User talk:MER-C/archives/29

Martha Minow

I rollbacked your edit at Martha Minow, because it's clear that the mentioned website copied the text from Wikipedia and not the other way round. The Wikipedia article is much older than the mentioned article. Please be aware of the possibility that another website may also have copied from Wikipedia before you blank a page for copyright reasons. Jcb (talk) 12:59, 26 November 2010 (UTC)

I would be very careful restoring any content contributed by a serial copyright violator. It is a copyvio, I just placed the wrong url. The article is listed at copyright problems for revision deletion. MER-C 13:12, 26 November 2010 (UTC)

The OTRS permission comes from law.harvard.edu. Jcb (talk) 15:38, 26 November 2010 (UTC)

Ah, I see. All's well that ends well. MER-C 07:23, 27 November 2010 (UTC)

Copyright Problem - Imperialist Competitive Algorithm

For the article Imperialist competitive algorithm you put a copyright violation tag. I discussed this in the discussion section of this article. I would be delighted if you read it and right your comments. Is my explanation acceptable and the article has no copyright problem. Or I should delete the suspected sections?

Also I sent you an email containing a copy of this message.

Icasite (talk) 07:22, 27 November 2010 (UTC)

Our copyright policy requires that you explain the algorithm in your own words. WP:PARAPHRASE has some information on how you can achieve this. There's a place where you can draft a replacement article, i.e. Talk:Imperialist competitive algorithm/Temp. MER-C 07:44, 27 November 2010 (UTC)

In the mentioned talk page I drafted a replacement article. I modified the suspected sections (The algorithm and Pseudocode) and wrote a completely different description for these parts. What is the next step? Should I remove the tag and replace the old article with the new one? Icasite (talk) 23:47, 27 November 2010 (UTC)

An admin experienced in dealing with copyright problems will review both the new and old versions of the article after 7 days has elapsed from tagging and take the appropriate action. MER-C 02:41, 28 November 2010 (UTC)

Undid revision

Pros & Cons We are looking some time on your Undid revision to the Pros & Cons at Samsung Galaxy Tab external link, it looks very unclear based on other external links that exist in Samsung Galaxy Tab. please explain your edit or revert this edit.Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.94.65.53 (talk • contribs)

The site concerned (mobile10.org) looks like a blog. We don't generally link to blogs. MER-C 03:06, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

This is not a blog! it is nonprofit academic consortium from 16 countries worldwide that contribute to technology mobile and tablet pc in particular it use to collect and define researches ,publication and internal labs result for the benefit of its academics institutes. Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 46.116.111.159 (talk • contribs)

I don't have much to add to what's said here except a warning that continuing additions of links to this site may see it blacklisted. MER-C 12:41, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

Spam

Hey there, I saw that you were quite active at the project. Is anything being done with the spam links reported there? It looks to me like it's a massive collection of information on spammers, and when I try to see if there are any more links to be removed, LinkSearch comes up with none. Oh, and is there a talk page for that project? Thanks. Netalarm^talk 06:05, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

That would be the primary purpose of the page, though discussions are held there when needed. Links are generally removed as part of the spam investigation process as it makes it easier to systematically work through linksearches and to pause/resume investigations. MER-C 06:44, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

So it's normal that LinkSearch comes up with nothing, even in the new reports? Netalarm^talk 06:46, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

Yes, unless the spam investigator was lazy, there are good-faith links which were not removed and/or the spammers have continued spamming. MER-C 06:52, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

Got it. So this is like the Wikipedia:Long-term abuse for spam. *wanders off* Netalarm^talk 07:15, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

Wiki.java GZIP problem.

Hello! Firstly I should say that I am very new to the Wikipedia API, and new to the general "back end" of wikipedia pages, so I apologize if this is the wrong location to be asking my question. You had mentioned for the talk page on your program that you would respond faster at this location, so I am posting here.

Anyhow, I am currently attempting to use your wiki.java program/API to help me obtain pages from a Chinese wikimedia-based wiki located at www.youbianku.com , for the purposes of establishing a location database that links together the articles on the site (which contains postal code information for various Chinese cities). It is important for me to be able to query and export pages.

What I find, however, when I attempt to use either the export command or the getPageText command, is the following error:

io.IOException: Not in GZIP format
at java.util.zip.GZipInputStream.readHeader(Unknown Source)
at java.util.zip.GZipInputStream.<init><Unknown Source>
at java.util.zip.GZipInputStream.<init><Unknown Source>
at wikiTools.Wiki.fetch(Wiki.java:5669)
(BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(new GZIPInputStream(connection.getInputStream()), "UTF-8"));)
at wikiTools.Wiki.export(Wiki.java:2206)
(return fetch(query + "action=query&export&exportnowrap&titles=" + URLEncoder.encode(title, "UTF-8"), "export", false);)
at wikiText.main(wikiTest.java:61)
(String text = wiki.export("10");)

As a bit of an explanation, here is the snippet I am trying to run:

public class wikiTest{

   public static void main(String[] args) {
   
   Wiki wiki = new Wiki();
   File f = new File("wiki.dat");
   if (f.exists()) // we already have a copy on disk
   {
	try{
       ObjectInputStream in = new ObjectInputStream(new FileInputStream(f));
       wiki = (Wiki)in.readObject();
	   }
	   catch(IOException ex){
		ex.printStackTrace();
		System.exit(1);
	   }
	   catch (ClassNotFoundException ex2){
	   	ex2.printStackTrace();
		System.exit(1);
	   }
   }
   else
   {
      wiki = new Wiki("www.youbianku.com"); // create a new wiki connection to en.wikipedia.org
      wiki.setThrottle(5000); // set the edit throttle to 0.2 Hz
 
	}
   
  try
	{
	String text = wiki.export("10");
	System.out.println(text);
	}
	catch (IOException ex)
	{
		ex.printStackTrace();
		System.exit(1);
	}
	catch(UnsupportedOperationException ex2){
		 ex2.printStackTrace();
		System.exit(1);
	}
}

}

Notably, I have set private String scriptPath = ""; because this site does not use /w/ in the URL. Also, I commented out the section in which the bot logs in, and in which it waits 30 seconds, as this was adding complexity. This might be part of my mistake. I also used the page "10", because it appeared as if despite calls to convert to UTF-8, Chinese text was not rendering properly.

For debugging purposes, I added print statements at the end of the export method and before the offending call to

BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(new GZIPInputStream(connection.getInputStream()), "UTF-8"));

I obtained the following: url passed by export method: http://www.youbianku.com/api.php?format=xml&action=query&export&exportnowrap&titles=10 (note, this page properly renders in the browser) url of fetch: http://www.youbianku.com/api.php?format=xml&action=query&meta=siteinfo&siprop=dbrepllag

The answer here may be extremely simple--If so, I apologize for my extreme Newbie status. In general, it seems relatively straightforward: the page I am requesting is not in gzip format, and it needs to be. As mentioned on the Wiki API page, it is preferable for bots to request GZIPped pages. But it is unclear to me where and how the requested page would get gzipped. It is also unclear to me as to why the url of the fetch method is so different.

I am truly grateful for your program's service, and if I end up getting it working correctly it will be invaluable to me. Admittedly, I am new to all of this, so any guidance you could give would be sincerely appreciated! Thenatman (talk) 20:24, 13 December 2010 (UTC)TheNatMan

---

import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
import java.util.zip.*;

public class Test
{
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException
    {       
        URLConnection c = new URL("http://www.youbianku.com/api.php").openConnection();
        c.setRequestProperty("Accept-encoding", "gzip");
        c.connect();
        BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(new GZIPInputStream(c.getInputStream())));
        String line;
        while ((line = in.readLine()) != null)
            System.out.println(line);
    }
}

Exception in thread "main" java.io.IOException: Not in GZIP format
        at java.util.zip.GZIPInputStream.readHeader(GZIPInputStream.java:154)
        at java.util.zip.GZIPInputStream.<init>(GZIPInputStream.java:75)
        at java.util.zip.GZIPInputStream.<init>(GZIPInputStream.java:85)
        at Test.main(Test.java:12)

Server misconfiguration. I believe that GZIP compression is supported for the main site but not the API. This is odd, but (if true) the workaround is obvious:

BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(new GZIPInputStream(connection.getInputStream()), "UTF-8"));
// becomes
BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader( 
    url.contains("api.php") ? connection.getInputStream() : new GZIPInputStream(connection.getInputStream()), "UTF-8"));

Hope this helps. MER-C 11:24, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

That was exactly it! I thank you profusely for taking the time to help me with this issue and I wish you all the best. Your source is immensely helpful, and I am sure that besides having already helped a number of people, it will continue to help many more. Cheers, Thenatman (talk) 20:52, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

Thank you

		The Linchpin Barnstar
		For your long-term dedication to copyright work, both in clean up and keeping the wagon rolling. Moonriddengirl (talk) 13:37, 26 December 2010 (UTC)

Thanks. Can you please ask Vernon to handle the Cretanforever case, which is well beyond the little program I use to generate listings? I note that said user has acquired 190 image copyright warnings... time for some administrative attention? MER-C 02:51, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

Happy, happy

Happy New Year, and all the best to you and yours! (from warm Cuba) Bzuk (talk) 15:14, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

And a happy new year to you as well. MER-C 07:33, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Nobleherb spam

Link spam continues: [1]. Note also previous edits for the same spammy links from 119.181.0.13. Dead Horsey (talk) 05:08, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

Ooh, and now with sock puppetry goodness: [2] [3] [4] Dead Horsey (talk) 05:08, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

For your information, SPI filed. And it looks like a previous sock, Qq6177 (talk · contribs) was already identified. Dead Horsey (talk) 05:21, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

You're right about Shareheb, see User:Shareheb/Enter your new article name here. It may take a while to get this domain blacklisted. I'll keep an eye on it at WT:WPSPAM. MER-C 06:16, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

Need your assistance

Hello, MER-C. I wonder if you could help me with some instructions on how to file a new sockpuppet investigation on a case you followed in the past: Wikipedia:Requests for checkuser/Case/Mario1987. I noticed that, among the plethora of new accounts that Mario1987 is known to have created, we may also have User:Bine Mai - he has almost the same editing interests (football, Romanian firms, economic resources), the same drive for accolades (false or very questionable claims to have been elevating the status of several articles) in a likely bid to make himself look respectable, and even the same choice of colors. I am lost as to the proper way of filing a new sockpuppet investigation on the same case (if I knew how, I forgot during my rather lengthy absence); since you have already contributed to the past investigation, could you direct me around, please? Many thanks. Dahn (talk) 07:42, 16 January 2011 (UTC)

In fact, this guy is beyond audacity in stating who he is: note that he has take over at least one barnstar addressed to Mario1987 (here)... Dahn (talk) 07:56, 16 January 2011 (UTC)

Same user all right... MER-C 11:33, 16 January 2011 (UTC)

Ah, okay - I didn't notice this. A lot has happened in my absence... truly a bad decision, if you ask me, but hey. Sorry for taking up your time. Dahn (talk) 12:48, 16 January 2011 (UTC)

Can you do your image thing?

A list is needed at Wikipedia:Contributor copyright investigations/Arilang1234. Would be appreciated. :) --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 17:40, 20 January 2011 (UTC)

A little concerned about WP:RSPAM

As someone who's been recently active at WP:RSPAM, I wanted to ask you: is this page receiving enough attention to adequately deal with all the reports listed? Are there admins who regularly patrol this page and act on the reports? Are more admins needed in this area? -- œ^™ 23:24, 24 January 2011 (UTC)

Some of the reports (mostly from the more active spam patrollers) are for informational and record keeping purposes. There are times when the admins who patrol this page (Hu12, A. B., Beetstra, Barek) and the non-admins (myself, Ronz) don't have time to follow up on reports. The need for admins is more urgent at the spam blacklist and whitelist. MER-C 04:08, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia Ambassador Program is looking for new Online Ambassadors

Hi! Since you've been identified as an Awesome Wikipedian, I wanted to let you know about the Wikipedia Ambassador Program, and specifically the role of Online Ambassador. We're looking for friendly Wikipedians who are good at reviewing articles and giving feedback to serve as mentors for students who are assigned to write for Wikipedia in their classes.

If that sounds like you and you're interested, I encourage you to take a look at the Online Ambassador guidelines; the "mentorship process" describes roughly what will be expected of mentors during the current term, which started in January and goes through early May. If that's something you want to do, please apply!

You can find instructions for applying at WP:ONLINE. The main things we're looking for in Online Ambassadors are friendliness, regular activity (since mentorship is a commitment that spans several months), and the ability to give detailed, substantive feedback on articles (both short new articles, and longer, more mature ones).

I hope to hear from you soon.--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 21:54, 26 January 2011 (UTC)

Harveer Gulia

Hi, You have put the article on Harveer Gulia under the banner of probable copyright violation. It was discussed on Jatland.com site which has GNU FDL Free Doc Licence. See here http://www.jatland.com/home/Main_Page Kindly article may be restored. Regards, burdak (talk) 03:37, 15 February 2011 (UTC)

The content of the wiki is licensed under the GFDL. This is about the content of the forums, which is much less clear and likely not GFDL. Furthermore, I doubt that whoever posted that is the original author of that content. MER-C 03:53, 15 February 2011 (UTC)

Just thought a note might be in order here (apologies if either/both of you already know): While it doesn't matter for this particular article since it was copied so long ago, any recent imports of GFDL material would actually be copyright violations. We haven't been able to import anything but CC-BY-SA (or compatible) content since November 1, 2008. VernoWhitney (talk) 19:53, 17 February 2011 (UTC)

Your warning to Ramillav

Regarding your spam warning at User talk:Ramillav: This user appears to be focused on adding links to ibtimes.com in articles, indicative of spammy behavior. However, I am wondering how this is much different from a user adding links to articles in The Wall Street Journal or New York Times. International Business Times is one of the world's largest online financial journals. If put to the WP:RSN test, I think it would pass. Special:Linksearch reveals that *.ibtimes.com is linked in many articles in Wikipedia.

I'm not questioning your judgment. Rather, I am wondering how I or any other administrator should react to this user inserting another link to ibtimes.com in light of what I wrote above. I would appreciate your views. ~Amatulić (talk) 18:28, 17 February 2011 (UTC)

The site is blacklisted partially by /ibtimes\.com on meta due to users with pretty much the same editing pattern. The state of the article was rather spammy before Ramillav's edits were noticed. Ramillav is unquestionably spamming, he always adds two links when one will suffice, therefore he should be blocked if he continues. It looks like someone at IBT is abusing Wikipedia for promotion. I can't COIBot poke this domain due to the blacklisting. MER-C 01:46, 18 February 2011 (UTC)

Thanks. Since subdomains of ibtimes.com don't appear to be blacklisted, you could poke COIbot with au.ibtimes.com, which seems to be the focus of Ramillav. I've poked it just now although I am unsure if I (as an admin) need to be explicitly granted in one of the groups mentioned on User:COIBot/Poke. If not, feel free to replace my poke. ~Amatulić (talk) 01:57, 18 February 2011 (UTC)

All admins can poke. What I'd like to know is if there was any more spamming of IBT between then and now, which probably was not on the au subdomain. MER-C 02:14, 18 February 2011 (UTC)

Well, LinkSearch shows 407 hits of *.ibtimes.com on Wikipedia, and those comprise just a handful of subdomains (au, elibrary, hk, hken, in, jp, kr, markets, and uk, with the majority being www). Would it help to poke COIBot with all of them? ~Amatulić (talk) 02:25, 18 February 2011 (UTC)

It's worth trying, but the data will be incomplete (are there any other subdomains?). MER-C 02:57, 18 February 2011 (UTC)

Thank You!

		The Featured Sound Main Page Proposal Voter Barnstar
		I was truly humbled by the overwhelming community support for the recent proposal to place featured sounds on the main page. The proposal closed on Tuesday with 57 people in support and only 2 in opposition. It should take a few weeks for everything to get coded and tested, and once that is done the community will be presented with a mock up to assess on aesthetic appeal. Finally, I invite all of you to participate in the featured sounds process itself. Whether you're a performer, an uploader, or just come across a sound file you find top quality, and that meets the featured sound criteria, you can nominate it at Wikipedia:Featured sound candidates. Featured sounds is also looking for people to help assess candidates (also at Wikipedia:Featured sound candidates.) Thanks again for such a strong showing of support, and I hope to see you at featured sounds in the future. Sven Manguard Wha? Adam Cuerden (talk) (X! · talk)

Spam or not spam

Are these links spam or not? [5]. The issue is whether or not this link is or is not considered to be a spamlink - www.all-art.org/.

If not then I will re-add them...Modernist (talk) 12:55, 1 March 2011 (UTC)

We need to distinguish between spam sites and spam behaviour. This is a case of spam behaviour (the site itself is probably OK), as adding links exclusively to one site is a strong indicator of promotional intent. As such, the links shouldn't be restored unless there is an editorial reason (and not a commercial and/or PR one!) to include them. The history concerns me, but our link analysis tools won't handle this domain for performance reasons (5000+ additions in the database). MER-C 13:58, 1 March 2011 (UTC)

we are not spam

Hello MER-C, I hope you can help. We recently launched a new website, basically a picture dictionary. And thought that by adding links in wikipedia we would add value for wikipedia users, especially because we have a technical depth that no other on-line dictionary offers. It is clear and unavoidable that we will be generating traffic by linking to our site, but nonetheless it is a value-add for users do see a graphic, and if they need it, to get a translation. You deleted our links (about 25) and declared us a spam. Is this because we edited to much without having an account? How can we reverse our status? We are a serious website, that is free, and offers good information that wikipedia users can benefit from. We definitly are not spammers. Edward. www.picdix.com — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.150.228.38 (talk • contribs)

I'll butt in. You are inserting links to your own web site into Wikipedia articles, in violation of Wikipedia:Conflict of interest guidelines. Your behavior is the definition of spam. This site has been spammed from six different IP addresses now. It wouldn't make any difference if you have a registered account because your conflict of interest would still exist.

If you want to contribute to Wikipedia, then contribute content, not links. I suggest you upload graphics that may be useful to Wikipedia (provided they are public domain or you have a right to distribute them) and include those graphics in articles. Uploading them to Commons (http://commons.wikimedia.org) requires the images to be public domain, but their presence in Commons would also allow them to be used in other Wikipedia projects in other languages too. ~Amatulić (talk) 21:25, 3 March 2011 (UTC)

To add to what Amatulić said:

1. How does adding a link to an illustration to an article which already has an illustration(s) of the subject (e.g. "Dial indicator") or isn't actually the subject (as you did at "Electrician") help the encyclopedia? (On the other hand, this reasoning makes it quite clear why you added the links.)
2. Commons accepts freely licensed images, not just images in the public domain. MER-C 06:20, 4 March 2011 (UTC)

Ah, right. Thanks for the correction. My familiarity with Commons needs work. ~Amatulić (talk) 06:35, 4 March 2011 (UTC)

Edward:

To your point 1. how can an additional graphic add value: our graphics are shown in relation to their surroundings, for example different dial indicators clustered together to get a better understand of this topic or definition. The user will get a clearer view and understanding of the terminology because the terms and pictures are interactive and straight forward. For this reason we saw a value-add for wikipedia users. I understand (being inexperienced in wikipedia) now why you deleted our links. We will re-evaluated how to go forward, how we can add value, to wikipedia. Thank you. Edward — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.150.228.38 (talk • contribs)

Edit undo's - I dont' understand

I'm pretty new to WikiPedia, so due respect to you MER-C...

I don't understand why all my edits were reverted. I was working on updating various given name pages. 100% of my edits were factually driven all all references were to pages backing up those factual additions. In all cases, I added meanings, origins or popularity data that wasn't there before.

I didn't write anything Spammy and honestly thought I was adding value to each of the listings.

I don't understand what I've done to violate any of the WIKI policies.

I enjoyed working through the pages and there were many many that i didn't touch because there was no need, anything I could've added was already there sourced by someone else. I didn't change anybody else's edits or write anything that duplicated what was already on the page.

It's quite disappointing to see every bit of the edits I researched and submitted to be wiped out unilaterally.

Babynamegeek (talk) 03:27, 7 March 2011 (UTC)

Why have all of your edits inserted citations to babynametrain.com? MER-C 03:38, 7 March 2011 (UTC)

That was the site I was using as a reference to fill in some holes in the data on Wikipedia. I was just getting involved in Wikipedia for the first time. I was also using ssa.gov and referenced it a few times, but the data I was filling in wasn't always easy to pull up there. So what is the best practice? Should I not cite, or mix up the references from various places to not favor a particular source? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Babynamegeek (talk • contribs)

You should always choose the best citations for whatever content you are adding. If someone cites only one site or a group of related sites, then they may be inserting "references" solely for promotional reasons. MER-C 07:53, 8 April 2011 (UTC)

Tobby100

Hi MER-C

Hi tried to lookup our discussion on the Administrator noticeboard but it seems like it got removed? even though I had written a reply to your last comment? Furthermore, I am not sure how to find the edit for the removal. Do you know what happened? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tobby100 (talk • contribs)

The discussion was archived automatically because it was inactive for 48 hours. The content is available at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Archive221#Tobby100, where it should not be edited.

Since Hedgepedia was established in October last year, it is not considered to be a reliable source (reputation is important) and should be supplemented or replaced by the original from Institutional Investor (magazine), which likely is a reliable source. Going forward, I advise you to broaden your contribution scope. May I recommend Category:Wikipedia backlog and Category:Private equity stubs? MER-C 02:45, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

my Own permanent home page

Hi Mer-c,

   I want to create my own home page using wiki where i want to put 
   all details / photographs about my travel.  I also want to put all the 
   best urls that i liked.  I will use this as a place holder, whenever i browse from any 
   where (cloud computing !!!).   Please give me some samples to achieve this through wiki.

   I have already created such home pages in the free third party sites, but the account was 
   disabled or that third party itself doesn't exist.  

   So I need a permanent solution for this.
 

Thanks Lakshmi Narayanan R (Laks) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.143.186.45 (talk • contribs)

No. MER-C 10:54, 17 March 2011 (UTC)

jwbf versus wiki-java

I'm just starting some Java bots (I've done them with perl in the past). Looks like wiki-java is more up-to-date but.. is it mature enough? I expect you'll have a COI on the matter, but I'm hoping you can tell me roughly where it stands. I'm just looking for generic things: logging in, fetching/updating pages. I'll also need to get a page history and usercontribs. tedder (talk) 00:41, 30 March 2011 (UTC)

Everything you mention is there and should work as expected. Most of the non-WMF specific MW API functionality has been implemented, except for admin functions (this isn't likely to change until RFA stops being a horrible and broken process). Uploading is broken. MER-C 04:01, 30 March 2011 (UTC)

Thanks- I'll let you know, I'll likely have a question or three. tedder (talk) 06:13, 30 March 2011 (UTC)

Okay, first question. Why don't you use a package name for your files? AFAIK, it's near-impossible to import into a script that is in named packagespace. tedder (talk) 05:26, 31 March 2011 (UTC)

The bot framework itself is only one file (Wiki.java) which was hosted at User:MER-C/Wiki.java until it got too large. As such, I felt that packages were pointless and your problem would be fixed by editing the source file. But now that I have a SVN, I guess I have no excuses. I might do this on the weekend. MER-C 08:59, 31 March 2011 (UTC)

I don't know how much thought you've given to package naming. A while back, I found a few webpages recommending against using com.google.code since it's a replaceable code repository. I think it's okay in lieu of a dedicated domain, and the packages can always be refactored if hosting changes. Flatscan (talk) 04:10, 2 April 2011 (UTC)

I think I'll go for org.wikipedia, but I'm not on my development hard disk today. MER-C 04:35, 2 April 2011 (UTC)

r15. Let me know if I broke anything. MER-C 08:49, 3 April 2011 (UTC)

It looks fine to me. Do you know if adding an Eclipse (software) .project file to the trunk will interfere with your NetBeans setup? Flatscan (talk) 04:45, 8 April 2011 (UTC)

It won't (if it did, then there would be a big outcry about it). MER-C 05:13, 8 April 2011 (UTC)

Spam or no

Please check this guy's edits Gallery-of-art (talk · contribs) - [6] seems like spam to me; what do you think? Thanks...Modernist (talk) 11:44, 31 March 2011 (UTC)

Domains added by gallery-of-art: vangoghreproductions.com (6), vangoghmuseum.nl (1), vangoghvillagenuenen.nl (1).

You have grounds for challenging this user's additions of vangoghreproductions.com. The user has not responded to your concerns, so I agree that this is spam behavior. MER-C 12:01, 31 March 2011 (UTC)

I would greatly appreciate you're help by talking to this editor Gallery-of-art (talk · contribs). He/she attacks me; and I still haven't reported them as spammers; although they are exceedingly dense about their website and its relevancy. Please have a word with them, thanks...Modernist (talk) 22:54, 5 April 2011 (UTC)

Go to vangoghreproductions.com, then look in the bottom right corner... You've been way too patient, I don't see any reason why we should put up with this nonsense any more. Warned spam4. MER-C 03:13, 6 April 2011 (UTC)

Appreciate, thanks...Modernist (talk) 04:10, 6 April 2011 (UTC)

Reverts

Hi MER-C,

Paint Recycle Respectfully: my ext link for recycle paint locations was removed. This is a resource showing recycle locations in all major cities in the United States. This resource is relevant to the topic paint recycling. Recycling paint is an important issue for me, I have spent my own time and resources to educate people. I made a video to show people how to recycle paint,safely which was removed last month..is this Spam? UPDATE: I realized i should post in the talk section of an article before I edit the external links. Thanks,

PDCA My link was removed by you. I am a member of that trade association..another link to a similar site has been on the page for years; and they are not even an active member. UPDATE: I now understand; if a link exists it does not mean it is not spam. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Percyshearer (talk • contribs)

"I realized i should post in the talk section of an article before I edit the external links."

"I now understand; if a link exists it does not mean it is not spam."

Yes, you are correct. The only thing I have to add is that Wikipedia is not a means of promoting your business and doing so is fundamentally incompatible with Wikipedia's mission. MER-C 08:04, 3 April 2011 (UTC)

Psychology Group

Hi MER-C,

I guess I should have clarified what I meant by a group of students. I am a member of a four person group of Vanderbilt University psychology students. As a group we were assigned to create a Wikipedia page about a positive psychology topic that is poorly developed or not written about at all (we have chosen the topic of flourishing, which does not have a page). While there is a group of us, I am the one who has been put in charge of the Wikipedia page, therefore I will be the only one editing other pages on positive psychology and creating and editing our own page. Consequentially, the group will be compiling information and sending it to me and I will be responsible for the maintenance of the page. I am the only one with the password and information. I hope this helps clarify everything, we were aware of the rule and thought that this was within the bounds of the rule. Thanks so much.

Warmly, Positive270

Ahh, I see. Apologies for the confusion. Anyway, welcome to Wikipedia!

My main concern about your project is that it may result in you inadvertently adding original research to Wikipedia, which is not allowed. Articles should not only the scientific consensus but also significant minority views and fringe theories (though these should not be covered in the same depth as the consensus view). A common trap for uni students is writing something that resembles an essay or thesis and we've had problems with people abusing Wikipedia to promote their pet theory.

In a nutshell, imagine you are writing a review article in a peer-reviewed journal, but at a more accessible level.

I'm assuming you're familiar with our main rules - what Wikipedia is not, referencing, copying and plagiarism, etc. Wikipedia:Cheatsheet provides a quick overview of wiki syntax. We also provide a number of citation templates that take care of style, links and the like for you.

Finally if you want something to aim for, Template talk:Did you know publishes interesting facts from new and expanded articles on the main page. Wikipedia:Peer review provides feedback on articles. Wikipedia recognises quality content as good or featured (more prestigious) articles -- if you can aspire to this level it will reflect well on both your assessment and your reputation on Wikipedia.

If you have any further questions, feel free to ask. MER-C 04:59, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Autoconformation RfC

A formal Request for Comment has now been started on this topic. Feel free to contribute; best, Ironholds (talk) 19:26, 3 April 2011 (UTC)

Spam (2)

Hi Merc,

I received your warning yesterday and fully understand it. I have commented on the page accordingly and apologise for my misunderstanding. The few links I have added to the project were I feel relevant, but as a result of the warning I will no longer be adding any others. In addition, based on your report, you have implicated me with adding a couple of links which I have not done.

Would really appreciate feedback on this.

Regards

Dave

Webzcas (talk) 08:20, 9 April 2011 (UTC)

See here. MER-C 09:20, 9 April 2011 (UTC)

Hi,

Thanks for your prompt response. I have responded. Again I fully understand the warning and accept it.

Webzcas (talk) 09:49, 9 April 2011 (UTC)

Email

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.

--Themacor (talk) 13:02, 10 April 2011 (UTC)

Barnstar

		The Anti-Spam Barnstar
		For starting a new cross-wiki link search after Eagle's toolserver quit working. Thanks for this great tool! ThemFromSpace 22:15, 11 April 2011 (UTC)

I'm sure you have a pile of these by now, but thanks all the same for this site! ThemFromSpace 22:15, 11 April 2011 (UTC)

You're welcome. If there are any tools that I can reasonably program, then feel free to ask. MER-C 07:17, 12 April 2011 (UTC)

PP-90

You recently removed an external link to Dogsofwar.ru from the page about the PP-90 Russian folding submachinegun with the edit summary "rm cross-wiki spam". Could you please elaborate as to why you consider the link 1) spam, and 2) cross-wiki ? —MJBurrage^(T•C) 01:13, 14 April 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia:WikiProject Spam/LinkReports/dogswar.ru. Note the IPs whose contributions are solely adding the link both here and on the Russian Wikipedia. Consequently, the site is now blacklisted globally. MER-C 01:59, 14 April 2011 (UTC)

22-06 wildcat cartridge

While I am reasonably sure you have ZERO experience with Wildcat Cartridges, whereas I have published a book on the subject, I deplore the inaccuracy you have restored by deleting my edit on the page. FYI the 22-06 has about the same case capacity as the 22-244 IMP which has been written up in several publications on 1000 yard shooting. Handloader magazine comes to mind. If you chose to cite as a source a book that was written before the development of ANY of today's slow burning powders you feel free to do so BUT you are wrong. Powders like H 869, H870, Retumbo, IMR 7828, H1000, H5010 and so on did not exist when Sharpe's book was written. Unlike you, I have done extensive loading and shooting with the 22-06 and know what I am talking about and have achieved the performance stated. You are also wrong about the 400 Whelen as is covered in the book I published WILDCAT CARTRIDGES by an extensive contribution by one of the leading collectors of classic bolt action rifles, Mike Petrov. Time for you to catch up with modern ballistics.Vauxhall1942 (talk) 21:10, 14 April 2011 (UTC)

My concern with your edit is essentially "so fix it" -- instead of complaining that "references cited predate the availability of modern slow burning powder" (do you expect to read that sentence in an encyclopedia article?), be bold and fix the problem yourself! See Wikipedia:Referencing for beginners for how to add a reference. If you need help with referencing syntax, let me know. Please note that excess citation of your own works may be viewed as self-promotion. MER-C 07:54, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

Thank you for helping with the Cai Li Fo and Jeong Yim external investigations

Thank you MER-C for commenting to TexasAndroid that the Cai Li Fo and Jeong Yim pages regarding a copyright violation. I don't know what I can do to help prove that there are no copyright violations on the Cai Li Fo and Jeong Yim wiki pages. It is a reverse copyright violation by the other website. I explained fully on TexasAndroid's talk page regarding this situation and provided some evidence as well. Any additional help would sure be appreciated! Thanks. Huo Xin (talk) 05:32, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

One more issue TexaxAndroid mentions this page. http://thefightquest.blogspot.com/2009/10/cai-li-fo.html again it is reverse copyright violations. Just look at the reference numbers. If you click on them, they don't work and is exactly the same as on the wiki. This demonstrates that the information was copied from the wiki pages.Huo Xin (talk) 05:36, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

There still remains the possibility that the content may be copied from elsewhere. I will re-evaluate the request when the listings on WP:CP have been investigated. There isn't too many articles to examine (12) anyway, so we might be able to avoid the CCI altogether. MER-C 07:42, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

Added method for wiki.java

/**
 *  Gets the list of links used on a particular page. Capped at
 *  <tt>max</tt> number of links, there's no reason why there should be
 *  more than that.
 *
 *  @param title a page
 *  @return the list of links used in the page
 *  @throws IOException if a network error occurs
 *  @since 0.16
 */
public String[] getLinksOnPage(String title) throws IOException
{
    String url = query + "action=query&prop=links&imlimit=max&titles=" + URLEncoder.encode(title, "UTF-8");
    String line = fetch(url, "getLinksOnPage", false);

    // parse the list
    // typical form: <pl ns="6" title="page name" />
    ArrayList<String> links = new ArrayList<String>(750);
    while (line.contains("title=\""))
    {
        int a = line.indexOf("title=\"") + 7;
        int b = line.indexOf('\"', a);
        links.add(decode(line.substring(a, b)));
        line = line.substring(b);
    }
    log(Level.INFO, "Successfully retrieved links used on " + title + " (" + links.size() + " links)", "getLinksOnPage");
    return links.toArray(new String[0]);
}

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.203.234.67 (talk • contribs)

r16 (but modified). MER-C 05:07, 16 April 2011 (UTC)

RFA

MER-C, Its time for your knowlege, experience as an unquestionably valued and trusted member of Wikipedia, to consider and Accept an Administrative role on this project . Wikipedia is a better quality project because of hardworking and conscientious editors like you!--Hu12 (talk) 17:55, 5 May 2011 (UTC)

RfA is a horrible and broken process

— Jimbo Wales, [7]

Some things never change. MER-C 06:49, 6 May 2011 (UTC)

Oh, well. :/ I saw the subject header on my watchlist and was hoping I could follow a link to support you. --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 12:03, 6 May 2011 (UTC)

Part of the reason it's important that people like you become sysops is to help us keep it from being a status thing. It's a technical thing, not a status thing.

— Jimbo Wales, [8]

Identifying flaws in a broken process is not an indication that lesser importance is placed on the value of your being able to affect a positive change to the process. Accept the nomination. --Hu12 (talk) 16:44, 6 May 2011 (UTC)

java api: creating a page

If I call edit(..) and expect it to create the page (i.e., it doesn't exist), it fails on this line:

int level = (Integer)info.get("protection");

Looks like there's a "create section", and an "edit current page", but no "create new page" method. What's your plan with this?

The next feature I'll need is "new pages since <date>". I'm not there yet, and I'll contribute it, but wanted to give you a heads-up. tedder (talk) 14:39, 10 May 2011 (UTC)

This is a bug and probably a regression. Change line 1431 as follows:

if(line.contains("type=\"create\""))
    info.put("protection", PROTECTED_DELETED_PAGE);

to:

info.put("protection", line.contains("type=\"create\"") ? PROTECTED_DELETED_PAGE : NO_PROTECTION);

Fixed in r18. MER-C 03:50, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

verified. What's your preferred date object for the recent changes change? Just a string that matches the API, GregorianCalendar, or (my favorite) Joda, which will be in Java7 (kinda). tedder (talk) 05:13, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

Calendar, for now. There are three helper functions -- timestampToCalendar, calendarToTimestamp and convertTimestamp -- that handle the conversion between Calendar objects and various timestamps. MER-C 06:48, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

Here's an easy refactoring on a method:

protected final String calendarToTimestamp(Calendar c)
{
  return String.format( "%04d%02d%02d%02d%02d%02d", c.get( Calendar.YEAR ), c.get( Calendar.MONTH )+1,
   c.get( Calendar.DATE ), c.get( Calendar.HOUR_OF_DAY ), c.get( Calendar.MINUTE ), c.get( Calendar.SECOND ) );
}

A little less math required :-)

I'm copying the "recent changes" code so I can use it in a manner I'd like- namely, specify a start time and an end time. It's passing the smoke test, but more work is needed, and I'm sort of nervous because I'm copying a lot of work. There's a venn diagram about which of these requirements overlap each other, and hopefully that will result in much less duplication. But for now, I'm happy with having duplicated code. FYI, here's a bit of what I'm working on. Hence the need for creating pages, getting all new pages in a time period, etc. I have code in your Wiki.java to get RCs how I want, I need to spend more time making sure it works and then integrating it. tedder (talk) 06:01, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

getLogEntries() does a similar thing: a parameter each for start and end and four extra lines to add it to the URL. I'll refactor the helper functions next programming session (I'm rewriting the user permissions stuff.) MER-C 12:30, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

I'll take a look at getLogEntries when I have time. Would you mind adding me as a committer? tedder (talk) 14:19, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

Email me, I need a Google account email address. MER-C 02:18, 13 May 2011 (UTC)

Will do. tedder (talk) 02:29, 13 May 2011 (UTC)

Added. When I originally wrote the code XML parsing in the JDK was really crap (had to skip over the white space!), compounded by the lack of a DTD for the API output. I know at least one of these is still true. MER-C 05:10, 13 May 2011 (UTC)

So I did a commit last night that opens permissions on some methods and fields. That let me put my new code into a subclass, since it involves somewhat major changes. It is all just a subclass, though- I mean, it proves I didn't destroy what you already have. If the "substr method" is a 5 on a scale of 1-10 for being good code, my XML parser is maybe a 7. It isn't perfect. Do you want me to commit the subclass, merge all of the code into the main class, or send it to you offline for review? It would be really easy for me to commit it to my github. tedder (talk) 13:35, 13 May 2011 (UTC)

I'll take a look at it first. I am open to using XML parsing to clean up the mess that is parseLogEntry and parseRevision but for the rest I am unconvinced that it is worthwhile. MER-C 03:02, 14 May 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, I understand not converting. I'm not in love with Java's XML parsing; I suspect JSON would be much simpler based on previous experience. So, do you want the file via email? Checked in to the main repo? A link to my github? tedder (talk) 05:21, 14 May 2011 (UTC)

The latter. MER-C 06:13, 14 May 2011 (UTC)

ding! Fresh code for you. tedder (talk) 06:59, 14 May 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for reminding me why I didn't originally use XML parsing. I think I would use string scraping for rcstart and the SAX parser to parse the revisions and log entries, though a little thought is required to parse block log entry flags. MER-C 08:45, 14 May 2011 (UTC)

Heh, at least I could remind you. Again, it might be wise to switch to JSON. Are there legacy sites that the API supports that would prevent us from doing so? tedder (talk) 09:06, 14 May 2011 (UTC)

Not that I know of. The JDK doesn't have a JSON parsing library (to the best of my knowledge), so in order to avoid external dependencies it will have to be string manipulations. MER-C 14:09, 14 May 2011 (UTC)

Yes, it would introduce a dependency or require DIY. OTOH the library already requires a servlet to be in place, and the advantages of not reinventing the wheel with GSON or json-simple would be nice. tedder (talk) 18:04, 14 May 2011 (UTC)

The main bot framework consists of only one source file (org.wikipedia.Wiki) and has no external dependencies, and I'd like to keep it that way. (All the other stuff in the repository is non-essential.) Cleaning up the mess isn't particularly urgent (after all, it works) and JSON support is somewhere in the pipeline (JDK 1.8?). MER-C 10:11, 15 May 2011 (UTC)

Heads-up that I made a commit of a couple minor things. Also, I have a sparkline generator, look at this edit summary. tedder (talk) 01:34, 16 May 2011 (UTC)

Committed connection and read timeouts. tedder (talk) 02:18, 19 May 2011 (UTC)

cozypet

Hello Mer-C, I have a couple of questions about the cozypet spam. The first is whether the Google analytics number was for my benefit or others. I've never used it...just signed up but don't know what I'm doing or where to apply the number you supplied. Is that how you found those other accounts? If so, I like to learn more.

The other question is whether it is better to hold off from filing an SPI because that may defeat the triggers related to blacklist reporting (assuming one has been set). In other words, it may be better to let the spammers prove the point that it needs blacklisting than having them blocked. I could revisit the SPI after blacklisting. Cheers,
⋙–Berean–Hunter—► ((⊕)) 16:26, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

The Google Analytics number is a way of identifying related sites -- they tend to be publisher specific. It's there for future reference - if I notice someone spamming sites with the same GA number, then they are a repeat spammer and it's off to the blacklist we go. The same goes for adsense numbers. Abusive sockpuppetry is a strong reason to blacklist and the two approaches are complementary. MER-C 02:39, 13 May 2011 (UTC)

Thank you for the advice...you're good :)

SPI filed here
⋙–Berean–Hunter—► ((⊕)) 04:00, 13 May 2011 (UTC)

Hello, MER-C. You have new messages at Anna Frodesiak's talk page.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Copyvios at silver

User talk:Maheshkumaryadav copyvio matter: There are probably few or no remaining copyvio matters on silver. We're likely done in that regard. I think you can now proceed without silver overlap or any coordination being necessary. Best, Anna Frodesiak (talk) 00:35, 23 May 2011 (UTC)

Opened: Wikipedia:Contributor copyright investigations/Maheshkumaryadav. MER-C 05:39, 23 May 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/MER-C 3

Hello MER-C. I noticed you, or another editor created a Requests for Adminship page under your name, and I was wondering as to what the status of that request might be. If you are still intent on running for adminship with that request, please do let me know; otherwise, I'll go ahead and delete the RfA page for you in about a week or so from today. FASTILY ^(TALK) 08:29, 30 May 2011 (UTC)

I (implicitly) declined the nomination above, so feel free to delete it. MER-C 10:04, 30 May 2011 (UTC)

:-( ... --Dirk Beetstra ^{T C} 10:08, 30 May 2011 (UTC)

I see. Thank you for being upfront about it. Regards, FASTILY ^(TALK) 22:55, 30 May 2011 (UTC)

Alexanderwolfe Wiki Page

Hi MER-C. This is with regard to your comment on deleting the Alexanderwolfe wiki page. I am Alex's manager and we created this page together taking information and photos only from his approved source. Could you please tell me why this page has been considered for deletion. I have added in some references today along with links to provide proof of him as a releasing recording artist, and not of questionable notability. Please could you let me know what you feel should be added to support this page not being deleted. Thanks. Bang Management Alexanderwolfe (talk) 10:35, 3 June 2011 (UTC)

This is a Wikipedia user page.

— User:Alexanderwolfe

Wikipedia:User pages
What may I not have in my user pages?
Userspace is not a free web host and should not be used to indefinitely host pages that look like articles

— WP:FAKEARTICLE

But this is, of course, ignoring the extremely obvious:

The result is an utterly personal, direct musical insight into the world of Alexander Wolfe.
Flitting between the intimate and the lonely to the upbeat and majestic, the 11 songs on this record are about the trappings of the human mind - the high and lows, the dark and light, empathy, panic attacks and paranoia, experiences of love and loss, all wrapped in charming lyrical metaphors and sweeping musical drama.

— User:Alexanderwolfe

The result is an utterly personal, direct musical insight to the weird and wonderful, twisted world of Alexander Wolfe.
Flitting between the intimate and the lonely to the upbeat and majestic, the 11 songs on this record are about the trappings of the human mind - the high and lows, the dark and light, empathy, panic attacks and paranoia, experiences of love and loss, all wrapped in charming lyrical metaphors and sweeping musical drama.

— http://www.dharmarecords.co.uk/AlexanderWolfeBiog.html

You tried to pass off the subject's promotional biography as an encyclopedia article... what were you thinking?! MER-C 11:16, 3 June 2011 (UTC)

CP clerks

By the way, I just want you to know that I'd be pestering you for this post in a minute if I didn't think you were already pulling way more than your fair share at CCI. :) If you should at any point decide you'd like to poke about there, just let me know. --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 10:36, 9 June 2011 (UTC)

Up to you - I see myself picking off one or two every now and then but nowhere near the level of work NortyNort is doing now. By the way, I have an open CCI request that I want a second opinion on - could you please help? MER-C 12:43, 9 June 2011 (UTC)

One or two every now and then is a net benefit in my book. :) But I'll wait and see where User:Dpmuk goes with his proposal to merge CCI clerks and CP clerks before doing anything. Meanwhile, I'll go look at that pending CCI request. :D --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 11:37, 10 June 2011 (UTC)

Sorry! I had a lot of e-mails and forgot about this before work. :/ Promise, I'll get to it as soon as I can! Feel free to poke me if I seem to forget. :) --Maggie Dennis (talk) 12:42, 10 June 2011 (UTC)

Just FYI. :) One or two every now and then is certainly welcome. :D --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 23:34, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

contribution removing

Hi, You recently removed the contributions in Past life regression, Higher consciousness with a note: revert: not reliably sourced, WP: COI WP: REFSPAM. But the contribution does not contain only external links, but the links to other pages of the wiki. You have qualified a links as a spam. But all sources can be checked and they were published in books that are available on the following pages. I beg you specify what material is spam (not reliably sourced)? I ask you to resolve this misunderstanding. I hope for your understanding. Kontantin (talk) 14:10, 11 June 2011 (UTC)

The material you added to past life regression was sourced exclusively to blog postings by yourself, which is unacceptable per the verifiability policy. The material you added to higher consciousness, in addition to being sourced to your own blog post, contained excessive quotation of a copyrighted book.

In reviewing your contributions I have noticed a gross propensity towards citing your own blog postings, which in turn serve to promote your book. This is self-promotion, i.e. spam. I don't object to the material being readded as long as it:

• is verifiable using reliable sources;
• does not quote excessively from copyrighted books; and
• does not contain any self-promotion.

Oh, and stop using Wikipedia to promote yourself, your blog postings or your book. MER-C 11:38, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

Interview request

Hi MER-C,

My name is Hannah and I am an MSc student at Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford. I am currently working on my thesis titled ‘The Relationship between Quality of Collaborative Knowledge and Authorship: A Comparative Case Study of Google Knol vs. Wikipedia’. I’m aiming to compare quality of articles from Google Knol and Wikipedia and I need your help in identifying what authors do to make sure they write the best quality article.

If you agree to participate, you will be interviewed via email, Skype or any other means of your choice.

With your help, I hope to learn about the impact that the unique structural design of the two services have on article quality and thus hopefully for the Internet industry, increase awareness of the implications of design choices for the quality of user-generated content.

All data you provide will be anonymised and stored confidentially. You may withdraw at any time without prejudice and without providing a reason. In the event of withdrawal, data you already provided will immediately be removed.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me at hannah.kim at oii.ox.ac.uk I hope to hear from you soon. Thank you.

Best, Hannah --Trinityhk (talk) 08:30, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

I have exams at the moment and hence am unable to spare the time for the interview. Sorry. MER-C 09:11, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

getting article text plus extra bits?

I'd like to get a revision and its revid. Part of the reason is to know what version of the content I'm looking at, so calling getText and then getRevid won't work for atomicity. Is Wiki.java missing such a feature?

Alternately, I could call "get max(revid) for article", then call "get text for revid". tedder (talk) 02:59, 23 June 2011 (UTC)

I suppose you want the revid and content of the top revision of a given page? getPageHistory(title)[0] works but that's not particularly ideal. I should add a getTopRevision but right now I have exams.

Note to self: add a rollback token property to Revision. MER-C 10:12, 23 June 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, I'm starting to add getTopRevision to my layer since I don't want to hassle with XML parsing- I might end up completely forking and rewriting the other bits I need, I'm getting a nontrivial collection in my layer now. tedder (talk) 10:56, 23 June 2011 (UTC)

The code's already there (Revision.isTop()), I just need to shuffle stuff around a bit. MER-C 11:26, 23 June 2011 (UTC)

Only tangentally related, I committed a very minor change just now. tedder (talk) 03:25, 24 June 2011 (UTC)

isAllowedTo with rights2

The following is from the isAllowedTo() method in Wiki.java. Is the "is not null" check supposed to be "is null"?

String[] rs = rights2;
if (rights2 != null)
  rs = (String[])getUserInfo().get("rights");
for (String r : rs)

I get a null pointer error on the foreach. tedder (talk) 20:11, 25 June 2011 (UTC)

Yes it is. I'll fix this tomorrow. MER-C 02:28, 26 June 2011 (UTC)

Fixed. (Let me know if I broke anything.) MER-C 03:30, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Contributor_copyright_investigations/GVnayR

Thanks for creating this, I completely forgot! Theleftorium ^(talk) 16:30, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

He's got a few image warnings, do we need to look at them too? MER-C 01:55, 29 June 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, probably. This was a copyvio for example. Looks like he's willing to help out though, so that's good! Theleftorium ^(talk) 10:28, 29 June 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Contributor copyright investigations/GVnayR 4. MER-C 11:34, 29 June 2011 (UTC)

N. Chandrababu Naidu

would you let me know why it was edited — Preceding unsigned comment added by Stephan.grace (talk • contribs)

Do not copy and paste information from other websites. MER-C 08:42, 29 June 2011 (UTC)

Mair

Could you please take a look at Mair. It is a disambiguation page, that recently was messed up with other "information". To my opinion all revisions after your undo of 2010-08-07 are rubbish. But I'm not sure. Thanks. - Dick Bos (talk) 18:03, 2 July 2011 (UTC)

Someone else reverted the page -- it was screwed up by vanity content inserted by Mairmetal (talk · contribs). The revert seems fine. MER-C 02:39, 3 July 2011 (UTC)

CP bot problems

It would appear we have quite a serious problem with bots no longer listing things at WP:CP, please see Wikipedia talk:Copyright problems#Bot problems for more. Dpmuk (talk) 10:48, 9 July 2011 (UTC)

What are you doing?

MER, I understand completely that you're against rolling out LQT on en.wikipedia... hell, realistically, I even partially agree with you. What the hell are you posting a link inviting people to misbehave for, though?!? I'm going to post a request on AN that someone revdel that edit, but it would be great if you'd revert it yourself in the meantime.
— V = IR (Talk • Contribs) 11:57, 9 July 2011 (UTC)

I can see where you're coming from. On the other hand, it's only an edit page link like the ones on this page; anyone can come along and fiddle with the discussions contained within. If you look at the mockup on mediawiki.org or even mw:LiquidThreads Test Page, edit links and a link to the page history appear in the forum interface. Perhaps I should have phrased it better, I'll do this now. MER-C 13:17, 9 July 2011 (UTC)

Conflict of Interest

I have no ownership of the site, and don't make a dime from it. I'm trying to pass on the rankings frmo that site onto here, as a lot of fighter's pages don't display their ranking. I am familiar with it actually and read it before I edited said pages. Thanks for erasing what took me 45 minutes to go and do. I didn't break any codes of conduct with what I said, it seems Sherdog wants a monopoly on having ranks displayed on Wikipedia which seems like a bit of a conflict of interest to me. JMW814 (talk) 19:13, 9 July 2011 (UTC)

WP Spam in the Signpost

"WikiProject Report" would like to focus on WikiProject Spam for a Signpost article. This is an excellent opportunity to draw attention to your efforts and attract new members to the project. Would you be willing to participate in an interview? If so, here are the questions for the interview. Just add your response below each question and feel free to skip any questions that you don't feel comfortable answering. Other editors will also have an opportunity to respond to the interview questions. If you know anyone else who would like to participate in the interview, please share this with them. Have a great day. -Mabeenot (talk) 19:23, 9 July 2011 (UTC)

Copyright clerk consideration

Hi. :) We have a clerk consideration here. If you have any observations to add, they would be appreciated. --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 11:47, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

Question

Hi MERC-C, hope all is well. When you have time, could you answer a programming question? I tried to compile the following code:

import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;

public class Fbot
{
  public static void main(String[] args)
   {
     try 
      {
        Wiki wiki = new Wiki("en.wikipedia.org");
        wiki.setThrottle(5000); // set the edit throttle to 0.2 Hz
	Char[] p = {'t', 'e', 's', 't'};
        wiki.login("Fastily", p); 
      }
      catch (FailedLoginException ex)
      {
         System.out.print("Login Failed, program will now exit");
	 System.exit(1);
      }
  }
}

But when I do, I get the following error:

Fastily:Fbot $ javac *.java
Fbot.java:10: cannot access Wiki
bad class file: ./Wiki.class
class file contains wrong class: org.wikipedia.Wiki
Please remove or make sure it appears in the correct subdirectory of the classpath.
        Wiki wiki = new Wiki("en.wikipedia.org");
        ^
1 error

Wiki.java is already compiled and in the same directory as the code I'm trying to compile. Sorry if it's a silly question. Thanks in advance, FASTILY ^(TALK) 22:57, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

stalker here. You are missing an import of Wiki:

import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
import org.wikipedia.Wiki;
// and the rest of your code

Eclipse is handy for this, as it finds problems and suggests how to fix them. tedder (talk) 00:51, 17 July 2011 (UTC)

Additionally, Wiki.java should be in the subdirectory ./org/wikipedia. See here. MER-C 02:09, 17 July 2011 (UTC)

It's working now, thanks you guys!! Cheers, FASTILY ^(TALK) 05:59, 17 July 2011 (UTC)

Another Quick Question

Hi MER-C, sorry to bother you again. When you have time, could you help me with another programming question? I know that Wiki.LogEntry is a wrapper which cannot perform log actions in itself, but how would I go about performing log actions with Wiki.class? I looked through the Wiki.class Method Summary but couldn't find a method which could be used to made log actions. Thanks for your time. Best, FASTILY ^(TALK) 01:33, 18 July 2011 (UTC)

There's no one method for performing actions -- actions currently implemented are move() and a somewhat broken upload(). I can't implement admin/bureaucrat related stuff for obvious reasons, but it should be fairly straightforward to add. RevDel is missing from the (MW) API. MER-C 03:35, 18 July 2011 (UTC)

I understand; thanks anyways. On an unrelated side note, consider running for adminship sometime. I've seen your work in copyright - it's very respectable. All the best, FASTILY ^(TALK) 05:50, 18 July 2011 (UTC)

About eodissa.com

Hi, Hi, though your observation of my connection seems right I don't spam or add irrelevant links, there are many info added by many users in that site. So, adding link in such cases along with different other links doesn't mean spamming.And it's not my purposeful attempt to popularize that site by using Wikipedia as a platform. And I always log in while editing and never do so from an IP. So, if anyone else is spamming than I am not responsible. Secondly, there are less no of sites about the Indian state Odisha and it's language Odia language and literature, so, only in case I find any link useful, I post it, you can check how many times I have added link of eodissa.com to accertion. And banning the site will block the external links to be added which will also block the information flow, please consider that as well. And someone may tried to spam, but let not the others suffer for that. This is my humble opinion. ସୁଭପାSubha Pa^Utter2me! 05:30, 21 July 2011 (UTC)

RfC

Hi, I would like to know your opinion about this featured picture candidate, I've corrected issues that you mentioned almost a year ago on here, I believe the image have a high EV and is the best available example of photomontage.   ■ MMXX  ^talk  10:58, 23 July 2011 (UTC)

Thank you for your comment, although I expected a more clear vote, considering the value of this image in articles related to photomontage and photoshopping.   ■ MMXX  ^talk  16:28, 23 July 2011 (UTC)

African art

Please check this IP out 86.26.54.23 (talk · contribs), thanks...Modernist (talk) 15:48, 26 July 2011 (UTC)

• afrikboutik.com: Linksearch en - meta - de - fr - simple - wikt:en - wikt:fr • MER-C Cross-wiki • Reports: Links on en - COIBot - COIBot-Local • Discussions: tracked - advanced • COIBot-Local - COIBot-XWiki - Wikipedia: en - fr - de • Google: search • meta • Domain: domaintools • AboutUs.org • Live link: http://www.afrikboutik.com

Additional spammers:

• 193.61.82.211 (talk • contribs • deleted contribs • blacklist hits • AbuseLog • what links to user page • COIBot • Spamcheck • count • block log • x-wiki • Edit filter search • WHOIS • RDNS • tracert • robtex.com • StopForumSpam • Google • AboutUs • Project HoneyPot)
• 194.81.100.151 (talk • contribs • deleted contribs • blacklist hits • AbuseLog • what links to user page • COIBot • Spamcheck • count • block log • x-wiki • Edit filter search • WHOIS • RDNS • tracert • robtex.com • StopForumSpam • Google • AboutUs • Project HoneyPot)

Clear spam. MER-C 04:00, 27 July 2011 (UTC)

Please comment

I'd like to invite you to comment on a recent deletetion of a few external links at Talk:Catherine_Asaro#EL. Debresser (talk) 08:09, 27 July 2011 (UTC)