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Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Spam/2007 Archive Jan 

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New tool concept

Hi yall. I'm working on writing a new spam-fighting tool. I'm trying to learn Python to build it too. The basic concept is fairly simple, but I think it would help investigations.

If the program works as intended then it should be able to find the first version of the page to contain a particular spam-link, helping to tack down who actually added it. It should make searching pages with thousands of edits alot quicker.

It occurs to me that this might be helpful with tracking down certain types of subtle vandalism and copyvio.

Ok, here is my current working...err.. process list.

User input variables
  1. “Article”
  2. “Test string”
  3. “Diff limit”
Diff list function A.
  1. Get diff data from query.php
  2. Convert diff data into useable list/array
Diff list function B. (primary)
  1. Copy array from “stable array” to “working array”
  2. Count amount of diffs in “working array”
  3. find “middle” diff (Rounded(total*0.5))
  4. retrieve article text
  5. test text for “test string”
  6. If test sting is present in article, remove last half of “working array,” if not, remove first half.
  7. Test if 1 diff is left, if so End function, return oldid.
  8. Return to 2.
Diff-list function B. (alternate)
  1. Copy array from “stable array” to “working array”
  2. Count amount of diffs in “working array”
  3. find “1/5th” diff (Rounded(total*0.2))
  4. retrieve article text
  5. test text for “test string”
  6. If test sting is present in article, remove last half of “working array,” if not, remove first half.
  7. Test if 25 or less diffs are left, if so send last diffs to Diff-list function B (primary).
  8. Return to 2.
Results.
  1. oldid/link
  2. User/link
  3. edit summary
  4. date

Any sugustions or other comments? ---J.S (T/C) 17:44, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

I cannot read the Python. Watch out for catching the wrong person: e.g. someone who reverts a whole page vandal deletion with the spam link in.

--BozMo talk 19:28, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

Thats a good point. When the link is inserted/removed a bunch of times it will be more difficult to track down the very first time it was added. The alternative check -should- be more likely to catch the first edit the link was added... but to be 100% accurate would end up having the program check every single version of the page. That might be viable if it can be narrowed down I guess.---J.S (T/C) 20:00, 21 December 2006 (UTC)
Or do a manual check on what the suspect edit was. I think maybe we need to bother the tech people to do something better with the links searching rather than build our own tools though. You'd be pulling a lot of data down when the analysis could work on the database? --BozMo talk 20:14, 21 December 2006 (UTC)
How about looking for the link from the article's first edit? Actually, it might be nice to have the option to choose either direction. While I'm throwing out suggestions for someone else's project, a start date parameter and a number of hits parameter (keep looking for the URL until you find it x times) would be nice. ScottW 20:22, 21 December 2006 (UTC)
The mediawiki people have been very resistant about implimenting any technical solution to any problem that could be handled by a bot.
It is posible to do a 1by1 search of every edit from the very first edit, and sometimes that might be viable... but if the article has 12000 edits, then it might take hours.
This tool might not be helpfull in all situations... like if the link was added/removed a bunch of times in the past. But if it was added 2 months ago and noone caught it untill now it should be able to narrow it down to the exact edit.
The "alternate" method should have a much better shot at finding it the very first time the link was added... since it's checking at the 20% mark each time and not the 50% mark.
Anouther alternitive is to check every N edits (5, 10 or 20... whatever) and alert the user to the first time it finds the link. But your sacrafising effeciancy for acuracy... ---J.S (T/C) 21:12, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

Method testing

Doing some simple spread sheeting I'm able to determine how many checks (checking an old version of the page) a particular method might take. I'm going to assume the page has had 12000 edits... (Yeah, I know, that might be the extreme, but it's useful for a though-experiment).

  • Method 1: Check every edit starting with earliest
  • Results: Would take anywhere between 1 to 11999 checks to find the edit. Some trial and error and pre-checking could signifigantly lower this to perhaps 1000 checks?
  • Method 2: Check every N edits.
  • Results: If N = 25 then a max of 480 checks would be needed with additional manual checking to narrow it down. Higher values of N make for more manual checking, but less automatic checking.
  • Method 3: Check the 20% marks.
  • Explanation - Check the 20% edit, (edit num2400). If the link was added before, then you just eliminated 80% of the possibilities... if it was added after, you eliminated 20%.
  • Results - Worse case scenario, find it in 43 checks. Best case you find it in 7. 20-30 is most likely.
  • Drawbacks - Might zero-in on a re-addition or a vandalism-revert.
  • Method 4:
  • Results - Would take reliably 15 or so checks each time.
  • Drawbacks - Even more likely to find a false positive...

That's my basic analysis. Each method has it's pros/cons. If the link was added once and never removed, or removed very recently (sneaky spam) then method 4 would find it the quickest and their would be no chance of error. I think that's the major scenario we deal with when a detailed investigation is called for, right? If the link was added/removed a few times but with long intervals between then method 3 would be more likely to find the very first time it was inserted, but still might hit on the wrong one. The "check every edit" or the "check every Nth edit" are the most reliable, but both can take hours to process. ---J.S (T/C) 21:12, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

Maybe you should use use the toolserver (m:toolserver) so you can run SQL queries directly, instead of using the query interface which is necessarily a lot slower and which loads down the public servers. See also the RFE that I mentioned above if you haven't [bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=8315]. I'll read your post more carefully later, I'm in the middle of other stuff right now. 67.117.130.181 22:17, 21 December 2006 (UTC)
As far as I'm aware the toolserver isn't replicating the database... The word is it might be fixed soon, but thats what people have been saying for nearly 6 months. ---J.S (T/C) 22:35, 21 December 2006 (UTC)
Oh, I didn't know about the non-replication. For the query interface method, I'd start with a simple binary search, using manual inspection to tell spam insertion from vandal reversion. I've thought of another approach but it has some evil aspects so I'll consider whether to describe it here. 67.117.130.181 23:10, 21 December 2006 (UTC)
Basicly, this would be for when the user knows what the link is beforhand. Ie, (s)he saw the spam in the EL list and wondered who did the dirty deed. As for reconiseing spam as it's entered... we got shadowbot and IRC for that I guess. ---J.S (T/C) 23:17, 21 December 2006 (UTC)
Yes, I understand that. I wonder whether shadowbot could be extended to log the first occurrence of every new link it sees, including those not on its blacklist. Then someone trying to find the source of some spam could check the shadowbot log to find the first insertion. I would have thought this could more naturally be recorded in the wiki server (same place that maintains the extlink table right now) but the developers answered describing some problems with that approach, that I didn't fully understand. 67.117.130.181 23:34, 21 December 2006 (UTC)
If you can assume that the link was added once and never removed then a binary search algorithm suffices, with log2N comparisons (i.e. at most 14 comparisons for 12000 edits).
—Red Thrush 23:20, 21 December 2006 (UTC)
Thats what I was thinking.... but life is often more complex then that, so I wanted some alternitive methods. ---J.S (T/C) 23:47, 21 December 2006 (UTC)
Then the only guaranteed way to find the author who added the link is to analyze every revision. Any other heuristic could fail in one or another scenario. The most sensible one would likely be when the link is added and removed in edit wars and eventually somebody forgets to remove it (even the method of checking every N revisions would have a high probability of missing the right revision).
Implementing a mechanism in wikipedia to track down who added every link for the first time would put a big load on the servers. Perhaps a more economic approach would be to add the new links to a per user page whenever she adds them to an article. Or make the entire history of an article available as a single download (to scan the revisions locally). But that depends on the internal implementation of wikipedia to store revisions. The ideal situation would be to have the history already compressed in a single blob record.
—Red Thrush 11:02, 22 December 2006 (UTC)
I think there is a way to download the entire history of a article localy... (howelse do the mirrors do it?)
I don't nessessarly think 100% acuracy is nessassary... the binary search might be "good enough." Maybe I can add some user modifiable restrictions in the program? Ie, "only check revisisons made befor date X"? Hmmm that would actualy be quite usefull. ---J.S (T/C) 17:00, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

Clueless but well-intentioned spammer needs correction & maybe site added to blacklist

69.22.217.141 (talk · contribs) has been adding links to this (http://mymom.pledgepage.org) solicitation site requesting money for his mom's surgery. Anchoress 03:29, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

A different kind of spam blacklist

I was wondering about the possiblility of using DNSBLs as a preventative measure against crap like this (those spamtraps are currently empty) and other general linkspamming. There are a number of ways we might be able to do this - the questions are which blacklists and what to block (e.g. at least 25% of the change is adding external link(s))? MER-C 04:36, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

I like your User:MER-C/Spam subpage. --A. B. (talk) 08:38, 22 December 2006 (UTC)
Forgive my ignorance but what are we doing at the moment if not this? Do we only have a content blacklist not an IP blacklist? Neither is terribly effective mind you, but better than nothing --BozMo talk 07:29, 22 December 2006 (UTC)
Our current spam blacklist is based on domain names. This is rather ineffectual, since spammers/phishers hop domains very quickly. MER-C 08:03, 22 December 2006 (UTC)
I just spent hours cross-checking some of our worst spammers against these lists using [www.completewhois.com/ Completewhois]. The ones that matched a blacklist, I then listed at WikiProject Open Proxy. I got some very polite feedback[en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk%3AA._B.&diff=95886327&oldid=95519103] that seemed to indicate that this was not seen as very helpful. So I'm not sure what to do. --A. B. (talk) 08:20, 22 December 2006 (UTC)
Get a friendly admin to block them. I know of some admins who permablock spambots on sight. MER-C 08:49, 22 December 2006 (UTC)
Is it me, or is it weird that just "some" admins do that? Isn't there any consensus on how to treat spambots? --Jdevalk 19:05, 4 January 2007 (UTC)
If you see a spambot, send me a note on my talk with some diffs and I'll block'em. ---J.S (T/C) 19:52, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

Links to PtS Content Network sites

An established Wikipedia editor has not only been adding good content, but also links to a series of web sites owned by PtS plc. See ChrisNickson (talk • contribs • page moves • block user • block log); his talk page lists the 10+ sites linked to so far, plus another 70 PtS is developing. An anonymous IP, 82.19.71.53 (talk • contribs • page moves • block user • block log) has also added links.

There is one well-established online publication, GlobalVillageIdiot, in PtS' listings, and it was the only one I noticed that might meet WP:EL. Wikipedia has 12 links to that music review site; all were added by other editors with good reputations on Wikipedia. Most of these editors had extensive editing histories (1000s of edits). I left these links alone.

All the other links are cleaned up. --A. B. (talk) 07:30, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

Recently tagged articles for cleanup

I was following up on several spammers' spam trails and noticed these as needing more cleanup; I didn't have any time left:

Many other articles on individual phones are spammy too. Also, I kept seeing the same domain names over and over again.

Not as bad:

Partially cleaned up already?

--A. B. (talk) 07:47, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

Vinni-Puh's linkspam via narod.ru -- surfaced again

This is a pretty sneaky linkspam campain, and Vinni-Puh seems a pretty patient user - when a lot of folks begin watching, he stops for quite a while. However, he then returns and expands his linkspamming, and does it across multiple languages of WP as well. Please see [en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Vinni-Puh&oldid=96102740 this snapshot of his talkpage] (he keeps blanking anti-spam warnings) and specifically [en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Vandalism_in_progress/Archives/2006/01&diff=34468789%20the%20old%20VIP%20entry the WP:ANI entry archived] from over a year ago. --BACbKA 14:17, 23 December 2006 (UTC)

There are about 1200 narod.ru links. A spot check of several revealed nothing useful. They are either Russian/Cyrillic or third party pages with real content borrowed from or linked to primary sites. Someone should go through all of these and clean them out. Most will have to be judged on a case-by-case basis. Vinni-Puh (talk · contribs) has not been all that prolific since a huge spam spree a year ago (December and January) and it shouldn't take much time for someone to evaluate a year's worth of edits. If narod.ru turns out to be completely useless, it should be blacklisted. JonHarder talk 03:35, 24 December 2006 (UTC)
To make this easier work through, these are the top 20 subdomains within narod.ru. They range from 87 links from articles for the first entry, down to 4 links for the last. If you work through one of these items, cross it off the list. JonHarder talk 23:18, 24 December 2006 (UTC)
*.pagetour.narod.ru (This site is an nformation donator to Wikipedia, owned by user Dmitriy A. Pitirimov It is in English with many relevant information about Uzbekistan Dmitriy A. Pitirimov 10:23, 16 January 2007 (UTC))
Dmitriy, I note that you now have [en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Linksearch&target=%2A.pagetour.narod.ru 111 links], up from 87 at the time narod.ru was blacklisted. Also, from looking at the current version of a sample article, [en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gur-e_Amir&oldid=99722849 Gur-e Amir], I see you have 10 links back to your commercial travel web site, pagetour.narod.ru., many of them as inline links that say "[pagetour.narod.ru/samarkand/Gur-Emir/Gur-Emir_1.htm (see picture)]". The preferred way to do this is to upload the picture then add the image to the article. In the interim, those inline links are probably subject to removal in accordance with out External Links Guideline and our Manual of Style.--A. B. (talk) 14:15, 16 January 2007 (UTC)
*.urrib2000.narod.ru
www.coinsv.narod.ru
www.lasius.narod.ru
drokov.narod.ru
archeologia.narod.ru
tramnn.narod.ru
marshals.narod.ru
buzyall.narod.ru
holiker.narod.ru
*.russia-today.narod.ru
nesusvet.narod.ru
chernobrov.narod.ru
tewton.narod.ru (images in linked pages are somewhat helpful, and English language cites are provided -- Satori Son 14:51, 28 December 2006 (UTC))
mondvor.narod.ru
btvt.narod.ru
www.parus87.narod.ru}} (This site is donator of one page and is placed as a source on it. It is in English with relevant information Dmitriy A. Pitirimov 10:36, 16 January 2007 (UTC))
www.heraldicum.narod.ru
www.belawards.narod.ru
www.a-mx.narod.ru
I recommend not searching the above links further -- see comments below. I think we should stick to just the subdomains we know were spammed (listed below).--A. B. (talk) 09:57, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Vinni-Puh has also spammed other Wikipedias; here's info on the versions of the Amin Maalouf article on other Wikipedias. I am in the process of going over his contributions and accounts on these other Wikipedias and I will post that soon:

  • Arabic: أمين معلوف [ar.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=أمين_معلوف&action=history history]
  • Bulgarian: Амин Маалуф [bg.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Амин_Маалуф&action=history history]
  • Catalan: Amin Maalouf [ca.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amin_Maalouf&action=history history]
  • Czech Amin Maalouf [cs.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amin_Maalouf&action=history history]
  • German: Amin Maalouf [de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amin_Maalouf&action=history history]
  • Greek: Αμίν Μααλούφ [el.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Αμίν_Μααλούφ&action=history history]
  • Spanish: Amin Maalouf [es.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amin_Maalouf&action=history history]
  • Farsi امین معلوف [fa.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=امین_معلوف&action=history history]
  • French Amin Maalouf [fr.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amin_Maalouf&action=history history]
  • Galician: Amin Maalouf [gl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amin_Maalouf&action=history history]
  • Indonesian Amin Maalouf [id.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amin_Maalouf&action=history history]
  • Italian Amin Maalouf [it.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amin_Maalouf&action=history history]
  • Kurdish: Amin Maalouf [ku.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amin_Maalouf&action=history history]
  • Hungarian Amin Maalouf [hu.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amin_Maalouf&action=history history]
  • Dutch: Amin Maalouf [nl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amin_Maalouf&action=history history]
  • Norwegian: Amin Maalouf [no.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amin_Maalouf&action=history history]
  • Polish: Amin Maalouf [pl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amin_Maalouf&action=history history]
  • Portuguese: Amin Maalouf [pt.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amin_Maalouf&action=history history]
  • Romanian: Amin Maalouf [ro.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amin_Maalouf&action=history history]
  • Russian: Маалуф, Амин [ru.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Маалуф%2C_Амин&action=history history]
  • Sicilian: Amin Maalouf [scn.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amin_Maalouf&action=history history] This version not spammed
  • Simple: Amin Maalouf [simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amin_Maalouf&action=history history]
  • Slovenian: Amin Maalouf [sl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amin_Maalouf&action=history history]
  • Finnish: Amin Maalouf [fi.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amin_Maalouf&action=history history]
  • Swedish: Amin Maalouf [sv.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amin_Maalouf&action=history history]
  • Turkish: Amin Maalouf [tr.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amin_Maalouf&action=history history]
  • Chinese: 阿敏·馬盧夫 [zh.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=首页&action=history history]

The tip-off was that I saw him adding inter-wiki links to the versions of this article in some other languages and I wondered why a dedicated spammer would make that extra little effort to seemingly improve Wikipedia for its own sake, not his. Now I know.
--A. B. (talk) 18:26, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

Vinni-Puh's edit histories on other Wikipedia versions

I'm out of time today. Here's what I was going to do for each language version:

  1. Leave a note at the "Embassy" for that language. (These are noticeboards where Wikipedians from other languages can leave messages such about cross-language issues as multi-Wikipedia vandals, spammers, etc.)
    1. Leave an html link back to this discussion (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Spam#Vinni-Puh.27s_linkspam_via_narod.ru_--_surfaced_again)
    2. Copy the user/talk/contrib links from the [en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Spam&action=edit&section=10 edit window for this page] then paste them into my message at the Embassy noticeboard.
  2. I was reluctant to clean-up Vinni-Puh's edits and links in that language unless I was fluent in the language. For all I know, Vinni-Puh may be adding some stuff elsewhere that folks appreciate. I figure the editors on those Wikipedia's can handle that stuff and probably don't want me cluelessly mucking around.
  3. Make a note somewhere of what .narod.ru domains he was spamming (and any other domains), then list it here. I thought once we had all the data, we could add it in one batch to the blacklist.

As I mentioned, I've run out of time. Figuring out how to write up this inter-wiki stuff took hours.

Finally, I am worried about blacklisting all of narod.ru unless we're sure it's all spam. My impression is that it may be a big hosting service like a geocities or a yahoo.

Thanks for any help you can render. --A. B. (talk) 20:20, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

Arabic:

  • [ar.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=مستخدم:Vinni-Puh&action=edit Vinni-Puh] ([ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/نقاش_المستخدم:Vinni-Puh talk] • [ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/خاص:Contributions/Vinni-Puh contribs])
    • Embassy: [ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/ويكيبيديا:سفارة Arabic Embassy] I already left a note
      • [ar.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.narod.ru Linksearch] for *.narod.ru

Bulgarian:

  • [bg.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Потребител:Vinni-Puh&action=edit Vinni-Puh] ([bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/Потребител_беседа:Vinni-Puh talk] • [bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/Специални:Contributions/Vinni-Puh contribs])
  • Anonymous - 82.235.56.142: ([ca.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Usuari_Discussió:82.235.56.142&action=edit talk] • [ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Especial:Contributions/82.235.56.142 contribs])
    • Embassy: [bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/Уикипедия:Посолство Bulgarian Embassy]
      • [bg.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.narod.ru Linksearch] for *.narod.ru

Czech:

  • [cs.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedista:Vinni-Puh&action=edit Vinni-Puh] ([cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedista_diskuse:Vinni-Puh talk] • [cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speciální:Contributions/Vinni-Puh contribs])
    • Note: blanked talk page -- see [cs.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedista_diskuse:Vinni-Puh&oldid=332301 earlier version]
    • Embassy: [cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedie:Velvyslanectví Czech Embassy]
      • [cs.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.narod.ru Linksearch] for *.narod.ru

German:

  • [de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Benutzer:Vinni-Puh&action=edit Vinni-Puh] ([de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer_Diskussion:Vinni-Puh talk] • [de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spezial:Beiträge/Vinni-Puh contribs])
    • Embassy: [de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Botschaft German Embassy]
      • [de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.narod.ru Linksearch] for *.narod.ru

Greek:

  • [el.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Χρήστης:Vinni-Puh&action=edit Vinni-Puh] ([el.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Συζήτηση_χρήστη:Vinni-Puh&action=edit Vinni-Puh talk] • [el.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ειδικό:Contributions/Vinni-Puh contribs])
    • Embassy: [el.wikipedia.org/wiki/Βικιπαίδεια:Πρεσβεία Greek Embassy]
      • [el.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.narod.ru Linksearch] for *.narod.ru

Spanish:

  • [es.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Usuario:Vinni-Puh&action=edit Vinni-Puh] ([es.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Usuario_Discusión:Vinni-Puh&action=edit Vinni-Puh talk] • [es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Especial:Contributions/Vinni-Puh contribs])
    • Embassy: [es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Embajadas Spanish Embassy]
      • [es.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.narod.ru Linksearch] for *.narod.ru

Farsi (Persian):

  • [fa.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=کاربر:Vinni-Puh&action=edit Vinni-Puh] ([fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/بحث_کاربر:Vinni-Puh talk] • [fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/ویژه:Contributions/Vinni-Puh contribs])
    • Embassy: [fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/ویکی‌پدیا:سفارت‌خانه Farsi/Persian Embassy]
      • [fa.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.narod.ru Linksearch] for *.narod.ru

French:

  • [fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilisateur:Vinni-Puh Vinni-Puh] ([fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discussion_Utilisateur:Vinni-Puh talk] • [fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Vinni-Puh contribs])
    • Embassy: [fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipédia:Ambassade French Embassy]
      • [fr.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.narod.ru Linksearch] for *.narod.ru

Galician:

  • [gl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Vinni-Puh&action=edit Vinni-Puh] ([gl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Vinni-Puh&action=edit Vinni-Puh talk] • [gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Vinni-Puh contribs])
    • Embassy: [gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Embaixada Galician Embassy]
      • [gl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.narod.ru Linksearch] for *.narod.ru

Indonesian:

  • [id.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pengguna:Vinni-Puh&action=edit Vinni-Puh] ([id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pembicaraan_Pengguna:Vinni-Puh talk] • [id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istimewa:Contributions/Vinni-Puh contribs])
  • Anonymous - 82.235.56.142: ([id.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pengguna:82.235.56.142&action=edit talk] • [id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istimewa:Contributions/82.235.56.142 contribs])
    • Embassy: [id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Kedutaan Indonesian Embassy]
      • [id.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.narod.ru Linksearch] for *.narod.ru

Italian:

  • [it.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Utente:Vinni-Puh&action=edit Vinni-Puh] ([it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discussioni_utente:Vinni-Puh talk] • [it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speciale:Contributions/Vinni-Puh contribs])
    • Embassy: [it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Ambasciata Italian Embassy]
      • [it.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.narod.ru Linksearch] for *.narod.ru

Kurdish:

  • [ku.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bikarhêner:Vinni-Puh&action=edit Vinni-Puh] ([ku.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bikarhêner_nîqaş:Vinni-Puh&action=edit Vinni-Puh talk] • [ku.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taybet:Contributions/Vinni-Puh contribs])
    • Embassy: [ku.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wîkîpediya:Sefaret Kurdish Embassy]
      • [ku.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.narod.ru Linksearch] for *.narod.ru

Hungarian:

  • [hu.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Vinni-Puh&action=edit Vinni-Puh] ([hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_vita:Vinni-Puh talk] • [hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speciális:Contributions/Vinni-Puh contribs])
  • Anonymous - 82.235.56.142: ([hu.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_vita:82.235.56.142&action=edit talk] • [hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speciális:Contributions/82.235.56.142 contribs])
    • Embassy: [hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipédia:Nagykövetség Hungarian Embassy]
      • [hu.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.narod.ru Linksearch] for *.narod.ru

Dutch:

  • [nl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gebruiker:Vinni-Puh&action=edit Vinni-Puh] ([nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overleg_gebruiker:Vinni-Puh talk] • [nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speciaal:Contributions/Vinni-Puh contribs])
    • Embassy: [nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Ambassade Dutch Embassy]
      • [nl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.narod.ru Linksearch] for *.narod.ru

Norwegian:

  • [no.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bruker:Vinni-Puh&action=edit Vinni-Puh] ([no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brukerdiskusjon:Vinni-Puh talk] • [no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spesial:Contributions/Vinni-Puh contribs])
    • Embassy: [no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Ambassaden Norwegian Embassy]
      • [no.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.narod.ru Linksearch] for *.narod.ru

Polish:

  • [pl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedysta:Vinni-Puh&action=edit Vinni-Puh] ([pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyskusja_Wikipedysty:Vinni-Puh talk] • [pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specjalna:Contributions/Vinni-Puh contribs])
  • Anonymous - 82.225.8.83: ([pl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dyskusja_Wikipedysty:82.225.8.83&action=edit talk] • [pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specjalna:Contributions/82.225.8.83 contribs])
  • Anonymous - 82.235.56.142: ([pl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dyskusja_Wikipedysty:82.235.56.142&action=edit talk] • [pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specjalna:Contributions/82.235.56.142 contribs])
    • Embassy: [pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Ambasada_Polska Polish Embassy]
      • [en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.narod.ru Linksearch] for *.narod.ru

Portuguese:

  • [pt.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Usuário:Vinni-Puh&action=edit Vinni-Puh] ([pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usuário_Discussão:Vinni-Puh talk] • [pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Especial:Contributions/Vinni-Puh contribs])
  • Anonymous - 82.225.8.83: ([pt.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Usuário_Discussão:82.225.8.83&action=edit talk] • [pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Especial:Contributions/82.225.8.83 contribs])
  • Anonymous - 82.235.56.142: ([pt.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Usuário_Discussão:82.235.56.142&action=edit talk] • [pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Especial:Contributions/82.235.56.142 contribs])
    • Embassy: [pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Embaixada_da_Wikipedia Portuguese Embassy]
      • [pt.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.narod.ru Linksearch] for *.narod.ru

Romanian:

  • [ro.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Utilizator:Vinni-Puh&action=edit Vinni-Puh] ([ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discuţie_Utilizator:Vinni-Puh talk] • [ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Vinni-Puh contribs])
    • Embassy: [ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Ambasadă Romanian Embassy]
      • [ro.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.narod.ru Linksearch] for *.narod.ru

Russian:

  • [ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Участник:Vinni-Puh Vinni-Puh] ([ru.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Обсуждение_участника:Vinni-Puh&action=edit Vinni-Puh talk] • [ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Служебная:Contributions/Vinni-Puh contribs])
  • Anonymous - 82.225.8.83: ([ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Обсуждение_участника:82.225.8.83 talk] • [ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Служебная:Contributions/82.225.8.83 contribs])
  • Anonymous - 82.235.56.142: ([ru.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Обсуждение_участника:82.235.56.142&action=edit talk] • [ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Служебная:Contributions/82.235.56.142 contribs])
    • Embassy: [ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Википедия:Посольство Russian Embassy]
      • [ru.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.narod.ru Linksearch] for *.narod.ru

Simple English:

  • [simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Vinni-Puh&action=edit Vinni-Puh] ([simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Vinni-Puh&action=edit talk] • [simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Vinni-Puh contribs])
  • Anonymous - 82.235.56.142: ([simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:82.235.56.142&action=edit talk] • [simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/82.235.56.142 contribs])
    • Embassy: ??
      • [simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.narod.ru Linksearch] for *.narod.ru

Slovenian:

  • [sl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Uporabnik:Vinni-Puh&action=edit Vinni-Puh] ([sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uporabniški_pogovor:Vinni-Puh talk] • [sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posebno:Contributions/Vinni-Puh contribs])
    • Embassy: [sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedija:Veleposlaništvo Slovenian Embassy] I already left a note
      • [sl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.narod.ru Linksearch] for *.narod.ru

Swedish:

  • [sv.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Användare:Vinni-Puh&action=edit Vinni-Puh] ([sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Användardiskussion:Vinni-Puh talk] • [sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Vinni-Puh contribs])
    • Embassy: [sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Ambassaden Swedish Embassy] note left
      • [sv.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.narod.ru Linksearch] for *.narod.ru

Turkish:

  • [tr.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kullanıcı:Vinni-Puh&action=edit Vinni-Puh] ([tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kullanıcı_mesaj:Vinni-Puh talk] • [tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Özel:Contributions/Vinni-Puh contribs])
    • Embassy: [tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikipedi:Büyükelçilik Turkish Embassy] note left
      • [tr.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.narod.ru Linksearch] for *.narod.ru

Chinese:

  • [zh.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Vinni-Puh&action=edit Vinni-Puh] ([zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Vinni-Puh talk] • [zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Vinni-Puh contribs])
  • Anonymous - 82.235.56.142: ([zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:82.235.56.142 talk] • [zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/82.235.56.142 contribs])
    • Embassy: [zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:互助客栈/其他 Chinese Embassy] not sure if this is the Chinese Embassy or not
      • [zh.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.narod.ru Linksearch] for *.narod.ru

--A. B. (talk) 19:59, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

Isn't his behaviour on 23 Dec at [en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amin_Maalouf&action=history] a 3RR which gets an auto ban? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 82.152.166.153 (talk) 22:10, 27 December 2006 (UTC).
It looks like he only reverted twice. He has three edits, but the first was adding the spam, the next two were reverting it back in. Once more and he would have been in violation of 3RR. IrishGuy talk 22:19, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

Vinnie-Puh's domains

Here's what I've seen so far on this and other Wikipedias:

  • www.aminmaalouf.narod.ru
    • Current [en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.aminmaalouf.narod.ru list] of articles with this link
  • aminmaalouf.ifrance.com
    • Current [en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.aminmaalouf.ifrance.com list] of articles with this link
  • dahmaneelharrachi.narod.ru
    • Current [en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.dahmaneelharrachi.narod.ru list] of articles with this link
  • gadelmaleh.narod.ru
    • Current [en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.gadelmaleh.narod.ru list] of articles with this link
  • guyalepage.narod.ru
    • Current [en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.guyalepage.narod.ru list] of articles with this link
  • www.in-gridsite.narod.ru
    • Current [en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.in-gridsite.narod.ru list] of articles with this link
  • in-gridsite.ifrance.com
    • Current [en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.in-gridsite.ifrance.com list] of articles with this link
  • jeandujardin.narod.ru
    • Current [en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.jeandujardin.narod.ru list] of articles with this link
  • josegarcia.narod.ru/
    • Current [en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.josegarcia.narod.ru list] of articles with this link
  • jonathanlittell.narod.ru
    • Current [en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.jonathanlittell.narod.ru list] of articles with this link
  • naguibmahfouz.narod.ru
    • Current [en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.naguibmahfouz.narod.ru list] of articles with this link
  • o-zone-website.narod.ru
    • Current [en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.o-zone-website.narod.ru list] of articles with this link
  • sachabaroncohen.narod.ru
    • Current [en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=*.sachabaroncohen.narod.ru list] of articles with this link

--A. B. (talk) 06:29, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

Narod.ru is a big Russian hosting service similar to Yahoo. The entire domain was [meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Spam_blacklist&curid=13107&diff=501199&oldid=501190 blacklisted] at our request earlier this week then soon [meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Spam_blacklist&curid=13107&diff=501348&oldid=501199 unlisted] due to m:Talk:Spam blacklist#socarchive.narod.ru major complaints about collateral damage. I have requested that just the domains above be blacklisted. --A. B. (talk) 09:57, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

1911encyclopedia lovetoknow linkspam

We have more than 1000 links to 1911encyclopdia.org [en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Linksearch&target=%2A.1911encyclopedia.org&limit=500&offset=0] which is a scanned copy of the 1911 encyclopedia britannica for which that site claims copyright (probably invalidly but whatever). In cases where it's a real reference for an article we should use the {{1911}} template but a lot of those links are just spam, making this a bit hard to sort out even not counting the sheer scale. To really do it right we have to figure out whether each article actually contains EB text. 67.117.130.181 13:04, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

See more discussion [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Missing_encyclopedic_articles#1911encyclopedia.org_links here]. 67.117.130.181 23:07, 26 December 2006 (UTC)
As I see there is just a couple of these ext links now. Am I missing something or someone already did a cleanup? `'mikka 01:37, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
I still see 100s. I spot-checked some edit histories -- perhaps 5 or 6. All the links had been added by high-volume, high-value editors, not link-spammers. I agree, however, that these links need to be replaced, especially given the fact that 1911encyclopedia.org made major errors in OCR converting their scans. These links are sending people to very unreliable pages. --A. B. (talk) 04:18, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
This 1911 thing is very sad. Given www.gutenberg.org seems to have the whole text up as a single document why doesn't someone publish it public domain as one page per article without adverts somewhere? I don't reckon that's more than a weeks work. --BozMo talk 15:41, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

drugs-about.com

As I work through the copyvio material added by In4pharm (talk · contribs), the editor appears to be spamming drugs-about.com. There aren't all that many links to that site, but I'm bogged down documenting the copyvio problems, so it would be helpful if someone could check who else is adding the links. JonHarder talk 02:30, 25 December 2006 (UTC)

Person seems to be continuing to add articles and links. They are being more careful now, but purpose seems to be to promote drug companies and about-drugs.com. I left a note about conflict of interest editing (WP:COI). I think we're getting close to needing a block. 67.117.130.181 04:14, 26 December 2006 (UTC)
Person is now responding to talk messages, see his/her talk page, and mine. It's hard to tell what's going on, and the person's English skills apparently all that great. I guess I'll suggest that s/he join WP:DRUGS. 67.117.130.181 23:09, 26 December 2006 (UTC)
drugs-about.com is registered in Russia; perhaps the user is a Russian speaker. That could explain why the new articles have been copy and paste creations or expansions. I have found the source of about half of them. It certainly looks like the edits are about promoting drugs-about.com. JonHarder talk 23:46, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Popsnail.com

Over the last week or so, several users (and a couple of IP addresses) have been persistently trying to link this site into mostly computer-related articles. Check out special:linksearch/popsnail.com for any new links. Is it time for the site to be added to the spam blacklist now? Users who have added links to the site include Jennyjennie09io (talk · contribs), Katherine9976hy (talk · contribs), Janet4363j (talk · contribs), Lucine098ui (talk · contribs), Joyce23424tg (talk · contribs), GREAT0897 (talk · contribs), Xmaswei (talk · contribs) and NerdDFGE (talk · contribs). IP addresses linking to the site (based in Asia) are 212.138.64.178 (talk • contribs • deleted contribs • WHOIS • RDNS • trace • RBLs • http • block user • block log • Abuse Report) and 222.231.50.97 (talk • contribs • deleted contribs • WHOIS • RDNS • trace • RBLs • http • block user • block log • Abuse Report). Graham87 07:25, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Blocked the accounts as spam campaign socks. Femto 12:01, 26 December 2006 (UTC)
The user/s seem to make new accounts every few minutes; maybe the autoblocks might stop the spammer for a while though. Graham87 14:45, 26 December 2006 (UTC)
Oh, now that you mention it I didn't specifically enable the autoblock, I'm rather cautious with that option. If these guys are proxyhopping it wouldn't help anyway. What I did though is to confirm the two IPs as open proxies (*.178 is routing from *.148:80). Blocked with account creation enabled though, because I'm new to the whole proxy business and didn't dare blocking harder, if another admin wants to review, be my guest. Need to keep watching for new links in any case. Femto 16:38, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Prepare for more spam...

As Jimbo has just started promoted his "Wikiasari" project, outbound links from WikiPedia pages might be considered worth even more than before... I'd say: prepare for a bunch of spam the coming months... --Jdevalk 10:42, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

What's "Wikiasari"? --A. B. (talk) 16:28, 26 December 2006 (UTC)
[upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20061223-085944-3351r Wikipedia founder to launch search engine] --Hu12 16:37, 26 December 2006 (UTC)
And "they" say it will show results from Wikipedia and pages WP links to, thus increasing the need for people to have links from Wikipedia, and perhaps changing the linking rules for Wikipedia altogether... --Jdevalk 20:40, 26 December 2006 (UTC)
Oh crimoney. What is Jimbo thinking? Now we are MORE attractive to linkspam. (sigh) ---J.S (T/C) 22:14, 26 December 2006 (UTC)
Agreed, he isn't really helping... --Jdevalk 10:56, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Real estate bubble

This article can attract some spam but is generally well-watched. The "See Also" section links to articles for bubbles in different countries, some of which are poorly monitored and frequently spammed. --A. B. (talk) 16:31, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Need another user to tell this person to stop spamming

User:Lesb246 is spamming every Eastern Oregon-related and many unrelated pages with the link to the Eastern Oregon State University distance education program. Well-intentioned but annoying... Katr67 00:05, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

In need of an admin rollback, perhaps ban. As far as I can tell, he is Director of Student Relations and Marketing for the Division of Distance Education at Eastern Oregon University. And he wants everyone to come see the school's site. Groan. JoeSmack Talk 00:11, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
User [en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk%3ALesb246&diff=96639526&oldid=96637642 has been blocked] for link spamming (and I [en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Les_Balsiger&diff=prev&oldid=96640650 have prodded] his self-submitted bio article prod tag was removed; sent to AfD). For later follow-up, here's the [en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=www.eou.edu%2Fdde URL linksearch] to check for this again. -- Satori Son 00:37, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
(Les Balsiger speedied per A7 & overwhelming Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Les Balsiger.) Femto 13:59, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
What a foolish mistake. I've seen this multiple times now. Editor spams multiple articles with links and submits one or more vanity articles about self and some organization (or recently, even their boyfriend's horse). Other editors object citing guidelines, but the vanity editor persists, earning more warnings and engendering closer scrutiny by more editors. Then they make their really big mistake -- they remove the CSD or PROD tag, leading to an AfD. The AfD turns to an embarrassing discussion of the person's notability and usually reveals the submitting author's poor behavior. Within a week or two, the articles and links are all gone, but the AfD debate remains indefinitely. Because Google gives Wikipedia articles very high weight in calculating page rank, any search on the person's name turns up the embarrassing AfD discussion in the top two or three search results. --A. B. (talk) 03:57, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
For the record, such blatantly embarassing AfDs can be dealt with via {{Afd-privacy}} if you feel it would help. 68.39.174.238 02:33, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Just a heads up--there is an anon User:12.180.9.131 editing in a similar pattern to the blocked user. Katr67 16:25, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

Also now using 71.111.124.72 (talk • contribs • page moves • block user • block log) as well. --A. B. (talk) 05:23, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
Has anyone yet requested a checkuser for the two IP's? -- Satori Son 05:01, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Spam blacklist

Please write a separately visible section in Wikipedia:Spam that describes the wikimedia's spam blacklist (m:spam blacklist). Right now various bits and pieces are in several places: Wikipedia:External links, Wikipedia:Spam some useful can be found in m:talk:spam blacklist. `'mikka 01:05, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

I'm not someone who could write such things, but here's my moral support for this request. Certain aspects of meta: are rather obscure and need to be better documented. Femto 12:10, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

answers.google.com

[en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Linksearch&target=%2A.answers.google.com&limit=500&offset=0 answers.google.com] Quite a few of these, asside from the google article, these are inapropriate as EL's.. Agreed?--Hu12 17:35, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

I don't see how ansers.google.com would be appropriate in almost any case. It's basically a question and some random person's reply. If the reply is relevant, we would be better off making sure the information is included in the article and citing reliable sources. ---J.S (T/C) 20:39, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
Most of those aren't in article space and I'd rather stay out of editorial judgements about whether particular answers are encyclopedic. It's not as if google was trying to spam us. 67.117.130.181 08:27, 28 December 2006 (UTC)
The article space links will surely need to be cleaned up. thanks for the replies. --Hu12 16:35, 28 December 2006 (UTC)
Per JS, try to be a bit careful in doing the cleanup (i.e. merge encyclopedic content into the articles, don't go against editorial consensus for any particular article, drop a note on the article talk page in complex cases). 67.117.130.181 06:32, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
I think most of google answers links actually provide valuable info. It's probably inappropriate for external links, but I'm fairly confident it's not spam in the traditional sense... so it's sorta outside of the scope of this project. ---J.S (T/C) 06:37, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
agreed, not in traditional sense..google doesn't need to spam--Hu12 07:27, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Change management

this article is attracting agents and representatives of change-management-toolbook.com and change-management.com, obvious Wikipedia:External_links#Advertising_and_conflicts_of_interest. hnauheimer (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · block user · block log) who's user page states I am mainly interested in Change Management and run one of the most frequented webpages on the subject (The Change Management Toolbook change-management-toolbook.com). Proceded to go on a link removal fit (the old strawman, If i can't have a link no one can) after citing the policy. 67.161.154.237 (talk • contribs • deleted contribs • WHOIS • RDNS • trace • RBLs • http • block user • block log • Abuse Report) aka Prosci (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · block user · block log) who stated on the talk page As the founder of the Change Management Learning Center is repedidly trying to insert his site change-management.com. I think a second or third voice on the matter may be needed. Also if others want to add this article to their watch list, as activity recently has increased.--Hu12 16:31, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

I added some comments and deleted some links. More work is needed
Aside from spam, there's a section about quantum physics vs. Newtonian physics and how that relates to paradigm shifts, etc., etc. I noted that in fact quantum physics had little to do with change management in organizations since organizations are usually larger than atoms. I suggested that they really wanted to remove that before some real physicist such as saw it. --A. B. (talk) 05:29, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
I've cleaned up all the links except for one to tutor2u.net (see below). --A. B. (talk) 09:46, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Anti-money laundering

Whoa, take a look at Anti-money laundering's EL section --Hu12 18:19, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

Same with Money laundering --Hu12 18:24, 28 December 2006 (UTC)
I went ahead and cleared out Anti-money laundering's EL section. Seems other editors had noted this problem as well. Article was accumulating commercial sites, personal websites, those requiring registration, and EL section was 3 times bigger than article. Since removing all the links was a little aggressive, I'll let the dust settle there and take on Money laundering next because it contains most of the same sites. Calltech 10:44, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
We've definitely reached the Spam Event Horizon for these two. And while removing the entire EL section is drastic, I can't say I disagree in such an extreme case. -- Satori Son 06:24, 31 December 2006 (UTC)
So Microfinance would also be considered a Spam Event Horizon? --Hu12 08:52, 31 December 2006 (UTC)
I did and took the appropriate (I hope) action. 68.39.174.238 03:41, 2 January 2007 (UTC)
saw that, looks good. had to do a spot cleanup on Climate change, probably need a second edit somewhere--Hu12 06:26, 2 January 2007 (UTC)
My head spun on this Lightweight Directory Access Protocol --Hu12 10:17, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Template:Cleanup-spam update

After seeing the warning message on