User talk:MER-C/archives/48

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This is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.

If you "Search Wikipedia" for Rollins you will see an article about Joe Rollins that has been deleted.

I'm not sure why it was deleted but would like a copy for my own use -- I'm his son. I did not create the original article and do not know the author. My father was notable as an attorney in Houston and someone deemed him notable enough to create the original article shortly after his death in 2008. I don't know when the article was removed, but I believe you are credited with the removal. I hope I'm contacting you properly.

Thanks, Rolguy (talk) 22:50, 22 January 2020 (UTC)Guy Rollins[reply]

The content was deleted because it was a suspected copyright violation. For that reason, I cannot offer copies of it. MER-C 08:13, 23 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, is it possible to reopen or relist the Wikipedia:Categories_for_discussion/Log/2020_January_16#Category:People_from_Vistula_Land discussion? Nominator added "/merging" in the nomination just today, without even mentioning it, and my support does not apply to merging. Marcocapelle (talk) 20:07, 24 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

There is consensus for checking whether members are categorized under Category:People from Congress Poland, Category:19th-century Polish people or whereever if appropriate, then deleting. Maybe I should have been more clear. MER-C 20:15, 24 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hello MER-C, any idea if user 9NDX9 (talk⁺ · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki) has any connection with Farooqahmadbhat sockfarm? becasue this IP geolocated the same area as their previous IP (2401:4900:198d:7190:a4e7:719c:73eb:31d7) submitted Draft:Rani Hazarika for review and it was last created by a few FAB socks. GSS ^💬 13:12, 25 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I haven't given that any thought, and to be fair the question in somewhat academic - the spammer is blocked, their drafts quarantined. MER-C 14:22, 25 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hey M-C, thanks for all your good work moving spam/sockpuppet articles into the draftspace. Could I ask a favor: when you do so, could you please also comment out any categories in them, so the Drafts no longer pollute article categories? There is a script for that (User:DannyS712/Draft no cat.js) that makes it very easy. Thanks! UnitedStatesian (talk) 18:23, 27 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Will do. MER-C 19:53, 28 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The categories are still not being removed; are you having an issue with the script? UnitedStatesian (talk) 05:53, 9 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi MER-C, I noticed you blocked Sala90 a while back for not answering questions about possible UPE. One of the articles they were closely involved with was Wren Kitchens, which among other things, they would update the number of showrooms regularly. In case you're willing to follow up, there have been requests to do so on the talk page recently as well: once by an IP and most recently by the new account Freshd445. Thanks, –Deacon Vorbis (carbon • videos) 03:39, 28 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

There is nothing wrong with what Freshd445 is doing currently. MER-C 19:42, 28 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I guess at least they disclosed this time. Praxidicae (talk) 15:44, 28 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I'll block them if they move the draft into mainspace. MER-C 19:40, 28 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Tagblume Commelina communis stack25 2019-08-05-RM-8050218-PSD.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 20:08, 28 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, As I guess you noticed, GRuban closed the August 2019 RfC "RfC: Category: Climate change deniers" saying DELETION UPHELD. Today due to renaming there is a "Climate change denial" category with about 170 biographies, after your approval of a discussion in Category:Climate change skepticism and denial. I believe that the reasonable action now is to re-open the WP:BLPN RfC discussion and ping the participants, yet again. Before doing so, I am asking you to please reconsider your action. Peter Gulutzan (talk) 00:51, 30 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Consensus was clear. I have no power to overrule it. MER-C 09:21, 30 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I believe that consensus was clear in the RfC and that you did in effect overrule that, but maybe there will be a consensus that I'm wrong. My WP:BLPN posting is at Category:Climate change deniers: Again. Peter Gulutzan (talk) 16:19, 30 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

You pointed it out, subsequent participants read what you wrote and disagreed with you. Do not shoot the messenger. I'm not interested in dealing with this matter any further. MER-C 17:06, 30 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I want to rewrite the draft and remove the tag, please can you tell me the problems the page have to make it easier for me.(Iamclinton (talk) 08:09, 31 January 2020 (UTC))[reply]

Blocked. MER-C 09:11, 1 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Do you think this (contributions) could be a spambot? Or SEO, or WP:CIR case? No reply on their talk page and regular but delayed strange edits. As a coder I'd say that it'd not be very difficult to write such a bot... Thanks, —PaleoNeonate – 13:27, 2 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

(talk page stalker) PaleoNeonate, I'm thinking CIR/confused newcomer - from a quick look at their edits, several of the links are legitimate major websites (cosmopolitan, for example) which I wouldn't expect to resort to spam or such poorly executed SEO. creffett (talk) 14:10, 2 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

My money is on the third option for now. If you had got to me a week prior, I would have blocked for copyvio and that would be the end of it. MER-C 14:12, 2 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The latest edits were not exact copies I think, and maybe more on topic, that's probably right. I'll AGF and keep a note to check on their edits in a week or so (and see if WP:ENGAGE then applies if the edits are still troublesome)... Thanks, —PaleoNeonate – 14:24, 2 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, do you know how we could generate a full list of existing UK and Ireland stubs organized by county and topic for this contest I'm running? I know a lot won't be able to be put into county categories. You did a monstrous job of generating lists of my articles, so I thought you might know somebody who could do this. I know you're busy with sorting vios etc but help would be appreciated.♦ Dr. Blofeld 13:05, 3 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

https://petscan.wmflabs.org/ . Intersect Category:United Kingdom stubs or Category:Ireland stubs with Category:COUNTY using a suitably large depth (4 perhaps?) gets you a list of stubs in a given county. There are the usual caveat of undercategorized articles which won't be found. Alternatively, you can give instructions on how to use Petscan so that whoever is participating can generate a list for their stub topic of choice. MER-C 18:56, 3 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Berlin Hufeisensiedlung UAV 04-2017.jpg, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Armbrust The Homunculus 19:49, 3 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Theloderma corticale - Karlsruhe Zoo 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 19:50, 5 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi. I have been editing Draft:Jonathan Ingram (which you rightly moved from mainspace to draft following suspected UPE) having previously tried to tone down some of the UPE editor's more egregious edits. I have a subject matter interest in BIM, know of Jonathan Ingram and have met and corresponded with him, but have no financial or other affiliation with him - though I do have a historic association with Routledge (they published my book on construction technologies in 2005).

I have added some more reliable sources for the assertions made in the article while deleting some unsupported content, and wondered if the article might now be fit for a move back to mainspace? Many thanks. Paul W (talk) 11:35, 7 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I am very wary of giving clients of spammers what they want but do as you wish. MER-C 19:20, 7 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you. Paul W (talk) 13:07, 8 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi MER-C, hope all is well. I've seen this guy a few times add malformed URLs with cdn.ampproject.org links tacked to the top. What are these? Link referrals? Do they come from copying links from search engines rather than from the address bar? I can't duplicate this with a Google search. Are there legitimate reasons why links formatted this would would be included at Wikipedia? I'm also a little confused as to how this user is adding "www-filmibeat-com.cdn.ampproject.org" to the |website= parameter. What tool could he be using that is getting these weird links and adding the referral website to that parameter. Thanks, Cyphoidbomb (talk) 16:23, 7 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

You can blame Google for this crap. MER-C 19:18, 7 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Can it be blacklisted? Or is there a way for the Wikipedia software to strip out the bad and leave behind the good? Seems like it is potentially a privacy violation if we're routing links through big brother Google, who is keeping track of users habits already. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 01:55, 8 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

It can also be used to bypass the spam blacklist. I've added it. MER-C 10:08, 8 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Much appreciated! Thanks for the assist. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 17:38, 10 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

mind blocking and move protecting? Praxidicae (talk) 17:16, 9 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Blocked, thanks. MER-C 19:41, 9 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi,

user1 submits the same exact draft with another username with obvious coi user2 resubmits again.

Kindly take a look. Lapablo (talk) 21:09, 9 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Blocked both accounts, thanks. MER-C 21:11, 9 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Could I trouble you to take a look at Syedfaraz12, especially to the now-quarantined Draft:Chase_Duddy? Pretty clearly paid (I, for one, appreciate the part where they appear to have left in directions from their client), and this isn't the first time someone's been concerned about COI/PAID. creffett (talk) 01:15, 11 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The edits to JS Bank are particularly concerning, that article is swarming with spammers. Blocked. MER-C 19:28, 11 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

You recently deleted Emma Octavia Lundberg under WP:G5. I think this article is likely a notable topic,^[1][2] and I would like to recreate it. Can you undelete the page and its talk page and move it to User:Daask/sandbox/Emma Octavia Lundberg so I can review it? A glance at the page creator indicates that they have had issues with copyright violations. I'll certainly check it with Earwig's Copyvio Detector before publishing to mainspace, but you may want to check for egregious violations first. If it's too problematic, let me know, and I can rewrite the article from scratch. Daask (talk) 16:18, 11 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Copyright violations cannot be undeleted. MER-C 18:47, 11 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Moscow Elektrozavodskaya metro station asv2018-09.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 21:37, 11 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

You deleted the Joe Locke article, based on a copyright problem, and added the comment "Also paid-for spam." I don't know what the condition of the article was, but deleting it was a drastic solution. Locke is a significant figure in jazz; he has a biography at AllMusic and at Grove Music Online: there's no doubt that he meets the WP:MUSICBIO notability criteria. (I write as someone who's created >400 articles, almost all of them on jazz.) What's the system for getting access to the (at least non-copy-vio) contents of the article that was, to avoid having to create the Locke article from scratch? EddieHugh (talk) 17:13, 12 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

This surprised me, too, given how difficult it is to get articles deleted and there was no discussion about this one.Vmavanti (talk) 19:11, 12 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Non-creative content undeleted to User:EddieHugh/Joe Locke. (The largest contributor to the article was the blocked spammer NMKNvonMassow. Any content they created and inclusion decisions they make are untrustworthy.) MER-C 19:25, 12 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Could you lend me a copy of the recently deleted Camper and Nicholsons page as a sandbox framework for something that isn’t a copyright violation? Easier than starting from scratch. Qwirkle (talk) 23:13, 12 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

There is nothing to salvage. MER-C 08:50, 13 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

That bad? Wow. Qwirkle (talk)

Yeah, in addition to the explicit copyvios cited, the "article" was written by a serial copyright violator blocked for copyvios (Trident13), clearly promotional, essentially a corporate profile and the sources weren't all that good either. MER-C 17:57, 13 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi – last month you moved Tems to draft space at Draft:Tems, on account of it possibly being a paid-for creation. I just wanted to point out that the article has been recreated in mainspace by a different editor (hopefully not a sock), but with almost no information bar the (true) fact that she was nominated in a category at Nigeria's biggest music awards. We now have a situation where the draft article actually has more information than the mainspace one, and I'm not sure how this should be resolved... possibly deleting or redirecting the mainspace article to the draft? Richard3120 (talk) 16:51, 13 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The content in the draft, by virtue of it being paid-for, is untrustworthy. The status quo is fine. MER-C 19:43, 13 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Could you do a little revdel here, as requested by the user in the diff? Thanks. ThatMontrealIP (talk) 20:10, 14 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Done. MER-C 20:17, 14 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

thank you for the speedy service!ThatMontrealIP (talk) 20:24, 14 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Trimeresurus albolabris, White-lipped pit viper (female) - Kaeng Krachan National Park (27493423545).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 13:39, 16 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

There is currently a discussion at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents regarding an issue with which you may have been involved. The IP failed to notify you when creating the thread. Dreamy Jazz 🎷 ^{talk to me | my contributions} 13:28, 19 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

	Your cut of the proceeds
	For being the brains to my brawn in our super secret illicit wiki-dealings. Praxidicae (talk) 15:12, 19 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi MER-C,

Thank you for clarifying that I should not post about a topic for which I have a conflict of interest. Since it was almost entirely a translation in English of the French page, what would be the best way to proceed please? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gaheris fils de lot (talk • contribs) 20:50, 22 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Please submit the draft to WP:AFC. There is likely to be a long wait. MER-C 10:20, 23 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

This is just the very first step of a write-up, but I'd like to publish it next Saturday. You likely know much more about this than I do, so please tell me when I'm wrong! There might be a few definitions I need to know. I'm just going to put a paragraph or two with each table and then draw a conclusion. It took me a while to catch on, but this is very useful stuff. I'll email when it looks like a real first draft, but please step in anytime you want. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 04:43, 24 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Smallbones:

1. Lots of proxy blocks are due to User:ProcseeBot.
2. Lots of global locks are indeed due to spambots, no thanks to our shitty CAPTCHA being cracked years ago. Nothing much has been done since then, thanks to the WMF being the WMF. You need to make the point that the time of our most valuable volunteers (stewards) is being squandered by mind-bogglingly stupid decision making by the WMF.
3. The creation of spam pages and many spam account blocks are dumb, unsophisticated spam -- {{subst:uw-spamublock}} and first person spam pages. They're probably paid but are clueless.
4. Your conclusion about spam pages being predominantly in draft and user space is correct. Not all of them are drafts - some get posted straight to the user page as company profiles.
5. MFDs were well above average last year due to the portal deletion spree.
6. G11 deletions in mainspace are usually posted directly in mainspace by the spammer. Other spam pages get quarantined in draft space, then deleted through G13.
7. Some of the G5 deletions have spam/UPE as the underlying reason.
8. Protections are usually used against spam links. Spamming the same article over and over again isn't a good tactic. There is no straightforward way of telling whether an article was salted due to spamming - the information isn't there in the deletion reasons (it's usually just "Repeatedly recreated", so unclassified salting). Spamming does show up prominently in the title blacklist.
9. Double counting only applies for deletions. Users who are blocked and locked count for both. Pages deleted/protected N times or users blocked/locked N times get counted N times. For blocked users and protected pages, changes in reason/duration/other parameters are not counted. MER-C 20:33, 24 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Smallbones: looks good. It may be worth mentioning that creating an account is a prerequisite for creating an (spammy) article. MER-C 16:29, 1 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi MER-C. You blocked the user Koushalsinghseosmo back on Jan 2, but they have come back and posted self-promotional content on their talk page (Special:Diff/942396351). Might be time to revoke talk page access. --Drm310 🍁 (talk) 17:13, 24 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Done. MER-C 19:51, 24 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi MER-C, would you mind having a look at Ollie Farr and their draft Draft:Peter Sweatman? Their editing suggests UPE to me (and I tagged/warned as such), but they've denied it on my talk page, so I'd appreciate your input as someone more experienced in this area. If you want a detailed explanation of why I suspect UPE, let me know and I can send you an email. Thank you! ^creffpublic _{a creffett franchise} (talk to the boss) 14:18, 25 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I agree that their editing and the content of the article created are both consistent with UPE or some other serious conflict of interest. If this were posted in mainspace, I would quarantine the draft and block the editor. MER-C 17:34, 25 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, appreciated. Since we're at a bit of a deadlock (I think they're paid but can't prove it, they say they're not and obviously can't prove that they're not paid), any suggestions on what to do next? Is there a noticeboard where it would be appropriate to direct them? WP:COIN, perhaps? creffett (talk) 01:16, 26 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Creffett: sorry, forgot about this question - in general yes, but seeing that it's a draft it's not really worth bothering about. MER-C 16:31, 1 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

As a user who has expressed an interest in the Wikipedia:The future of NPP and AfC, you are invited to join a discussion at Wikipedia:Village_pump_(policy)#Rethinking_draft_space. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 08:06, 26 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I was not aware that I cannot do any paid edits. So I have moved page to Draft:Digital Asset Modeling Language, please don't delete it. Piotrus12 (talk) 19:18, 26 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Blocked for spamming and sockpuppetry. MER-C 19:37, 26 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Palace of Fine Arts (16794p).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 23:03, 1 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

		The Signpost Barnstar
		For an excellent By the numbers at The Signpost

If you've got more numbers, send them in! Smallbones_(smalltalk) 20:07, 2 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. I'll run it again next year, perhaps with improvements and/or more statistics if they are available. Any sign of it reaching those that have money to spend on software development? MER-C 20:13, 2 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi MER-C. This UPE BLP has been moved back from draft by a new editor who already has other UPE-like articles to their name - thought you might like to check out? thanks. Britishfinance (talk) 11:07, 3 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

They also moved another sock-created UPE draft to mainspace immediately after. Blocked. MER-C 19:14, 3 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks MER-C. Britishfinance (talk) 19:44, 3 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Another case like the above, dormant new account doing small mechanical financial edits that then creates a UPE-like company article, and moves a previous UPE-drafted BLP back to mainspace. Britishfinance (talk) 11:09, 5 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

They were also involved in cryptocurrency spamming in the past. Blocked. MER-C 12:44, 5 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:SL Colombo asv2020-01 img10 National Museum.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 21:07, 6 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, MER-C. It's been nearly two years since the spamming and vandalism on this article and I don't see any AbuseFilter entries since then or reverted vandalism in article history. There is, on the other hand, a current edit request that should probably be allowed to the proposer. Is it possible to remove the protection at this time? Thanks. Eggishorn (talk) (contrib) 14:54, 8 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

That's a sign the semi-protection is working. The underlying reason for the spamming - businesses wishing to promote themselves to desperate consumers - has not gone away. MER-C 18:13, 8 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Could you perhaps autocull this page? It's ok if you can't, it shouldn't take too long anyways.... Money emoji💵^{Talk💸Help out at CCI!} 23:09, 8 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Done. MER-C 20:17, 9 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

MER-C, Thank you! And thanks for the autoculling over the last few months, It's really helped in whittling down the extraneous parts of the backlog. Money emoji💵^{Talk💸Help out at CCI!} 21:29, 9 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The autoculling is done. If you have any CCIs that could do with a higher word threshold, please let me know. MER-C 19:44, 10 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

What kind of vibes do you get from these creations? Praxidicae (talk) 15:10, 9 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know. Three of the four websites are owned by the same company. MER-C 20:35, 9 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I just am suspicious of users who are readily able to upload NFF appropriately and their first edits are fully formed articles...this response is pretty interestingPraxidicae (talk) 20:42, 9 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi MER-C! I see you deleted The Preiss Company on 23 June 2014. It was later recreated by a SPA and edited by company representatives. Maybe you can look if there was any issue with the recreation itself? Best, --MarioGom (talk) 09:44, 10 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The original creation was utter garbage. I will block the company representative KaseyMunsch (who was the original author) for advertising. MER-C 19:31, 10 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Ortolan bunting in Sierra de Guara, Aragon, Spain.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 13:02, 10 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I tagged this as a UPE a few days ago after its author was blocked by you for UPE on other articles. Another new editor has appeared and done that strange thing where they move the article around a few times in quick succession but bring it back to the source name? You might want to check it out and watchlist PCloud which I suspect UPEs will return to get it published (e.g. honeypot strategy of UPE discovery). thanks. Britishfinance (talk) 13:46, 10 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The account that did the roundabout move was a spammer. They're now blocked. MER-C 19:34, 10 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi I am a social media infleuncer and have been paid by the company for editing the page and updating it with the current achievements. Can you promise that you are not going to delete it? Else client will take money back from me. If you will confirm then only I will edit the page, else I will ask them to find someone else. 1.39.250.99 (talk) 15:50, 13 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@MER-C, please check your inbox. GSS ^💬 16:10, 13 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, can you please share your views about the creator? I am getting strong paid editing vibes as mentioned by Praxidicae in the SPI case. KartikeyaS (talk) 16:52, 14 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

They are, on the balance of probabilities, UPE but I'm not certain enough to block. MER-C 17:48, 14 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Got it. Thank you. KartikeyaS (talk) 16:24, 15 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Northern Gannet with nest material.jpg, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Armbrust The Homunculus 19:28, 15 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hello MER-C! I see you blocked BatdaCat.M (talk · contribs) for covert advertising. Are you aware if the page Vandalye (band) might be part of this as well? --MrClog (talk) 16:32, 16 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Good spot. Blocked. MER-C 19:03, 16 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

If I understand correctly DoshNomad (talk · contribs) seems to be a sockpuppet. Should Vandalye be deleted under G5? --MrClog (talk) 21:31, 16 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi MER-C, علاء was wondering if we could blacklist www.aliqtisadi.com on en.wiki as it’s a self-published site that’s mainly used to provide cover for autobiographies and other such spam. I’m not really familiar with the blacklist, so I’m passing on the request. TonyBallioni (talk) 21:42, 17 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I do see it's used in some possible UPE articles, but I don't see evidence of systematic abuse. I remain unconvinced. MER-C 20:45, 20 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

You previously moved this back to draft space for UPE but it appears to have snuck back out again, you may wanna take a peek. Praxidicae (talk) 18:25, 18 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Blocked. MER-C 19:58, 18 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Fire dartfish (Nemateleotris magnifica) (43372442502).jpg, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Armbrust The Homunculus 19:51, 20 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi MER-C, I'm curious how would you approach this situation: Dailyhunt.in has a massive spread at the project. It is a content aggregator that, until recently, didn't always even indicate the origin of the content they republish. I'm concerned that people will become familiar with the name Dailyhunt, and will mistakenly think that it is a reliable source, when all it is doing is regurgitating content from other websites, including blogs and whatnot. I'm also concerned that if Dailyhunt is republishing without permission, users could potentially be directing traffic to a copyright violation. How would you go about dealing with this? Is there a community discussion page where you think this issue should be raised? I think it should be blacklisted, but not specifically for spam. Thanks, Cyphoidbomb (talk) 17:36, 21 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

My first thought would be to ask for source deprecation on WP:RSN. MER-C 17:49, 21 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

What's the projected outcome of that? I guess what I'm asking is if there are multiple blacklists. How would we prevent people from adding it? Would it theoretically get added to the spam blacklist? Thanks, sorry if my questions are stupid. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 18:22, 21 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know - you'll probably get a consensus that it is unreliable. If it is deprecated, it may be added to Special:AbuseFilter/869. There's only one blacklist. MER-C 18:42, 21 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Man, I feel bad that I wasted your time. I think it's already on the spam blacklist. Soooooo sorry! Cyphoidbomb (talk) 18:48, 21 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi again, can you please have a look at RoZTaly and B-Factor? Both users seem to have the UPE patterns. Specially, RoZTaly is creating articles that were either previously deleted or declined at AfC. Thanks, KartikeyaS (talk) 08:10, 24 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not seeing it. Admittedly I'm not familiar with the extent of spam editing in the Bollywood topic. MER-C 19:43, 24 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Sheldonian Theatre Interior, Oxford, 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 18:56, 24 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi MER-C, Please check sockpuppet for User:KartikeyaS343 and User:Kart2409. found many common edits. Thanks B-Factor (talk) 06:32, 25 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, could I ask you if you have any evidence suggesting that User:DoshNomad is a paid editor? You seem to have blocked him with no actual evidence other than a users claim. Thanks, Rodrigo Valequez^(🗣) 19:10, 25 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

You seem to be suffering from the same ignorance that he is - see the subsequent comments on his talk page. MER-C 16:29, 3 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Dear MER-C,

Can I recover the page I wrote on Voxa which was deleted a few days ago? If you could also clear up why the page was deleted and how I can fix it that would be amazing. I wrote this article from resources on the company that I found on the internet and thought I could compile them into a Wikipedia page. This is my first time publishing on Wikipedia and I might have gotten the tone wrong, please help! Thank you so much. Sachin_Zachariah (talk) 16:55, 26 March 2020 (PST)

No. If you think "Voxa is a North American technology startup company that offers innovative nano-imaging solutions... From its inception in 2012, Voxa has produced paradigm-shifting hardware solutions with the goal to increase accessibility of nano-imaging capabilities to a broader base of consumers." is suitable for Wikipedia, then you are very much mistaken. I considered removing your editing privileges for that. MER-C 14:11, 27 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Understood. If I start from scratch again and create a page that is more "suitable for Wikipedia" what can I do to fix it? Are there specific pages that I can read that display Wikipedia level tone and structure. Apologies for the way the first one was written, I've never written a Wikipedia page before and I messed up the tone and structure pretty badly. I tried to look toward other tech company Wikipedia pages for inspiration when making this, but I obviously didn't follow them closely enough. Sachin Zachariah (talk) 16:32, 27 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

What connection do you have with Voxa? If you're editing on behalf of them, there is nothing that you can write that is acceptable. MER-C 17:10, 27 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

They visited my school to show us what they do and give us a hands on experience. After that I've just been following them on social media. I recently read about their ISS launch and thought that was pretty notable. Sachin Zachariah (talk) 17:40, 27 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

They may have a paper encyclopedia in the library. Emulate that instead. MER-C 19:25, 27 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

With respect to this discussion, would you mind if I create a disambiguation page after all? If only to avoid recreation of the category. Marcocapelle (talk) 09:40, 27 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Go ahead. MER-C 10:09, 27 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, I was checking the outcome of B-Factor's SPI when I found this diff[1] by you. This is the same article that was created by me and later deleted through a 2nd AfD nomination. Incidentally, the nominator was also blocked for socking[2]. Don't you think there is something fishy and might have a bigger connection? --KartikeyaS (talk) 16:18, 27 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Absolutely. That's why I emailed Yunshui relaying that concern. MER-C 17:05, 27 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Trimeresurus popeiorum, Pope's pit viper - Doi Phu Kha National Park (46846412805).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 21:20, 31 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hello! I have been doing some cleanup on the Me to We UPE articles. I came across a Governor General's award for the now deleted person Roxanne Joyal. I can't see the deleted text, but am wondering if you think she might be notable, assuming it was cleaned up? I'm not that interested... maybe mildly curious.ThatMontrealIP (talk) 16:41, 1 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

OK, scratch that question, as what I am finding as additional sourcing is overall just too promotional.ThatMontrealIP (talk) 16:44, 1 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

ThatMontrealIP, You can find the deleted text at Draft:Roxanne Joyal Moneytrees🌴^{Talk🌲Help out at CCI!} 16:53, 1 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I reported Phi Epsilon Kappa as a copyvio and you deleted it. Would you mind reviewing a replacement when I create one to see if you are comfortable with the replacement? (I'm still trying to have a page for every group that has been part of the Professional Fraternity Association)Naraht (talk) 20:15, 3 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Sure. You can also use https://tools.wmflabs.org/copyvios . MER-C 10:15, 4 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Thanx. I hope to use various editions of Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities as part of the sources.Naraht (talk) 01:45, 5 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]