Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 10:51, 1 March 2012

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ANI thread regarding User:VodkaChronic

Since you declined speedy deletion nomination for this page I thought you should be informed of this . ~Crazytales (talk) 22:53, 5 February 2012 (UTC

deletion of http://en.wikipedia.org/Euro_Payment_Group

Dear Mr. Watson,

I have been informed that you had deleted my posting in regards to Euro Payment Group(link: http://en.wikipedia.org/Euro_Payment_Group). Could you please be so kind and render me further background information about the cause of this action. Euro Payment Group is one of the largest Gateway Providers in the payment industry and millions of payment credit card transactions are running through their gateway each month. I was about to render further financial background information about the company but needed to ask the company for permission. With your consent I would provide you with further background information that would stress the signifficance of this listing.

Thank you for your time and consideration!

Kind Regards,

Benny — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bennyb69 (talk • contribs) 13:13, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

The article was nominated for speedy deletion by Jeraphine Gryphon, on the two grounds that it did not indicate how the company was significant enough to be the subject of an encyclopaedia article, and that the article was unambiguously promotional. The article did look as though it might have been written as promotion, but I did not think it was unambiguous advertising, so I would not have deleted it for that reason. However, the other reason given certainly did apply: the article told us that the company is a provider of "payment services", and listed those services, but told us little else. I also looked online for information about the company. All of what I found had one or more of the following characteristics: (1) not independent sources, being on the company's own web site or the website of some associated organisation or promotional in nature; (2) not reliable sources, being in a wiki or some other sort of site that accepts content submitted by the public (e.g. www.complaintsboard.com); (3) a mere listing in a directory or some other minimal mention. JamesBWatson (talk) 23:18, 21 February 2012 (UTC)

User:Sotdh

A look at the contribs brings up two concerns. An inability to edit properly when they are trying, and a willingness to blank pages when they don't get their way. I don't agree with (CK)Lakeshade ] that the msg left on his page was vandalism (although he had already had to fix Sotdh's messes before and was likely just fed up), it was just a question, but this editor has blanked the page twice (and others) and is being disruptive with other edits, reversions. I'm getting the impression that he is a bit too compulsive for his own good. Maybe someone shaking his tree a little will help. As it is now, he is dangerously close to getting blocked, imo. Dennis Brown (talk) 21:18, 18 February 2012 (UTC)

I agree, looking at his edit history, he lacks the competence required to edit Misplaced Pages. --Bmusician 03:16, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

I agree with both of you. I have given the user some advice on editing, and tried to be encouraging, as it looks as though we are dealing with an editor who came here with good intentions. There are definite competence issues, but it is possible that the editor can edit constructively if he/she avoids those areas where the problems lie. It does look, unfortunately, as though a block may be on its way soon, but I think we are still in the stage where encouragement and advice are worth trying. I do think that a gentle warning that a block is a possibility is in order, and I have given such a warning. However, (CK)Lakeshade's level four vandalism warning was totally inappropriate, and unhelpful. JamesBWatson (talk) 08:49, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

• You have talkback on my page regarding my warning. In future, if my name is brought up in conversation please message me on my talk page if you intend to discuss anything related to my edits. Please and thank you :) - (CK)Lakeshade - talk2me - 09:28, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

To further add to this discussion for anyone viewing here, the linked edit above regarding me is incorrect. The editor got a vandalism warning for this edit: link because he was pissed of that I asked him to stop adding unsourced, incorrect, and test edited contributions to Kesha. His warning had nothing to do with asking me for help over 2 weeks later. If you had checked the time stamps you would have discovered that his warning was on February 2nd. His actual legitimate question was on February 18th. - (CK)Lakeshade - talk2me - 10:16, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

That is my fault CK. The only reason I didn't leave a note on your talk page is because I wasn't complaining about your leaving the message, just making an observation, sorry if it looked stronger than it was. My concern is and was trying to rehabilitate a potentially well meaning, but incapable editor, not to pass judgement on your tag. Regardless, I read the history improperly. Dennis Brown (talk) 00:12, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

• Unfortunately, we may be getting nearer to a block. See this comment. JamesBWatson (talk) 10:50, 1 March 2012 (UTC)

Speedy deletion of redirects

I thought that some cleanup was needed but now I see that it doesn't matter, thanks for clarifying! --Zoupan (talk) 08:43, 21 February 2012 (UTC)

User talk:Robb76

We have an unblock request from this editor, who claims not to be a sockpuppet. You blocked them directly following an autoblock in November. Could you have a look and confirm, if only to put this one to bed? I'm all for AGF, if warranted, but defer to you on this one. Thanks! UltraExactZZ ~ Did 16:27, 21 February 2012 (UTC)

File:Richard-Alatorre-Los-Angeles-City-Council-1986.jpg

I'm sorry, but do you think you might explain this deletion? Thank you. GeorgeLouis (talk) 17:08, 21 February 2012 (UTC)

Yes. The file is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License, which is incompatible with the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License used by Misplaced Pages. The most important difference is that licensing terms of the file forbid use "in any manner that is primarily intended for or directed toward commercial advantage or private monetary compensation", whereas Misplaced Pages's licensing terms permit such use. This means that, if the file is included in a Misplaced Pages page, we are giving permission to others to use the file in ways that the copyright owner has explicitly stated is unacceptable. JamesBWatson (talk) 23:01, 21 February 2012 (UTC)

Unblocking my user name: Infuzein

Dear James:

First, thank you, very much, for unblocking my account. I sincerely appreciate your assistance and attention to that matter.

I will spend some additional time looking at all the rules and regulations, and if I have any questions, I hope I may be able to follow up with you?

Best regards, Infuzein (talk) 15:27, 22 February 2012 (UTC)

Spamming

Dear James, I've updated two entries recently and been contentiously flagged as spammer. The first entry was under “Proxy Server” – I’ve added an external link to GeoEdge.com – which is today the largest proxy server provider in the world. A 100% legit provider, serving companies like, Google, Groove shark and MySpace Under the same definition there is a list of many other proxy server providers: Nginx, Wingate, Microsoft , TriangleBoy etc. Why is it different? I’m a big fan of the Misplaced Pages (and even contribute some money last year) and understand how spamming can harm the quality of Misplaced Pages, but I find it hard to accept that there are different standards and polices in place for diff companies. Thanks in advance, Hans Goldberg, www.geoedge.com — Preceding unsigned comment added by 200.114.88.236 (talk • contribs) 15:58, 22 February 2012

(talk page stalker)You'll need to read over WP:LINK and definitely WP:COI since you're the owner of the site. Calabe1992 16:05, 22 February 2012 (UTC)

• I don't think that the list of individual proxy servers was appropriate. That is not what a "see also" section of an article is meant for, especially with the comments that accompanied many of the entries. However, even if the list were considered appropriate, a user who does nothing but add links relating to one commercial product is likely to be seen as using Misplaced Pages to promote or publicise that product, which is contrary to Misplaced Pages's policy.
• Two other points:

1. If you are blocked, that means that you may not edit Misplaced Pages. It does not mean that you are allowed to edit Misplaced Pages provided that you evade the block by switching to a different IP address. Any IP address you use in this way is likely to be blocked too, and the original block could be extended.
2. It seems that you are editing via an anonymizing proxy, which conceals your location and would have concealed the fact that you were the same person as the one previously blocked, has you not effectively said so. Unless there are good reasons why you should do so, use of proxies in this way to edit Misplaced Pages is unacceptable. JamesBWatson (talk) 17:17, 22 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for you defiled and quick response. Let me start with your last comment re proxies – as a proxy provider I do have access to many proxies – but I have never used them (and will not use them in the future) for editing Misplaced Pages pages. I’ve tried several times to add reference to GeoEdge under “Proxy Server” and always used my legit IP address. Regarding your comment: “a user who does nothing but add links relating to one commercial product is likely to be seen as using Misplaced Pages to promote or publicise that product, which is contrary to Misplaced Pages's policy.” – Agreed, so what would be an appropriate why to mention our company, and under which section ? – taking into consideration that we are the leader in this space.

As a side note GeoEdge Proxy Service is a premium service and is not used for as anonymizing proxy – all our IP are published and only used my business to view ads in different geolocations – you are welcome to visit our website to learn more about our service. Best Regards, Hans — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.172.161.235 (talk) 11:04, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

The reason I thought you were editing via a proxy was the fact that within a short time you have been travelling back and forth between Israel and Chile, and also that edits which look as though they may have been made by you come from France. I also seem to remember seeing an edit that looked as though it might have been you from the USA, but I can't remember where it was, and am not inclined to spend time searching for it now.

If GeoEdge is as significant as you suggest then I am surprised that some independent, uninvolved person has not yet written an article about it for Misplaced Pages, and my searches have also turned up less in the way of evidence of notability than I would have expected. I have found abundant material on promotional and advertising sites, unreliable sources such as blogs, FaceBook, etc, but little if anything from reliable independent sources. I can, in fact, find very little evidence that the business satisfies Misplaced Pages's notability guidelines. (It is also necessary to filter out references to "GeoEdge" that seem to have nothing to do with your business, such as this one.) You are probably not the best person to edit about your business, as you have a conflict of interest, but if you are thinking of doing so then I suggest looking at Misplaced Pages:FAQ/Organizations. JamesBWatson (talk) 11:30, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

James, we are not as known as Microsoft :) but with all due respect you are simply wrong. We are the leader in this space, here some recent publications & blog post – none of them is a paid one. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/billrobinson/hightech-startup-focus-ge_b_1276772.html http://stage.adsafemedia.com/about-adsafe/blog/ad-tech-top-10 http://www.hasoffers.com/blog/testing-geo-targeted-affiliate-offers/ http://makettinginternetblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-do-advertisers-geoedge-spy.html Our leadership position is both in technological level and market reach level - What else can I do to prove you that?! This is frustrating – there are many companies that are much smaller than us and less notable that are mentioned in Misplaced Pages. I know your intention are good, but please be open minded... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.172.161.235 (talk) 15:50, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

You say that I am "simply wrong", but you don't say what I am wrong about. However, reading your message I get the impression that you think I was wrong to suggest that your business is not notable. If that is so, then I did not take enough effort to express clearly what I was intending to say. I was very careful to say exactly what I meant and no more, but perhaps I should also have explicitly mentioned some of the things I was not saying. I did not say that your business was not notable: I said that I had tried and failed to find evidence of notability, which is by no means the same thing. However, I have been alive long enough to know that many people will read the one as implying the other, so I should probably have pointed out the difference. My guess is that you are sincere when you say that your company is "the largest proxy server provider in the world", and my guess was that the largest proxy server provider in the world would have plenty of coverage in reliable sources. I therefore set out to search for such coverage, in the expectation of easily finding it. I was surprised that I did not easily find any. If my conclusion had been "this company is not notable" then I would have said so. Instead, I told you that I could find no evidence of notability, but left the question open, and gave you a link to Misplaced Pages:FAQ/Organizations, so that you could see for yourself what sort of evidence was required, if you could provide any. That page gives numerous links to other pages that may be of help to you. Perhaps the most relevant ones are the general notability guideline, the guideline to notability of organizations and companies, and the guideline on reliable sources.

As I have said, I expected to find evidence of notability, and I was surprised that I didn't. I don't know why that is. It is possible that the company is not as significant as you suggest, but I did not assume that. It is possible that there is evidence, but for some reason the usual ways of searching for it did not readily find it. It is possible that the proxy server business as a whole does not have the sort of notability that Misplaced Pages's guidelines require, including "the largest proxy server provider in the world". I don't know. However, it is important to realise that the fundamental factor involved in Misplaced Pages's concept of notability is substantial coverage in multiple independent sources: it is not the size of the business, or anyone's assessment of the "importance" of it (however that may be measured). Also, what matters is the degree of notability, not the degree of notability relevant to others in the field. I have looked at the three links you have given me above, and considered for each one whether it shows notability in Misplaced Pages's sense. One of the first things I noticed was that all three of them have "blog" in their URL. Generally speaking, blogs are not reliable sources, as anyone can set up a blog and write anything they like on it. It is not always that straightforward, as some perfectly reliable journalists write online columns which they choose to call "blogs", but usually blogs are not reliable sources. Certainly blogspot (which hosts one of the pages you linked to) is not a reliable source. Then, looking at the content of the pages you linked to, the first page I see is full of language that looks entirely like marketing-speak. I look further, and find that the website says of itself "AdSafe Media, the industry leader in online brand protection and campaign performance control", "the online advertising ecosystem with the goal of growing the size and strategic importance of the entire industry", and so on and so on. All of it seems to be telling me that the site exists to further the aims of the businesses it covers. The very language in which it describes itself and its services says the same: the kind of relentless peacockery that nobody but a professional advertising or marketing person could write. In fact, the only one of your links which looks as though it may be a suitable source is http://www.hasoffers.com/blog/testing-geo-targeted-affiliate-offers/. That one source is not enough, but it may be a step towards enough, if it is a genuinely independent source. JamesBWatson (talk) 20:43, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

Just to make sure we are on the same page : “The first page I see is full of language that looks entirely like marketing-speak.” - The first link in an article that was written by the Huffington post – one of the largest and most distinguish online internet newspapers with more than 35m readers a month (owned by AOL) – the journalist did a research about us and this is what he wrote. Do you question the authenticity of the journalist and/or Huffington post? The second link goal was to show that GeoEgde technology was chosen as one of the top 10 announcement at the AD Tech show NYC (which is the largest trade show in the online adverting industry) – here is another link that that repeat this – (this is NOT our PR): http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/ad-tech-new-york-showcases-its-top-ten-exhibitor-news-announcements-1584748.htm Here is another link from a Q&A section (not sure if this meets the Misplaced Pages policy) http://www.seomoz.org/q/international-keyword-ranking-2 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.172.161.235 (talk) 09:32, 26 February 2012 (UTC)

I see that above I wrote "One of the first things I noticed was that all three of them have 'blog' in their URL", but in fact there are four links, the first of which does not have "blog" in its URL. Evidently, seeing a string of blue URLs one after another over several lines of text confused me and I missed one. The Huffington post article is probably the best of the sources you have mentioned, but I have only glanced through it briefly. As for the latest two links you give, one is a press release and the other is a post to a forum. I have now spent a considerable time looking at sources and a significant time writing accounts of my impressions. I hope that the effort has been helpful to you. JamesBWatson (talk) 09:49, 26 February 2012 (UTC)

deletion of my biographical article of Dr. Joseph Berger - page called Joseph Berger (Neurologist)

Dear Sir,

I wrote a biographical article with tons of real sources from Medical Journals. - the page was called Joseph Berger (Neurologist) My name is Josh Hood and I'm writing about a doctor who does brain research that I read about a few times in medical journals. I compiled all this information at my local medical library. I'm a student. Josh Hood — Preceding unsigned comment added by Josherb213 (talk • contribs) 13:35, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

The vast majority of the content of the article was a direct copy of another document, almost certainly infringing copyright. What was left was unambiguously promotional in tone. It also went into quite unnecessary detail about his career history: the kind of stuff that people might put in their CV/resume, but not the sort of stuff that's suitable for an encyclopaedia article. Can you actually imagine anyone sitting down and reading all that? JamesBWatson (talk) 13:42, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

Ok. I am going to resubmit without all the CV stuff I found. I just thought it was interesting because it had detailed reports of all of this guy's contributions to medical journals which other doctors might want to look up or read there I thought? I'll resubmit now without it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Josherb213 (talk • contribs) 13:47, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

Thank you for spending the time, reviewing these links and consideration! Believe me I don’t want to keep wasting your (or my) time anymore…so my question is simple, can we now re add the link to GeoEdge under “Proxy Server”? I believe that we have passed the test of general notability. BTW - the PR link is an announcement by the trade show that they choose us - Not a PR that GeoEdge published... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.172.161.235 (talk) 14:09, 26 February 2012 (UTC)

Message to JamesBWatson

Observation

An old friend, I am guessing. See contribs. You guys handing out free admin with a new account now? ;) Dennis Brown (talk) 00:09, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

• A different IP Same user (sorry, been a looong day) User:122.109.245.111 certainly is. Editing as an ip while blocked. Editing the talk on Tinga Tinga Tales before asking for an unblock. Dennis Brown (talk) 01:24, 24 February 2012 (UTC)
• Misplaced Pages:Sockpuppet_investigations/Mr._Curious_Man Already reported. Pretty much cut and dry. Have to start wondering about competency at this stage, I mean, how can you be more obvious? Dennis Brown (talk) 01:34, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

I have often thought that the person in question must be somewhat clueless. I will resist the temptation to say more, for beans reasons. JamesBWatson (talk) 09:35, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

Fashion Fringe

I had noticed the article Fashion Fringe and intended to add some references. However another editor deleted most of the article in a series of edits, leaving it in the state where you saw it and speedy deleted it. It was unsourced but there are many many available sources. Just a quick Google turns up Women's Wear Daily, Hollywood Reporter, Vogue, etc.

Could you either userify it or would you be ok with me making an incubator request? Cloveapple (talk) 12:47, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

Somehow the deletion reason failed to be recorded in the deletion log, but the reason was that only one person had made any substantial contribution to the article, and that person had requested deletion. I can userfy it if you like, but I would be a little unhappy about restoring the user's contribution after they had requested deletion, and anyway I'm not sure there would be much point, as the article as written was so promotional that it would have qualified for speedy deletion anyway, and it contained no indication of notability, and very little substantive content apart from a completely unnecessary and unencyclopaedic list of everybody connected to the organisation. I suggest that you just go ahead and write a new article on the subject, if it satisfies Misplaced Pages's notability guidelines. JamesBWatson (talk) 09:32, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

Ahh, I didn't realize that. If they requested deletion of their version of course I'll respect that. Thanks for the explanation as the chain of events had puzzled me. Cloveapple (talk) 19:06, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

It Must be Nice

I know you have plenty to do, but there has been some disagreement with an article creator on this one. I've tried to be as reasonable on the talk page as I can, but well, can you take at look at this article? If I've done something wrong, please let me know. It is just hard to deal with people who forcefully take ownership of an article like it was their firstborn child. I still think some of the refs don't belong, but have held off until a more experienced person takes a look. Dennis Brown (talk) 11:16, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

(talk page stalker) Sorry to jump in but I agree with you about the 'firstborn child thing'. Almost every newcomer is like that. Even i was like that in the begaining :P Yasht101 04:47, 26 February 2012 (UTC)

The article creator has been here since 2/09, so I wouldn't really call them new. Dennis Brown (talk) 12:04, 26 February 2012 (UTC)

I just ended up sending it to AFD. Using first editions of unpublished magazines and blogs for references, linking to imdb for unrelated individuals, etc. Some of the worth references I've seen, obviously trying to just pad the article to make it look ref'ed when it wasn't, removing tags, etc. I'm tired of trying to help someone who edits disruptively and gets personal, and hateful, on the talk page. Dennis Brown (talk) 12:50, 26 February 2012 (UTC)

I m sorry, I didnt knew it Yasht101 17:20, 26 February 2012 (UTC)

• The author still seems to have communication problems that I don't think a simple explanation can fix. I've tried, but some people just can't work as a "team", no matter how good their intentions are, and I'm starting to think this is one of them. Sometimes, yes, as long as everyone agrees with them. Not sure what else to tell them. Dennis Brown (talk) 02:14, 29 February 2012 (UTC)

Hi. I think I should chime in here because Dennis Brown is making accusations here that are not substantiated by the article in question. He falsely claimed that the article is "using first editions of unpublished magazines". The magazine source quoted was in print AND online. He claimed here that "references I've seen, (are) obviously tring to just pad the article to make it looked ref'ed when it wasn't". That is not true. There was no padding and there were four or five references. Also he claims that the references were from "blogs" and linking to "imdb" for "unrelated individuals." That is completely untrue and the biggest falsehood here. There were no "blogs" cited! There were media outlets that had been commissioned by the International Press Academy to do press at the Golden Satellite Awards! The Press Academy IS THE PRESS. And imdb was referenced only in regard to the filmmakers and cast involved, not some "unrelated person." It's one thing for someone to be unreasonable, as Dennis Brown has been, but it's quite another thing to completely gin up false accusations on other people's talk pages which do not reflect the reality of the situation. I don't know what your relationship is to Dennis Brown, or if perhaps you might be one of his accounts. I'm going to assume in good faith that it isn't. But please know that all of the above accusations are completely false and misleading. As for his statement that we can't work "as a team", he has made zero attempt at true consensus. It's "his way or the highway." Consensus means that BOTH sides have input, not just one side. Consensus is not a small plurality of "two people" ganging up against one. Consensus means finding "general agreement" and harmony and not soliciting others to gang up against one. Thanks for your time. - Catpowerzzz (talk) 02:49, 29 February 2012 (UTC)

An interesting, and in some ways amusing, case. When Dennis Brown posted the message that started this section, I didn't have a lot of time, and I thought that it might need a significant input of time to deal with properly, as I would need to do quite a bit of reading up of the history. For that reason, I left it, meaning to come back in a day or two when I would have more time. In fact, before that happened, the article was at AfD, with a clear consensus, so I thought there was nothing more to be done, and I dropped my intention of looking into it. However, the post above from Catpowerzzz has prompted me to look at it after all. I have posted a comment at Misplaced Pages:Articles for deletion/It Must be Nice to try to help Catpowerzzz understand a little better how things work. I hope my comment there is helpful. I have not, however, made a "keep" or "delete" recommendation, because I have not looked into the matter in enough depth to enable me to do so properly, and do not at present wish to spend the time doing so. (I have no intention of becoming one of the people who have a quick look at an AfD, RfA, or other discussion, and make a comment based purely on what other people have said in the discussion, without carefully checking for themselves.) There are many aspects of this case that I could comment on, but the most striking aspect of it is the battleground mentality shown by Catpowerzzz. I see assumptions of bad faith and conspiracy theory again and again. (For example, on at least three pages there are accusations that people are "ganging up".) I even see the inevitable accusation of "fascism". Nowhere do I see any indication that Catpowerzzz has even considered the possibility that other people may simply honestly and sincerely disagree with him/her.

I am more than a little amused to read "I don't know what your relationship is to Dennis Brown, or if perhaps you might be one of his accounts. I'm going to assume in good faith that it isn't." A strange idea of how to assume good faith. If I were assuming good faith I would not raise the possibility that the person who I was addressing was acting in bad faith. Why would I even consider doing so, since I was assuming that the person was acting in good faith? What Catpowerzzz has said does not assume good faith: it unambiguously suggests a suspicion that there is bad faith, while admitting that he/she doesn't actually know that such suspicion is justified. I am intrigued by Catpowerzzz's raising of the possibility that I may be a sockpuppet of Dennis Brown. When he/she raised that question, Dennis Brown's request to me to look into the matter had lain unanswered on this page for four days. It is far from clear to me why that might suggest sockpuppetry. Am I missing something, or would it make more sense, had my account been a sockpuppet, for Dennis Brown to have used the sockpuppet account to respond to his own request, and act in support of his other account? JamesBWatson (talk) 11:25, 29 February 2012 (UTC)

• Obviously, I'm the sockpuppet and you are the puppetmaster, as I started here 5 weeks after you and you're the one with the mop, not me. It was just a matter of time before people started talking. After all, you never see the two of us together at the same time, kind of like Clark Kent and Superman. Dennis Brown (talk) 13:58, 29 February 2012 (UTC)

• Yes, and the fact that in the course of your 16,071 edits and my 71,865 edits to date, we have only a few dozen articles that we have both edited, and those mostly at completely different times (sometimes years apart) and in unrelated ways, was a cunning ploy to throw people off the scent. One of our my especially cunning pieces of deception was when you I, using the Dennis Brown account, made this edit, waited for over a year, and then, using the JamesBWatson account, made this edit, removing the content you I had added using your account. All that, plus so many more edits that look like two different people with sometimes quite different opinions, just so that we I could wait for five and a half years after creating the accounts, and then cunningly ask myself to look into a problem, and ignore that request for several days. JamesBWatson (talk) 14:17, 29 February 2012 (UTC)

• • On a less fun note, all the recent comments (before and after the above exchange) and violations of AGF are bordering on (if not clearly crossing) the line worthy of a "time out", in my own humble opinion. Obviously this isn't something you can do, being involved, but your opinion in the matter would be a appreciated. Dennis Brown (talk) 00:27, 1 March 2012 (UTC)

If the same kind of problem persists, then I think we should consider carefully whether the competence issues are serious enough to require action. However, at present, I see don't think the degree of disruption has been enough to justify any action, and I think we should just wait and see if the problem fades away once the AfD is over. As for my being involved, I have only given advice to the user, and commented on the problems. I don't think that gives me the kind of conflict of interest that leads an involved admin to be excluded from acting. It is also perhaps worth pointing out that the only reason I have even that degree of involvement is because the user himself/herself posted to this talk page, in effect inviting me to step in. Even so, perhaps it would be better for me to stand aside, as the user evidently doubts my neutrality, and justice must be not only done but also seen to be done. If the problems get worse I will be willing consult another, unambiguously uninvolved, administrator. JamesBWatson (talk) 09:48, 1 March 2012 (UTC)

Since writing the above I have looked at your talk page, and I see there is a suggestion that the competence issues go back before this particular case. If that is so, there may be a case for taking action now. Can you point me to any examples, to save me spending for ever searching? JamesBWatson (talk) 09:54, 1 March 2012 (UTC)

I think that Catpowerzzz very well be Chris Innis. Possible COI stuff going on? I am just putting this out there - ignore me if it's too far out there. Doc talk 10:18, 1 March 2012 (UTC)

Do you have any evidence for that? I have had a quick look at a sample of the user's contributions, and only a few of the ones I saw were related to Innis, but you may have seen things I have missed. JamesBWatson (talk) 10:31, 1 March 2012 (UTC)

Well, the fixation on Grindhouse Releasing projects caught my eye (first 100 edits are interesting), and there certainly could seem to be a promotional lean to the overall edits towards this end. Innis' spouse's article is eerily similar to hers, BTW. Per WP:BEANS, I think perhaps Catpowerzzz might want to confirm or deny any professional association with Chris Innis, and then I can go from there. I am not well-versed in what COI does and does not allow an editor to do concerning their own work, but my "Spidey-sense" tells me that this is one of these two people, or someone in their employ. Doc talk 10:47, 1 March 2012 (UTC)

Fireman Sam

I saw you fully protected Fireman Sam but looking through the article history it seems that the vandalism was primarily from IPs. Did you not mean to semi-protect it? Tra (Talk) 14:11, 26 February 2012 (UTC)

Yes I did. Thanks for calling my attention to the mistake. I'm surprised it's been left this long without anyone picking it up. JamesBWatson (talk) 17:14, 26 February 2012 (UTC)

Illyukhina and Petrukhina

Hello James,

I am sorry if what I am doing now is not the right procedure (in particular, please tell me if you think I should leave them a note about this discussion).

There are two users, User:Illyukhina and User:Petrukhina, who are mainly edit-warring with each other, using their logins and also several IP-addresses (e.g. 116.39.110.175) I think you were the last admin that blocked them, but it did not help too much. Do you have suggestions on how to proceed?

Best regards, Sasha (talk) 05:42, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for pointing this out. I have blocked both accounts, and the IP address you give. You say "several IP-addresses", but 116.39.110.175 is the only one that was obvious to me. Can you tell me what others you think are involved? I could search around for evidence of use of other IP addresses, but I have already spent quite a long time investigating this case, and since you have evidently (from what you say) already found others, perhaps you could save me that time and trouble. You asked me to tell you whether you should leave them a note about this discussion. Usually, it is a matter of courtesy to tell a user of discussions about them, but in this case both users have had plenty of warnings, including being told that continuation could leave to indefinite blocks. They both know well enough that what they are doing is not acceptable, and under the circumstances I don't think any more warning was necessary, though you could have told them if you had chosen to. JamesBWatson (talk) 09:54, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

thanks! 173.48.248.192 is one more such IP. I think I saw a few more, I will have a look in the evening. Sasha (talk) 14:41, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

I see what you mean about that IP address, but the evidence is insufficient to draw any conclusions. If several IPs from the same IP range or from the same geographical area made similar edits then I would regard it as suspicious, but this one could easily be an innocent bystander who happened to come along and see problems with a particular user's edits. JamesBWatson (talk) 19:23, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

211.253.60.34 is obvious too, now that I've looked at it. JamesBWatson (talk) 19:43, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

thank you very much! If I find some more, I will leave you a note. Sasha (talk) 23:47, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

Not sure I can fix this myself

Hi JamesBWatson,

I wonder if you'd mind taking a look at Alkris mike's recent edits. He's redirected his userpage and talkpage to a newly created userpage and talkpage for non-existent User:Mike Angelo Obiña. I've pointed him at WP:Changing username, but I'm not sure I can fix the bad redirects without making more of a mess - care to step in? Cheers, Yunshui 雲‍水 08:11, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! Yunshui 雲‍水 10:14, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

sock investigation

Some time back you were involved with warning a user who blanked my talk page based on some deletion actions I was involved in. I have noticed one of the related pages has been recreated, and renominated for deletion (by others). I suspect new creator may be a sock, based on the only other edited page is the same as the user name of the previously troublesome editor. I have reported to ARV, but you may wish to chime with your viewpoint, such as it may be. Misplaced Pages:Sockpuppet_investigations/Bahador_kharazmi Gaijin42 (talk) 15:33, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

 Done Thanks. JamesBWatson (talk) 20:05, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

The user is editing on their autobiography page currently, and removed one of the maintenance templates you replaced (possibly a valid removal). I am not sure how the outcome of the sock investigation affects this. Clear violation of sock, possible ban avoidance, continued COI etc, but their current edit isn't overtly malicious. Anyway, might want to take a look. Bahador KharazmiGaijin42 (talk) 22:09, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

User talk:Stone roller

Hi JamesBWatson,

The article in my sandbox is fictional, me and my friends update it every now and then about a fictional footballer (the names we come up with tend to be random). If you look through the history you can see that we reset it every now and then (it's generally based on computer games). Is it a problem to have it in the sandbox or is there somewhere else you would like us to place it? We like to pretend he's a real person :) Stone roller (talk) 23:56, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Barnstar of Good Humor
	This might not be good humour (lowest form of wit and all that), but it made me chuckle nonetheless. Yunshui 雲‍水 14:48, 29 February 2012 (UTC)

• Thank you.... Dennis Brown (talk) 15:25, 29 February 2012 (UTC)

Ashley Blake

James: the provided reference from the Birmingham Post specifically states that "After the verdict was delivered, the court also heard a list of Blake’s previous convictions, including two counts of theft in 1986 and three more in 1987. In 1988, Blake was convicted of handling stolen goods and altering documents following a road traffic accident and, in 1990, of driving whilst disqualified. Blake was again convicted of theft in 1993." which does not contradict the text in the article. Blake's insistence that the section is inaccurate simply isn't true. MikeWazowski (talk) 20:03, 29 February 2012 (UTC)

Yes, you are quite right, and if you look back at the article you will see that I realised my mistake and corrected it. JamesBWatson (talk) 20:05, 29 February 2012 (UTC)

Yep - cross-posted, apparently. Thanks! MikeWazowski (talk) 20:06, 29 February 2012 (UTC)