User talk:MER-C/archives/50

CCI update

--Wizardman 21:11, 6 June 2020 (UTC)

Second opinion

Quick question for an uninvolved, but copyright-wise editor. In the page Industry Classification Benchmark there is a large table outlining the standard ICB codes. This standard has changed, and the table needs to be refreshed. Could this table be considered too much of a sample and a copyright problem? Just trying to be cautious before I pour time into updating the page. Kuru (talk) 17:37, 7 June 2020 (UTC)

That's not a sample - it's a reproduction of the entire scheme minus the definitions column and explanatory notes. I think it should be pared back. MER-C 18:50, 7 June 2020 (UTC)

Concur and will revise. Kuru (talk) 19:46, 7 June 2020 (UTC)

ygm

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Praxidicae (talk) 17:39, 7 June 2020 (UTC)

Unambiguous copyright infringement?

Hello. I am trying to create a page for my business, The Courtyard at Gaslight Square, because when Google shows the information, it's populating an incorrect Wikipedia page. I hold the copyright information for my business and I am the one that created the Wikipedia page, so I don't understand how that's copyright infringement. Also, I cited our website, where I got the description information from, at the bottom of the Wikipedia page. Please assist. 2605:6000:C083:700:5D49:7007:F2DA:FA43 (talk) 14:02, 8 June 2020 (UTC)

It was also grossly promotional. You cannot promote your business on Wikipedia for obvious reasons. MER-C 17:42, 8 June 2020 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (2)

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Sir Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington.png, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Armbrust The Homunculus 16:10, 9 June 2020 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Rosy-faced lovebird (2)

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Rosy-faced lovebird (Agapornis roseicollis roseicollis).jpg, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Armbrust The Homunculus 19:21, 9 June 2020 (UTC)

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Rosy-faced lovebird (Agapornis roseicollis roseicollis) 2.jpg, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Armbrust The Homunculus 19:21, 9 June 2020 (UTC)

Minden Press-Herald Deletion

Hey MER-C,

The article for Minden Press-Herald was apparently deleted for copyright violations?

I'm looking to see if there is any information about what happened there, and if there is any way at all to restore this deletion.

Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kratistjo (talk • contribs) 13:47, 10 June 2020 (UTC)

Copyright violations cannot be restored. The author of the article is banned due to massive copyright violations, and his articles are being systematically taken down. You are free to recreate the article, though. MER-C 16:25, 10 June 2020 (UTC)

Thought you would find this interesting

I created my own bingo sheet for copypatrol. Moneytrees🌴^{Talk🌲Help out at CCI!} 00:21, 11 June 2020 (UTC)

You're missing two - the 10k+ editor that has less than 0.1% of edits to their user talk page and copyvio plot summaries. MER-C 12:52, 11 June 2020 (UTC)

Of course, added. Moneytrees🌴^{Talk🌲Help out at CCI!} 15:11, 11 June 2020 (UTC)

I smell spam

and not the good kind. And quite shockingly this isn't a copyvio that I can find despite Having been in the industry for over 40 years, Varani has built an impressive portfolio [10][11] photographing celebrities such as Diane Krueger, Cobie Smulders, Neil Patrick Harris, Paz Vega, Roberto Bolle, Bianca Balti, Chiara Ferragni, Eva Riccobono and soccer stars such as Andrea Pirlo, Philipp Lahm, Christian Vieri, Massimiliano Allegri.[12][13][14][15][16]

Banhammer swung. MER-C 17:46, 11 June 2020 (UTC)

File:Cow giving birth, in Laos (step by step).jpg scheduled for POTD

Hi MER-C,

This is to let you know that the featured picture File:Cow giving birth, in Laos (step by step).jpg, which you uploaded or nominated, has been selected as the English Wikipedia's picture of the day (POTD) for June 27, 2020. A preview of the POTD is displayed below and can be edited at Template:POTD/2020-06-27. If you have any concerns, please place a message at Wikipedia talk:Picture of the day. Thank you! Cwmhiraeth (talk) 10:17, 12 June 2020 (UTC)

This montage of nine photographs, ordered from left to right and from top to bottom, shows a cow calving in a garden in Laos. The first photograph shows the restless cow raising her tail and the amniotic sac bulging from the vulva. As she continues to strain, the calf's front feet become visible, and the nose and eventually the whole head emerges; the head is the largest part of the calf, and this part of labour can be protracted. In photographs 3 and 4, the calf's head and forelimbs are visible. The emergence of the body and hind limbs often happens rapidly, either with the cow lying down, as in photograph 6, or when she is standing, as in photograph 7, in which position gravity assists and the calf slithers to the ground. In a normal birth, the calf soon takes its first breaths and the cow starts to lick it.

Photograph credit: Basile Morin

Recently featured:

• San Lorenzo, Turin
• Virginia
• The Child's Bath

fyi

PLS SEE Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)#Introduction page.--Moxy 🍁 11:25, 12 June 2020 (UTC)

Look what's back

this which was formerly Aurora Labs. Praxidicae (talk) 13:30, 12 June 2020 (UTC)

Blocked, spam deleted. MER-C 16:51, 12 June 2020 (UTC)

@MER-C: but wait...theres morePraxidicae (talk) 18:23, 12 June 2020 (UTC)

CCI Done!

--Signed,The4lines |||| ^{(You Asked?) (What I have Done.)} 17:15, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

Billy Hathorn pages

So I've noticed you've recklessly nominated a gigantic number of articles created by User:Billy Hathorn for deletion based on copyright concerns. This includes articles for prominent politicians from U.S. representatives to Louisiana state senators. While Billy Hathorn did in fact have some copyright violations I'm not quite sure why that means all of his articles must be deleted. They all have some salvageable parts even if it might turn out to just be a stub. I've thought about recreating some at some point but it's a gigantic pain in the ass to sort through probably hundreds of deleted articles and make a new stub. Kingofthedead (talk) 09:21, 14 June 2020 (UTC)

I'd just like to add that as someone who mainly edits Wikipedia to improve info about U.S. politics it's not doing a great service to destroy so much information. Kingofthedead (talk) 09:22, 14 June 2020 (UTC)

I can't even find where Charles M. Poston, as an example, has been plagiarized from. It's not listed anywhere on the "article". Guilty-by-association policing isn't the way to do things. Kingofthedead (talk) 09:27, 14 June 2020 (UTC)

Just for reference 8 of the Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana articles are redlinked now (as well as 1 of the Governors) and I'm sure there are more to come based on the pace you've been doing things. Kingofthedead (talk) 09:47, 14 June 2020 (UTC)

It is policy that "If contributors have been shown to have a history of extensive copyright violation, it may be assumed that all of their major contributions are likely to be copyright violations, and they may be removed indiscriminately." (emphasis added) This policy exists to make dealing with extreme cases such as Billy Hathorn (the most extreme case I know) much easier. A copyright violating article is worse than no article because it represents a legal risk to the project and those that reuse our content. If the WMF gets a DMCA notice, the community will likely batch delete all Billy Hathorn articles with no warning.

Are you volunteering to clean them all up, then? MER-C 11:48, 14 June 2020 (UTC)

I’d be willing to do some of them (especially for the more notable people, U.S. congressmen etc.) Kingofthedead (talk) 21:33, 14 June 2020 (UTC)

The copyvio tag has a link to a temporary subpage, Talk:______/Temp, for rewrites. The articles are listed on Wikipedia:Copyright problems for seven days before they are deleted. If they are rewritten, the rewrite will then replace the deleted article. Alternatively please see Wikipedia:Contributor copyright investigations/20110727 for the list I'm working from. I'm currently close to the bottom of the 2nd page and the fifth section of page 14. If you choose to rewrite something that got deleted, please let me know so I can bring back the infobox, categories, etc. MER-C 11:56, 15 June 2020 (UTC)

Several of the red-linked articles on Political party strength in Louisiana might be worth recreating. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:241:301:4360:C100:C6EF:91EB:41ED (talk) 21:43, 20 June 2020 (UTC)

Paid editing?

Hi MER-C,

Can you take a look at the new article Eric Daimler? It looks to me like it was a professional puff job, but also there is the oddity that it was tagged for speedy deletion (some version of it was deleted three years ago) and the speedy deletion tag was removed by Nh7856, who hasn't made any other edits in the last year. (Or, if you are not interested in looking at this, perhaps you could suggest another admin who might be?)

Thanks, JBL (talk) 22:11, 15 June 2020 (UTC)

I'm following this up offline. MER-C 19:29, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

Thank you! --JBL (talk) 21:14, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

Precious anniversary

Precious

Eight years!

--Gerda Arendt (talk) 06:53, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

Ship (app) Deletion Question

Hey Mer-c,

I just received a message that you deleted the Ship (app) page from wiki with your comments "Warning icon Please stop your disruptive editing. If you continue to add promotional or advertising material to Wikipedia, you may be blocked from editing."

I actually sited my paid contribution in the ship talk page as well as in my personal user talk page. Is there something else I need to do? I'm happy to receive feedback as I am new to contributing. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kelsey.samuels (talk • contribs)

Declaring your paid contribution is necessary but not sufficient and doing so is not a license to market your company here. You are not allowed to use Wikipedia for marketing purposes regardless of your paid status. MER-C 18:58, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

UPE move warring

Hello MER-C, can you please take a look this undisclosed paid sockfarm (Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Ajcamposnissan) as user Longnailsarelife repeatedly moving Travis Hawley out of draftspace and move warring? This another promotional page created by the same sockfarm was deleted at simple-wiki after this RfD (simple:Wikipedia:Requests for deletion/Requests/2020/Danny Tran). Thank you. GSS ^💬 02:27, 17 June 2020 (UTC)

All three accounts blocked. MER-C 17:41, 17 June 2020 (UTC)

Lady with an Ermine picture

Hi MER-C,

Thank you for switching the picture on the Lady with an Ermine page, I didn't even notice how distorted the existing one was from that weird yellow hue that is definitely not reflective of the actual painting. It looks like the picture you replaced (File:Dama z gronostajem.jpg) is a featured picture on the English wikipedia and the one you replaced it with is a featured picture on the commons. Would you agree that it would make sense to try and replace the original one (that's featured on the English Wikipedia) with the one you inserted so that its featured on both? Best - Aza24 (talk) 20:46, 17 June 2020 (UTC)

That's what I intend to do. I wanted to see whether it would stick in the article before I go through the formal procedure and replaced the many usages of the two other versions. MER-C 16:55, 18 June 2020 (UTC)

I'd be very surprised if someone tried to argue against it. But either way, I plan to work on the page fairly soon and will keep an eye out for someone changing the picture back. Your work with FPs is very much appreciated, I feel like they are often neglected, especially for paintings and artworks! - Aza24 (talk) 20:00, 18 June 2020 (UTC)

@Aza24: please see Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/delist/Lady with an Ermine. MER-C 13:01, 20 June 2020 (UTC)

ICICI_Prudential_Life_Insurance

Please confirm the reason for this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICICI_Prudential_Life_Insurance — Preceding unsigned comment added by 45.251.48.148 (talk) 05:14, 18 June 2020 (UTC)

I'm not here to read the deletion log for you. MER-C 08:33, 21 June 2020 (UTC)

So...

You may have noticed the massive amounts of sock puppets at the Calvin Lo afd however I'm thinking this is beyond just UPE. I thought it was just the typical pay-for-publication spam article but after digging today, I'm thinking this is actually a hoax. Why is a billionaire from Hong Kong creating a company called "Robert E. Lee" (see Robert E. Lee) life insurance in the US...I thought maybe it was just a poor name choice and they don't know the history of REL but after some googling, while "R.E. Lee Capital" certainly has a website, I cannot find a single source that isn't from a black hat SEO type site or sites that are known for publishing anything that gets sent their way (TOI, IBT). I certainly would think a philanthropic billionaire would have some sort of verifiable sources and in digging more, has very little social media presence and the one profile that is verified is...well, suffice to say it doesn't confirm a single word in our article. Thoughts? Praxidicae (talk) 16:44, 18 June 2020 (UTC)

> A family-owned life insurance brokerage firm founded in 1954, offering business succession and estate planning services to businesses and ultra high net-worth individuals.

This is PR bullshit for multi-family office. It is not unusual for family offices to have near-zero web presence for privacy and security reasons. Some billionaires can be extremely secretive - I recall an article I read several years back about a billionaire hedge fund manager that went to great lengths to avoid having their photo published but can't find it. If it's legit, then it's odd that a family office would spam itself in this way. If it's a hoax, then it's a scam. MER-C 17:13, 18 June 2020 (UTC)

On a side note, I'm thinking this uptick of meatsocks at the AFD are likely related to this, especially given they registered around the time those socks were active. (And I also suspect the person who moved it from Draft space is UPE but that's another matter...) Praxidicae (talk) 17:50, 18 June 2020 (UTC)

Undisclosed paid hoaxing? You guys know about this, right? I don't have time to really start now, but there's probably two different farms here. One involving JonasLiam/EddieKear/Taipoqueen/มีความสุข (confirmed) and one involving MNALHR/K2-h101/Worrieredits/Havechin (confirmed). Among others. Socktastic. -- zzuuzz ^(talk) 18:21, 18 June 2020 (UTC)

zzuuzz Less of what we think of as a hoax and more...exaggerating, I guess. Praxidicae (talk) 18:24, 18 June 2020 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Wilhering Abbey

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Stift Wilhering Kirche Innenraum 01.jpg, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Armbrust The Homunculus 18:10, 18 June 2020 (UTC)

Kyda6468

Thank you for taking action on Kyda6468. I have only one comment on one of them: Jeffrey J. Reuer survived an AfD. Should that make any difference? The article in question is undersourced, but not too promotional; it did receive some attention from other editors via the AfD. Russ Woodroofe (talk) 14:44, 20 June 2020 (UTC)

Surviving the AFD is the community making the inclusion decision so it's OK. I moved it back. MER-C 14:48, 20 June 2020 (UTC)

Hi, I believe I made the required statement about being paid for these postings by the university. Would you be able to tell me if that statement would suffice on my user page? Kyda6468 (talk) 03:08, 6 July 2020 (UTC)

You must make a disclosure for every paid edit you make. See WP:PAID. MER-C 11:44, 6 July 2020 (UTC)

I have added the comment about being paid for every comment I make on wiki. Do you think that I am able to post now without being flagged? A lot of my submissions changed into drafts can I post those?

No, because paid editors must not make inclusion decisions. See WP:PAY. Be aware that paid editing are begrudgingly tolerated by the community and there are editors like myself who would like to see it banned entirely. MER-C 19:14, 6 July 2020 (UTC)

CCI update

--Wizardman 16:07, 21 June 2020 (UTC)

• Thank you to all of y'all. That is some seriously hard and ungrateful work. Drmies (talk) 21:24, 21 June 2020 (UTC)

sockpuppet

Wikipedia:Sockpuppet_investigations/Dwaro/Archive The latest of investigation shows Elfinshadow is confirmed connected, but when you look in "confirmed sockpuppet", it does not show. Can you add it if it should be added? I was going to do so myself, but I don't know if it needs to be done by an admin or not. Graywalls (talk) 07:11, 23 June 2020 (UTC)

The confirmed sock tag was removed by TonyBallioni by deleting the userpage. MER-C 17:48, 23 June 2020 (UTC)

utrs 31238

https://utrs-beta.wmflabs.org/appeal/31238 "Lazy-restless" is seeking unblock. DrMies was wondering what you think. My positions is "meh". --Deep fried okra (schalte ein) 17:36, 23 June 2020 (UTC)

The editor hasn't addressed their copyright violations so the appeal should be denied. MER-C 17:46, 23 June 2020 (UTC)

You've got mail!

Hello, MER-C/archives. Please check your email; you've got mail!
It may take a few minutes from the time the email is sent for it to show up in your inbox. You can at any time by removing the {{You've got mail}} or {{ygm}} template.— GSS ^💬 03:27, 24 June 2020 (UTC)

Article Creation - FanCode

Hello MER-C, someone created page for one Brand - FanCode can you please check what issue is with this draft! When it will get publish — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sachinshelar486 (talk • contribs) 05:33, 24 June 2020 (UTC)

Blocked for spamming. MER-C 12:13, 24 June 2020 (UTC)

Promotional editing

Editor has been making some unambiguously promotional edits to spammy articles and drafts. Also engages in moving drafts to the mainspace, including one created by a blocked promotional account. Might be worth a look. SamHolt6 (talk) 12:11, 25 June 2020 (UTC)

Now blocked. SamHolt6 (talk) 13:03, 25 June 2020 (UTC)

Possible UPE

The Tanaza article is back, it has been deleted via and AFD twice & been “speedied” at least once. This was the article at the second time at an AFD: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Tanaza (2nd nomination). I believe undoubtedly that the creator of the article @Paul Smith 1970 , is definitely receiving undisclosed financial rewards for the creation of this article as a quick glance at their edit history shows they are a single purpose account pertaining to this Tanaza organization only! Thank you for your time. Celestina007 (talk) 13:19, 25 June 2020 (UTC)

Blocked for advertising, spam deleted. MER-C 16:30, 25 June 2020 (UTC)

MER-C, Good job on the swift response & action. Once again thank you for your time. Celestina007 (talk) 20:19, 25 June 2020 (UTC)

Resolving a Copyright issue

Hello MER-C, CaptainEek listed the Slavery in ancient Rome page on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Copyright_problems/2020_May_15 due to possible copying by a book. I see that you labeled it as a backwardscopy on May 23 and you were going to put a tag and explanation on the talk page, but I don't see the tag or explanation at Talk:Slavery_in_ancient_Rome. Can you please show me where it is, or help me put the tag and explanation there? I am interested to learn how to tell that the book copied the Wikipedia article and not vice versa. Thank you! Ikjbagl (talk) 19:45, 25 June 2020 (UTC)

It's not worth mentioning - a publisher and author that churns out copies of Wikipedia articles for the gullible. MER-C 20:02, 25 June 2020 (UTC)

Oh wow, thanks for pointing that out. I wonder if there is a real person named "Stanford McKrause" or if he's just made up to sell fake books. Ikjbagl (talk) 20:23, 25 June 2020 (UTC)

Undisclosed paid editing and socking

As per some off-wiki evidence (in your inbox) user MackVenus was hired to create Christian Delton Kacher (now in draft). The article was previously deleted under Chris Kacher so they choose to repost it under a different title to evade the deletion log. I left {{uw-paid1}}, but I'm not sure if they are going to respond because of the history of their off-wiki profile. Please check your inbox for more details. Thank you. GSS ^💬 08:03, 27 June 2020 (UTC)

Blocked. I couldn't find the other accounts either. MER-C 10:59, 27 June 2020 (UTC)

Thanks, any idea if Draft:Christian Delton Kacher eligible for G4 per Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Chris Kacher (2nd nomination) or G11? I guess this now going to attract unregistered paid spammers. GSS ^💬 11:15, 27 June 2020 (UTC)

I'll let the spam draft sit for that reason. MER-C 11:20, 27 June 2020 (UTC)

Gotcha . GSS ^💬 11:30, 27 June 2020 (UTC)

Yet Another Possible UPE

At this juncture I’d have to bring to your notice the editor named Amosflash. A quick glance at their TP & edit history shows years & years of creating biographical articles on non notable Nigerian “celebrities”. A quick off wiki investigation I conducted showed the editor used the same username & image they used on Wikipedia on other social media sites as well, where he coerced individuals (celebrities & non celebrities) to create Wikipedia pages through him. Here I warned him about such bad behavior but rather than amend his ways he promptly removed his image as seen here & deactivated their social media accounts in order to avoid scrutiny. Of course he has continued to create non notable (possibly upe) articles. It is regrettable that I warned him first rather than report! as per WP:BEANS he definitely got a hint at how I knew he engaged in UPE hence the deactivation of his social media accounts. Celestina007 (talk) 11:58, 27 June 2020 (UTC)

Please email me a screenshot. It's a pity they stopped adding copyvios. MER-C 13:03, 27 June 2020 (UTC)

Although buried in over 6,000 photos I have saved in my hard drive, i’d definitely look for it & mail it to you. Celestina007 (talk) 21:35, 27 June 2020 (UTC)

Fake news!

You would think people would stop using these fake, shitty sources if they're going to paid edit and at least put a little more effort into it. Praxidicae (talk) 12:14, 27 June 2020 (UTC)

Blocked. MER-C 13:06, 27 June 2020 (UTC)

Possible UPE/Promo articles?

Hi there, I'm newer in trying to identify articles that might be spam / UPE, so I'm not sure what the next steps are in this case (but I saw you on the WikiProject Spam talk). I suspect Maddy Dychtwald and Ken Dychtwald (both a part of Age wave) were heavily edited by UPE or at least COI editors. Are there any best next steps (I've started to edit them down)? Both articles have a history of editors & IPs that mainly edit those two articles, including:

• Zcochran88
• 50.247.77.205
• Thitruong94
• Florida777

Although I'm not sure if any of this is usually considered suspicious or not, or if I'm barking up the wrong tree, since many of their edits are older. Thanks for your time. - Whisperjanes (talk) 06:16, 28 June 2020 (UTC)

And if this is too general a question and it's better for me to take it to the help desk, just let me know :) - Whisperjanes (talk) 06:17, 28 June 2020 (UTC)

I left a warning for Thitruong94, put a scarlet letter on the articles and tagged the images for deletion (no permission). For future cases, see WP:COIN. MER-C 09:39, 28 June 2020 (UTC)

Thanks for your help! I'll post to the COIN in the future. - Whisperjanes (talk) 16:01, 5 July 2020 (UTC)

Yet another paid and a sock/meat of Revival932

User FCBlinder was hired to create Visit (magazine) (now in draft) through Freelancer.com but this user chooses to lie after the original advert was removed. The freelancer who was selected for this task is known as user Revival932 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) here on Wikipedia. Please see your inbox for more details related to this case. Thank you. GSS ^💬 09:19, 28 June 2020 (UTC)

and we have user Rangga Hafidin only here to promote Hiphopza‎. I draftified this twice and asked them to follow the AfC process per WP:PAID on their talk page, but they choose to game the system and posted it under HipHopZa‎. GSS ^💬 11:05, 28 June 2020 (UTC)

Blocked both. MER-C 11:33, 28 June 2020 (UTC)

Here is another one user Dodolzk editing on behalf of blocked spammer Revival932 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log). GSS ^💬 15:18, 3 July 2020 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Mudpot

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Mudpot at Lassen Volcanic National Park in August 2019.webm, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Armbrust The Homunculus 18:41, 28 June 2020 (UTC)

.

your pal is back Praxidicae (talk) 13:32, 29 June 2020 (UTC)

Gone. MER-C 13:43, 29 June 2020 (UTC)

Likely undisclosed paid

User Courtofmiracles98 was asked to disclose their paid editing status twice, but they are not replying and constantly posting Charlie Buhler in main after Draft:Charlie Buhler was declined. This looks like an undisclosed paid editor who is only here to promote Charlie Buhler and her film Before the Fire. GSS ^💬 03:25, 30 June 2020 (UTC)

Blocked. MER-C 16:22, 30 June 2020 (UTC)

UPE

I was looking at the article on Sophia Al Maria, having identified her at Little Birds (TV series) as the writer of that series. I noticed the template stating, "This article may have been created or edited in return for undisclosed payments." I found myself wondering:

• Is there any process for progressing the enquiry, so that it can be either stated that the article has been, or determined that the article has not been, created or edited in return for undisclosed payments? Is there perhaps unfairness in simply leaving the "may have been" warning to linger like a bad smell?
• Is there any way for editors (such as myself) to identify which passages in an article are objectionable, so that the article can be improved by their removal?

Apologies if the answers to these questions are already available on Wikipedia - I have tried looking for guidance, but failed to find it. Many thanks, 45ossington (talk) 13:20, 30 June 2020 (UTC)

The reason why the article is tagged is Wikipedia:Conflict of interest/Noticeboard/Archive 143#Wiki Specialist LLC. The whole point of the UPE tag is to provide a bad smell to reduce the public relations/search engine optimization value of the article. The problem is that the article was created by spammers - for Wikipedia to maintain its editorial independence spammers must not be allowed to make inclusion decisions. In many cases the article is promotional just by existing, especially if you're borderline notable/non-notable - having one gets you one of those fancy boxes at the top of the Google search results. MER-C 16:30, 30 June 2020 (UTC)

Thank you for the information and the link to Wikipedia:Conflict of interest/Noticeboard/Archive 143#Wiki Specialist LLC. In case a similar issue arises in relation to other cases, was there a straightforward way in which I could have found that link for myself? I don't think that Sophia Al Maria is borderline notable/non-notable, so I might have a go at her article myself, if I have the time to get around to it.45ossington (talk) 08:48, 1 July 2020 (UTC)

Check the major contributors to the article - chances are they are blocked for advertising and/or sockpuppetry. MER-C 16:31, 1 July 2020 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Lantingji Xu

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:神龍蘭亭序全.JPG, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Armbrust The Homunculus 14:22, 30 June 2020 (UTC)

Jack P. F. Gremillion

Would you mind taking a look at my PROD at Jack P. F. Gremillion? It's clearly a Billy Hathorn that was copied-pasted back into the encyclopaedia. I don't know if it's a copyvio or a G4 or what, but I figured you'd be a good person to reach out to. Thanks! SportingFlyer T·C 22:20, 1 July 2020 (UTC)

SportingFlyer, No need for prod; per consul advice, Conservapedia content is not compatible with wikipedia's license. I've deleted the page under G12. Moneytrees🌴^{Talk🌲Help out at CCI!} 22:58, 1 July 2020 (UTC)

My first time coming across Conservapedia. Thank you! SportingFlyer T·C 23:13, 1 July 2020 (UTC)

• @Moneytrees: (and MER-C): The article has been restored and tweaked. I can't view the deleted version easily so I can't compare between the two. It didn't trigger Earwig since it's shorter, there's lots of close phrasing that's been tweaked/words swapped out with synonyms. If one of you two could please take another look that'd be great. Thanks! SportingFlyer T·C 08:38, 3 July 2020 (UTC)

  SportingFlyer, That's one of the most borderline close paraphrases I've ever seen; I've blanked it and listed it at CP Moneytrees🌴^{Talk🌲Help out at CCI!} 00:49, 4 July 2020 (UTC)

Possible Copyright violation

There was a long unsourced section at the end of the Treatment of slaves in the United States article. Looks like word by word copy from the book "Prison and Slavery - A Surprising Comparison" (pp. 89-91; Google Books preview: [1]. I removed this section [2], but I´m unsure, if some additional action is needed (eg. revdel). The editor, who added this content (Jgleissn - courtesy ping), claims to be the author of said book (John Dewar Gleissner), so it may be not copyvio (well, this book has no free licence). Hope I did nothing wrong as I have no experience with such matters. Pavlor (talk) 12:36, 2 July 2020 (UTC)

What you did is correct. He needs to clear the text if he is the author. Even if it wasn't a copyvio, there are other policy and editorial reasons for removing it. MER-C 18:05, 2 July 2020 (UTC)

White Panda

Why is it you deleted White Panda's page? Is there something that could be fixed to have it reinstated?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Copyright_problems/2020_April_5

Thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tge496 (talk • contribs) 21:34, 2 July 2020 (UTC)

(by talk reader) @Tge496: You've answered your own question: the article was a copyright violation, which we don't allow. We write our own content, we don't infringe upon others. The good news is, you can start over by creating a draft with sources you find. Chris Troutman (talk) 22:17, 2 July 2020 (UTC)

(by talk reader) @Chris troutman: Thanks, I understand the rationale. I'm not well versed in crafting Wikipedia articles so a rewrite from scratch is daunting to me. If there was a way to identify which portion of the article was infringing I'm sure I could fix the issue. Is it possible to do that rather than starting from scratch? Tge496 (talk) 16:39, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

A rewrite is already being attempted at Draft:White Panda so you don't have to recreate from scratch. MER-C 17:09, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

User JoyGenea‎

As per off-wiki evidence (in your inbox) user JoyGenea‎ was hired to create Draft:Wegz through Upwork, but they choose to play around. On their talk page JoyGenea‎ claimed their supervisor "Ahmed Raafat" tried to hire someone which is not the case, the advert wasn't posted by Ahmed Raafat. Please check your inbox for more details that I can't post publicly. Thank you, GSS ^💬 05:43, 6 July 2020 (UTC)

Discussion at WP:THQ#BestChange

 You are invited to join the discussion at WP:THQ#BestChange. — Marchjuly (talk) 13:37, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

Hi MER-C. You might be the best person to answer this question since you were the administrator who deleted the article. You may also be the best person to assess whether the OP is the one of the accounts that were blocked per the link you gave when deleting the article. FWIW, it seems unusual for a completely new account to ask a question like this at the Teahouse without some prior knowledge of what took place; so, perhaps there’s some connection between the account and what happened. — Marchjuly (talk) 13:44, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

I don't know if there's enough to go on. It is suspicious to ask about a spam article, but not suspicious enough to block at this stage. MER-C 17:22, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

That's fine. Thank you for taking a look and for commenting at the Teahouse. -- Marchjuly (talk) 01:00, 8 July 2020 (UTC)

A Barnstar for you!

		The Copyright Cleanup Barnstar
		Thank you for tackling the CCIs over the years. I've seen you around a lot with this ongoing cleanup and thought I give you a barnstar in appreciation of your hard work :) Keep up the good work! MrLinkinPark333 (talk) 21:11, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

Blatant UPE

This editor @ContentBI has been warned about UPE by me, by a different editor as seen here & warned also here making it three warnings but they have refused to adhere to WP:PAID. Their vehement rant in this AFD & removing AFD templates from the article itself as seen here makes it clear they aren’t here to build an encyclopedia. Also notice how they have an up close photo of the subject in the article as their “own work” but yet deny any UPE/COI ? Something isn’t right. Celestina007 (talk) 12:34, 8 July 2020 (UTC)

Indeed it isn't: Talk:Filmhouse Cinemas is a giveaway. I couldn't find the actual query, presumably it was sent via email. Blocked. MER-C 17:10, 8 July 2020 (UTC)

Mail

Hello, MER-C/archives. Please check your email; you've got mail!
It may take a few minutes from the time the email is sent for it to show up in your inbox. You can at any time by removing the {{You've got mail}} or {{ygm}} template.

SamHolt6 (talk) 13:25, 8 July 2020 (UTC)

Accounts blocked, spam quarantined. MER-C 17:57, 8 July 2020 (UTC)

Undisclosed paid

User Sbmnlaw‎ appears to be an undisclosed paid editor mostly creating promotional pages, repeatedly moving their declined drafts and created Draft:Secugenius under Secugenius Cyber Security to evade detection. The user also uploaded a few images as his own work with metadata on commons-wiki and failed to provide a source when requested. Please see Wikipedia:Conflict of interest/Noticeboard/Archive 159#Possible UPE that I filled last month. GSS ^💬 14:05, 8 July 2020 (UTC)

Blocked and topic banned. MER-C 17:21, 8 July 2020 (UTC)

You'll probably also be interested in user:Austereraj as this is clearly a sock of theirs. Praxidicae (talk) 18:08, 8 July 2020 (UTC)

I'm not seeing it. You may want to file this at SPI. MER-C 18:33, 8 July 2020 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/File:Elephant Trunk.png

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Elephant Trunk.png, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Armbrust The Homunculus 18:33, 8 July 2020 (UTC)

Wondering if incorporating a table from a scientific paper would create a copyright concern

Greetings. After looking at Wikipedia:Copyright assistance and seeing that Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Copyright_Cleanup is fairly inactive, I thought I'd try asking a human since I saw you post actively at Wikipedia:Copyright_problems. For what it's worth, I'm hoping to get DVT published in the WikiJournal of Medicine. In the Deep_vein_thrombosis#Diagnosis section I include a table of the Wells score, as many sources do. However, the paper I read by Pyzocha has a nice table of the Dutch Primary Care Rule and the Wells score together in one table (there is a lot of overlap between the two), so that is something I was hoping to include in the DVT article. I didn't know if you might have some wisdom to share. From looking at Wikipedia:FAQ/Copyright#What_is_fair_use? it seems like it would be OK. Any thoughts or directions you'd like to point me in? Thank you for your time and consideration. Biosthmors (talk) 20:34, 8 July 2020 (UTC)

I don't think this is a concern. Diagnostic criteria are very difficult to phrase another way and comparing two of them into a table isn't creative. MER-C 17:14, 9 July 2020 (UTC)

Seems to be passing GNG

Hello MER-C I just saw Draft:Just Sul which was created by a blocked user and seems a case of clear COI, but I intend to move the page in the mainspace, as I feel Sul have sufficient References eligible for the article to move in the main space. as GQ and other reliable news have covered him. Thanks Dtt1^Talk 12:33, 10 July 2020 (UTC)

Considering it was created by a paid editor and you've been here only a month (yes, I recognize you registered in February but 95% of your edits are in the last 10 days) this needs to go through AFC. Praxidicae (talk) 13:22, 10 July 2020 (UTC)

It's actually 97.5% of edits in the last 4 days. I get the feeling we're not dealing with a newbie here. MER-C 16:37, 10 July 2020 (UTC)

Likely UDP

Gotransverse - slightly spammy article likely written to promote the company's sevices/list of clients. Creator's contributions show clear ACTRIAL gaming. SamHolt6 (talk) 23:36, 11 July 2020 (UTC)

Blocked and quarantined. MER-C 09:38, 12 July 2020 (UTC)

Deletion review for Category:Rankoshi, Hokkaido

User:Maculosae tegmine lyncis has asked for a deletion review of Category:Rankoshi, Hokkaido. 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 01:34, 12 July 2020 (UTC)

UPE and possible meat

User Alok433 was registered in July last year but started editing today and reappeared after a year to create David H. Rosmarin. They first made some random edits to hit the autoconfirm status then posted David H. Rosmarin last created by user Malaysianboy3 who was paid for this task (see Draft:David H. Rosmarin). I asked them to disclose their paid editing status but as usual, they denied. Please see Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Alok433. GSS ^💬 08:12, 12 July 2020 (UTC)

I blocked Alok433, they didn't answer your question. MER-C 09:55, 12 July 2020 (UTC)