Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Spam/2018 Archive Jul 1

URL shortener at s.id being used to conceal a link to peoplesbiography.in
Please see this edit at Canada Day being used to add spam via https://s.id. The full URL was s.id/1YCY7 which resolves to peoplesbiography.in, which is already on the spam blacklist. It looks like this is the same concept as the one in my previous complaint here about allmotti.xyz (see above). Since peoplesbiography.in is the common element of these two cases, it wouldn't be a shock if this is the same gang of people, now evading the blacklisting of allmotti.xyz (thanks to User:-revi for taking care of that blacklisting). EdJohnston (talk) 20:05, 1 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Nice attempt... Blocking on meta SBL again. Thanks for reporting. &mdash; regards, Revi 13:44, 2 July 2018 (UTC)
 * And added: m:User:COIBot/XWiki/s.id &mdash; regards, Revi 13:49, 2 July 2018 (UTC)

New vector
Special:Log/create; also see my log deletions. This cannot possibly be a good idea. —Cryptic 12:42, 29 June 2018 (UTC)
 * See T176867. I will chase the Anti-Harassment team to get this bumped up the priority list. MER-C 13:54, 29 June 2018 (UTC)
 * Maybe something in MediaWiki:Deletedtext as a stopgap? ( , alas, doesn't work.) —Cryptic 14:20, 29 June 2018 (UTC)
 * Consider the WMF chased. MER-C 15:47, 2 July 2018 (UTC)

IP editor adding links to sorting algorithms
I'm not sure if this actually is a link spam, or just a limited self promotion (I can't even know for sure, whether a promotion), so I come here to ask more experienced spam-fighters to review and, if necessary, deal with, a contribution by

who recently adds links to subpages of (https)

to articles about sorting algorithms.

I am not fluent enough neither in Wikipedia policies nor in English to handle it myself. --CiaPan (talk) 06:55, 3 July 2018 (UTC)

Refspam to futuremarketinsights.com

 * Domains


 * User(s)

All edits by Swapna-supekar are promotional. First edit was on 19 December 2017; first warning was on 6 February 2018. Many of the edits have not been reverted. —Ringbang (talk) 13:31, 9 July 2018 (UTC)


 * Cleaned up a few more of futuremarketinsights.com (user Chrissymad removed a lot of the remaining additions): all links seem to have been deleted by now. Considering the systematic obvious spamming by a marketing employee, futuremarketinsights.com should be blacklisted. It's not a reliable or credible source anyway. GermanJoe (talk) 14:08, 9 July 2018 (UTC)


 * to MediaWiki:Spam-blacklist. --- TNT 💖 14:29, 9 July 2018 (UTC)
 * The SBL helper thing did something odd on this request, apologies - TNT 💖 14:31, 9 July 2018 (UTC)

Do we want this?


Yesterday I removed an external link to sketchfab.com from Château de Chenonceau; it's been restored by, who has added a number of similar links to other pages over the years. I don't see any encyclopaedic merit in it or in others like it, and am thinking that they should all be removed. Any thoughts on that? NB: some of the links are to skfb.ly. Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 11:11, 10 July 2018 (UTC)

I think that it is interesting to show 3D model, particularly for monuments, statues or sites via photogrammetry. Or it is not possible actually to create this with Wikipedia. I suppose if it was not possible to display images in Wikipedia we could add external links to theses images ! Moroplogo (talk) 15:09, 10 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Wikimedia Commons is now able to host 3D models, and they can be used as images. There is no need for an external link. MER-C 20:16, 10 July 2018 (UTC)

Two domains
These have been spammed by socks (SPI case) and it's possible that blacklisting may be appropriate. Thanks to, — Paleo Neonate  – 00:20, 11 July 2018 (UTC) — Berean Hunter   (talk)  00:45, 11 July 2018 (UTC)
 * One hit at the Danish wiki is the only cross-wiki abuse that I have seen. These accounts come from ranges with multiple sockmasters, lots of UPE activity. Lots of spammers already blocked, too.


 * to MediaWiki:Spam-blacklist. --Dirk Beetstra T C 03:21, 11 July 2018 (UTC)

Vandal
I am not sure if this is the right place to report this, but User:Sophia_schwerin is an obvious vandal and should be blocked: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Sophia_schwerin. The only contribution the user does to Wikipedia is to vandalize the same article over and over again with the same content, for months. --Aciram (talk) 17:15, 13 July 2018 (UTC)
 * The correct place for obvious vandalism is WP:AIV. However, this does not strike me as obvious vandalism; please see WP:NOT VANDALISM. I do not see any attempts to explain to the user that their edits are not appropriate, so I have now left them a message in their talk page. –FlyingAce✈hello 17:50, 13 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Thank you; I was unsure if I was conducting this correct, and I am glad that I have been corrected. The persistent additions by the user was not relevant and obvious vandalism to me, but they may have been made simply out of ignorance of what is considered important. Thank you for your clarifications, and I am sorry for not handling the matter correctly. --Aciram (talk) 18:12, 13 July 2018 (UTC)

handybackup.net
Refspam inserted here, here, here, reported at COIN.

Signed ☆ Bri (talk) 18:58, 16 July 2018 (UTC)

Steemit
Another blogging platform where everyone and their dog can post their "opinions" and "news". We definitely had too few of these sites and needed some more. Ranting aside, this site offers bitcoin rewards for contributors and has seen some increased usage in the last year. Most of the recent usages seem like erroneous good-faith usages for now, but it's probably worth looking out for future good-faith additions and occasional spam - just an information. This is also a possible candidate for XLinkBot, if the additions of non-RS references increase in the future. GermanJoe (talk) 12:06, 18 July 2018 (UTC)

Refspam of 9news.com.au


I've came across two accounts likely affiliated with the company whose edits consist solely of adding news snippets referenced to 9news.com.au and nine.com.au:  Daß &thinsp;  Wölf  19:12, 19 July 2018 (UTC)



Also seems to use this an awful lot. --Dirk Beetstra T C 11:17, 20 July 2018 (UTC)


 * I have indeffed the first user, and strongly warned the second. The IP appears unrelated, uses many different australian sources.  --Dirk Beetstra T  C 11:30, 20 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the help. What do you suppose we should do with the refs? I've gone and replaced most of the refs in Josh ninenetwork's edits with better sources, but going thru Iamthomas' edits would be quite a bit of work.  Daß &thinsp;  Wölf  01:37, 21 July 2018 (UTC)
 * In the UserSummary for 'Iamthomas nine' there is a link 'COIBot', leading to WikiProject Spam/UserReports/Iamthomas nine (my bot automatically creates reports for domains and users reported on this page in resp. LinkSummary, UserSummary and IPSummary templates). It contains all of their additions (if not too many), and there it is easy to find on which they used nine.com.au.  Note that the IP is similar in editing as Iamthomas nine.  --Dirk Beetstra T  C 06:28, 21 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Thanks, I'll try and clean it up.  Daß &thinsp;  Wölf  20:30, 21 July 2018 (UTC)

earthpulse.net
May be suitable for the unlinkbot perhaps, appears promotional and to have been inserted as external links over time by multiple addresses/accounts. Thanks, — Paleo Neonate  – 19:39, 20 July 2018 (UTC)


 * to MediaWiki:Spam-blacklist. --Dirk Beetstra T C 03:52, 24 July 2018 (UTC)

Telephone spam at Roku, Inc.
Please take a look at the recent editing history of Roku, Inc.. There are a number of new editors that have been adding a supposedly toll-free number (area code 855), which is most likely a spam/scam phone. Most of these editors have already been blocked, but new ones keep popping up. Would an edit filter perhaps be effective to prevent them to readding their spam? –FlyingAce✈hello 17:59, 11 July 2018 (UTC)


 * I'm curious about this as well. This number (1-855-553-9444 also written 1855-553-9444) has been added to several other pages: IPTV, Dish Network, Charter Communications, Verizon Wireless, and others. In addition to just adding the number, there's also this edit, where it was fudged. This edit is a different number, but is probably the same spammer, and uses the letter O instead of the numeral zero. Grayfell (talk) 21:24, 19 July 2018 (UTC)
 * See technical support scam. There's two edit filters, but we're dealing with criminals which have access to dirt cheap third world labor. $400 is a lot of money. MER-C 18:43, 22 July 2018 (UTC)
 * which filters are these? --Dirk Beetstra T  C 06:26, 23 July 2018 (UTC)
 * I was wrong -- there is only one: Special:AbuseFilter/793. MER-C 16:30, 23 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Would it be possible to add the latest phone number to the filter? –FlyingAce✈hello 20:01, 24 July 2018 (UTC)
 * indeed, can that telephone number be added to it? --Dirk Beetstra T  C 14:07, 25 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Done. MER-C 18:34, 25 July 2018 (UTC)

handlingemotions
Domains Accounts SPI case The apparent sockmaster is globally blocked; SPI in progress. — Paleo Neonate  – 01:49, 26 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Sockpuppet investigations/Handlingemotions
 * I added a user and domain per SPI results. — Paleo  Neonate  – 19:29, 26 July 2018 (UTC)


 * to MediaWiki:Spam-blacklist. --Dirk Beetstra T C 04:38, 27 July 2018 (UTC)