Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/IncidentArchive443

Since Cali567 started adding a very controversial genetical study on every argentine article in reference to demographics: (eg. Argentine American, Demographics of Argentina, etc) there has been several edit wars every day, that is why I requested the full protection of Demographics of Argentina. Though there was a consensus on Demographics of Argentina[18] she continues making her edits. User Jersey Devil and I told her that this kind of issues have to be solved on talk pages, still though she continues making her edits.

This user has been warned more than once, nevertheless I have given her the last warning for disruption. If she continues the disruption please block her. Regards, --Fercho85 (talk) 21:31, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

An IP-hopping editor who has struck before is editing Talk:Barack Obama to add the n-word to discussions and edit summaries.

The editor struck a few days ago too. Playing whack-a-mole by blocking the IP accounts after warnings isn't doing any good. For the moment we probably need semi-protection of the talk page and/or immediate blocks on the affected IPs. We ought to delete the edit histories as well. As Hate speech this is hurtful, particularly given the subject of the article. Wikidemo (talk) 23:20, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

• Semi-protected for a period of 1 week, after which the page will be automatically unprotected. I don't think deleting the edits is necessary, and given the size of the page history it would be painful. MastCell ^Talk 23:26, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

  Thanks! Maybe we do something about the one edit that uses the N-word in the edit summary? Just being there is hurtful.Wikidemo (talk) 23:29, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Practically impossible without developer intervention. With 12479 edits to the page, it surpasses the maximum number of a revisions that an admin can delete (5000). Oversight is possible, but there's no personal information or libel in the comment (even though it is a disgusting comment), so I doubt they would be willing to use the tool for that edit. I'm suggesting we ignore it, but someone may disagree. PeterSymonds (talk) 23:57, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

I'm okay ignoring it but it must be disheartening to African Americans (and some others) to be called racist names in a public forum. You can't see them without being reminded that you're not fully welcome or safe. The thing about hate speech is that like libel, threats of violence, privacy breaches, etc., the words themselves are the injury by their presence. I guess we're done then, assuming it doesn't pop up again. Thanks again. Wikidemo (talk) 00:08, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

If more people archived by phsycially moving the talk page over, this wouldn't be a problem. hbdragon88 (talk) 01:44, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Resolved

 – No admin action required. —

^talk 02:00, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Bugs isn't an admin. - Caribbean~H.Q. 00:41, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

My error, I thought he was. For that mistake I apoligize. My complaint against him still stands.72.0.36.36 (talk) 00:44, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

I don't see anything actionable here. It may not be the best observation to verbalize, but questioning whether or not English is somebody's first language is not a personal attack. - auburnpilot talk 00:47, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Beg to differ. It was not "questioning" is was a statement:

"Well, it's obvious English is not his first language. That hasn't stopped him writing long, incomprehensible diatribes. That's why I'd like him to explain in 25 words or less. In English or Spanish, either one is OK. Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? 23:41, 5 July 2008 (UTC) "

A statement is more than a question. It was a cheapshot, no? I am not suggesting a block, just a warning or something72.0.36.36 (talk) 00:50, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Not really. It appears to be in response to Ksy92003's comment "I'm anticipating about 95% of that response to be in Spanish".[19] - auburnpilot talk 00:52, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

As AuburnPilot says, not actionable but I will concede his comments could have been more civil, GDonato (talk) 00:54, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

The basic problem, as I and others have told this guy, is that he writes lengthy diatribes that don't make sense. I would just like for him to explain in 25 words or less why the item he keeps pushing for is special enough to be in the article. Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} 01:02, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Generally, he can post as much as he wants. When I see something that I can't be bothered reading then I simply don't read it, GDonato (talk) 01:07, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

You don't know this guy's history with this article, or you wouldn't be saying that. He's in constant battles over it, with a variety of users. Someone asks him why some obscure speech is notable, and he responds with a broken-English, rambling essay that makes virtually no sense. That's why I would like for him to explain briefly and then maybe it will make some sense. Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} 01:11, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

The user's address is in New Mexico, I don't think that Spanish is his/her mother language. Ksy92003's comment was out of place, even if the user speaks Spanish mocking him won't make him disappear. Anyway, was resquesting help from a Spanish-speaking user that hard? - Caribbean~H.Q. 01:08, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

I don't want him to disappear, I want him to explain in a way that's readable. Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} 01:15, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

I agree with GDonato, although I tend to be a little more proactive. I don't see a problem with asking people for brevity, so long as it is done in a civil manner. - auburnpilot talk 01:10, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

This being the English wikipedia, it is reasonable to expect its users to write readable English. Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} 01:22, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

In kind of an ironic twist, the IP address has now bought himself a 3-month block. [20] Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} 01:29, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

He says I'm mocking him further, but all I wanted was a straightforward answer to a question. I'm not sure why he was specifically blocked, although it does come on the heels of a 3RR block about - you guessed it - that same article. Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} 01:35, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

He was apparently caught in a range block trying to net trolls, and has now been unblocked. Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} 01:41, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

I would say this is resolved and I will withdraw this report of this incident. I think there were a coupld of folks who said that Bugs should have been more civil and I think that serves as a warning enough. 72.0.36.36 (talk) 01:55, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

I likewise agree it's resolved, as I'm done talking to this guy. Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} 01:56, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

I looked at the talk page and 72.0.36.36 appears to speak English acceptably well. Most of the errors I saw were more consistent with a failure to proof-read than with poor ESL fluency. Either way, if you know somebody is sensitive about their level of fluency I would suggest not provoking them. Of course if you really have no idea what they are saying you might ask them to rephrase it, but I had no difficulty understanding the general meaning of any of his posts. Of course his attitude is a whole other story... — CharlotteWebb 01:58, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

He writes the way Bush talks. Either way, it's painful to hear. I tried to get him to answer a simple question, and he won't do it, so we're done. I'll let the collection of other users that he's annoyed deal with him. Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} 02:01, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

I see my comment has been called to attention. I didn't intend to insinuate that the IP doesn't speak English. My comment was in reaction to Baseball Bugs asking the IP to explain the situation in 25 "English" words or less, and I joked that he might respond in another language to circumvent that request. I didn't intend to offend anybody or to infer anything. I apologize that my comment was misinterpreted, albeit understandably. Ksy92003 (talk) 02:04, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

See this revert: [21]. The images are claimed as permission obtained but *shrug*. Viridae^Talk 01:19, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

(oh and I got edit conflicted when starting a new section - I thought that wasn't supposed to happen) Viridae^Talk 01:19, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Looks like a copyvio/unfit fair use to me. Commercial URL on the image, no license, no fair use rationale, everything about these images seems wrong. Gwen Gale (talk) 01:33, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Agreed. I've speedy deleted them, and warned the uploader. PhilKnight (talk) 01:54, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Deleted the rest that the supposed author removed. The Other two images seem suspect too, but I've tagged them with nld instead of speedying them right off the bat. hbdragon88 (talk) 02:32, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Will someone take a look at this? I would post the diff but I can't for some reason. While patrolling the recent changes I ran into three of these which all take you to this page. If you try going to the article, or click the diff it takes you to that page, whatever it is I have no idea. It's the edit to the

Now I'm even more confused, it is fine now and his edit was reverted. I couldn't even pull up the article's history, clicking the diff or the link to the article turned the page into an animated page with vulgarities seconds afterward.

Landon1980 (talk) 03:57, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

I guess it doesn't have anything to do with the edit by the IP, because it just happened to me again on a different article.

Landon1980 (talk) 04:02, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

I think this relates to vandalism at Template:Commonwealth realms, I've now protected the template. Melburnian (talk) 04:14, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

OK, thank you. Cheers

Landon1980 (talk) 04:58, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

It was a Grawp vandal. Gwen Gale (talk) 06:06, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

I need help. I made an edit, got blanked, came to ANI and the admins okayed it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/IncidentArchive442#Is_Chinese_government_website_notable_source.3F

However certain editors continue to blank out these edits:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Falun_Gong&diff=223041906&oldid=223037963

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Falun_Gong&diff=223364394&oldid=223363516

This is not the first time this has happened:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Bobby_fletcher#Editor_Asdfg12345.27s_blanking_of_facts_from_notable_source

I would like to request some protection. If I've done something wrong please let me know. Thanks. Bobby fletcher (talk) 07:50, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

The normal place to request protection of a page is

WP:RFPP. Enigma ^message 08:08, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Somebody trying to hack my password

Resolved

 – Par for the course, unfortunately - make sure you have a decent password and ignore them.

I just got an e-mail from Wikimedia that someone with the IP address 71.115.153.71 (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) (apparently in Reston, Virginia) tried to reset my password...should this be reported to anyone? Kelly ^hi! 00:40, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

I must have received over 100 of these emails. I have always ignored them, no harm seems to have come from it. Is the IP one you have interacted with? Kevin (talk) 00:54, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

Congratulations. Once you start getting those, in an odd osrt of way, it means you're doing good work for Wikipedia. (I've gotten a couple myself) Wizardman 00:55, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

Doh, you caught me redhanded! :-p Angrymansr (talk)

for future refernece, what does that mean when someone tried to resetr your password? That doesnt seem like something that might be important or dangeorus so could someone epxlain what that means please??? Smith Jones (talk) 00:59, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

It means someone/something may have tried to steal her password. The only person who should be resetting your password is you. You should not receive e-mails for password resets if you didn't do it. That means someone else is trying to tinker with your account. Angrymansr (talk) 01:19, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

No, it means someone clicked the "I forgot my password" button on the login screen, and nothing more. It's absolutely impossible to break into someone's account by doing this. --Carnildo (talk) 04:55, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

That's a pretty narrow view of the possibilities. While most of these attempts may be harmless, this issue goes far beyond Wikipedia. There's something called Social Engineering which may allow hackers to gain entry to your e-mail without changing any passwords, and then they can come here and click e-mail new password and the account has been breached. Sounds far fetched? It happens all of the time. I don't think blowing it off as "impossible" is the right answer. The U.S. Gov't can't avoid being hacked, but somehow Wikipedia has it figured out? The right answer would be to ensure that you have full control of your e-mail and wiki account, and to change your passwords if you deem it necessary to a strong password scheme. Also advise not to use the same passwords for your e-mail and wiki account. Angrymansr (talk) 15:00, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

I'm quite familiar with the techniques of social engineering, and asking for new passwords has nothing to do with it. For more information, visit this site and log in with your Wikipedia username and password. --Carnildo (talk) 01:58, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Again, if the user's e-mail has been hacked via social engineering or by any other means then their wikipedia account can easily be breached using this tool. It's not impossible. Angrymansr (talk) 14:01, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Heh...shouldn't those attempts be reported somewhere, or are they beneath notice? Kelly ^hi! 01:00, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

cant people who do that be blocked? I mean, I dont want to come back one day and fidn someone else vandalized WIkipedia on my account or come back and find my account locked with some strange Nordic-Swaihili code or something! I would lose la my of my contributions have to find all of hte articles that I have worked on before in the past. I thinkt hat there should be a way to stop people from freel being able to reset someone elses password without their knowledge and/or consent. Smith Jones (talk) 01:38, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

Just have a very strong password and you will be fine. You can try to reset anyones password by trying to log in as them. It will only reset though if you click the link in your email. -CWY2190(talk • contributions) 01:41, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

I see what you're saying...so basically we ignore the hacking attempts? Doing something like that seems at least as serious as vandalism. Kelly ^hi! 01:47, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

i agree. Maybe the Hackers haven't not founded a way to compromise the our security failguards yet but they shall some day and if we dont find a way to knock them out now we will come in one day and find that a admins' account has been stolen and the entire encyclopedia has been horriblie vandalized. Smith Jones (talk) 02:04, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

I don't think it's really someone trying to "hack" your account but rather someone just trying to annoy you by having the emails sent to you. I get them on a regular basis and have done for at least a couple of years and I've always assumed it was some vandal I blocked who was trying to piss me off. The emails aren't of any use in "hacking" your account unless they also know your email address and are able to access it to be able to get the link in the email. Best thing is to make sure both your email and account passwords are strong and then just ignore them or even filter them to junk mail so you don't even have to deal with them. It's much better now that they have set a limit on one email per day as a couple of years ago some of us were receiving dozens a day and I seem to recall someone who got over 100 in one day and that was what eventually led to the developers setting the limit at one request per day. Sarah 02:14, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

I got 60 in a ten minute period back in the Great Password Reset Flood :) Daniel (talk) 02:20, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

tank you for all your help. so I guesss we editors in good standing will have to put uwp with attempts to violate the intereigity of our accounts from these nutcases, right? Well, i guess its not that a big of a deal since the amount is limited! Smith Jones (talk) 02:28, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

Considering they can't actually do anything by sending these requests, it's nothing to worry about. --Carnildo (talk) 04:57, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

I get these almost every day. Usually, the IP responsible has made no edits. It's not a big deal, although if you start getting them, make sure you have a decent

龱 10:22, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

I get these e-mails too, and I've been avoiding anything remotely contentious on Wikipedia, so I don't think it has to do with editing disputes spilling over into retribution through hacking, or even a deliberate attempt to annoy. I notice that Neil, Kelly, Sarah, and Daniel all have common first names as user names. It would not be surprising if new editors registering accounts for the first time often try to choose these same user names, without knowing that they are already taken. When that doesn't work, the software presents several options, one of which is a password reset over e-mail. And the most universal approach to solving computer problems is to try every available option and see what happens. They may click on the button without really understanding what it means. Rather than malice or hacking, I think a simpler explanation is a bit of confusion in signing up for an account. So I don't worry about it. --Reuben (talk) 16:56, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

Note: The IP address is already disclosed in the email. There is a bug open: bugzilla:14630, to log this IP somewhere reviewable as well, so that if there are incidents in which someone is harassed by a lot of these attempts, there is information available to further an investigation. This bug has support from a number of current CUs... ++Lar: t/c 12:55, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Mizbiplob (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) - I don't know where else to put this. This user appears to be acting in good faith, but contains to make up categories, add uncited "facts" and roll back corrections made to his english. I've tried leaving messages on their talk page including help on categories; but they simply don't respond; instead claiming they don't understand on the user page. It's all very weird; and a ban would be over the top; but correcting every edit they make is getting tiresome. Any advice? --Blowdart | ^talk 07:19, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

I reported to AIV due to the nonsense pages. The user has been blocked twice and persists in creating nonsense pages, despite multiple warnings. See their talk, and an admin can see how many pages it has created that got deleted. I'd say close to ten. Enigma ^message 08:06, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

I had thought about AIV; but most of the nonsense, to me, seems to be due to the lack of a decent command of English, and no understanding of what is notable. --Blowdart | ^talk 11:07, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Hi. On the United Kingdom page there is a box over the page that says stuff about grawp. I managed to 'hack' into the history of the United Kingdom page but it is not down in the history! thanks!--82.152.210.114 (talk) 11:37, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Pararubbas (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · nuke contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

Despite numerous warnings, the user consistently removes external links, references, stub templates and other valuable information from articles. I think a temporary block may be appropriate. Cheers! BanRay 11:57, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Desmond Hume99 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

This editor has been trying to create an article on Spoilertv, a non-notable website. He has since brought the matter to DRV, where it was revealed that the user is evading a block [23]. — The Hand That Feeds You:^Bite 12:27, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

I have

salted the article and indef'd the account as a block evader. Since there is an ongoing DRV I would not oppose any unblocking to allow participation if considered necessary. LessHeard vanU (talk) 13:18, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

I just received this rather interesting message on my talkpage. It's from an editor I've never interacted with, on a subject I know nothing about. I can't be bothered to look into it, but someone else might want to, it looks as if others have been spammed/canvassed too. Cheers! ╟─TreasuryTag╬contribs─╢ 14:47, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

I don't think it's canvassing - it doesn't seem to be written in a way to influence the outcome; it's mere notification of a community discussion. Ncmvocalist (talk) 14:53, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

But it's being given to loads + loads + loads of totally unrelated contributors, on a non-wide issue (as in, not deleting the Main Page, just a routine DRV-type thing). That sounds like canvassing to me, or at the least spamming. ╟─TreasuryTag╬contribs─╢ 14:54, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

(e/c)

It's weird if TreasuryTag has never had any interaction with the user and/or the article. I know on at least one occasion I mass-Talked about 20 or so users who had participated in a particular AfD discussion, because a discussion relevant to the previous AfD was taking place and both sides of the discussion were concerned about making sure any interested parties were made aware... but I'm not sure how I feel about pinging random users to get more participation. It's not canvassing, for sure, but... I dunno, that's weird. --Jaysweet (talk) 14:58, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Hi: Thanks TreasuryTag! This will hopefully get a few more editors over at the deletion review for the Alan Cabal article: Wikipedia:Deletion_review/Log/2008_July_3#Alan_Cabal I have seen too many of the same people from the AFD there so I'm trying to get a fresh group to opine.-Manhattan Samurai (talk) 15:11, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Ah, that explains it. Manhattan Samurai is trying to have the article on Alan Cabal undeleted, but all the references provided in the DRV are blogs, blog comments or trivial mentions. He has also refused to accept userfying the article, insisting that it be in mainspace while he works on it. Finally, he has resorted to direct insults in the DRV, which I already warned him about. I refrained from !voting in the discussion because of that, but this is quickly becoming tendentious. — The Hand That Feeds You:^Bite 17:25, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Addendum: I now see that Manhattan Samurai has already reached his final warning for personal attacks. — The Hand That Feeds You:^Bite 17:45, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

He was just addressing editors active on other subjects on Wikipedia:Deletion review/Log/2008 July 3‎, (I was one of them) as he wanted some independent opinions. Maybe he took things too personal, but I believe that everything has been settled. [24] Cst17 (talk) 18:02, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

As noted at the top of the page, I've moved discussion of Betacommand's most recent blocks to Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents/Block review of User:Betacommand. Just a reminder since I've already had the obligatory complaint about the subpage move. —Wknight94 (talk) 16:39, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

This user User:Wikidas is going around posting nonsense into the Muhammad article [see users contribution] further this user is adding content without discussion in talk page [users discussion]. User provides poorly scholared information and seems to be into editing war with bringing sock puppets to revert article. --Veer87 (talk) 17:04, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Veer87 the edits you object to are not "nonsense" or unsourced as you claim. You are engaged in an

edit war despite receiving a final warning for you not to continue to remove sourced material from articles. Could an uninvolved admin take a look at this case? I believe Veer87 should now be blocked for edit warring and vandalism of the Muhammad article. I am recusing myself from taking that action to prevent even the appearance of a mis-use of the admin tools in a content dispute - though I don't believe this is one. Gwernol 17:30, 6 July 2008 (UTC)