it was written in the first person. You're lucky I didn't notice this - I usually remove the editing privileges of those who add first person text into the encyclopedia. MER-C 17:47, 26 April 2020 (UTC)

The curious Rip van Winkle editor
I found an editor who used to edit British history related articles, then went on hiatus for years. Suddenly this month they reappear and start creating articles on Indian businesses. Is there a pattern of this happening on co-opted accounts? And what should I do with this find? ☆ Bri (talk) 18:18, 26 April 2020 (UTC)
 * It's probably a compromised account. I've been seeing quite a few accounts in the suspicious article lists with multi-year gaps in editing ended by spamming, but no established editors. I blocked them all. What is the username? MER-C 18:29, 26 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Please refer to Special:Diff/953276331. Then Special:Diff/768045541 (on a hunch) ☆ Bri (talk) 19:55, 26 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Under discussion at WP:COIN (perma). They have being a COI editor. ☆ Bri (talk) 21:51, 27 April 2020 (UTC)

Another
Since you blocked them, you probably noticed the decade-long break followed by the creation of a bunch of promotion under discussion at COIN. ☆ Bri (talk) 01:30, 5 May 2020 (UTC)

Phil Sokowicz
Hello. I hired an editor to make me a page. I didn't know how to create a page or have no idea how to design a page. Is there anyway my page can be published? I believe I am notable enough to have a page about myself. I had no intention to advertise here. — Preceding unsigned comment added by PhilS223 (talk • contribs) 20:53, 26 April 2020 (UTC)
 * The article appears to be at Draft:Phil Sokowicz where it can be improved by uninvolved editors. ☆ Bri (talk) 21:05, 26 April 2020 (UTC)

Thank you for the information. I do not know how to edit it and that's why I hired an editor to do it for me. Could you please help me to improve it? Many thanks, Phil — Preceding unsigned comment added by PhilS223 (talk • contribs) 21:17, 26 April 2020 (UTC)
 * No. That's not how Wikipedia works. We are not an extension of your own website or social media profiles. You do not get to decide whether you are covered by Wikipedia. If you or someone on your behalf makes that decision in the affirmative, you are promoting yourself. MER-C 12:04, 27 April 2020 (UTC)

SEO enthusiast
For your consideration:. Especially odious considering the history of the Umair Ahmad article. ☆ Bri (talk) 03:46, 28 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Sock blocked (Sockpuppet investigations/UA85). Please check whether that the three mentions in mainspace of this spammer aren't spam (no time right now). MER-C 08:27, 28 April 2020 (UTC)

Smells like WP:PAID


Hi MER-C, as you seem to be one of our premier authorities on spotting COI, would you mind reviewing this user's contributions? I asked the user if they had any declarations to make; they denied knowing the subject in question, but have not (yet) explicitly denied being paid. Most of the articles they've created fall in the borderline notability range, and the Jim Clash article feels like it's "trying a little too hard." Thanks! OhNo itsJamie Talk 04:22, 28 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Hi. I am sorry for any trouble I have caused. I came across Jim Clash while browsing Forbes.com last year and read a bunch of his articles and did some research on him and thought he was a good candidate for an article since he has written for a bunch of credible publications and also is a mountain climber. I thought that was unique and had some kind of notability. Did I not write the article correctly or include something that was against the rules? Also, what do you mean by "declarations"? I just found him randomly on Forbes.com and thought Wikipedia should have an article on him. Salvatore42 (talk) 04:48, 28 April 2020 (UTC)
 * So let me get this right - you create Durdana Ansari, then five hours later (a brand new account) uploaded File:Durdana Ansari in Karachi.jpg, then four hours later you add the image to the article. I find it difficult to believe this is a coincidence - would you like to furnish an explanation? MER-C 17:12, 28 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Hi again. I saw a video of her from a recent program on a Pakistani television network I watch and thought she had a great background in radio and now as a female empowerment activist. I published the article yesterday and then completed the infobox later in the day and added the photo I found on Wikimedia Commons. I did not upload the photo to Wikimedia Commons. I just added the actual article. Did I do this incorrectly? Salvatore42 (talk) 21:04, 28 April 2020 (UTC)
 * You don't see how the timing of the single purpose account's addition of the photo with your "discovering" the photo seems a bit coincidental? You are saying that you are not connected with user Ansarimobeen794 in any way? OhNo itsJamie Talk 21:23, 28 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Hi again. I'm not sure how to answer this. I don't know what is considered a coincidence in Wikipedia. Maybe the user found the Wikipedia page on Google and saw it didn't have a photo and added it? I really don't know. I can state that I have no connection with user Ansarimobeen794 or this person. The user has her last name in it, so I don't know if that means anything? These last few days have left me feeling pretty awful. I am obviously not as good of a Wikipedia volunteer as I thought I was. I think I'm going to take a break from editing and re-educate myself. I would like to fix Jim Clash's page by removing at least half of the accomplishments and making the section in prose, if that is okay? Salvatore42 (talk) 21:44, 28 April 2020 (UTC)
 * , what would be okay is commiting to memory the contents of both WP:COI & WP:PAID having done so, come back here & come clean. Celestina007 (talk) 17:56, 29 April 2020 (UTC)

sneaky upe
well, not so sneaky but it appears the creator has circumvented your spam block to publish their shitty black hat spam article. Praxidicae (talk) 13:38, 28 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Blocked. MER-C 17:02, 28 April 2020 (UTC)

GEP spammers
are back Praxidicae (talk) 17:39, 29 April 2020 (UTC)
 * I knew that redirect would be abused for spamming. Blocked. MER-C 17:59, 29 April 2020 (UTC)

Discussion at Talk:Cold-weather warfare
Hi MER-C, perhaps you could add some perspective to the discussion at Talk:Cold-weather warfare Cheers, HopsonRoad (talk) 20:10, 29 April 2020 (UTC)

Deletion review for Martin Huston
Some random IP has asked for a deletion review of Martin Huston. Because you closed the deletion discussion for this page, speedily deleted it, or otherwise were interested in the page, you might want to participate in the deletion review. —Cryptic 00:09, 30 April 2020 (UTC)

Uptick in lyrics site spam?
Hey M, I feel like there's been an uptick in lyric site spam. In my recent edit summary history, I've tagged a few sites like catchlyrics.com, lyricsinhindisongs.com, lyricsmust.com, lyricsmouse.com, bengalilyrics24.blogspot.com, mylyrics.online. I'm not to sharp with how edit filters work, but maybe you have a better idea of how to use them to quickly spot these. Also, a lot of these spammers are using blogspot as you know, and I wonder how long we can keep entertaining that. Why would blogspot ever be useful here? Anyway, since you're always on top of spam stuff, I figured I'd mention it to you. Regards, Cyphoidbomb (talk) 01:34, 30 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Don't know how much it's "recent" (I've been seeing it for a couple months at least), but I'd be very interested in seeing how many legitimate sites would get blocked if we just blacklisted "lyric" from the domain of all URLs. As far as I've seen, blocking these websites individually doesn't do much - someone signs up with username yetanotherlyricswebsite, adds links to yetanotherlyricswebsite.com, gets blocked, and then we don't see that site again. creffett (talk) 13:51, 30 April 2020 (UTC)
 * I feel like spam in general is on an upswing. I could be wrong. Yes, I agree that individual blocking and blacklisting is just playing whack-a-mole, especially when these sites are creating subdomains on major domains like blogspot.com. It's just easy and cheap for them. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 15:03, 30 April 2020 (UTC)
 * I agree that spam is rising - I am seeing more UPE articles despite marketing budgets being slashed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Spam grows exponentially. This is also, in part, due to the WMF doing absolutely nothing to improve anti-spam functionality over the last decade. Are there any articles that are hit a lot with this lyrics spam that can be protected? Also, it is likely worthwhile to put a regular expression on the User:XLinkBot/RevertList that matches lyrics in the domain name. This is (temporarily?) beyond my regex ability, so ping Beetstra. MER-C 17:10, 30 April 2020 (UTC)
 * I don't think that there any specific articles targeted, the spam seems to show up in primarily Bollywood (and other India-centric movie) articles but it pops up everywhere. One of the best (or worst) I've seen was one of them trying to add a lyrics link...on funeral. For what it's worth, I requested a little while back that "lyric" be added as a username check word to DeltaQuadBot as well. creffett (talk) 17:20, 30 April 2020 (UTC)

Sock is back!
You blocked him for UPE at Cloudi-Fi but he is back again with a different username. Ninjaediator (talk) 16:54, 3 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Blocked. MER-C 17:19, 3 May 2020 (UTC)

UPE
Another undisclosed paid-editing. The account is new yet experienced so obviously this marketing agency must be creating other pages for their clients using different accounts. A CU might be useful here. Ninjaediator (talk) 11:17, 4 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Yes, indeed. MER-C 18:16, 4 May 2020 (UTC)

Taking down a page and claiming it's advertising?
Please advise why this is...

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jayson_Pahlmeyer&action=edit&redlink=1 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Acti0nj4ckson212 (talk • contribs) 22:16, 6 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Because it was written by the banned spammer . What connection, if any, do you have with the subject of this article? MER-C 18:38, 7 May 2020 (UTC)

Dr Christopher Gallen archive of article
please provide the archive of the article — Preceding unsigned comment added by Spacesuittinman (talk • contribs) 18:42, 8 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Copyright violations cannot be undeleted. The articles are also promotional, so your editing privileges will be revoked if you continue. MER-C 18:45, 8 May 2020 (UTC)

Draft:Damien Lee (entrepreneur)
A recent attempt by a new sockfarm to move Draft:Damien Lee (entrepreneur) to the mainspace failed, and the editors involved blocked. However, I am guessing the appearance of this sockfarm on this particular draft is no coincidence given it was created by ElricFullMetal (increasing tied to ProCreative Writers) and edited by User:Xszamankax, who you blocked on the basis of off-wiki evidence. Would it be possible for you to protect Damien Lee (entrepreneur) from creation so that this paid editing operation at least attempts to use WP:AFC? Thanks. SamHolt6 (talk) 14:13, 9 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Done. MER-C 14:28, 9 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Thanks. You may also want to protect Mr Lee's Noodles as well - this article was created by Xszamakax and edited by Elric as well, and concerns the company that Damien Lee founded. I wouldn't be surprised if it attracted attention in the future. SamHolt6 (talk) 14:31, 9 May 2020 (UTC)
 * I'll leave that one as a honeypot. MER-C 15:37, 9 May 2020 (UTC)

A small concern
Hi, while I understand you are one of the most respected people around here and I am not accusing you of anything but I just came across your user page and the bingo section has this statement "Crappy article whose subject resides on the Indian subcontinent". This really seems to be a racial slur to me. Again, I am not accusing you of having any intentions but this statement, at some level, has a racial connotation. Given this is a personalized template, I would humbly request you to maybe correct this in someway? I would be highly obliged. NotJuggerNot (talk) 12:58, 12 May 2020 (UTC)
 * It's true, though - those collections of articles are worse than the average. But new articles about sub-Saharan topics are now at an even lower standard. So I've changed it. MER-C 12:30, 13 May 2020 (UTC)

While I agree with the fact that a lot of the articles are very poorly done in terms of all Wikipedia guidelines, the point I want to make is, we should refrain belittlement in our sentences. Underlying racial connotations for either people of the Indian sub-continent or Sub-Saharan or anyone else tbh are a point of problem. I come in Good Faith and again I can only request that the usage of anything even remotely discriminatory should be deemed unacceptable at all levels. You are, to the best of my knowledge, one of the most respected people around. And I guess that brings more responsibility for such stuff. I hope I am communicating my point in the most respectful of manners. Thanks NotJuggerNot (talk) 02:21, 15 May 2020 (UTC)

User:Billy Hathorn copyvio deletions
I appreciate the substantial task that you are undertaking in cleaning up User:Billy Hathorn's long trail of copyvio articles. However, can I ask that for articles on highly notable subjects, such as federal appellate judge Albert Tate Jr., see if you can preserve something in that space? In this case, I was able to parse out enough non-copyvio material from the edit history to at least maintain a stub on the subject. Alternately, if you happen to delete any of these articles on subjects who were high-level judges (state supreme court or federal), could you drop a note at WikiProject United States Courts and Judges? Cheers! BD2412 T 22:30, 12 May 2020 (UTC)
 * There's still several hundred articles to go (let alone the rest of the copyvio backlog of nearly 100k articles), and stubbing (or even notifying Wikiprojects) for 10% of them that are highly notable will be a big burden on myself and any other copyvio admin (of which there are less than 5). I am already thinly stretched as it is. My suggestion is to monitor Copyright problems, where articles will be listed for seven days before they are deleted. Rewrites on the dedicated talk subpage are welcome. If you want to get to the articles before I do, go to Contributor copyright investigations/20110727 02 and Contributor copyright investigations/20110727 03. MER-C 19:04, 13 May 2020 (UTC)

REFUND request
Hi, unless there is a reason other than G5 for deleting Mass Rape By German forces During The Second World War would you kindly restore it to draft? IIRC the content was OK, and I would like to work on it. buidhe 04:39, 13 May 2020 (UTC)
 * The page also had copyright problems, of which at least some were fixed. There's also this to consider. I am somewhat reluctant to restore - do you trust this user to write something reasonable about this controversial topic? MER-C 08:26, 13 May 2020 (UTC)

Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse
Dear, I made revisions, deletions and cleanup to an article you tagged as UPE, would appreciate if you could review the changes I made and let me know if it satisfies the cleanup need you saw when you tagged it. Best, Pratat (talk) 07:45, 14 May 2020 (UTC)
 * No. My problem with the article (and the one below) is that it exists, and the decision to include those subjects were made by spammers in their clients' interests and in flagrant defiance of Wikipedia's interests.
 * By the way, what connection, if any, do you have with the subjects of the articles you've been cleaning up? MER-C 17:16, 14 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Hi, connection with the articles - none whatsoever, if I had any it would have impacted my neutral judgement and I wouldn’t have made any efforts to improve it. As for the existence - I (Maybe wrongly) assume that if they’ve been there and for a while, and no decision to delete them was taken (nor suggested...), they are legitimate but with issues and so require improvement and cleanup. And that’s why I spent some time on improving them, finding and adding citations, making sure they adhere to neutrality etc. Pratat (talk) 17:55, 14 May 2020 (UTC)

Wes Period
Hi, by chance, I made edits and revisions to another page you tagged as UPE, in this case - I was less certain as to whether the article was clean enough for the tag to be removed, would appreciate your feedback. Best, Pratat (talk) 08:08, 14 May 2020 (UTC)
 * See above. MER-C 17:16, 14 May 2020 (UTC)

Editing- dont want any issue
I am hired to create a page for her, so I have created it on my sandbox User:Murgh Krahi/sandbox and will move after 4 days and i have already completed 10 edits. Will there be any issue? I dont want paid tag on this page, else client wont pay. Last time you have moved my page to draft, everytime I create a new page I do with a different account. I can share money with you if you want, send me your paypal email. Last time Cunard took all of my fee Sunny Li.190.115.160.202 (talk) 19:18, 14 May 2020 (UTC)

Bob Price (Texas politician)
I noticed that Bob Price (Texas politician) was one of the articles cut for copyright problems. As the figure was a notable individual, the article was since recreated, though I am worried that the copyrighted material was inadvertently restored. Could this be checked? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:241:301:4360:558A:125D:7440:6581 (talk) 02:20, 15 May 2020 (UTC)
 * it is full of copyvio, Earwig says 94%. ThatMontrealIP (talk) 02:30, 15 May 2020 (UTC)
 * I have deleted the article and restored only the non-copyvio content (basically infobox, categories, and one line of text). Fortunately, he has a congressional bio, so it should be easy to rebuild. BD2412  T 02:47, 15 May 2020 (UTC)

Speaking of which, is Samuel A. LeBlanc I (another Billy Hathorn article) a copyvio? If so, I coincidentally have created Samuel A. LeBlanc, which can be moved right over it. BD2412 T 05:21, 18 May 2020 (UTC)
 * It's eligible for presumptive deletion but not G12. I'll put it through the 7 day waiting period at Copyright problems necessary to get rid of it, then move yours to replace it. MER-C 11:30, 18 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Turns out this article, several hundred other creations, and three thousand articles where major edits were made were not listed at WP:CCI because the CCI only went up to October 2011 (not capturing socks and the unban/reban). That's yet another 500 articles to pad my deletion log with. Excrement. MER-C 19:14, 19 May 2020 (UTC)
 * If it helps, these are all the pages created by said user.
 * Yes, we know of Mr. Hathorn, thank you. BD2412  T 04:47, 26 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Just putting the pages that wouldn't show up on the investigation. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:241:301:4360:2880:F00D:4E04:47EC (talk) 05:19, 26 May 2020 (UTC)

Plot addition in Karz the hidden truth movie
Hello, first of all thank you for guidance as to how a plot should be added. Still i have a small doubt, i wanted to know what should be the correct method of adding a plot in my own words without copying it from anywhere. Can i add the plot summary in my own words? Or, shall i get it confirmed before adding to the page. I would really appreciate your reply. Thank you. Sunny313356u (talk) 13:53, 16 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Yes, watch the movie and write a plot summary (including spoilers) in your own words. If you can cite some of it to a reliable source, that's even better. MER-C 14:00, 16 May 2020 (UTC)

Draft:Suvicha Mekangkul
Hello MER-C,

My topic has been moved to Draft:Suvicha Mekangkul.

Although I have been neither compensated by nor associated with the subject in any way, I got the message saying that this article may have been created or edited in return for undisclosed payments.

I am new here, and I was wondering how to correct this.

Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kornsae (talk • contribs) 14:28, 16 May 2020 (UTC)
 * I forgot to remove your editing privileges for posting that. But now that you're here, please tell me how File:Suvicha Mekangkul at Citi Mercedes Event.jpg is your own work and any connection you have with . If I don't get a satisfactory answer to these questions, I will correct my oversight. MER-C 14:34, 16 May 2020 (UTC)

Hello MER-C,

Thank you for your prompt reply.

File:Suvicha Mekangkul at Citi Mercedes Event.jpg is my own work because I took it by myself in the same event (Citi Mercedes Event) that Suvicha Mekangkul attended in Bangkok, Thailand. Please find the detail of the event here: https://www.mercedes-benz.co.th/en/passengercars/the-brand/news-and-events.pi.html/the-brand/news-and-events/citi-mercedes-credit-card/full-article

Readthai is my partner who is fluent in Thai. We both live together here in Thailand.

Please let me know if you need further information on either of these. Thank you.--Kornsae (talk) 15:03, 16 May 2020 (UTC)
 * How did you get access to this event? And why is this photo formally posed? It's highly unlikely a random person attends a credit card launch and gets a celebrity to pose for a photo without a good business-related reason to be there. MER-C 15:06, 16 May 2020 (UTC)

Hello MER-C,

Thank you for your questions. The event was held at Emquartier, which is a major department store in Bangkok and is public. There were many celebrities attending the event, which did attract a lot of people. Suvicha is one of the few celebrities that arrived early when there were not many people. I did not ask him to pose for me, but because there was only one professional photographer taking pictures at the time, so I took the opportunity to stand beside him and took pictures.

Thank you, and please let me know if you have more questions.--Kornsae (talk) 15:48, 16 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Would you know who is as well? MER-C 18:22, 16 May 2020 (UTC)

Hello MER-C

That is my partner’s other account. However, it is no longer in use since the account username is traceable to actual identity.

Please let me know if you need further information. Thanks!--Kornsae (talk) 19:16, 16 May 2020 (UTC)

May I ask why are you asking all these? I apologise if I did not request for review of the article since I thought it would be reviewed automatically.--Kornsae (talk) 19:30, 16 May 2020 (UTC)
 * I asked you about the image because it is proof that you have met Mr Mekangkul or is a copyright violation. I asked you about the two other accounts because use of multiple accounts is generally disallowed. MER-C 10:50, 17 May 2020 (UTC)

Hello MER-C

I understand clearly now why you asked those questions. Also thank you for listening.

Despite being a stub, I have tried to create Draft:Suvicha Mekangkul in a way that complies to Wikipedia’s policies to the best of my knowledge. Since I'm new in Wikipedia and since I'm here with you now, I would really appreciate if you could review the article and let me know what I have to do next.

Thank you very much.--Kornsae (talk) 11:27, 17 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Blocked for sockpuppetry. MER-C 11:29, 17 May 2020 (UTC)

The White Panda
Hello, I was trying to read about The White Panda, a musical group, and noticed that their article had been removed for copyright reasons. I was not affiliated with the original article, but I was wondering what the procedure would be to create a new article that doesn't have the same problems?

I'm not an expert on Wikipedia's notability guidelines, or Wikipedia in general, but I suspect they would meet the criteria if I looked for references, as they have headlined at least one college campus show I'm aware of. I could be wrong, but I'm willing to work on establishing notability if a case can be made. After some cursory research, it does appear that they have been written about by at least a few significant sources: Entertainment Weekly and Billboard so I'm fairly hopeful I can write an article that conforms with Wikipedia's policies.

I was pointed to contact the editor who removed the article before attempting to create a new article on the same subject. Ideally, I would like access to the latest versions of the deleted article as material to draw on when re-writing, and would be happy to write it in a sandbox before moving it to article space when the problems are resolved. Let me know what you would advise.

I also posted this on JoJan's Talk Page, probably in error.

Thanks! --Semitones (talk) 18:04, 18 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Just start writing. I cannot provide you with deleted text, but I pasted some stuff in your sandbox. MER-C 18:49, 18 May 2020 (UTC)

THank you. I found some text on waybackmachine also. Semitones (talk) 23:08, 19 May 2020 (UTC)

more meatsocks
here. Carrymint claims to be Pankaj's "friend" but there's clearly some spammy nonsense happening. Praxidicae (talk) 12:35, 19 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Now they're moving crap around, the link is actually here. Praxidicae (talk) 13:13, 19 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Blocked. I'm not sure if I should take out too. I'll wait until they start moving spam into mainspace. MER-C 17:08, 19 May 2020 (UTC)

George Baines
Hi, am. this page was deleted by you here on copy rights violation. Please can you allow me to recreate the page, although I don't even know who is author of the article and how he create, but I will like you should permit me to recreate the article. But if it wouldn't be necessary, no problem I can forget about the page, because I reverted a edit by an IP address user here and I realized that this article is in red tags so I search on Google to see if it's notable and imaging seeing many sources covering his biography, that's why I request this. Sorry if I disturbed you. Much regards ( F5pillar ---/  Let's talk🖋📩 ) 13:46, 19 May 2020 (UTC)
 * You don't need my permission - just start writing. MER-C 16:54, 19 May 2020 (UTC)

Alright thanks, I thought may be there is some hard consequences in recreating deleted page. Much regards ( F5pillar ---/  Let's talk🖋📩 ) 10:48, 20 May 2020 (UTC)
 * There can be, but not in this case. Also Billy Hathorn is banned for copyright infringement, so there is no point trying to contact him. MER-C 11:59, 20 May 2020 (UTC)

Ok I got you. here is this one if it'sOK George Washington Baines. But don't have categories to include in it, may be if you can help. ''Much regards ( F5pillar ---/  Let's talk🖋📩 ) 12:42, 20 May 2020 (UTC)

Embarrassingly out of touch question
How does one run a CCI contributionsurveyor these days? I wanted to put Dhollm through it to see if I could clear Copyright problems/2019 November 21 and... I don't know what to do. :/ *Is* there a tool for that these days? --Moonriddengirl (talk) 00:30, 25 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Use mine - https://wikipediatools.appspot.com/contributionsurveyor.jsp . I also have an offline version that can deal with unlimited edits and sockfarms. MER-C 09:13, 25 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Thank you! Giving it a go. :) --Moonriddengirl (talk) 00:11, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

Matthew Mazzotta
thanks for suppressing the copyvio on the above article. The came back and added more, so if you are in a suppressive mood... 19:27, 25 May 2020 (UTC)
 * They won't be doing that again. MER-C 19:29, 25 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Well I came to the right place. Thanks. ThatMontrealIP (talk) 19:31, 25 May 2020 (UTC)

ygm
apparently yours didn't come through. Praxidicae (talk) 17:56, 26 May 2020 (UTC)

Blacklisting a book?
Do you know if it's possible to blacklist a book? The one I want in particular is Educational Techniques and Methodology by Sage McKinney; seemingly it's entire contents have been copied from wikipedia with no attribution, making it a copyright violation. I removed a few links to it here and there, and it's caused other problems, where two experienced users (understandably) mistook it as an actual book.Moneytrees🌴Talk🌲Help out at CCI! 02:47, 28 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Not really - blacklisting only blocks URLs. It won't stop the first diff you link to. MER-C 12:17, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

Deletion review for Category:Moses Sumney songs
An editor has asked for a deletion review of Category:Moses Sumney songs. Because you closed the deletion discussion for this page, speedily deleted it, or otherwise were interested in the page, you might want to participate in the deletion review. I grieve in stereo (talk) 16:36, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

MGW sock
I noticed you are adding comments to the banned sockpuppet's nominations, I've been also striking the comments; in my mind it is more noticeable that way, but if you prefer I stop, happy to do so. --Goldsztajn (talk) 20:49, 28 May 2020 (UTC)
 * I don't think it's sufficient. Some of the deletion nominations have merit and should be left open (and not closed by some eager non-admin). Being wrong and being a sock are two different things. I also don't mind it when spammers nominate their competitors' articles for deletion. MER-C 16:47, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

Mark M. Shelton
Could you please restore that long enough for me to address the copyvio problems? --evrik (talk) 01:03, 30 May 2020 (UTC)
 * I cannot provide copyright violating text in any way. I pasted the non-creative content to User:Evrik/draft3. MER-C 12:39, 30 May 2020 (UTC)
 * I have rebuilt enough text for a stub. Can I get it restored, please? Thanks. --evrik (talk) 21:27, 30 May 2020 (UTC)
 * I have moved the draft to mainspace. I will not undelete the history of Mark M. Shelton because copyright violations must not be restored. MER-C 10:06, 31 May 2020 (UTC)

ygm mail within the hour
I just found out about the French paid editing scandal. The Signpost publishes in a bit more than 24 hours. Given my schedule that's really hard to change. I'll try to send you specific questions, but I'll be working other angles on this. Please email me anything you'd like to say about the matter. Smallbones( smalltalk ) 14:35, 30 May 2020 (UTC)

New Strategy by Spammers
Check this link out : https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Digital_Asset_Modeling_Language&action=history, Draft has been already rejected a few times, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft:Digital_Asset_Modeling_Language 27.100.13.142 (talk) 20:01, 30 May 2020 (UTC)
 * I'm already aware of this tactic. Spam deleted, sock blocked. MER-C 10:09, 31 May 2020 (UTC)

Am I allowed to perform this action?
Hello, when trying to move one of the draft articles I helped contributed Draft:Suvicha Mekangkul to the real articles, I got a notification that the page has previously been moved or deleted by you. I’m contacting you as am not sure what seem to be the issue or if it has been fixed. Please help advice. Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bnk24 (talk • contribs) 23:26, 31 May 2020 (UTC)
 * What connection do you have with the subject of this article? MER-C 16:51, 1 June 2020 (UTC)

Your connection means do I know him? I don't know him personally but I follow his work. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bnk24 (talk • contribs) 23:39, 1 June 2020 (UTC)
 * You've submitted it to AFC. No further action is needed. MER-C 17:43, 3 June 2020 (UTC)

ICICI_Prudential_Life_Insurance
Hi,

Please clarify why this mage was deleted.

WE see the comments at 10:43, 19 April 2020 MER-C talk contribs deleted page ICICI Prudential Life Insurance (Listed at Wikipedia:Copyright problems for over seven days: Wikipedia:Copyright problems/2020 April 11).

Can you clarify why the page is deleted and what steps can be done to restore the same.

Madhu — Preceding unsigned comment added by 103.219.229.8 (talk) 09:50, 1 June 2020 (UTC)
 * Copyright violations cannot be undeleted. What connection, if any, do you have with this company? MER-C 16:47, 1 June 2020 (UTC)

Suspected UPE
Is this obvious enough to block? They have been editing the UPE sock magnet Draft:Anjana Reddy and created two highly questionable articles on companies. Thanks, Spicy (talk) 18:10, 4 June 2020 (UTC)
 * Yes it is. Blocked, along with . MER-C 18:16, 4 June 2020 (UTC)

Hello MER-C, I need your insight on a page you moved to draft.
Hey, you recently moved a page to draft from article. The draft right now is Draft:Bishnu Adhikari. I would like to know what improvements can one make to successfully get it back? I have read the history, and there seems to be an issue with notability. Please let me know how can I fix it enough to get it approved? What are the things I should focus on? What should I avoid?

Thank you for your services :)

Sincerely, TheNavedKhan (talk) 22:29, 4 June 2020 (UTC)
 * How about not being a spammer writing articles for pay? MER-C 17:11, 5 June 2020 (UTC)

Mail
SamHolt6 (talk) 17:20, 5 June 2020 (UTC)
 * Banhammer duly swung. MER-C 18:03, 5 June 2020 (UTC)