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I am finding a user to create only spam and unqualified pages. Can you please check his contributions? Meeanaya (talk) 04:55, 2 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Certainly worth keeping an eye on, especially regarding non-communication. The user may have fallen from the external idiocy surrounding Bollywood i.e. wiki being a synonym for profile. MER-C 17:57, 3 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Giraffa camelopardalis head (Profil).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 23:58, 4 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hi MER-C. You blocked this account, but AKinderWorld seems like a possible WP:DUCK if not the Lebronto23 account then perhaps of someone else. Do you think there's anything to this? Seems a little unusual for a new account to show up at a MFD discussion about whether a draft should be deleted. -- Marchjuly (talk) 02:53, 6 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Just want to update that the account has been blocked by Berean Hunter per Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Lebronto23#06 November 2019 -- Marchjuly (talk) 21:28, 7 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hi MER-C. As an addition to my recent report at Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Josher8a, I am noting both of the editors (and one editor confirmed to be a Josher8a sock) I had raised concerns about have returned to editing, mere minutes apart ([1], [2], [3]). Best. SamHolt6 (talk) 00:00, 7 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, indeed. These socks are not to be trusted. MER-C 13:46, 7 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Red wattlebird.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 19:32, 8 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@MER-C: Would you consider removing the maintenance template placed on the Hypergiant Industries article in July now that multiple COI edit requests have been submitted following Wikipedia guidelines and reviewed by COI editor Spintendo? Thank you for considering. Justin Goldsborough (talk) 21:09, 8 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I have considered removing the tag, and decline to do so. MER-C 11:36, 9 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@MER-C: Could you explain why you decline so I can address the issue at hand? What steps need to be taken, in your opinion, to warrant removal of the template? Thank you. Justin Goldsborough (talk) 23:43, 11 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I want to see the article written entirely by volunteer editors. Our readers expect independent coverage of our subject matter. MER-C 11:27, 12 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@MER-C: Understand your desire for the article to be authentic. And I realize there was a previous COI issue with a different user. But I have followed Wikipedia paid editor guidelines and did not make any edits directly to the Hypergiant Industries article. The edits I requested on the Hypergiant Industries Talk page were approved and implemented by COI editor User:Spintendo. Any chance you would reconsider? Thank you. Justin Goldsborough (talk) 21:54, 20 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Substitute authentic for credible and article for encyclopedia in your response. I, a volunteer, am under no obligation to assist you, and decline to do so. (You should be aware that paid editing is barely tolerated, and some editors, such as myself, want to see it banned.) MER-C 11:36, 21 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I don't want to clutter up the nomination page too much. But is this along the lines of what you mean? I'm still trying to nurse my photoshop-fu. GMG^talk 21:25, 8 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Yes and no. You've applied the noise reduction to the entire image, which destroys some of the detail on the face. It is likely that you will have to perform two noise reductions - select the background, perform an aggressive NR then invert selection and perform a less aggressive NR. MER-C 11:06, 9 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Please block user:Bussy4life ASAP. He is posting lewd photos. CLCStudent (talk) 15:15, 9 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Done. MER-C 15:17, 9 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

It looks like you overlooked the merge part of the closing you did on this category. Do you need help finishing up the merging? ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe · Join WP Japan! 21:59, 11 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I listed it on the manual page for processing. It will get done. MER-C 11:02, 12 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I just noticed that this promotional article had been repeatedly created. I thought about notifying you due to your experience with these kinds of cases.

• Dedicated.com (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)
• US Dedicated (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

Who is the best admin to notify if I run into a case like this? Should we file an SPI? HᴇʀᴘᴇᴛᴏGᴇɴᴇꜱɪꜱ (talk) 13:50, 15 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

(1) I am an admin. I spend quite a lot of my time on Wikipedia dealing with shit like this, so you've got the right person. (2) I've blocked the account indefinitely. No need for a SPI. MER-C 16:15, 15 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Akash1324 is the same user as HPAcc1324/AditiMishra3000 – ten minor edits over four days to get autoconfirmed, then moving Draft:Applied Intuition back to mainspace. Pretty obvious UPE, but regardless of that, needs a sock block. --bonadea contributions talk 07:00, 18 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Blocked. MER-C 09:45, 18 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

It looks like you may have a sock puppet account whose evading their block in order to continue editing the Association of Independent Commercial Producers article. Bella Blue Shoes is now editing the article after you blocked Kristin0419 just over a week prior who was doing (what appears to be) the exact same thing. Just wanted to give you a heads up and let you know... I'll take a look on my end and see if I can find any similarities with the content being added. :-) Cheers - ~Oshwah~^{(talk) (contribs)} 06:03, 19 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Not the same. The block was for copyvios, but Earwig returns nothing for the new edit. MER-C 20:28, 19 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hey, I'm not quite sure where to report this so I thought I'd drop a note on your talk page since you seem experienced in dealing with UPE. Sintujaggi looks like an obvious UPE account. Most of their articles have been deleted as G11, and there are multiple COI warnings on their talk page that they haven't responded to. SpicyMilkBoy (talk) 12:52, 20 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Blocked. It's too easy. MER-C 14:07, 20 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Camp - Notes on Fashion at the Met - Burberry rainbow cape (73854).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 22:39, 20 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I'm reaching out to you in respect to this AFD https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Domio Just wondering as a keen observer why User:Britishfinance edited the Domio page and closed the AFD which was re-listed to get clearer consesus. It seems that Domio as a company hired almost everyone that voted "Keep" on that AFD. You only blocked few of them that had few edits. It's also very plausible that User:Britishfinance was paid by Domio to edit the page and close the AFD when discussion is still on. I also discovered that User:Britishfinance is semi retired. why then did he use his account still? Would like you to look into this. I don't think this is right. ThanksMercuryXD (talk) 18:54, 22 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

(edit conflict) Hi MercuryXD. I only edited the Domio page after I closed the AfD; I have never visited the article before that. My edits were also mechanical edits to clean up the Talk Page tags and add it to an industry template post-AfD. Having read the AfD and the references myself at the AfD, the unanimous consensus to Keep (which included experienced editors at AfD), was sound; there are several references that would be classed as WP:SIGCOV, such as this Bloomberg article on the company [4] (I have a subscription to Bloomberg and can thus read the full article). Not only did no editor !vote delete at the AfD, but the case for NCORP and GNG was very strong (i.e. the unanimous consensus was correct). It does not help your case to make unfair allegations and attacks on myself as being a WP:PAID editor because your AfD failed. thanks. Britishfinance (talk) 19:05, 22 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Geez, they're coming out of the woodwork today. Blocked. MER-C 19:51, 22 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

User:GSS is a paid editor from Upwork and there are many contracts that were invite only and were discussed only between two people were deleted by GSS. He is the most successful editor from Upwork. We need to learn a lot from him how to fool you and other admins. CC: User:Yunshui, share email I will give atleast 10 proofs against him. He today tried to attack User:Anupam who is another paid editor and my competitor, why because GSS was not hired.If GSS is not hired and he has the details, he will screw the page and will look legitimate in your eyes. He mark page for deletion and send Whatsapp text to save the page. How he marks page for paid edit and then how allows another user account to remove it.2409:4052:2097:2D22:6174:B312:7CA6:6BFB (talk) 19:03, 22 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

IP, if you actually have evidence and aren't just being a troll, you can just register an account and use the EmailUser function. I highly doubt anyone's going to be posting their email address publicly. creffett (talk) 01:08, 23 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

IP, why I feel you are user Meeanaya (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) who was blocked recently? GSS ^💬 02:25, 23 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I too have evidence of GSS' paid-editing and attempts to monopolise the cottage industry by sabotaging his rival's work. I wouldn't be surprised if others are in on this, Mer-C I'm looking at you. Anybody who wants evidence should email dddd23@protonmail.com 92.16.250.169 (talk) 15:27, 30 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Wow! looks like I'm world famous now. :)) GSS ^💬 16:07, 30 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hi MER-C, I know you do a lot of work catching covert advertising (thanks for blocking HoneyMalt, by the way - they definitely were setting off warning bells for me), so I wanted to ask you for a bit of advice on the topic:

• I know that large, well-crafted articles by new users tends to be a red flag, but what else would you suggest using to identify possible UPE? I'm basically trying to balance "assume good faith" with "keep the spammers out."
• If I do find a possible UPE, what should I do besides tagging the article and giving them a warning? I don't feel like COIN is the right place to report, but not really sure what the appropriate venue is.

Would appreciate your insight on these topics. creffett (talk) 01:02, 23 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

There are many tells for UPE. UPE articles are often reposted. There are others - if you pay close attention to the content added by the ACPERM gaming socks, you will notice a few odd things. Of course I'm not going to talk about it here - spammers have a habit of waylaying themselves on this very page.

What to do? Draftify the article, don't just tag it. The last thing we want is the spam getting indexed by Google. As an admin, I can just ban the spammers immediately. I am not aware of a proper venue that deals with this kind of thing. Checkuser is on average not very helpful. MER-C 08:57, 23 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, I often forget about the draftify option to prevent indexing. Completely understand about not wanting to go into details, I'll keep an eye out myself and see what I learn. creffett (talk) 13:45, 23 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@MER-C: when you get a moment, could you have a look at Draft:MathCelebrity? It and its author are setting off my UPE alarm, so I draftified and tagged, but I'd appreciate a second opinion. creffett (talk) 14:02, 26 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Good spot. There are five deleted articles which are all promotional, about spam-prone subjects and bear many hallmarks of UPE. Blocked. MER-C 19:00, 26 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Midvinterblot (Carl Larsson) - Nationalmuseum - edited.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 15:33, 26 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Would you mind reopening and relisting this discussion? I notice I omitted a crucial word in my comments, it should have been "support this rename" (i.e. support Fayenatic L's alternative) instead of "support rename" (as per nomination). Apologies for the inconvenience. Marcocapelle (talk) 21:33, 26 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I'll change the rename target instead - there is consensus for what you suggest. MER-C 19:51, 27 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Messier 78.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 19:31, 29 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hello sir, I am contributing and reviewing Wikipedia under guidelines and policies for a couple of years and I wanted to ask you this anonymously. I was very curious and had a few questions and haven't got answered for those yet. I have not edited Wikipedia by getting payment from someone yet, but I have seen a few editors, you can say many editors who are editing by getting payments. And I also reported a few of them and put "Undisclosed paid" tag on a few. But my questions are still un-answered and I haven't even asked anyone yet. First I belong to a poor family and I need to start paid editing on Wikipedia, so I need guidance from you. What should I do, when I don't have any other skills to do? I can assure that I will never ever edit Wikipedia out of its guidelines and policies. But I had to get permission and answers before starting that.

I saw a few articles which were tagged by "Undisclosed paid" template, but I saw that they were poorly written and I wanted to help those articles by rewriting and cleaning-up to comply with policies. But I got afraid that the admins or reviewers will doubt me as one of the paid editors. So I wanted to ask, what should someone do with those tags? Can we remove that tag after cleanup the article If we can?

And what if someone is paid editing and do not undisclosed it? And what if the editor undisclosed those editing then the tag will remove or not? And what if the editor has written a article with Wikipedia policies but it was undisclosed paid editing, what will happen? And what is the method to fix that?

I know Wikipedia doesn't support paid editing and I am also against it but what if someone like me is forced by the society and financial issues to edit by paying? I just want to get answers for these and I will try to follow as I always do. And I wonder what if I wanted to help with removing the tags from Category:Wikipedia articles with undisclosed paid content? I know people are using Wikipedia as advertising and I am very against them. But what if a company, software, game, or a person's article comply every Wikipedia policies but it is tagged with "Undisclosed paid", what should we do?

I recently tried to fix the issues same with Desiree Gruber, I rewrite the article and remove the tag but a user put the tag back. What I do sir? Undisclosed paid editing is already on talk page. What more? --RockEditorLikeMe (talk) 13:21, 4 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

• See Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/John Ranchie. TonyBallioni (talk) 02:18, 5 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Phyllidia elegans (23806633304).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 19:44, 4 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Could you please tell me what the date was when dutchy inserted the copyvio in the lede? Btw, I'm aware of the micro CCI at Wikipedia:Copyright problems/2019 November 3 and will get to it when I have the time. Thanks, 💵Money💵emoji💵^{Talk💸Help out at CCI!} 21:23, 9 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

19 October 2012. MER-C 08:01, 10 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Contributor copyright investigations/20191012 is now complete. Thank you for your assistance in the evaluation of this CCI!

💵Money💵emoji💵^{Talk💸Help out at CCI!} 00:11, 10 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hi,

I am the copyright holder of the recently-deleted text about Nicholas Samartis. The gallery Olsen Gruin (olsengruin.com) used it without my permission (which didn't bother me) and it's use here should not have been affected. That said, the text has been removed from Wikipedia. I would like to replace it with something different in any event, just to minimise confusion.

Is there anything else I need to do before I begin editing a new Nicholas Samartis article?

Thanks for your assistance.

FREDVECCHIO (talk) 07:17, 12 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

You will need to declare any conflict of interest regarding Mr Samartis. Content written to promote or boost the profile of Mr Samartis is not wanted here. We're not interested in ghostwritten profiles - our coverage is based on what others have written about the subject on his own merits. MER-C 19:14, 12 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Can you userfy that for me that you deleted recently. I know some details about him? He is certainly notable so maybe I can consult the deleted one, or maybe you could stub the article. ww2censor (talk) 12:19, 12 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I can't restore (presumed) copyright violation. I will, however, provide you this: User:Ww2censor/Daniel O'Neill. MER-C 18:35, 12 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, I know and already have most of what is on the page you created for me and that you can't restore a copyright violation page but perhaps you can give me the url of the copyvio as it may be a reasonable source for some new prose. Thanks in advance. ww2censor (talk) 14:29, 13 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The article was preemptively deleted per Wikipedia:Copyright violations#Addressing contributors. There is no URL, but the author was blocked for repeatedly copying from the paywalled Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. You may find s:O'Neill, Daniel (DNB00) useful. MER-C 19:13, 13 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I am aware of that source you mention. Thanks for you time. ww2censor (talk) 23:31, 13 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, Court 1 Interior, London, UK - Diliff.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 10:54, 14 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

You deleted a previous version of this article as the work of a sockpuppet or as block evasion. There are now a new article version and a draft version. Please take a look at whether there is being evasion of gaming. Robert McClenon (talk) 17:46, 15 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The article was created by Superastig who is legit - 13k edits and wasn't flagged when the CU was done on Eric abiog. The creator of the draft, Feeble241, is very suspicious. They registered only a few hours after the accounts were blocked. However, I don't think there's enough evidence to get out the banhammer yet. MER-C 17:53, 15 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Reported at Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Ria Cruz. MER-C 19:01, 17 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

In the log for Anandmurti Gurumaa at its 2018 deletion you said it was the work of a sockpuppet but didn't identify the master. The creator of the current draft, Draft:Anandmurti Gurumaa, has, as well as using a sock, failed to declare COI, despite multiple requests and evidence that he's LinkedIn, just ignored and removed the requests. Could you tell me who the master was (I can only see previous creators in 2006/7, & IPs in 2009/10/13/14/15) or investigate the deleted stuff please? For some reason he seems to think that his problems are caused by me rather than himself, here, and on commons. Thanks, Cabayi (talk) 14:18, 18 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The creator was Ring Master, a suspected sockpuppet of Seokochin. MER-C 19:05, 18 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for that. A follow up question... Are Draft:Anandmurti Gurumaa and the deleted Anandmurti Gurumaa similar enough that I should handle Paul sachudhanandam as a meatpuppet of Seokochin through SPI, or dissimilar enough to treat him as a UPE in his own right at AIV? Cabayi (talk) 16:15, 19 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

They are dissimilar. MER-C 17:58, 19 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you again. Cabayi (talk) 19:07, 19 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, just in case the ping didn't work, there's a question about an article you deleted at Wikipedia:Reference desk/Miscellaneous#Deleted article: John Ben Shepperd. DuncanHill (talk) 00:42, 19 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hey MER-C, got a question on an article that could knock out some work on an old CCI. I saw that Niemotko v. Maryland, which as a foundational creation by that person I get. However, as a US Supreme Court case, the text used in the article should fall under US public domain per the Include-FedCourts Template. Am I missing something obvious in hopefully trying to trim this or should I restore the above and mark off the Supreme Court cases (or at least attribute them, as that was a big issue with this one)? Wizardman 02:29, 19 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The case itself is PD, but it was presumed that the article was copied from some non-free source of legal commentary and analysis (e.g. LexisNexis, lawyer blogs, etc). MER-C 07:52, 19 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

That's where my mind was leaning but wanted to be sure; thanks! Wizardman 23:01, 19 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Shouldn't it be "Journals published between x and y times per year" rather than "between x to y"? In fact, I think "from x to y" would work better, as the "between" construction could be taken to be exclusive of both x and y. There's also an issue with Category:Biweekly journals - biweekly is ambiguous. DuncanHill (talk) 11:36, 20 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I think so and have listed them for speedy renaming. Regarding Biweekly journals - it was widely acknowledged that the scheme may need a follow-up CFR to polish things after the dust settles. MER-C 12:30, 20 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hello MER-C,greetings from Zimbabwe , i wanted to create an article on this subject and i saw there was already a draft article Tatenda Mahachi ,i however edited the information on it and removed promotional language ,my issue however is that after editing i don't see option to submit the draft article for review ,is it because i'm not the original editor who created it or its because it was moved from the article space by you? I'm new here and i'm still learning so forgive me if my questions sounds stupid.Georgiamarlins (talk) 15:27, 22 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The draft was previously created and reviewed by banned spammers, therefore please answer the following:

1. What connection do you have with the subject of this article?
2. Please explain how you obtained File:Diego Tryno.jpeg and File:Diego Tryno at ZIFM stereo.jpg.
3. What is your connection with Selena Moreland (talk · contribs) and Tasha Dzvairo (talk · contribs)? MER-C 15:47, 22 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hi MER-C! All the warmest wishes for this seasonal occasion, whichever you celebrate - or don't, while I swelter at 27℃ (80.6℉), and peace and prosperity for 2020, hoping that you'll join me for a cool beer in Bangkok in August when it will be even hotter! Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 09:51, 24 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you as well. (27 degrees? That's nothing!) I'm hoping the WMF has something positive and substantial to give us for Christmas and the new year. I'm not looking forward to the usual boxes of spam. MER-C 09:42, 25 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you too! MER-C 10:44, 25 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hi MER C;

I was doing a few patches on the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations page and noticed that Betty Miller Unterberger is redlinked and found that the article had been deleted for copyright violations.

Would it be possible to access the article to see what can be put in proper form and salvaged?

All the best holiday wishes in any case.ch (talk) 05:41, 29 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, I cannot provide copies of (presumed) copyright violations. The article was written by Billy Hathorn, so all of it is a presumed copyvio. I amable to provide infoboxes and categories once you recreate the article. MER-C 05:50, 29 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the heads up. I guess I stepped in a mare's nest. On October 15 Billy Hathorn created the Conservapedia article here. The most useful sources are "no longer on line." I may just have to turn to easier but equally important academic women's articles.ch (talk) 05:45, 30 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Yikes! Worse and worse: The Conservapedia article is verbatim HERE. Don't know if I want to get tangled in this mess.ch (talk) 05:56, 30 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hi MER-C. I’m on a bit of a break, but gave علاء your name as someone he could go to for help with paid editing concerns here in addition to me. If you haven’t met him before, Ala’a is a CU on ar.wiki and a steward globally. Ar.wiki has the benefit of being one of the other projects that actually likes working with en.wiki, so whenever they let us know about cross-wiki spam I always try to help out. Anyway, thought I should give you a heads up that you might be seeing a new name. TonyBallioni (talk) 07:40, 30 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, I'll keep this in mind. I haven't seen much cross-wiki UPE spam recently, probably because en.wp gets spammed first. MER-C 13:59, 30 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

– North America¹⁰⁰⁰ 20:29, 31 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Happy New Year to you as well! Hopefully there will be less spam, spammers, copyvios, repeat copyright infringement and CFDs and better software but I completely expect the opposite. MER-C 06:27, 1 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

   Send New Year cheer by adding {{subst:Happy New Year fireworks}} to user talk pages.

Happy New Year to you as well. MER-C 07:56, 3 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Mer-C I have been sick for 2 weeks and when I logged back to the page I created on Wikipedia for Mambo, I realized it has been deleted because someone said I was infringing copyrights. The picture I used and uploaded on WikiCommons was a picture I took of my husband in his studio. It was a series of pictures and he posted one of them on Facebook but it was not the same. I have not been able to login until yesterday and I realized I had comments but don't know how to fix it. It took me days to collect all teh information and structure it. It did not mean to infringe any right, I am just new here and trying to understand how it works. Can you please help me? Thank you and happy new year. Jdemarigny (talk) 20:03, 3 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The page was deleted because the text was copied from elsewhere and was promotional. This was always the case. As someone with a conflict of interest, you should not be contributing directly to the article. MER-C 03:31, 4 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Yikes. See this, this particularly egregious, covert spam, this, this and it goes on, particularly their creations which they "just happened" to hear the name mentioned while interspersing a lot of spammy PR garbage throughout the project. Praxidicae (talk) 13:29, 5 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Blocked. I trust all the links were reverted and checked for other spammers? MER-C 14:15, 5 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I removed a shit ton from several articles they edited but haven't run a report for accounts yet. I'll put them here when they're done. Praxidicae (talk) 14:24, 5 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

• Well this is interesting. In cleaning up their spam, I came across several other sites that appear to be the same operator/owner/spam: rheumatologyadvisor, senioradvisor as an example, which strangely do not resolve to the same address. Praxidicae (talk) 15:03, 5 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi to MER-C

I'm a friend of Amos Pizzey who has has a "his article may have been created or edited in return for undisclosed payments" banner posted on the header of his page.

[Pizzey]

As far as I can see you designated the author of the article, Jon Wilding, a spammer and therefore the article may be suspicious. Is that right? If that is so, can you tell me the reason for your suspicions? Secondly, do you find anything wrong with the article? I can certainly get the author to make corrections. In short, how is the best way to get the banner removed?

I would appreciate your advice.

SS ATX (talk) 00:28, 6 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

So you are confirming the article is paid for or was otherwise written by someone with a conflict of interest? That is precisely what's wrong with it - Wikipedia, as an encyclopedia, does not host ghostwritten vanity pages. MER-C 02:37, 6 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Mind taking a look at this user and some of the others in the history of the Isaias articles? This reeks of paid editing, including their "own work" photo uploads. I have now twice warned them about WP:PAID including with a warning to cease editing until they've responded but they appear to be ignoring it. Praxidicae (talk) 17:50, 6 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Blocked Ally Ollins and Julius1433. We'll see what Freddie has to say, I am concerned that he may be engaging in reputation laundering. MER-C 04:54, 7 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

MER-C Looks like Freddie is back to editing, still without addressing my paid inquiry. Praxidicae (talk) 13:34, 18 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hello!

I noticed you recently deleted the page for the late Texan politician Lena Guerrero (1957-2008) for what seem to have been copyright-related reasons. I feel Guerrero was notable enough to warrant a page (she was an influential member of the Texas legislature as well as the first ethnic minority to serve on the Texas Railroad Commission, and her career was ended by a fairly notable scandal), and would like to rewrite her page if possible. Would this be acceptable, and if so how can I avoid the issues which led to the previous page's deletion?

--Li'ljk100 (talk) 15:50, 8 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

You are free to recreate the article in your own words as long as you edit within our normal editorial policies and guidelines. I will not be providing any prose from the deleted article. MER-C 03:46, 9 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:St Lawrence Jewry, City of London, UK - Diliff.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 23:13, 8 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi MER-C. Do you think this editor Silkeop3 is a clear UPE? One edit from 2015, then a few edits on 9th January before they create a very promotional article Guy Phoenix for an inherently non-notable Nottingham property developer; they even updated UK Real Estate templates with Guy's BLP (even though it was their first full day editing). I see situations like this in NPP where an account that made only one edit from years ago, comes along and creates a promo piece in one day? Given your experience, how would you assess this? thanks. Britishfinance (talk) 20:57, 9 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I think you're right. Blocked. MER-C 04:25, 10 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

hi MER-C i have created a page on dr hafeez rahman that i have learnt that you removed to draft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft:Hafeez_Rahman so can i create a new page on the same person, i saw the page in draft mine is entirely different content. need help on it.Joydeep ghosh (talk) 18:20, 12 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Blocked for UPE and copyright infringement. MER-C 03:38, 13 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Any advice on which of Biografer's page creations should be G5'd? I was using the basis of thinly sourced articles under 1400 bytes that have not had contribs by others.ThatMontrealIP (talk) 05:43, 13 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Any article that was not substantially edited by others is eligible for G5. Size is irrelevant. It seems there were copyright problems with this editor's articles - the most recent thread was Wikipedia:Conflict of interest/Noticeboard/Archive 153#Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Silvia Fresco. There were also other problems - primary sourcing only and questionable notability. Given the copyright concerns, I would delete everything I can - I don't want the backlog at CCI to get bigger. MER-C 05:54, 13 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Ok. I tend to not nominate large articles that look notable. I was the one in that COIN thread, that noticed the notability and copyright concerns, so while it is not the primary purpose of G5, this serves as cleanup of very, very thinly sourced articles. As of now I have g5'd everything under 1500 bytes back to April 26/2019, but will do more tomorrow. There are a lot. Thanks. ThatMontrealIP (talk) 06:02, 13 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

FYI: Wikipedia:Copyright violations#Addressing contributors permits mass deletion of serial copyright infringers. MER-C 06:24, 13 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I have no argument with what you're saying! Will do some more when time permits. It's altogether sad. Thanks. ThatMontrealIP (talk) 06:33, 13 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Please reverse your deletion of Nancy Combs. Prior to your deletion I put substantial effort into tracking down, formatting, and adding to the article multiple reviews of her book, and reformatted the part of her (short) article dealing with that book, in part with the deliberate intent of making the article ineligible for G5. G5 speedy deletion should only be used in cases where no other editors have made substantial edits to the article. —David Eppstein (talk) 07:42, 13 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I have recreated the article from the deleted content, minus the section which should stay deleted because of potential copyright problems. I'm not restoring the history. (And yes, those typos were present in the most recent version of that page.) MER-C 08:36, 13 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

• FYI, the above turned into a bit of a discussion.ThatMontrealIP (talk) 03:34, 14 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

You do a lot of work combatting UPE and just spammy PE from disclosed editors and for some reason I'm drawing a blank but I don't recall if we have ever had an RFC or have a policy/guideline strongly suggesting/requiring even disclosed paid editors to go through the AFC process or not? I do recall seeing someone that deals with this stuff tell a (declared) paid editor that they needed (it was phrased as more of a requirement than a suggestion ;)) to have it reviewed via afc. Anyway, the tl;dr is I find edits like those that I pointed out here from paid editors to be highly problematic and would like to be able to point to a more specific policy/guideline than our normal WP:COI/WP:PAID. On the other hand, if we've never formalized anything surrounding this beyond disclosures, maybe I should start an RFC? Praxidicae (talk) 20:08, 13 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Also quite concerned as the editor in question is basically flying under the radar and padding articles to look notable but it's really PR spam, see here for an example. Praxidicae (talk) 20:12, 13 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I am not aware of any RFCs on the matter, although the recommendation to go through AFC has been in COI for quite a while. I don't want to see paid editors making inclusion decisions. Move-warring into mainspace is obviously tendentious editing. There is also a requirement to disclose any external account where paid editing services are advertised (m:Linking to external advertising accounts). Admins are forbidden from using performing admin actions for pay (Wikipedia talk:Administrators/Archive 17#RfC about paid use of administrator tools). MER-C 06:02, 14 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Is it pronounced merci is something else? Esaïe Prickett (talk) 02:36, 15 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

No. Hint: I used to have an interest in space exploration. MER-C 20:35, 16 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Christ's Entry into Brussels in 1889.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 16:03, 15 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Nevelzwam (nebularis) tussen afgevallen beukenblad (d.j.b.) 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 16:07, 15 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hello. You are invited to join the Dr. Blofeld CCI cleanup effort, a project which aims to cleanup and resolve the largest copyright investigation on the site. Directions on how to help are at the main cleanup page. It is ok if you choose not to assist, as a large amount of people are already helping out- but your contributions would be appreciated, even if you make just a few. 💴Money💶💵emoji💷Talk💸Help out at CCI! 00:41, 16 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, you deleted the page for [Porter] claiming that it is unambiguous advertising or promotion. I am rewriting the draft to make it more neutral, include more notable information about him, and add more of the reliable and notable references for him. This, in essence, is in accordance with Wikipedia's guidelines given that I provide the disclosures, as well. — Preceding unsigned comment added by AshleyBell208 (talk • contribs) 18:15, 16 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I nominated this category for deletion, and you closed the discussion as delete. However, the category still hasn't been deleted yet. Do you know why?--ⓋᎯ☧ǿᖇǥ@ℤε📞 12:48, 17 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I forgot to feed it to the bot. It's gone now. Thanks for letting me know. MER-C 19:18, 17 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Mind taking a look at 9NDX9? They registered in May and have since only created articles which are sock recreations but with like 5 different sock farms. It's fairly obvious some sort of meat puppetry (and they even claim to be a digital marketer on their userpage.) Praxidicae (talk) 17:07, 17 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Blocked. MER-C 19:29, 17 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Praxidicae (talk) 20:28, 17 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

PS: Thanks for that. Might be worth getting a cu to look at possible related accounts as they've (the firm) have been doing this for years. Praxidicae (talk) 20:40, 17 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Please forward the evidence to paid-en-wpwikipedia.org and the CUs will have a look at it. Alternatively, email Yunshui (now that I think about it, this is probably the fastest approach). What you have said does check out. MER-C 20:46, 17 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, MER-C! This seems to be up your street, I wondered if you had any thoughts/comment? Regards, Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 23:39, 17 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

See Special:Permanentlink/936361594#Possible_UPE. MER-C 10:09, 18 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Excellent, thank you, nice work all round! Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 14:32, 18 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Question regarding the closure of Wikipedia:Categories_for_discussion/Log/2020_January_10: are the articles of the deleted categories still in the tree of Jews and in the tree of engravers? I voted 'merge' to ensure they would be kept in those trees, that may still be relevant. Marcocapelle (talk) 14:45, 18 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I didn't check when I closed the discussion, there was clear consensus to delete. The answer to your question is: there are some that aren't. MER-C 15:50, 18 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

That is a pity. Is it possible to retrieve a list of articles that were formerly in these categories? Then I can check them manually. Marcocapelle (talk) 11:35, 19 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, they're about 2/3 the way down the page. MER-C 12:14, 19 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I noticed that in the wake of Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Japanelemu/Archive you deleted the article on J'Nai Bridges. She's a notable singer, and I wonder if you you could restore and draftify that article so I can work on it for an eventual move into main space. I've done recently the same for Günther Groissböck and Hongni Wu. I have now the article and the draft on my watchlist, so I'll notice if you do. -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 05:35, 19 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

No. The interests of the encyclopedia are best served by you writing the article from scratch - the page was covert advertising and undisclosed paid-for spam. MER-C 09:27, 19 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi. Kailash is a decent contributor, his articles have often been checked at GA and FAC. Surprised that even with experience he thought using imdb text was OK, but I think you've woken him up to the problem. Consider unblocking him as I think over three weeks now is more than enough.♦ Dr. Blofeld 09:19, 19 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I want that decision to be made by an uninvolved admin. I know it is frustrating that the unblock appeal process is persistently backlogged. I posted about the backlog yesterday on AN. (For the record, I am one of the small group of admins who regularly assess appeals.) MER-C 09:54, 19 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:2017.08.06.-04-Kirschgartshaeuser Schlaege Mannheim--Weidenjungfer-Maennchen.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 10:16, 20 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The page for Mitch Chilson was deleted, but I was curious if there was a possibility for it to be restored to a draft state so that appropriate changes could be edited before being re-submitted. Is that an option? Was looking to potentially save some of the work. — Preceding unsigned comment added by ACCBiggz (talk • contribs) 18:42, 20 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Copyright violations cannot be restored. Do you have any connection with the subject? MER-C 19:09, 20 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]