User talk:MER-C/archives/47

Hi,

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

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

Thanks for your assistance.

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

You will need to declare any

based on what others have written about the subject on his own merits. MER-C 19:14, 12 December 2019 (UTC)[reply

]

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

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

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

The article was preemptively deleted per

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. You may find s:O'Neill, Daniel (DNB00) useful. MER-C 19:13, 13 December 2019 (UTC)[reply

]

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

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, Court 1 Interior, London, UK - Diliff.jpg, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Armbrust The Homunculus 10:54, 14 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

You deleted a previous version of this article as the work of a sockpuppet or as block evasion. There are now a new article version and a draft version. Please take a look at whether there is being evasion of

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shouldn't it be "Journals published between x and y times per year" rather than "between x to y"? In fact, I think "from x to y" would work better, as the "between" construction could be taken to be exclusive of both x and y. There's also an issue with

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

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

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

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

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

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

豊かな十年へようこそ/WELCOME TO THE D20s

Miraclepine wishes you a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year, and a prosperous decade of change and fortune.
このミラPはMER-Cたちのメリークリスマスも新年も変革と幸運の豊かな十年をおめでとうございます！
フレフレ、みんなの未来！/GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR FUTURE!
ミラP 03:10, 25 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

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

Hi MER C;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• 
• 
• 

Happy New Year!

• 
  MMXX Lunar Calendar

MER-C,
Have a great 2020 and thanks for your continued contributions to Wikipedia.

---

   – 2020 is a leap year – news article.
   – Background color is Classic Blue (#0F4C81), Pantone's 2020 Color of the year

Send New Year cheer by adding {{subst:Happy New Year 2020}} to user talk pages.

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

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

Happy New Year!

MER-C,
Have a prosperous, productive and enjoyable New Year, and thanks for your contributions to Wikipedia.

Help out at CCI! 12:49, 2 January 2020 (UTC)[reply

]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hi to MER-C

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

[Pizzey]

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

I would appreciate your advice.

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

So you are confirming the article is paid for or was otherwise written by someone with a

conflict of interest? That is precisely what's wrong with it - Wikipedia, as an encyclopedia, does not host ghostwritten vanity pages. MER-C 02:37, 6 January 2020 (UTC)[reply

]

Mind taking a look at this user and some of the others in the history of the Isaias articles? This reeks of paid editing, including their "own work" photo uploads. I have now twice warned them about

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

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

Hello!

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

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

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

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:St Lawrence Jewry, City of London, UK - Diliff.jpg, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Armbrust The Homunculus 23:13, 8 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

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

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

Happy Adminship Anniversary!

Have a very happy adminship anniversary on your special day!

Best wishes, CAPTAIN RAJU^(T) 01:07, 11 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

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

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

Any advice on which of Biografer's page creations should be G5'd? I was using the basis of thinly sourced articles under 1400 bytes that have not had contribs by others.

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

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

talk) 06:02, 13 January 2020 (UTC)[reply

]

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

I have no argument with what you're saying! Will do some more when time permits. It's altogether sad. Thanks.

talk) 06:33, 13 January 2020 (UTC)[reply

]

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

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

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

You do a lot of work combatting UPE and just spammy PE from disclosed editors and for some reason I'm drawing a blank but I don't recall if we have ever had an RFC or have a policy/guideline strongly suggesting/requiring even disclosed paid editors to go through the AFC process or not? I do recall seeing someone that deals with this stuff tell a (declared) paid editor that they needed (it was phrased as more of a requirement than a suggestion ;)) to have it reviewed via afc. Anyway, the tl;dr is I find edits like those that I pointed out here from paid editors to be highly problematic and would like to be able to point to a more specific policy/guideline than our normal

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

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

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

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

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Christ's Entry into Brussels in 1889.jpg, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Armbrust The Homunculus 16:03, 15 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Nevelzwam (nebularis) tussen afgevallen beukenblad (d.j.b.) 01.jpg, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Armbrust The Homunculus 16:07, 15 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hello. You are invited to join the Help out at CCI! 00:41, 16 January 2020 (UTC)[reply ]

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

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

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

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

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

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 remove this notice at any time by removing the {{

ygm}} template.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

No. The interests of the encyclopedia are best served by you writing the article from scratch - the page was

undisclosed paid-for spam. MER-C 09:27, 19 January 2020 (UTC)[reply

]

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

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

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:2017.08.06.-04-Kirschgartshaeuser Schlaege Mannheim--Weidenjungfer-Maennchen.jpg, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Armbrust The Homunculus 10:16, 20 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

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

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