Wikipedia:Mediation Cabal/Cases/2006-02-21 Chevrolet Corvette

Request Information

 * Request made by: Mulder416 00:59, 21 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Where is the issue taking place?
 * Chevrolet Corvette


 * Who's involved?
 * 63.26.99.106


 * What's going on?
 * Edit war, starting with me removing the user's link as spam.


 * ''What would you like to change about that?
 * Resolve the debate over what would be considered a shameless plug, stopping the edit war.


 * If you'd prefer we work discreetly, how can we reach you?

Not a new issue
Have a look at this:

forum              action  revision  editor -              --    -- corvetteforum.com   added   21889778  RockOfVictory corvetteforum.com  removed 24357981  HorsePunchKid corvetteforum.com  added   31830285  70.117.5.79 corvetteforums.com added   33026514  68.195.158.83 corvetteforums.com removed 33044269  Morven corvettevalley.com added   40496342  63.26.99.106 corvettevalley.com removed 40496625  Mulder416 corvetteforum.com  removed 40498121  Mulder416

The question would seem to be: are external links to Corvette forums for Corvette enthusiasts more like "useful encyclopedic information", or more like "spam"? My impression is that the users who added the links were perhaps overly enthusiastic but basically acted in good faith. Lambiam 02:17, 21 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Found this too. -Mulder416 19:33, 22 February 2006 (UTC)


 * I would agree that the train-wreck edit was not "in good faith", which casts aspersions on the other corvettevalley edits.Lambiam 16:08, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

External_links mentions "Fan sites: On articles about topics with many fansites, including a link to one major fansite is appropriate, marking the link as such." Problems with this are: How does one determine which fansites are major? and: If there are several major ones, how to justify why one is mentioned and another is not. Lambiam 16:08, 24 February 2006 (UTC)


 * In the cae of a car, an official or officially endorsed owners club is the obvious one. But it's best if poeple who are actually owners add the link.  I know Volvos; brickboard is the one I'd probably insert for that.  These multiple forums added by anons are not necesarily the same anon.  You're right to prune them, before you get to the spam event horizon, but the fact of these being added by anons doesn't necessarily make them linkspam.  See http://www.alexa.com/data/details/?url=corvetteforum.com - that's a pretty high ranking for a single-model discussion board.  Also the "sites linking in" has a lot of sites, and WP is not high (WP as top site linking in is a top spam identifierr for me) and this  shows only one article linking, so it's not being spammed all across the project.  Much as I hate to reward a spammer, I think this might be a good one. Just zis Guy you know? 21:02, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

Mediator response
I have issued a request for clarification and a statement to parties in dispute. I will proceed after receipt of requested materials.

If anyone fails to answer within 30 days from this posting, I will agree with the opponent; if both fail to reply, I will consider the dispute resolved, etc.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

1liberator