User talk:MER-C/archives/35

Michael Arnstein protected

Hi, I'd like to create article Michael Arnstein (he is an ultra marathon runner). It seems it was protected from creation by you. Are you able to help out? – Pladask (talk) 09:56, 2 September 2014‎

Maybe. I would like to see a draft first, though. MER-C 11:54, 2 September 2014 (UTC)

Clearing links

Hello. With regard to this conversation, the link-clearing is progressing, slowly. A lot of the remaining links to the site are in article talk pages where {{cclean}} was used, as e.g. this one. Can these be left as they are, or should I remove them, or just remove the http:// part of the url...? cheers, Struway2 (talk) 08:22, 3 September 2014 (UTC)

I would remove the http part of the URL... blacklisted links may cause problems with archiving bots. MER-C 09:40, 3 September 2014 (UTC)

Done that then. Now down to 10 links, none in mainspace. cheers, Struway2 (talk) 10:40, 4 September 2014 (UTC)

Added to the blacklist. Thank you for cleaning these links out. Hopefully we won't be seeing this site and the copyvios again (please let me know if you do). MER-C 01:13, 5 September 2014 (UTC)

Clarification

I am not spamming and I wont do it as you can check my contribution. The action on Bigg Boss 8 has been clarified with User_talk:Thomas.W on his talk page. Ref mentioned in Bigg Boss 8 for nisha yadav cast was wrong and it was just corrected by the right one and second one was removed by mistake and before I correct the mistake it was corrected by Thomas.W... Sanjayrealman (talk • contribs) 5 September 2014 (UTC)

How about the other 43 links you added to that website (which constitute more than two thirds of the links you have added so far) and your edit warring to keep them in their respective articles? MER-C 12:09, 5 September 2014 (UTC)

In 43 links there is hardly half link added by me as a source and it was added for ref of the content related to topic. Telly TRP is not a spam site it is television news site which is legally registered in India and their publication office address is mentioned on site. The content whatever I have contributed till date whether it is from TOI or Telly TRP or other news site is revelant and correct so far. I have been stopping many user from adding spam link on wikipedia how could I do it. My question is if PR Wing like Telly Chakkar are used for sources then what is wrong with Telly Times Rating Publication, as it is registered publication. Sanjayrealman (talk • contribs) 5 September 2014 (UTC)

If you still think it is not reliable source I wont use it for ref Sanjayrealman (talk • contribs) 5 September 2014 (UTC)

>If you still think it is not reliable source

Yes I do. I don't think a six month old site would qualify as reliable, especially given the plethora of other Indian movie and TV show sites out there. MER-C 13:30, 5 September 2014 (UTC)

Bug with getCategoryMembers function

The function gets into infinite loop when called like this : wiki.getCategoryMembers("Catégorie:Wikipédia:Article biographique", 0); on the French Wikipedia. The problem is this :

1. A category A contains the category B
2. The category B contains the category C
3. The category C contains A

A possible solution is to add a parameter to say which categories to skip. Cordially. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Hunsu (talk • contribs)

Does this patch solve the problem? (And no, I do not want to add more parameters.) I will also be travelling for the next two weeks, so don't expect a quick response. MER-C 03:31, 7 September 2014 (UTC)

Patch

--- Wiki.java Base (BASE) +++ Wiki.java Locally Modified (Based On LOCAL) @@ -4511,6 +4511,8 @@ else constructNamespaceString(url, "cm", ns); ArrayList<String> members = new ArrayList<String>(); + ArrayList<String> subcats = new ArrayList<String>(); + subcats.add(normalize("Category:" + name)); String next = ""; do { @@ -4526,8 +4528,11 @@ // fetch subcategories boolean iscat = namespace(member) == CATEGORY_NAMESPACE; - if (subcat && iscat) + if (subcat && iscat && !subcats.contains(member)) + { + subcats.add(member); members.addAll(Arrays.asList(getCategoryMembers(member, true, ns))); + } // ignore this item if we requested subcat but not CATEGORY_NAMESPACE

No it doesn't, that's the first thing I have tested. Hunsu (talk) 18:06, 7 September 2014 (UTC)

I've decided to limit recursion to 1, the full recursive fetch is better handled by the client. MER-C 12:03, 8 September 2014 (UTC)

Page deletion

Hi, I created a page for ZTPFGI product information from tpfsoftware.com website. And i'm one of the representative for media content publisher. here I would like to create an page for ZTPFGI product which is help full for IBM zTPF and mainframe users. I know it's copyrighted information and how to resolve these copyright issues with Wiki. These content globally permitted to use education purpose only, so which agreement I should select and how to communicate. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Darulbaby (talk • contribs)

You didn't read/comprehend the other deletion reason, did you? This content is not permitted on Wikipedia for obvious reasons. Is there any reason why I shouldn't revoke your editing privileges for abusing Wikipedia for promotional purposes and breaching our Terms of Use regarding undisclosed paid edits? MER-C 06:49, 11 September 2014 (UTC)

Bug in the edit function

When we try to edit a page whose title have a space at the end we got a null pointer exception. The problem is the instructions :

        // reorder
        for (int i = 0; i < pages.length; i++)
            if (normalize(pages[i]).equals(parsedtitle))
            info[i] = tempmap;

The condition normalize(pages[i]).equals(parsedtitle) is never true for the page, so the function return null for that page. One solution is to trim the title in the normailze function but that we should think of all the possibilities first. Hunsu (talk) 18:29, 15 September 2014 (UTC)

Noted. MER-C 16:06, 17 September 2014 (UTC)

Move of Free the Nipple

Hello. Thank you for fixing the cut/paste move of "Girlrillaz" to Free the Nipple. However, the article's Talk page seems to have disappeared. I can't find it at either location. Can you fix that? ——BarrelProof (talk) 15:35, 18 September 2014 (UTC)

I just noticed that the Talk:Girlrillaz page was deleted by User:RHaworth. I may ask that user to help restore it to Talk:Free the Nipple. —BarrelProof (talk) 15:53, 18 September 2014 (UTC)

Done. MER-C 17:31, 18 September 2014 (UTC)

Companieslistco.uk, Companydirectorcheck.com etc.

Dear sir,

let me introduce myself, my name is Jakub Gabriel and I have been tasked by my client to remove his links from the Spam Black-list. The links have been added to the blacklist because of linkbuilding services which the client had ordered from a foreign country but their cooperation has already ended. The links to his websites were formed organically, too. That is why we want to remove these links from the spam black-list, we think that his websites are interesting sources of information about companies in the UK. The websites show relations between companies and directors such as addresses etc. He has already sent a request to  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki_talk:Spam-whitelist and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki_talk:Spam-blacklist#Proposed_removals but the request has got placed into the Troubleshooting and problems folder. I would be very grateful, if you could tell what I should do to remove his records from the blacklist.

Thank you.

Best Regards,

Jakub Gabriel — Preceding unsigned comment added by GabrielJake (talk • contribs)

We do not delist or whitelist domains at the request of SEO companies. (I've only just realized I was the one who stuck these domains on the blacklist in the first place. Don't bother asking someone else, they'll give you exactly the same answer). MER-C 12:17, 19 September 2014 (UTC)

wiki-java

Hi MER-C, (sorry for poor English)

In "wiki-java" User->contribs is not allow the "uclimit" parameter. When i add the "uclimit" parameter to "User->contribs" query it continue passing by the limit? And it fetch many query and returns result that querylimits?

So i just want a query that it return last 10 result of "usercontribs"? not continue, just last 10?

Like: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=query&list=usercontribs&uclimit=10&ucuser=MER-C

it returns 10 result in browser, but in "wiki-java" if there is "uccontinue" in resultxml, it continue to fetch? why? it should not be? so i just limited the query "10"? but it continue to fetch?

am i wrong? or missing something?

Kumul (talk) 12:13, 19 September 2014 (UTC)

There's a loop in that method which does exactly that. (Some cleanup is required -- ucstart can be folded into url and the documentation is a little unclear).

Please read this before replying. MER-C 12:47, 19 September 2014 (UTC)

What this mean? i am not English as i said. if i made a mistake like bad language, sorry.

I just wanted a little help. Anyway i will use a different framework. Thanks. Kumul (talk) 14:35, 19 September 2014 (UTC)

Let me spell it out for you:

If you are asking questions in a forum that does not use your native language, you will get a limited amount of slack for spelling and grammar errors — but no extra slack at all for laziness (and yes, we can usually spot that difference).

— [1]

You are clearly in the latter category. I am not here to teach you basic Java, nor am I here to walk you through my code -- that is what a debugger is for. MER-C 07:44, 20 September 2014 (UTC)

Is this a problem?

I work on identifying new users and new page creators for the purpose of welcoming them. I then insert a template that welcomes them to Wikipedia or I apply a template that thanks them for the creation of a new article. When I post a welcome to their not-created-yet user talk page this is registered in my edit count as a new page creation. I think this is misleading. Sometime, somewhere this high number of page creations is going to get flagged and will attract the attention of some adminstrator. I would like your opinion on this.

  Bfpage |leave a message  13:17, 23 September 2014 (UTC)

Every one of your concerns is unwarranted. MER-C 13:33, 23 September 2014 (UTC)

Draft: Daniel Kanu

Hello, my draft Daniel Kanu has been deleted because of the possible copyright issues from danielkanu.com. I have got the text from the person who wrote it, and that person is one of the people who made the website. Since this is my first article and you removed it, I would like to hear an advice from you on what is the best solution to upload this text. Thank you very much! Regards. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ljiljana K (talk • contribs)

I would start from scratch. Copying and pasting from the subject's official biography is a TERRIBLE way of writing an encyclopedia article, regardless of the copyright status of the text copied. MER-C 02:37, 25 September 2014 (UTC)

Balochs

Nice one. If that's how their publicity writes, what are the 'dissertations' like? And don't the universities realise that this goes on? Surely it counts as fraud.. Peridon (talk) 14:56, 24 September 2014 (UTC)

Welcome to the world of black hat search engine optimization. Unsurprisingly we have an article on these shady businesses -- Essay mill -- and spamming is their primary means of advertising. MER-C 02:30, 25 September 2014 (UTC)

Spammer

Hello. I thought you might be interested in this one: Brettsalt (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · nuke contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log), since it's not the ordinary run of the mill spammer who spams the same website on multiple pages, but rather someone who seems to be working for a company or something that offers to place spamlinks to clients' websites on relevant, or roughly relevant, articles on Wikipedia. All of the user's edits have added spamlinks of some kind or another (as external links, not references), but to a number of widely different websites (even though they started out as an ordinary spammer, adding links to Jeremy Burnhams personal website to multiple articles). Re-adding the links to the same articles after having been reverted. And all edits have been marked as minor, undoubtedly in an attempt to fly under the radar, so it's not a new editor. Thomas.W ^talk 19:55, 24 September 2014 (UTC)

• jeremyburnham.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.jeremyburnham.com
• babylonschooloflanguages.co.uk: 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.babylonschooloflanguages.co.uk
• nofeardentists.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.nofeardentists.com
• surefarm.co.uk: 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.surefarm.co.uk
• threadedbrassinserts.wordpress.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.threadedbrassinserts.wordpress.com
• fasteningsolutionsuk.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.fasteningsolutionsuk.com
• bmd-architects.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.bmd-architects.com

I didn't find anything interesting. MER-C 11:50, 25 September 2014 (UTC)

Just an ordinary run-of-the-mill spammer in other words... Thomas.W ^talk 12:05, 25 September 2014 (UTC)

Identifying vandals to administrators

I've been able to revert edits by vandals by monitoring activity here http://listen.hatnote.com/ I need a way to alert an administrator so that the IP address can be blocked. How is this done OR is it done already by identifying it as vandalism?   Bfpage |leave a message  18:39, 27 September 2014 (UTC)

WP:AIV is what you are looking for (read the instructions first, though). MER-C 03:47, 28 September 2014 (UTC)

3news.co.nz

A while ago you added 3news.co.nz to the list of links that will get removed by XLinkBot. At a glance it looks like the news site of a TV channel, something I'd usually assume to be a reliable source. What am I missing here? Huon (talk) 14:45, 28 September 2014 (UTC)

The site was spammed by 20+ SPAs, see Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Spam/2013 Archive Nov 1#www.3news.co.nz. MER-C 02:16, 29 September 2014 (UTC)

OK, thanks! Huon (talk) 19:28, 4 October 2014 (UTC)

reconsideration of previous deletion - thank you!

Hi there - I was forming a Wikipedia article about Leakn (User:Emeliabolle/sandbox) and what it all involves. I hadn't gotten to the publishing stage of it yet, because I was still forming my thoughts and ideas. Mostly collecting information from the founder, the social media site and other channels. I just signed on today, only to find that my work has been deleted. Can this be reversed? I had no desire to "publish" the page "as is" - I understand that it was looking a bit like a promotional site, because I hadn't edited the document.

Please feel free to contact me at your earliest convenience, as this is a time sensitive matter and I had wanted to ensure that the information was "live" tomorrow.

All my best,

Emelia Grier

Emeliabolle (talk) 20:13, 30 September 2014 (UTC)

it was looking a bit like a promotional site

That's an understatement. Promotional material is prohibited everywhere on Wikipedia, even in drafts.

this is a time sensitive matter and I had wanted to ensure that the information was "live" tomorrow.

Wait a second... are you breaching the Terms of Service by failing to disclose paid editing? MER-C 04:25, 1 October 2014 (UTC)

Hello again - I greatly appreciate your response, but I assure you that I was still in the beginning "note taking" stage of forming this article on Leakn. I didn't mean to intentionally violate any policies. I understand the policy about promotional material, and I had intended on changing this portion before I requested the publishing. I didn't think anyone was checking the article that I was writing while it was in the rough phase of creation. As for "Breaching the terms of use/service" I definitely think I may have mis-typed. I had wanted a co-worker to be able to see this site and the deletion of the article caused me to feel nervous that it wasn't going to be finished in time for a specific meeting. I don't quite know what you meant by "paid editing". I'm not being paid to create the article, if that is what you are referring to. If I stay far away from anything that appears to be "promotional" in the article, can I please continue creating the Leakn page? I would greatly appreciate it.  :)

Sincere thanks,

Emelia — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.204.196.167 (talk • contribs)

No, because it is apparent that you have a conflict of interest, paid or not (FYI: being a salaried employee of the site counts as paid under the TOS). Editing with promotional intent is also prohibited. Creating an article on something you are affiliated with qualifies, regardless of whether the material itself is promotional. MER-C 12:52, 4 October 2014 (UTC)

Special:Contributions/Temeku

He/she recently disrupting editing that added unreliable sources and using bare URLs on Physical (album) and Physical (Olivia Newton-John song). I removed unreliable sources per WP:Verifiability but he/she re-added again. I think you need to post on administrator noticeboard. 183.171.168.155 (talk) 05:54, 2 October 2014 (UTC)

I think you need to post on administrator noticeboard.

You're more than capable of doing that yourself. MER-C 06:28, 2 October 2014 (UTC)

I posted a report to WP:AN. 183.171.164.117 (talk) 13:46, 2 October 2014 (UTC)

He is pretend to be an admin and he posted on WP:AN (though I removed it). Till you’ll see the proof that he added unreliable sources.115.164.80.14 (talk) 01:00, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

Other admin restored it just now. Never mind. I'll call for help. 183.171.172.42 (talk) 01:28, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

TY

Thank you very much for deletion of User:Sharma Amit Pathankot/Amit sharma pathankot! – Paine Ellsworth ^CLIMAX! 20:44, 2 October 2014 (UTC)

Please comment on Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals) Media Viewer RfC

You are being notified because you have participated in previous discussions on the same topic. Alsee (talk) 19:13, 5 October 2014 (UTC)

Moule & Polyzoides

I am writing you because I believe I have discovered a whole series of connected articles and wiki links that I would categorize as spam. I recently reviewed the new article Moule & Polyzoides. I regularly flag new articles that are promotional pieces for companies and nominate them for deletion as appropriate. But I have stumbled upon a whole series of related articles that seem to be related to the promotion of individuals and their company. The user responsible for these promotional page creations and edits: Supersima. Please refer to his/her global contributions to see this pattern.

The article Stefanos Polyzoides links to the Moule & Polyzoides article. The Stefanos Polyzoides article has one reference. 95% of the rest of the content is unsourced and appears promotional.

This same user included the name of Stephanos Polyzoides in the article Courtyard housing crediting him with the creation of a particular archeticurtural 'style' with spammy style, advertisement-like language.

This user inserted this statement into the Del Mar (Los Angeles Metro station) article: ...and is surrounded by 347 apartments and approximately 20,000 square feet of retail linked by a network of public plazas, paseos and private courtyards all designed by local architecture firm Moule & Polyzoides.

One article Kalu Yala written by this User was nominated for deletion because it was originally tagged as an advertisement for this same company. See WP:Articles for deletion/Kalu Yala

Can you help unravel this nest? I lack the expertise and I don't even know where to begin. Best Regards,

  Bfpage |leave a message  23:42, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

Looks like you have stumbled upon some paid advocacy. I can't say for certain because I have little evidence, but it sure as hell looks like it. I've left the editor a final warning and a stern reminder of her disclosure obligations under the Terms of Use. I've also pruned some of the advertising. Are you sure these subjects are notable? MER-C 01:52, 18 October 2014 (UTC)

Request

Please block Winedmoves (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · nuke contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log), repeating vandalizing Egg. Thanks. --///EuroCarGT 01:02, 18 October 2014 (UTC)

[2]. Looks like other admins are sleeping. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 01:02, 18 October 2014 (UTC)

Alexf took care of it. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 01:07, 18 October 2014 (UTC)

Message received recently

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:27.99.108.111&diff=cur

Sorry, I'm new to this sort of thing. Is this a message for the previous person (or in this case, bot) who was attributed to this IP address?

Thanks.27.99.108.111 (talk) 13:40, 18 October 2014 (UTC)

Assuming you have an ordinary ADSL2+ connection, then yes. See IP address#IP address assignment for the details. MER-C 02:43, 19 October 2014 (UTC)

Spammy kid biz

Hey MER-C, a kid keeps trying to promote his silly nonexistent fan project by vandalizing various articles and adding links to his DeviantArt page moses1996.deviantart.com. Here's the SPI report that explains the matter with links: Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Noggyjoggy. Not sure if this is worth submitting to the spam blacklist, but on the other hand, the kid needs to be dissuaded from doing this. Thoughts? Thanks, Cyphoidbomb (talk) 22:33, 18 October 2014 (UTC)

• moses1996.deviantart.com: Linksearch en (insource) - meta - de - fr - simple - wikt:en - wikt:fr • Spamcheck • MER-C X-wiki • gs • Reports: Links on en - COIBot - COIBot-Local • Discussions: tracked - advanced - RSN • COIBot-Link, Local, & XWiki Reports - Wikipedia: en - fr - de • Google: search • meta • Domain: domaintools • AboutUs.com

 Added. Anything with block evasion that affects multiple articles should be considered for blacklisting. MER-C 03:30, 19 October 2014 (UTC)

Ah, very cool! Thank you. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 03:36, 19 October 2014 (UTC)

CCI needs image list

Hi, User:MER-C. Unfortunately, I've got a CCI that combines copying of text from print and other sources with uploading images of uncertain publication history. It's at Wikipedia:Contributor copyright investigations/20141020. Can you add the image list for review? :/ --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 11:26, 20 October 2014 (UTC)

Done. MER-C 12:12, 20 October 2014 (UTC)

Amy Willerton

Hi Amy Willerton she's 1 meter 74 you made a mistake — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.7.133.187 (talk • contribs)

You're more than capable of fixing it yourself. MER-C 08:05, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

Political canvassing

Hi, MER-C, how are you? I imagine we have some sort of restriction on political canvassing in Wikipedia, but I can't find it either in WP:CANVASSING or in WP:SPAM. Anyway, thinking its closer to the latter, and thus within one of your fields of particular expertise, can I ask you to look at this in case your magic wand is needed? Many thanks, Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 23:55, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

I imagine we have some sort of restriction on political canvassing in Wikipedia

How about WP:NOT#SOAP?

To answer your query, That IP geolocates to somewhere in the United Kingdom. It's not spam but rather generic cluelessness. There are also two sets of discretionary sanctions authorized for this topic -- Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/India-Pakistan and Wikipedia:General sanctions/South Asian social groups. I'm going to pass, because I'm out of my depth. MER-C 09:00, 23 October 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for the reply, MER-C - that makes two of us treading water. Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 22:34, 25 October 2014 (UTC)

deletion?

why has the post been deleted? it was not for self promotion! the yorkshire volunteers band is constantly being asked for information for concerts and Military events? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.255.232.4 (talk • contribs)

Because you refuse to understand the purpose of Wikipedia. Attempting to pass off your linkedin profile as an encyclopedia article is self-promotion.

The above IP address has been blocked for block evasion. Further appeals must take place on User talk:Ritchiehoward. MER-C 10:25, 24 October 2014 (UTC)

Rich Citation vs External Link

Hi, I just saw that some of my contributions as external links have been deleted. Specifically in the article about the book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. After carefully reading the guidelines, I can understand why, especially when they were added as an anonymous user and few to none other contributions where made to the article.

While I do believe that such links to the entire summary does provide value to readers wanting to understand the work being discussed, a single link does have a weak standing point. I've read the guidelines (three times) and believe that providing concrete citations and contribute further to the articles won't be considered spammy.

Would you agree on that? And if so, can I make my contributions as such while being logged in, without them being considered spam ?

Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Hjbarraza (talk • contribs)

No. Wikipedia is not a vehicle for promoting your websites. This is what we mean by spam. You should edit with your account, but only if they're constructive (otherwise you shouldn't be editing at all). MER-C 07:17, 26 October 2014 (UTC)

Yes... I see how it can easily be turned to simply just self-promotion. Thanks, Have a nice day

Deletion of Ministry of Information and Communications Technology Page

Hi,

I created a page earlier related to Ministry of Information and Communications Technology, but it was deleted despite the following facts:

- The page is for a governmental entity, not promotional - I am working for the Ministry and the one who originally created the content for the website - The website uses Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Kindly advise!

Regards, Mohammad

Our policies forbid promotion by everyone -- business, governments and charities -- because it is inconsistent with the purpose of Wikipedia. The article you created was clearly promotional. What you did can backfire spectacularly. MER-C 07:27, 8 November 2014 (UTC)

Arab Health

Thanks for taking action regarding that COI editor. Should the article be deleted or saved, do you think? The subject appears notable (as conferences go, at least). Still learning about all this stuff! Basie (talk) 12:40, 10 November 2014 (UTC)

I would advocate that page being kept as-is minus the copyvio. The stuff in the history is promotional, but may have useful references (haven't checked). MER-C 12:50, 10 November 2014 (UTC)

Just to check, am I now allowed to remove the notice and add content to that article? Cheers, Basie (talk) 12:09, 16 November 2014 (UTC)

Yes. MER-C 12:27, 16 November 2014 (UTC)

3news

Not sure if the ping worked, could you comment on the 3news-thread on User talk:XLinkBot? Thanks. --Dirk Beetstra ^{T C} 05:47, 12 November 2014 (UTC)

deletion of a useful page

Hello, The page you deleted is of Rakshit Tandon, a expert in the field of computer security. He works with united nations, european commission and has a verified facebook page. You can easily search him on Facebook. Kindly, rereview the article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bhuwnesh.joshi2014 (talk • contribs)

"useful page"... copied shamelessly from his linkedin profile? That's not congruent with the purpose of Wikipedia. MER-C 12:53, 12 November 2014 (UTC)

org.apache.commons.lang3.StringEscapeUtils.unescapeXml() needed?

The below code prints out "false",

			String testString = "&";
			commonsR207.upload(tempFile, tempTitle, "{{speedy|test}}", testString);
			WikiR207.LogEntry[] logT = commonsR207.getImageHistory(tempTitle);
			System.out.println(logT[0].getReason().equals(testString));

thus, I was wondering if the XML should be decoded in wiki-java already? --McZusatz (talk) 22:08, 15 November 2014 (UTC)

I am guessing there are some decode()s missing in parseLogEntry()... --McZusatz (talk) 01:19, 16 November 2014 (UTC)

Noted. Should be fixed sometime next week. MER-C 09:27, 16 November 2014 (UTC)

Wouldn't the code be cleaner if the decode() was placed inside of parseAttribute()? I am aware that alphanum does not require decoding but I'd happily waste some CPU in favor of cleaner code. --McZusatz (talk) 20:45, 16 November 2014 (UTC)

I've done exactly that in r209. MER-C 13:08, 18 November 2014 (UTC)

Awesome, thank you for fixing it so quickly! --McZusatz (talk) 23:13, 18 November 2014 (UTC)

User talk:Filmkailm

Can you look at the bottom of User talk:Filmkailm and see whether you think an unblock is warranted? Jackmcbarn (talk) 16:09, 18 November 2014 (UTC)

I'll defer to another admin's judgment. MER-C 06:07, 19 November 2014 (UTC)

Deleted Page

Just wanted to give you a heads up that I have re-written the deleted page SOCIAL: 50 Ways To Improve Your Professional Life. Please check and see if it is okay. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Varunsandy (talk • contribs)

Page was deleted twice and salted before I could have a look at it. MER-C 02:50, 20 November 2014 (UTC)

Dr. Zuhair Almazeedi page Deleted

you have deleted my page Dr. Zuhair almazeedi. The page contains the same info which i have on my webpage. and i just wrote what i did in life . How is it blatant publicity? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mblegacy (talk • contribs)

You've already answered that question. Wikipedia is not a substitute for your website and your CV (which is promotional by definition) is not an encyclopedia article. MER-C 13:12, 20 November 2014 (UTC)

Nope - User talk:Cornelia cefai

Hahahahahaha. -Roxy the dog™ (resonate) 11:10, 21 November 2014 (UTC)

About Gulf Finance House Page

Dear MER-C,

I am contacting you with regards to Gulf Finance House page on wikipedia. I have been trying to edit it as it needs to be updated witb accurate information. I work at Gulf Finance House and i am responsible of all the information published in the online media. However, you are editing it back to the old information.

Please let me know what you need me to verify that i am not a spam.

I have also used my work email to edit wikipedia.

If you need any further information, please let me know.

Best Regards, Nawal Al-Naji — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nalnaji (talk • contribs)

By "accurate information" you mean "promotional content that is not remotely suitable for inclusion into an encyclopedia". I will block you if you continue to abuse Wikipedia to promote your employer. MER-C 13:06, 21 November 2014 (UTC)

Dear MER-C,

What if i publish the below facts? Please let me know which area you believe it is promotional. [snip] — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nalnaji (talk • contribs)

(1) Do you really have to overwrite the entire article? (2) What you did adds nothing to that article, in fact it actually takes away from it. (3) You shouldn't be editing that article anyway because you have a conflict of interest. MER-C 12:40, 22 November 2014 (UTC)

Wiki API + Wiki-java question

Hello. Thanks for fixing my recently requested issue. I'm going to start using exists() with an array of page titles. Do you know what are limitations on title number? ~Nirvanchik~ ^⊤άλҟ 22:53, 21 November 2014 (UTC)

None. The API imposes a limit of 50 titles per query (500 if you're an admin/bot) but that is handled. MER-C 01:19, 22 November 2014 (UTC)

Draft:Doris Lindo Lewis, artist

You deleted this page because it has material supplied to James Bakker Antiques by me! The material in his website about Lewis is mine not his. He merely copied what I sent him so it's mine, not his. There is no reason to delete my page on Doris Lindo Lewis. I wrote it all myself. Bakker did not. Please restore the page, Doris Lindo Lewis, artist — Preceding unsigned comment added by RidgeCove (talk • contribs)

I am not psychic. You did not reply in any way to the notification you got immediately after you created the page or the big box that appeared on that page, both warning you that this might happen. There is no evidence on the source website that you wrote it or that it can be incorporated into Wikipedia.

That said, you should prove that you wrote the content -- see Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials. (Blame bullshit copyright laws for this). In its current state, it is not suitable for this encyclopedia because it appears to be an obituary and it is completely unreferenced. This can be fixed. MER-C 08:28, 24 November 2014 (UTC)

UNBLOCK MY PAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TO MER-C

WE ARE NOT USING WIKIPEDIA AS ADVERTISEMENT - WE ARE AN ORGANIZATION ATTEMPTING TO CREATE A PAGE

PLEASE UNBLOCK US IMMEDIATELY!

-STARTAU — Preceding unsigned comment added by 132.66.179.54 (talk • contribs)

Read this, then try again. MER-C 09:03, 24 November 2014 (UTC)

unblock request

Well played Sir/Ma'am, well played. (See this, too.) -- Hoary (talk) 07:24, 26 November 2014 (UTC)

That username was a dead giveaway. Also, I find it hilarious that their website is down and not on Google. MER-C 07:35, 26 November 2014 (UTC)

Yes. I too immediately noticed the "Seo" part. -- Hoary (talk) 10:47, 26 November 2014 (UTC)

Why?

Why this? I'm sure you have a good reason, but I'm scratching my head over what it might be. Herostratus (talk) 20:30, 28 November 2014 (UTC)

See Special:Contributions/88.255.237.242 and [3]. This person has added nothing but links to this site, despite a week long block on the primary IP two months ago. MER-C 02:47, 29 November 2014 (UTC)

So? These are links to the national parks associated with those articles. It seems reasonable to include them. AFAIK neither the Turkish nation park system nor nationalparksofturkey.com are for-profit organizations (and even if they are, this is very from a deal-killer). These look to be links which would be useful for some subset of readers, c'est-ne pas? Anti-spam fine, but let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Herostratus (talk) 13:45, 1 December 2014 (UTC)

I have no objection to you readding the links if you feel that they benefit the encyclopedia. I object to people adding links/content/whatever for (self)-promotional reasons, and reversion sends a strong message that kind of stuff isn't welcome here. MER-C 07:16, 2 December 2014 (UTC)

Yes, I do too. It's a rough business and there are tough calls and there's a firehose of self-promotional garbage directed at us. 'Preciate you guys's work in general and not complaining in general. Herostratus (talk) 00:01, 3 December 2014 (UTC)

Dealing with spam

Hey MER-C, last week I posted a new report here: Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Spam#Possibly huge spam network. Unfortunately I don't have the time to deal with the magnitude of this user's spamming, but after reviewing his/her contributions it looks very serious. Since you're really active with the reports at WP spam, could you recommend a plan of action for this? Where should I go to for some help with this? -download 05:35, 1 December 2014 (UTC)

This essentially is paid advocacy. I would leave a very strongly worded warning that threatens to block them if they continue to abuse Wikipedia for promotion or fail to disclose a financial conflict of interest. If this is widespread, you can ask for further help investigating on WP:COIN. What you posted on WT:WPSPAM isn't really actionable. If you suspect sockpuppetry, you will need to prove it in the usual manner. MER-C 13:11, 1 December 2014 (UTC)

Paid advocacy essentially confirmed. I left that nasty warning and leave any further investigation up to you. If they continue to abuse Wikipedia for promotional purposes, let me know and I will block them. MER-C 06:23, 2 December 2014 (UTC)

Category:Swimming at the 2014 Asian Games

Please restore Category:Swimming at the 2014 Asian Games. 178.93.232.158 (talk) 16:54, 3 December 2014 (UTC)

Seems reasonable, done. MER-C 04:16, 4 December 2014 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Winter Story (Mandy Chiang album)

You were involved in the Mandy Chiang article. I invite you to discuss the other from above. --George Ho (talk) 05:21, 10 December 2014 (UTC)

Wikimedia genealogy project

Just wondering if you have any thoughts re: the idea of WMF hosting a genealogy project. If so, feel free to contribute to this discussion. And apologies if I have made this request before. ---Another Believer _(Talk) 16:56, 10 December 2014 (UTC)

the zhuwei elementary school wiki problem

help i am zhuwei elementary school teacher

We want to build zhuwei elementary school's introudtion in wiki

so some data will copy from the web we established before.

I have deleted the google site last week .

but when I established in WIKI.

I will receive the message which i have copy frome the google site i have deleted lask week

Please help me! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Cwps101 (talk • contribs)

That's not why the page was deleted. As a teacher, you should know what an encyclopedia is and, more importantly, what it should not contain. The reason for deletion should then be obvious. MER-C 06:19, 16 December 2014 (UTC)

Removal from the blacklist request

Hello MER-C!

I'm reaching out to you because I've uncovered that a domain I manage, Silanis.com has been blacklisted in 2007. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Conflict_of_interest/Noticeboard&oldid=174418528#Silanis

I'd like to request a reconsideration for our removal from the blacklist. What can I do to start this process? I've tried reading through the documentation and there's no clear form to submit a reconsideration request. I apologize in advance if I somehow missed it.

I understand that there was dubious activity linking to the domain. I'd like to see what we can do to regain the community's trust.

Kind regards,

Melanie MelanieAttia (talk) 01:17, 17 December 2014 (UTC)

We generally do not delist domains at the request of site owners/managers. Deblacklisting occurs when we have reason to believe that doing so improves the encyclopedia and that the spamming will not resume. Unfortunately, from past experience a promise from someone connected with the spammed domains has repeatedly been proven to be insufficient. MER-C 02:50, 17 December 2014 (UTC)

Thank you MER-C for clarifying the situation and taking the time to respond. Are you saying that there are absolutely no ways to appeal this decision? Although I understand this position, it does seem hardly fair. Particularly for an incident which happened 7 years ago. MelanieAttia (talk) 13:20, 18 December 2014 (UTC)

I am saying is that while there is nothing stopping you from filing a deblacklisting request, it will almost certainly be declined especially given this. If you want to try, see MediaWiki talk:Spam-blacklist#Proposed removals. You need to disclose that you are involved with this website in the request otherwise it will be summarily rejected (and not doing so violates Wikipedia's Terms of Service). MER-C 04:24, 19 December 2014 (UTC)

User:MER-C/ENC

Hi MER-C,

I translated your User:MER-C/ENC to Korean Wikipedia (here). I hope you don't mind... (Attribution is done via {{Translated page}} on the 'see also' section.) — Revi 16:07, 17 December 2014 (UTC)

Can we blacklist a specific Vine profile?

Hi MER-C, some kid started spamming his Vine page [4][5][6][7] around town and I was curious if there is a way to block only his account, without blacklisting all of Vine. The format is https://vine.co/u/1005106597045088256 Neither of the three templates at WikiProject Spam seem appropriate for me to use, so I'm not sure what I should do. Thanks in advance for your help! Cyphoidbomb (talk) 17:52, 18 December 2014 (UTC)

The blacklist accepts arbitrary regular expressions, so it is possible. I see the editor has been blocked, hopefully that will get the message across. MER-C 03:30, 19 December 2014 (UTC)

Cool, thanks! Hopefully I will not be back in touch. :P Cyphoidbomb (talk) 03:59, 19 December 2014 (UTC)

No relation with esybuy.com.

With reference to above mentioned subject. We would like to notify that we do not have any relationship with esybuy.com nor we intend to use this the topic of esybuy as spam. So please don't reject the topic of "esybuy.com is no more spam."

Asohailsk (talk) 13:03, 21 December 2014 (UTC)

Bullshit. You are now blocked for violating the Terms of Service. MER-C 13:18, 21 December 2014 (UTC)

Copyright violations

A week or two ago I came across a couple new articles about Indian films with obviously copy-vio plot summaries. I noticed that some of these articles which started with accounts were also being edited by various IP's all from the same geolocation. These editors were repeatedly removing copy-vio tags and reinserting the violating material if it had been removed. I noticed you were present tagging some of these articles as well. Checking through other articles they had edited or created, I found a great deal more articles where similar things were happening. I have never submitted a report before for copyright violations by an editor, so i'm not sure exactly how or where to go about it, or how to go about it when it's a string of IPs and not a single editor account. I just wanted to ask if you could give me advice on this or if it's something you are already planning on handling yourself. Weedwacker (talk) 08:19, 22 December 2014 (UTC)

I get the feeling it's the creator editing while logged out. Indian IPs are notoriously dynamic, so there is nothing much I can do apart from revdel and semi-protect (which I have done, the latter for a month on all affected articles). MER-C 13:02, 22 December 2014 (UTC)

Merry Merry

To you and yours

FWiW Bzuk (talk) 15:36, 22 December 2014 (UTC)

Merry Christmas to you too. MER-C 11:11, 23 December 2014 (UTC)

NoggyJoggy

Hi MER-C, a while back you added moses1996.deviantart.com to the blacklist because sock operator NoggyJoggy kept spamming various kids articles with his DeviantArt scribbles. Somehow he was able to add it again to a dozen pages today for example here. May I trouble you please to hermetically seal his site so all the germs stay away from Wikipedia? Many thanks, and the best of the holidays to you! Although we do not interact too much, I am grateful for all your help over the past year. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 18:13, 23 December 2014 (UTC)

At this stage I would ask a checkuser to look for a rangeblock. Plain text spamming is something we can do little about -- the next stage is the abuse filter. MER-C 09:45, 24 December 2014 (UTC)

Hey, I'm confused, mostly because I don't understand all the jargon--they're spamming a website, no? Or is it because they aren't using "http://" and proper link formatting that makes it difficult to block? Thanks, Cyphoidbomb (talk) 22:11, 25 December 2014 (UTC)

The spam blacklist works on live links only by design. MER-C 06:22, 26 December 2014 (UTC)

User:Icptrades

Ipctrades has placed an advertisement on their talkpage twice after you blocked them. If you think it is necessary to remove their talkpage editing ability, go ahead. Command and Conquer Expert! ^{speak to me...}_{review me...} 10:32, 25 December 2014 (UTC)

Done. MER-C 10:35, 25 December 2014 (UTC)

Daníel Bjarnason

Hi MER-C. Back in March, you cleaned up Daníel Bjarnason from copyvio (and misquoted the URL btw, should be http://www.bedroomcommunity.net/artists/daniel_bjarnason/)... and just 7 days later it was readded by Reyja12: [8]. Unaware of the copyvio, I cleaned up the article, only to discover we've been fooled again...

Long story short, please do the right thing with the article again... I'll see if I can get it back to wikilife later. No such user (talk) 10:19, 26 December 2014 (UTC)

Done. MER-C 10:30, 26 December 2014 (UTC)

Thanks. I'll see what I can do with it. No such user (talk) 10:53, 26 December 2014 (UTC)