Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Spam/2014 Archive Jul 1

Chesky Records/HDtracks.com


, appears to be exclusively interested in Chesky Records and its artists. Many edits are to add refspam or linkspam to Chesky titles publiscised on chesky.com, or listed on HDtracks.com, which - surprise, surprise - is owned by David Chesky. This goes well beyond what might be expected of a keen enthusiast or fan. I've also listed this at WP:COIN. Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 16:05, 1 July 2014 (UTC)

SpyroDragon.com

 * links


 * related link


 * accounts

Repeated tenacious edit warring over addition of a fansite link, ongoing addition to multiple articles at least as far back as June 2013. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 23:54, 30 June 2014 (UTC)
 * See discussion at Talk:Spyro (series), which was started June 2013 and is ongoing. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 00:19, 1 July 2014 (UTC)

I thought I should add that if you go to spyrodragon.com, it redirects to tlos.openu2.com. This URL should be reported for spam as well in case the user decides to try to find "loopholes." Sfstormy (talk) 05:56, 2 July 2014 (UTC)
 * Thanks, I've added the list above for tracking. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 04:47, 3 July 2014 (UTC)
 * Think I've also found another sockpuppet. User:69.181.63.48 on the talk page. Sfstormy (talk) 04:50, 3 July 2014 (UTC)
 * I also came across two additional related URLs. They are not in use on any articles at this time, so just listing here for tracking purposes. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 15:33, 3 July 2014 (UTC)

borderline external link proliferation.
— Preceding unsigned comment added by 166.137.210.33 (talk • contribs)
 * Timestamp. MER-C 09:27, 6 July 2014 (UTC)

organicsearch.agency external link spamming
Repeated attempts from various IP addresses to add organicsearch.agency to external links sections. See, , in the organic search article. See, in the conversation article. See in the content creation article. -- Whpq (talk) 20:45, 7 July 2014 (UTC)

filmelon.com


I have found some with another spam website. If you could check these please. ,, Daan0001 (talk) 11:09, 7 July 2014 (UTC)
 * Split from above. User blocked. Please keep these reports coming, there is a lot of Bollywood spam out there. MER-C 02:27, 8 July 2014 (UTC)
 * Ok thanks I will keep an eye and report them. Daan0001 (talk) 13:36, 8 July 2014 (UTC)

External links in lists and tables
I came across this list today, List of video game emulators, and noticed the column for "Links" in the tables. Are such external links appropriate? There are literally hundreds of external links, many of them purely commercial in nature. Inline external links aren't appropriate per External links (Point #2 under "Important points to remember") so should all of these be removed? Deli nk (talk) 17:55, 8 July 2014 (UTC)

Cite spammer in musician articles
Appx last 250 edits going back to 2013 are cite spamming and some external links to site musiclegends.ca. . Not adding any content other than links.

I'm not sure what the process is for cite spammers, but if possible recommend automated removal of all links/refs and musiclegends.ca added to blacklist

Thank you --CutOffTies (talk) 23:59, 8 July 2014 (UTC)

I am sorry but I was not really aware that adding links that added to the content was going to harm my account. I will be more careful to content I add from now on. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gtmo (talk • contribs) 00:22, 9 July 2014 (UTC)

Reporting User:Sophie petter

 * User has made two contributions so far, adding the text: "self image is when you judge your own opinion of yourself. you may think you might not look good but that is your opinion do not let people judge you. do what you think is best by you..." Likely a bot, or WP:NOTHERE; unsure if this behavior has been observed in the past, so I'm reporting it here. 23W 09:32, 9 July 2014 (UTC)

Bombay Velvet
Hello I'm reporting another user User:Sid Blue who's using social chat as a reference even after a warning at this page. Also adding fan craft poster stating from official twitter even though twitter not been verified. Also I would like to get your opinion here as I can't handle the burden of removing this anymore. Daan0001 (talk) 08:37, 9 July 2014 (UTC)

If you have a look at the twitter account linked it is clearly the official account https://twitter.com/TheBombayVelvet. It does not have a blue tick (twitter verification-)- granted, although, with use of simple logic if you have a look at its followers and the exclusive content it has posted it is clearly an official page. Fox Star Studios, which is one of the producer of the film follows the page along with some of the prominent actors in it. Another clear indicator is the pictures posted which includes the official film logo on the films launch party of the official release date on the 17th of April 2014 ( if the User:Daan0001 had basic knowledge on the film he would have known this). If you have a look at edit history I have been consistently monitoring the Bombay Velvet wikipedia article and have made the most contributions to the page - deleting legitimate spam and inaccurate edits. The User:Daan0001 is using this as a opportunity to bully a small contribute like me to get blocked. I have no intention to spam nor to post inaccuracies on the mentioned wikipedia page. Sid Blue (talk) 08:59, 9 July 2014 (UTC)Sid Blue
 * I have no intention of you getting blocked. That would be my least worry. I just want to stop these non reliable chat content WP:REFSPAM and unofficial logo ??? removed from the page. As it's totally fan craft. We can not make assumptions to make twitter being official WP:CRYSTAL would not allow us. If you say logo been launched by officials why can not we find any reliable source ? Which means it's not/it's not widely spoken. Until then we have to wait. Anyway film due in December. Daan0001 (talk) 09:08, 9 July 2014 (UTC)

You are making accusations with words like "fan craft", without any evidence. Please refrain from such accusations on Wikipedia. Anushka Sharma who is one the lead actors of the film, posted this tweet( https://twitter.com/AnushkaSharma/status/456482538601472000 ), from her twitter account on the day of the official film launch, of which the @TheBombayVelvet account was conducting promotion activity on social media. That is another clear indicator of the legitimacy of the mentioned twitter account. Sid Blue (talk) 09:20, 9 July 2014 (UTC)Sid Blue


 * Okay the actress hasn't used this poster not the production company isn't it ? I will keep on using the word 'fan craft' as I know million percent it is not been announced by any news media neither widely spoken. I have done my home work and after that only I'm reporting it. If you can prove it by adding a reliable reference. By that logo could remain on wiki page. No arguments. Daan0001 (talk) 10:18, 9 July 2014 (UTC)
 * This is a content dispute, please sort it out elsewhere. You should stop edit warring before you get blocked. MER-C 11:43, 9 July 2014 (UTC)

Filmypandit report




Numerous IP's has been using this website as a source to add nonconstructive edits to wikipedia mainly on Indian upcoming movies alongside adding YouTube trailers to wiki pages. Daan0001 (talk) 19:19, 4 July 2014 (UTC)
 * You say that there are multiple IPs... please specify IPs and accounts. MER-C 09:24, 6 July 2014 (UTC)
 * Users User:Kaxil - if you check this users edit on external links you will see. Daan0001 (talk) 11:09, 7 July 2014 (UTC)
 * User warned. MER-C 11:47, 9 July 2014 (UTC)

felixguides.com

 * links


 * accounts

URL is being spammed into multiple articles via one or two post throw-away SPA accounts, ongoing for past month. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 18:23, 10 July 2014 (UTC)
 * You should blacklist this. MER-C 01:46, 11 July 2014 (UTC)
 * Thanks - I prefer getting input from an additional person before blacklisting URLs that I identify myself as being abused on Wikipedia. I'll go ahead an add it to the blacklist later today. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 16:23, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

Fullsongspk.in



 * Accounts



— Preceding unsigned comment added by Daan0001 (talk • contribs)
 * User talk page deleted. MER-C 12:14, 11 July 2014 (UTC)
 * MER-C Great how shall we black list these web pages ? What's are criteria for them ? Could you guide me with that please. Daan0001 (talk) 13:52, 11 July 2014 (UTC)
 * Blacklisting is used when blocking is suboptimal due to sockpuppetry, block evasion or a highly dynamic IP address and protection is suboptimal due to targeting multiple and/or highly visible pages. MER-C 05:45, 12 July 2014 (UTC)

elsa-pataky.org

 * Hey all, on about 7 occasions at Elsa Pataky, Spanish IP users have attempted to add an Elsa Pataky fansite to the infobox, a few times even pasting over the actor's legitimate official website.  Seems an obvious attempt to spam.  Since the user(s) are hopping IPs, there's no real way to communicate with them.  At some point I, or another editor, added an embedded note to discourage these additions "Official website only. Fansites will be deleted as spam." but that was ignored in this edit. This started happening in 2012, but it flared up in 2014 and now someone adds the link every couple of weeks.  Appreciate any help we can get on this. Thanks, Cyphoidbomb (talk) 14:57, 11 July 2014 (UTC)
 * Semi-protected for two months. MER-C 05:48, 12 July 2014 (UTC)

clazwork.com



 * Spammers

MER-C 10:51, 12 July 2014 (UTC)

User:Bernietaylor
This user has been inserting books apparently written by himself, "Bernie Taylor," into numerous articles as references of dubious quality, thereby creating a potential conflict of interest problem, in addition to apparently ignoring warnings against such behavior.
 * Titles include:


 * "Big Trout, How and Where to Target Trophies" by Bernie Taylor
 * "At the Intersection of Heaven and Earth" by Bernie Taylor and https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rut_(mammalian_reproduction)&diff=prev&oldid=617356055]
 * "Biological Time" by Bernie Taylor  and
 * --Mr Fink (talk) 22:15, 17 July 2014 (UTC)

and Earn4Share.com
Users only contributions are adding external links to http://Earn4Share.com/?id=22301. After reverting, no other links seem to exist in the mainspace, thankfully. 23W 09:00, 20 July 2014 (UTC)

Resin (software)

 * accounts



Maybe this counts as spam, or maybe it doesn't: in any case this article is quite a mess and always has been. (Not link spam for the most part, content spam - this line of software products is definitely notable, it's just seemed impossible over the years to even begin getting it in to encyclopedic shape. Now an effort is being made to even obscure the fact that there are two dramatically-different commercial and open-source editions/categories of it.)

Yesterday, the 66.27.102.135 IP was blocked, then unblocked by the same administrator after discussion, in ANI:"slander" claim on Resin Server article.

While the block was in effect User:Jsrcse, an account created that same day, engaged in the same indiscriminate revert behavior as the IP's previous edits—targeting the same article sections, deleting cited quotations drawn from the product vendor's own marketing material and download page, removing Cleanup-spam and Peacock, stripping out actual quotes and accurate descriptions of the contents of existing sources, etc., all with a single deceptive edit comment about "clarifying" a detail—and then elevated the Wikiproject:Java importance in the talk page.

The edits of the above SPAs in the last month hit several of the WP:VANDTYPES right on the button as I see it, all in the pursuit of reducing the actual encyclopedic content of the page and making an already-brochure-like article even more promotional, and so appear to obviously be spam to me. But I don't have the time or energy right now that holding ground against and fulfilling long, arduous, low-ROI bureaucratic processes against multiple coordinated accounts that act precociously (whether as sockpuppets or backed by more than one person) has required in the past as a non-admin, so I'm posting this here in the hopes that you guys have better insight or approaches. -- ▸∮ truthious ᛔ andersnatch ◂ 13:32, 23 July 2014 (UTC)

Pinoydom spam only account
- this user's spam article Manila Forwarder was just speedy deleted, but if you look at this user's contribution, nearly all of their edits have been to add references to this company to Balikbayan box, going back to 2009. Oiyarbepsy (talk) 14:23, 23 July 2014 (UTC)

Cite spammer in musician articles (again)
Hello I posted this earlier but didn't get a reply from anyone about how to proceed. I'd appreciate a reply, or advice on how to handle this. Thank you


 * archive link

--CutOffTies (talk) 04:11, 15 July 2014 (UTC)

The users hasn't edited since posting the apology last time, so we probably don't need to do anything at the moment. Just keep and eye on to ensure they don't do it again. Oiyarbepsy (talk) 14:28, 23 July 2014 (UTC)

Spamming marijuana related businesses
- this user has two recently speedy deleted articles, Mc Farlin LLP and Evergreen Agra, and another one under PROD, Otherside Farms. Evergreen and Otherside are both spam articles promoting small marijuana companies, and I suspect McFarlin is the same. I PRODed Otherside mainly because it has several sources and has been around a while, but it might be a speedy delete candidate. Oiyarbepsy (talk) 14:52, 23 July 2014 (UTC)

User CodeCruncher
I've noticed User:CodeCruncher seems to be engaging in promotion of the Rhyme Genie software. After creating an article about the software, the user has repeatedly added wikilinks to that article in the "See Also" sections of other rhyme-related articles. Not sure how to deal with this; the user might be acting in good faith, or this might be a deliberate strategy to avoid the scrutiny given to external links. Could someone look into this? 2001:558:6045:A9:C65:CFC6:E085:9818 (talk) 02:54, 28 June 2014 (UTC)
 * I reinstated what I believe to be a perfectly valid link to an internal Wikipedia article vetted by experienced Wikipedia editors. According to Wikipedia's 'Guide to Layout': See also section is a list of internal links to related Wikipedia articles (perfect vs. imperfect rhyme). Please notify me if this is indeed regarded as spam as I am acting in good faith and it is not my intent to violate any of Wikipedia's policies.CodeCruncher (talk) 03:26, 1 July 2014 (UTC)


 * Please also note that the only links created are in the ‘See also’ sections of ‘rhyme’, ‘perfect rhyme’ and ‘imperfect rhyme’. Please look at the edit history of each of these three articles to decide whether my intent was to spam. At times the entire ‘See also’ sections were completely removed by IP users without a Wikipedia account.CodeCruncher (talk) 05:59, 1 July 2014 (UTC)


 * In fact, you have added "See also" links to RhymeGenie in at least eight different articles:
 * Rhyme
 * Rhyming dictionary
 * Multisyllabic rhymes
 * Feminine rhyme
 * Masculine rhyme
 * Assonance
 * Perfect rhyme
 * Half rhyme
 * Half rhyme


 * Of these, I would consider only "Rhyming dictionary" appropriate. The others are too tangentially related to be worth a "See also" link.  It would be like adding a link to AntWeb in the "See also" section of every article relating to ants on Wikipedia.


 * Moreover, creating the RhymeGenie and TuneSmith articles and adding links to them is pretty much all you have done on Wikipedia. This suggests to me that you are affiliated with the company and are attempting to promote your software through Wikipedia. However, I'd like some other editors to weigh in on this, since I may be in the minority with this opinion.  --The OP 67.188.230.128 (talk) 05:10, 8 July 2014 (UTC)


 * Looking at my contribution history I can confirm that four link were added in January 2012 and four more in March 2012. Perfect rhyme and half rhyme were removed and reinstated in 2014. The other links were never contested. I can see how my contribution history can raise suspicion but you have to admit that questioning the character of your fellow contributors while your IP address doesn't even stay the same is counterintuitive. I am certain that I would have given your changes more weight if you had created a Wikipedia account. Most of these articles are stubs and are vandalized frequently.CodeCruncher (talk) 14:22, 8 July 2014 (UTC)
 * The fact that I am not logged in has no bearing on this discussion. And I am not questioning your character, I'm questioning your disruptive behavior. Just because these articles are frequently vandalized does not mean they are acceptable targets for self-promotion. 67.188.230.128 (talk) 16:17, 8 July 2014 (UTC)


 * ‘Disruptive behavior’ implies that the article in question is completely unrelated to the other articles. Maybe I misinterpreted Wikipedia’s ‘Guide to Layout’. I think we will both benefit greatly from the opinion of a more experienced editor to lay this argument to rest.CodeCruncher (talk) 17:42, 8 July 2014 (UTC)


 * Agreed, this may be a simple misunderstanding. By the way, are you affiliated with RhymeGenie?  If so, you may want to have a look at WP:COI and WP:PSCOI. 67.188.230.128 (talk) 04:02, 9 July 2014 (UTC)


 * How can you ask for more transparency and accountability if you provide none in return? I’ll make you an offer that will allow us to end this debate in a more constructive way. If you create a permanent user account and add one new article to the rhyme section of Wikipedia I’ll follow suit and add two new articles. We will link the newly created articles to this thread so experienced editors can examine if they meet all of Wikipedia's requirements. This will greatly improve the rhyme section as a whole and benefit the entire Wikipedia community.CodeCruncher (talk) 15:49, 10 July 2014 (UTC)


 * Here is my first new article: Amphisbaenic rhyme CodeCruncher (talk) 16:16, 13 July 2014 (UTC)
 * I appreciate your show of good faith, but I'm not interested in bargaining. If you are affiliated with the company, you should avoid conflicts of interest in editing.  This is not my policy, but Wikipedia's. 67.188.230.128 (talk) 03:09, 18 July 2014 (UTC)


 * In case you have a change of heart in the future here is my second new article: Light rhyme. We will have to wait for an experienced editor to weigh in and help us decide wether the three links in the ‘See also’ section of ‘rhyme’, ‘perfect rhyme’ and ‘imperfect rhyme’ offer relevant and pertinent information. I believe they do and welcome further debate.


 * To reiterate what the IP user said, as is mentioned in the conflict of interest policy the Terms of Use you agree to every time you click the "Save Page" button mandate that "you must disclose your employer, client, and affiliation with respect to any contribution for which you receive, or expect to receive, compensation" by one of the methods listed there if you are making edits on topics with which you have a conflict of interest. Your other contributions to the project, the activities of other users, and whether or not you create an account do not provide any justification for you or anyone else to conceal conflicts of interest.  There are recommendations of best practices for editors with close associations. ▸∮ truthious ᛔ andersnatch ◂ 15:57, 23 July 2014 (UTC)

Revescom.com
Ads for chat/dating website on web/marketing articles such as Competitor analysis, Local search (Internet), Web crawler. See also Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Spam/2014_Archive_Mar_1. Possibly related to fr:User:Kaissayahi. - Certes (talk) 22:09, 28 July 2014 (UTC)

Also
 * , active today. --bonadea contributions talk 13:49, 29 July 2014 (UTC)