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Noticed this edit by Redmoon17 and then saw that another user spammed the link into two articles today as well. It appears there are multiple other users who attempted at this also in the past in December and January. Will check COIBot. – NJD-DE (talk) 10:39, 1 April 2021 (UTC)
Spamming taxi services on various Portuguese city articles. Let's see if there's more. – NJD-DE (talk) 23:23, 2 April 2021 (UTC)
Njd-de, bit doubting what to do here, it certainly is unwanted here. The editors however were also active on wikivoyage and it was there also reverted. Very tempted to Defer to Global blacklist but .. Dirk BeetstraTC 08:08, 3 April 2021 (UTC)
It has been handled on meta now. – NJD-DE (talk) 19:26, 4 April 2021 (UTC)
I have noticed quite a bit of systemic reference/external link spam for the domain planetware.com on a number of pages. On some of them they are using archive.org to mask the spam, others it is directly to their website. Some examples:
As you can see when looking at these, the cite reference name takes different forms. "www.planetware.com", "Planet Ware Travel Guide", "Planet Aware" etc.
These are just some examples and I believe there are many more per the link search.
This is not limited to English Wikipedia. Ex:
Also, in the interest of disclosure, please see my user page re: some small potential COI as I do have clients (who don't spam nor are on wiki) in the travel industry. Thank you. DrGvago (talk) 21:00, 29 March 2021 (UTC)
Insource finds a lot of link, mostly as refs. In some articles, the links have been there since the page was created (by clear non-spammers, e.g. [1]) so perhaps this could just be an unreliable source. Would like to see what COIBot can find though, to see whether the links are being added by spam-only users as well or being used as references by a variety of users. Pahunkat (talk) 12:32, 31 March 2021 (UTC)
how would one go about using COIbot on this? I clicked the links automatically added above but it says the pages don't exist. Also to your point and example edit regarding non-spam users, I will just say that being in the SEO industry, i see a lot of spam. The best ones are not the blatant idiotic ones where one throwaway account creates something, it's where reputable accounts can get away with things because of their status. If you go to say, Upwork, and search for hireable contractors with "Wikipedia" in their profile there are 150+ Pages of results at just that one source, and no doubt many of them are groups of individuals and accounts for "paid and volunteer editors" among other claims. The point I'm trying to make, which is likely well broader than the subject domain in this conversation is that the best spammers employ tactics as seen here to vary the text, place the links differently and use multiple seemingly reputable accounts. DrGvago (talk) 11:15, 6 April 2021 (UTC)
DrGvago, COIBot should have picked that up automatically and created the report, I have 're-poked' the bot on IRC (another way is through User:COIBot/Poke, for users who have been granted the use of it, which I will do for you shortly). Dirk BeetstraTC 11:29, 6 April 2021 (UTC)
Meh, something is slow or not cooperative. I had a quick look at the additions on IRC, it seems that I see only established editors under the top editors who 'used' the links (so if there is spam, it is in the minor accounts). Did you see any accounts who you think were specifically 'spamming' it? --Dirk BeetstraTC 13:11, 6 April 2021 (UTC)
Beetstra is there a way to see which users added the link in a report? Here is one reason why it makes me suspicious that it's spam: It doesn't seem like a reliable source to me, first off, and that makes me wonder why experienced users would cite them. But if we just consider the insource search for say Expedia.com, a much larger and more well known travel company and this one has 3x the results. The subject company is an affiliate marketing (they make commissions on travel bookings) and advertising supported for-profit website. This one has about half of what Fodor's or Travel and Leisure do fjust fkr perspective to other, reputable, travel content media publishers. DrGvago (talk) 15:01, 6 April 2021 (UTC)
DrGvago, for some reason (memory likely) the bot report module crashes on reporting planetware.com. I have asked COIBot to dump the data for me, which it then did to m:User talk:COIBot/LinkReports/planetware.com (plain data in the format 'username' - 'pagename' - 'difflink' - 'protocol-free-link', unfortunately you'll have to see the rest for yourself here. I re-requested a linkreport but that may crash, again). Dirk BeetstraTC 19:56, 6 April 2021 (UTC)
Beetstra I went through quite a few of those diffs. It doesn't really look like those are edits where the addition of a link containing the domain happen, but just some of the edits that contain the link. For example, if I look at the diffs for Jamaica there, here are a number of them which appear to be other edits. I've not heard of COIbot until now, so I'm struggling a bit to understand how it works and what I should be looking at in the report you linked. I guess the first question here is, do you (and/or anyone else who would like to chime in) agree or disagree on planetware.com meeting the qualification of WP:RS That could help determine whether this is worth pursuing further? DrGvago (talk) 17:26, 7 April 2021 (UTC)
DrGvago, I am not sure if I understand. this diff to Jamaica adds 3 links to planetware.com (hence you get three lines - three records, one for each link within the same diff).
It is not really a report, it is a database dump of 4 fields of all records matching addition of planetware.com links.
I don’t see it being obviously spammed, whether it is reliable would be a question for WP:RSN. Dirk BeetstraTC 18:47, 7 April 2021 (UTC)
These links seem completely unrelated on first sight (one spammed as a job site in Dubai, the other as a fashion blog). However the sites have same look and share a favicon, and when the user was warned the IP showed up and spammed the same links. – NJD-DE (talk) 22:11, 8 April 2021 (UTC)
The link was spammed on a number of constituency pages. I've cleaned up the links themselves. Note that there is an ongoing election so there would be higher than usual traffic. Tayi ArajakateTalk 18:21, 10 April 2021 (UTC)
Hey, that is the website of TN Election commission. They have hosted the nomination details in that. Please read fully before raising such requests. - AppuduPappudu (talk) 17:39, 14 April 2021 (UTC)
@Tayi Arajakate and AppuduPappudu: I can't tell whether this is an official government website. Since it's not hosted on a government domain, is there any evidence (under a government domain name or in another reliable source) that [ecapp0155.southindia.cloudapp.azure.com/NOM/pu_nom_2021/public_report.aspx pages like this] are published by the Public (Elections) Department of Tamil Nadu? — Newslingertalk 09:27, 16 April 2021 (UTC)
With regards to the site, it seems to be hosted on Microsoft Azure and gives a "not secure" warning on chrome. The subdomain makes no sense for a government site; "South India" is neither synonymous with Tamil Nadu nor an official classification used by the government, the Southern Zonal Council can probably be referred to with it, which includes 5 states and 1 union territory under its purview, and "ecapp0155" is nonsensical. No one else has linked this site on Wikipedia either, which seems pretty unlikely for a government site. Tayi ArajakateTalk 10:57, 16 April 2021 (UTC)
southindia is the hosting-zone/datacenter location within Microsoft Azure's hosting services. xyz.westus.cloudapp.azure.com would refer to a domain xyz hosted in the westus Azure region (Azure documenation). The Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer website has two buttons linking to ecapp0155: elections.tn.gov.in. – NJD-DE (talk) 11:36, 16 April 2021 (UTC)
Njd-de, that seems legit, it's my mistake then. Although very strange for them to do that. Tayi ArajakateTalk 11:47, 16 April 2021 (UTC)
I have to agree with you Tayi Arajakate. It's a bit weird and the quirky look isn't helping either. – NJD-DE (talk) 12:00, 16 April 2021 (UTC)
No action. Thanks for clarifying, everyone. It's less than ideal for a government to use an unofficial domain name for this kind of information, but it's their choice. — Newslingertalk 06:59, 17 April 2021 (UTC)
A "news site" with articles like "Dream Girl (2019) Full Movie HD Download Filmywap, Filmyzilla, Extramovies, Tamilrockers, Pagalmovies". Additionally, it was founded only in 2020 and all the "articles" are written by the same person (Mamun Biswas). Kleinpecan (talk) 14:22, 14 April 2021 (UTC)
IP adding the same commercial link back to an article over the course of a year. Not the most serious in terms of spam, but I thought I'd mention it. - Whisperjanes (talk) 16:00, 14 April 2021 (UTC)
I spotted this website while looking at the other site Mickyskidy was spamming (since globally blacklisted) and it looks like a click-to-continue site of very questionable use. Want to see the COIBot report on this domain. There's some cross-wiki for sure, but I can't tell if it's spam or just foolish/gullible editors. Ravensfire (talk) 01:33, 13 April 2021 (UTC)
Hmmm, so COIBot shows some cross-wiki by Mickyskidy (ig). The other cross-wiki uses are by well-established users. I'm very suspicious that the site is hosting unauthorized downloads, but the links from other users at least isn't triggering the click-to-continue the way some of Micky's links where. At a minimum, I think this domain should be XLinkBot's list, but I'd really prefer it just blacklisted here. Tougher call on the cross-wiki. Ravensfire (talk) 12:56, 13 April 2021 (UTC)
Hello sir I am here to appeal on behalf of domain yusmid.com which was blocked by Wikipedia for spamming according to the website manager he said the spamming was don by some their competitors who is trying to shut out the website. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mickyskidy (talk • contribs) 18:41, 8 April 2021 (UTC)
Not done. The domain was correctly placed on the spam blacklist, as the COIBot report indicates that it has been spammed by multiple Wikipedia accounts, all of which have been blocked for spam or promotion. — Newslingertalk 09:07, 16 April 2021 (UTC)
Hi I have been reached out by a Mumbai based freelancer telling that, Wikipedia.ind.in is a Wikimedia Foundation website. Is it true? He shared a url with me telling that, it is not a spam website rather it is a real Wikimedia Foundation website and it is not on Spam link while others are
It's not being spammed on Wikipedia, so a spam link report won't accomplish much. You could get in contact with Wikipedia's legal department to report the trademark violation, though. You can write to them here. - MrOllie (talk) 21:33, 12 April 2021 (UTC)
Added to MediaWiki:Spam-blacklist. The COIBot report indicates that links to this domain have been inappropriately added into articles by multiple IP addresses. Thanks for reporting this. — Newslingertalk 04:32, 19 April 2021 (UTC)
User insists on adding his "reliable source" on OnlyFans. Checking if this link is only spammed by this user (who runs the site), or also by others. – NJD-DE (talk) 14:07, 18 April 2021 (UTC)
Already worth blacklisting, but there appear to be more domains from these spammers. Waiting for reports and more. --Dirk BeetstraTC 10:16, 15 April 2021 (UTC)
Added 3 accounts. — Newslingertalk 04:38, 19 April 2021 (UTC)
Added 1 domain. — Newslingertalk 06:33, 19 April 2021 (UTC)
Link spamming in articles of "competitors", e.g. Whatsapp --> vorizi, Dictionary.com --> mrtimmi, Musical.ly --> choonka. – NJD-DE (talk) 13:13, 19 April 2021 (UTC)
It appears that pagekite is a localhost tunneling service. So instead of blocking the three subdomains, might be an idea to block the domain itself, as any reliable source or valid external link will not require usage of such services. – NJD-DE (talk) 13:50, 19 April 2021 (UTC)
No action required at present. The kkmaidservice.com COIBot report reveals no additional spamming; the kkmaidservices.medium.com report was never generated, but probably won't yield anything new either. —Bruce1eetalk 05:43, 22 April 2021 (UTC)
(I also remember seeing somebody else spam this link, but sadly I can't find that account now. Hope it'll show up in COIBot's report.) Kleinpecan (talk) 10:12, 22 April 2021 (UTC)
Added four more users from the COIBot report. —Bruce1eetalk 11:31, 22 April 2021 (UTC)
No action. Page has already been protected. Appears to be a case of edit warring (using self-published sources from these domains) on one article, rather than spamming. — Newslingertalk 08:23, 23 April 2021 (UTC)
Mostly the first link, the second was only spammed by the user mentioned once. Rest of contribs are spamming the first link. Pahunkat (talk) 13:39, 17 April 2021 (UTC)
Various IPs spamming this link on Air purifier and Exercise equipment which already led to pending-changes-protect of the latter.– NJD-DE (talk) 11:35, 24 April 2021 (UTC)
+ 4 IPs. The fitness link has been spammed 41 (!) times and the air purifier link 7 times since Mid of March. I believe it's time to blacklist these. – NJD-DE (talk) 13:00, 24 April 2021 (UTC)
Spamming link on agriculture related articles. Hoping to see with COIBot if other users/IPs are involved in this too. – NJD-DE (talk) 11:42, 24 April 2021 (UTC)
Template:User summary – this user (now indefinitely blocked on the English Wikipedia for undisclosed paid editing, advertising, and sockpuppetry) has added a link to this site in his sandbox (also deleted). Judging by his edits, he wanted to create an article about the musician Aryan King. Somebody also tried to create this article on Ukrainian Wikipedia. It was deleted (see Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/10 January 2021#Aryan King). Here's what the reviewers said about this site (emphasis mine):
Generate COIBot to check if links have been spammed before. Probable good faith, but I'm aware that these types of links have been spammed before on all sorts of articles. Pahunkat (talk) 20:15, 25 April 2021 (UTC)
Noticed their edits on Arabtec Holding PJSC where they spammed their career link, Draft:Shahbaz Masoom their news-link and User talk:Masoom262 where they spammed the others. – NJD-DE (talk) 20:35, 25 April 2021 (UTC)
Added user to the list who spammed one of the paasban-links and is already blocked for spamming/using WP for advertisments. – NJD-DE (talk) 20:52, 25 April 2021 (UTC)
Removing subdomains, since the root domain is listed. — Newslingertalk 05:18, 26 April 2021 (UTC)
Refspam on OnePlus. Hoping to see with COIBot if there's more spamming of this blog. – NJD-DE (talk) 23:28, 25 April 2021 (UTC)
TheBlogByte has been blocked indefinitely in January for their promotional username and edits. Likely block-evasion. – NJD-DE (talk) 23:33, 25 April 2021 (UTC)
Spamming their link on various articles. Hoping to see with COIBot if there's more users. – NJD-DE (talk) 08:03, 26 April 2021 (UTC)
Added users based on this link report and added other links spammed by the same users. Note also that Draft:GoogieHost mentions being Template:Tq. – NJD-DE (talk) 16:35, 26 April 2021 (UTC)
Noticed Girlypepper spamming these links on Plus-size clothing, and with the already existing COIBot report it appears that there is some history of spamming the plus-size-clothing.com link. Hoping to see with new report if there's more users involved. – NJD-DE (talk) 18:42, 27 April 2021 (UTC)
Waiting for the COIBot report to see if there are any more users. —Bruce1eetalk 07:17, 27 April 2021 (UTC)
OK, no more users so far, but they are persistent. (The IP and the blocked user are probably the same person.) —Bruce1eetalk 07:29, 27 April 2021 (UTC)
Account is Template:Already blocked. Spamming seems to have stopped for now. Please re-report if spamming recurs. — Newslingertalk 09:55, 30 April 2021 (UTC)