Misplaced Pages

MediaWiki talk:Spam-blacklist: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editNext edit →Content deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 10:56, 13 May 2020 editManifestation (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users9,704 edits Verywell, 2: Pinging Beetstra, JzG, and Newslinger.← Previous edit Revision as of 11:07, 13 May 2020 edit undoBeetstra (talk | contribs)Edit filter managers, Administrators172,031 edits Verywell, 2: rNext edit →
Line 244: Line 244:


:{{re|Beetstra}} I prefer removal from the blacklist entirely because there was no spamming or abuse.<br />{{re|JzG}} What is your opinion? Remove or not remove?<br />{{re|Newslinger}} What do you think? And you haven't replied to my comment about the LinkReports yet (see above). Cheers, <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">] <small>(])</small></span> 10:56, 13 May 2020 (UTC) :{{re|Beetstra}} I prefer removal from the blacklist entirely because there was no spamming or abuse.<br />{{re|JzG}} What is your opinion? Remove or not remove?<br />{{re|Newslinger}} What do you think? And you haven't replied to my comment about the LinkReports yet (see above). Cheers, <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">] <small>(])</small></span> 10:56, 13 May 2020 (UTC)

:{{re|Manifestation}} You can dogmatically repeat: ‘there was no spamming’, it is not the only concern regarding this site. I stand with the point: maybe there wasn’t any spamming, maybe there was. I know that you want it off this list, but ‘maybe spammed’ x ‘marginally reliable’ x ‘can easily be handled with whitelisting to curb both the spamming and the misuse of this marginally reliable site’ lands me at a preference to see how much we really need vs. how much would have to be removed because it was misused first. The few whitelist requests we saw does not give that image clearly yet. —] <sup>] ]</sup> 11:07, 13 May 2020 (UTC)


== mentaldaily.com == == mentaldaily.com ==

Revision as of 11:07, 13 May 2020

"Misplaced Pages:Spam-blacklist" redirects here. For a description of the spam blacklist, see Misplaced Pages:Spam blacklist. For instructions on administrating the spam blacklist, see Misplaced Pages:Spam-blacklisting.
Noticeboards
Misplaced Pages's centralized discussion, request, and help venues. For a listing of ongoing discussions and current requests, see the dashboard. For a related set of forums which do not function as noticeboards see formal review processes.
General
Articles,
content
Page handling
User conduct
Other
Category:Misplaced Pages noticeboards
    MediaWiki:Spam-blacklist is a page in the MediaWiki namespace, which only administrators may edit. To request a change to it, please follow the directions at Misplaced Pages:Spam blacklist.
    Spam blacklists
    Shortcuts

    Mediawiki:Spam-blacklist is meant to be used by the spam blacklist extension. Unlike the meta spam blacklist, this blacklist affects pages on the English Misplaced Pages only. Any administrator may edit the spam blacklist. See Misplaced Pages:Spam blacklist for more information about the spam blacklist.


    Instructions for editors

    There are 4 sections for posting comments below. Please make comments in the appropriate section. These links take you to the appropriate section:

    1. Proposed additions
    2. Proposed removals
    3. Troubleshooting and problems
    4. Discussion

    Each section has a message box with instructions. In addition, please sign your posts with ~~~~ after your comment.

    Completed requests are archived. Additions and removals are logged, reasons for blacklisting can be found there.

    Addition of the templates {{Link summary}} (for domains), {{IP summary}} (for IP editors) and {{User summary}} (for users with account) results in the COIBot reports to be refreshed. See User:COIBot for more information on the reports.


    Instructions for admins Any admin unfamiliar with this page should probably read this first, thanks.
    If in doubt, please leave a request and a spam-knowledgeable admin will follow-up.

    Please consider using Special:BlockedExternalDomains instead, powered by the AbuseFilter extension. This is faster and more easily searchable, though only supports whole domains and not whitelisting.

    1. Does the site have any validity to the project?
    2. Have links been placed after warnings/blocks? Have other methods of control been exhausted? Would referring this to our anti-spam bot, XLinkBot be a more appropriate step? Is there a WikiProject Spam report? If so, a permanent link would be helpful.
    3. Please ensure all links have been removed from articles and discussion pages before blacklisting. (They do not have to be removed from user or user talk pages.)
    4. Make the entry at the bottom of the list (before the last line). Please do not do this unless you are familiar with regular expressions — the disruption that can be caused is substantial.
    5. Close the request entry on here using either {{done}} or {{not done}} as appropriate. The request should be left open for a week maybe as there will often be further related sites or an appeal in that time.
    6. Log the entry. Warning: if you do not log any entry you make on the blacklist, it may well be removed if someone appeals and no valid reasons can be found. To log the entry, you will need this number – 956442389 after you have closed the request. See here for more info on logging.
    Archives

    This page has archives. Sections older than 14 days may be automatically archived by Lowercase sigmabot III.


    Proposed additions

    Instructions for proposed additions
    1. Please add new entries to the bottom of this section.
    2. Please only use the basic URL – example.com , not https://www.example.com.
    3. Consider informing editors whose actions are discussed here.
    4. Please use the following templates:
    {{IP summary}} – to report anonymous editors suspected of spamming:
    {{IP summary|127.0.0.1}} -- do not use "subst:" with this template
    {{User summary}} – to report registered users suspected of spamming:
    {{User summary|Jimbo Wales}} -- do not use "subst:" with this template
    {{Link summary}} – to report spam domains:
    {{Link summary|example.com}} -- do not use "subst:" with this template
    Do not include the "http://www." portion of a URL inside this template, nor anything behind the domain name. Including this template will give tools to investigate the domain, and will result in COIBot refreshing the link-report. ('COIBot')
    {{BLRequestRegex}} - to suggest more complex regex filters beyond basic domain URLs
    {{BLRequestLink}} - to suggest specific links to be blacklisted

    Please provide diffs ( e.g. ] ) to show that there has been spamming!
    Completed requests should be marked with {{done}}, {{not done}}, or another appropriate indicator, and then archived.

    daddyprice.com

    Spam. Guy (help!) 00:11, 28 April 2020 (UTC)

    JzG, 1 user, warned. Pull trigger if the user continues. Dirk Beetstra 06:00, 28 April 2020 (UTC)

    lyricsclub.xyz

    Indian lyrics site being spammed by the owner declaration here and the IP. New site, not licensed, copyright vios, the usual Indian lyric site stuff. Ravensfire (talk) 18:33, 29 April 2020 (UTC)

    plus Added to MediaWiki:Spam-blacklist. The recent removal of this report by the spamming editor sealed the deal. Also blocked. --GermanJoe (talk) 06:50, 30 April 2020 (UTC)

    worldyogashala.com / yogaessencerishikesh.com

    Yoga spam, a final warning and a block have been ignored. GermanJoe (talk) 18:36, 29 April 2020 (UTC)

    @GermanJoe: plus Added to MediaWiki:Spam-blacklist. --GermanJoe (talk) 18:36, 29 April 2020 (UTC)

    mysterioustrip.com

    See COIBot report. I think it's some kind of a travel blog? Not really clear, but there's a number of SPAs sneaking it into articles, usually by replacing existing refs. creffett (talk) 23:25, 29 April 2020 (UTC)

    One of the users who operates with the same MO is linking this on their userpage. I miss the relation though. --Dirk Beetstra 06:45, 30 April 2020 (UTC)

    bongacams.cloud

    Constantly trying to hijack official link with this link (likely referral). As seen by the WHOIS results, clearly not official. Apparition /Mistakes 03:56, 30 April 2020 (UTC)

    @Apparition11: plus Added to MediaWiki:Spam-blacklist. Linked Wikidata object has been page-protected. --GermanJoe (talk) 06:52, 30 April 2020 (UTC)
    @Apparition11 and GermanJoe: Handled on meta. Constantly pushed on WD, and also added here and there else. Clearly a case to globally block, especially if they do not heed warnings that were issued. Enough is enough. --Dirk Beetstra 06:56, 30 April 2020 (UTC)

    sandeephegde.com

    Blog post from the website added to HDFC Bank by several IPs - looks like the website author really wants to push his story about the bank forging his signature or whatever. creffett (talk) 16:55, 30 April 2020 (UTC)

    @Creffett: plus Added to MediaWiki:Spam-blacklist. --GermanJoe (talk) 18:20, 30 April 2020 (UTC)

    citrus-cleaning-supplies.co.uk

    Recurring spam with dynamic IPs, previous warnings have been ignored. GermanJoe (talk) 17:42, 1 May 2020 (UTC)

    @GermanJoe: plus Added to MediaWiki:Spam-blacklist. --GermanJoe (talk) 17:43, 1 May 2020 (UTC)

    aiouassignment.com

    Being spammed on a university article, nothing that should be on Misplaced Pages. Johny has also been spamming links to a download site - Tamil Rockers - as well, reporting them to AIV. Ravensfire (talk) 02:24, 3 May 2020 (UTC)

    Just blocked User talk:Johny005900 for spamming as well, concur with Ravensfire for adding this website. Spencer 02:49, 3 May 2020 (UTC)
    @Spencer and Ravensfire:  Defer to Global blacklist, should be further developed, but this is clearly a case for global blocking. --Dirk Beetstra 03:45, 3 May 2020 (UTC)
    @Spencer and Ravensfire: Handled on meta. --Dirk Beetstra 13:24, 3 May 2020 (UTC)
    Beetstra, thanks - that went deeper than I thought it would. Ravensfire (talk) 15:40, 3 May 2020 (UTC)

    greatexplain.com

    Blog spam, warnings and an initial block have been ignored. GermanJoe (talk) 17:38, 3 May 2020 (UTC)

    @GermanJoe: plus Added to MediaWiki:Spam-blacklist. --GermanJoe (talk) 17:38, 3 May 2020 (UTC)
    I was just about to add it to the blacklist so support from me. Dreamy Jazz 🎷 17:40, 3 May 2020 (UTC)

    blockchainbriefing.blogspot.com

    See COIBot report. Aggressive spamming by four users and counting. Suffusion of Yellow (talk) 20:35, 3 May 2020 (UTC)

    @Suffusion of Yellow: plus Added to MediaWiki:Spam-blacklist. — JJMC89(T·C) 22:44, 3 May 2020 (UTC)

    biographypro.xyz

    See COIBot report (but wait a bit, there was a new one a few minutes ago). Being spammed by duckfarm. Suffusion of Yellow (talk) 02:54, 8 May 2020 (UTC)

    Oh, it looks like blog.biographypro.xyz is already on the blacklist. So just remove the blog\. Suffusion of Yellow (talk) 03:05, 8 May 2020 (UTC)
    @Suffusion of Yellow: plus Added to MediaWiki:Spam-blacklist. — JJMC89(T·C) 03:08, 8 May 2020 (UTC)

    plasticspot.io

    Being spammed by a bunch of IPs.

    197.251.190.111 (talk • contribs • deleted contribs • blacklist hits • AbuseLog • what links to user page • COIBot • Spamcheck • count • block log • x-wiki • Edit filter search • WHOIS • RDNS • tracert • robtex.com • StopForumSpam • Google • AboutUs • Project HoneyPot)

    81.15.104.13 (talk • contribs • deleted contribs • blacklist hits • AbuseLog • what links to user page • COIBot • Spamcheck • count • block log • x-wiki • Edit filter search • WHOIS • RDNS • tracert • robtex.com • StopForumSpam • Google • AboutUs • Project HoneyPot)

    41.99.23.68 (talk • contribs • deleted contribs • blacklist hits • AbuseLog • what links to user page • COIBot • Spamcheck • count • block log • x-wiki • Edit filter search • WHOIS • RDNS • tracert • robtex.com • StopForumSpam • Google • AboutUs • Project HoneyPot)

    Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 04:36, 8 May 2020 (UTC)

    @Doc James: plus Added to MediaWiki:Spam-blacklist. --Guy (help!) 10:41, 8 May 2020 (UTC)

    lyricbird.xyz

    Yet another lyrics site. Guy (help!) 10:41, 8 May 2020 (UTC)

    @JzG: plus Added to MediaWiki:Spam-blacklist. --Dirk Beetstra 12:38, 8 May 2020 (UTC)
    Beetstra, Thanks Dirk. I wonder if the entire .xyz TLD should be blocked, with whitelisted exceptions. All but two I have found to date have been spam, cybersquatted, malware or hopeless. Guy (help!) 13:30, 8 May 2020 (UTC)
    JzG, I started to wonder the same. Dirk Beetstra 13:55, 8 May 2020 (UTC)
    I've seen more lyrics sites from this TLD plus other just flat-out garbage sites. I'm not sure I've seen any good sources from this TLD, in part because it's still fairly new. I would certainly support this. Ravensfire (talk) 16:04, 11 May 2020 (UTC)

    pratiyogitakosh.com

    See COIBot report. Spammed by multiple accounts and IPs over the past few months. Note that two additions are to other wikis; if that is enough for the global blacklist, let me know and I'll move this request there. Suffusion of Yellow (talk) 04:11, 9 May 2020 (UTC)

    @Suffusion of Yellow:  Defer to Global blacklist, please do. Note that this was already flagged earlier at WT:WPSPAM by Newslinger. --Dirk Beetstra 05:10, 9 May 2020 (UTC)

    filmybubble.com

    Recent blow-up of edits, but the guy I spotted was also spamming in November 2019. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 15:34, 10 May 2020 (UTC)

    Moscow Media Group

    A few months ago you all may recall that I came across a bunch of black hat SEO sites masquerading as "real" media outlets, usually operating under the name of similar notable and reputable media outlets (ie. Boherald.com was mistaken for Boston Herald etc...) well it appears one major group running these sites is an SEO firm Moscow Media Group which publishes content to falsely inflate the importance of various clients (ie. PR firms pay MMG to publish on one of their many websites which may have been legitimate at one point in time and sniped, or never legitimate but are made to deceive.) Here is a link to MMG's (now defunct) website. Praxidicae (talk) 13:08, 11 May 2020 (UTC)

    @Praxidicae: plus Added to MediaWiki:Spam-blacklist. --Dirk Beetstra 15:43, 11 May 2020 (UTC)

    newsstudio18.com

    A terrible attempt to be passed off as a legitimate news site. Let me quote from their "contact us" page: "Act so surprised your highness. You mercy mission this time several transmissions were beamed to this ship by Rebel spies" Praxidicae (talk) 13:21, 11 May 2020 (UTC)

    @Praxidicae: plus Added to MediaWiki:Spam-blacklist. --Dirk Beetstra 15:44, 11 May 2020 (UTC)

    modiyojna.xyz

    Looks like the spammers are operating slowly. Also sometimes using subdomains like "m.modiyojna.xyz", "d.modiyojna.xyz, "r.modiyojna.xyz". Cyphoidbomb (talk) 23:32, 11 May 2020 (UTC)

    @Cyphoidbomb: plus Added to MediaWiki:Spam-blacklist. --Dirk Beetstra 00:50, 12 May 2020 (UTC)

    smartbusinessbox.in

    Already blocked spammer User:Nikhilmalve was posting this to numerous pages. RickinBaltimore (talk) 15:18, 12 May 2020 (UTC)

    jesustechnology.com / robertyave.org / robertyavo.org

    Blocked all of these for spam, but likely to re-appear unless the links are blacklisted. Left quite a mess of advert screenshots on Commons that also need to be deleted. Spencer 01:24, 13 May 2020 (UTC)

    Proposed removals

    Use this section to request that a URL be unlisted. Please add new entries to the bottom of this section.

    Requests from site owners or anyone with a conflict of interest will be declined. Otherwise, follow these steps to post a properly-formatted request:

    • Familiarize yourself with the reasons why a site was blacklisted. Look at MediaWiki_talk:Spam-blacklist/log to see who blacklisted the link and when, and the reason given for blacklisting.
    • At the beginning of your request, include the domain in a {{link summary}} template (remove the http:// and www from the domain). This provides tools to find more information on the domain. For example, * {{Link summary|example.com}} results in:
    • When previewing your post with an included {{link summary}}, you will find links to a COIBot-report ('COIBot'), linksearches on en ('Linksearch en'), and tracked discussions ('tracked' and 'advanced'). If the log did not provide sufficient information on why a link was blacklisted, these links often yield more information.
    • Explain how the link can be useful on Misplaced Pages. Referencing a discussion at WP:RSN can be helpful.
    • Explain your reasoning why the blacklisting is not necessary anymore.
      • The bar for blacklisting is whether a site was spammed to Misplaced Pages, or otherwise abused, not whether the content of the site is 'spammy' or unreliable. Please indicate why you expect that that abuse has stopped.

    Providing this information often helps in a faster handling of the request.

    Once you have added your request, please check back here from time to time to get the outcome or to answer any additional questions. We will not email you or otherwise notify you about your request, and if no answer is received to a question, the request will be considered abandoned.

    Administrators: Completed requests should be marked with {{done}}, {{not done}}, or another appropriate indicator, then archived.

    Suite101.com

    This website has been offline since 2017, according to the Wayback Machine. -- Zanimum (talk) 17:54, 1 May 2020 (UTC)

    Correction: it went down around 2013 or 2014, when the domain became a redirect to "Suite.io", a blogging/social networking platform of some sort. -- Zanimum (talk) 17:59, 1 May 2020 (UTC)
    Zanimum, is it of any use now? Dirk Beetstra 19:18, 1 May 2020 (UTC)
    Zanimum, thanks for this. If it's still blacklisted, it was resolvable earlier this year. We recently purged unresolvable domains and those with no hits for five years - we'll do the same again, but right now I think we probably should wait a bit to check it isn't hoovered up by cybersquatters. Guy (help!) 19:26, 12 May 2020 (UTC)

    azlyrics.com

    No reasons to blacklist it. This website is fully licensed to provide song lyrics via Musixmatch. One of the cleanest designs (without ads between verses) and most accurate lyrics out there. Top 2000 according to Alexa rank.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.228.253.223 (talkcontribs)

    Strange, it still says the same as when blacklisted: ‘... lyrics are property and copyright of their owners. “...” lyrics provided for educational purposes and personal use only.’. That is not the same to me as ‘fully licensed’. —Dirk Beetstra 18:24, 2 May 2020 (UTC)
    But they have Musixmatch logo and tracking code on every lyrics page and featured in their Customer Stories with MTV and Metrolyrics so I assume they're legal now. 87.228.253.223 (talk) 18:53, 2 May 2020 (UTC)
    And your relationship with the site is ... Ravensfire (talk) 22:49, 2 May 2020 (UTC)
    All this information is from open sources. I have contributed to some of their lyrics pages from time to time, 'cause I'm using it for years. Thanks for asking. 87.228.253.223 (talk) 01:31, 3 May 2020 (UTC)
    Add lyric content yourself to a website does not make the copyright go away. WP:LINKVIO; see previous request. OhNoitsJamie 01:44, 3 May 2020 (UTC)
    Sure, but the licensing is not about obtaining the copyright, it's about the right to distribute the copyrighted content. I am not sure if this site was licensed in April 2013, when the previous request was made, but I'm pretty sure it's legal now. I tried to google for this info and found the articles from October 2013 and November 2013 where azlyrics mentioned as licensed. 87.228.253.223 (talk) 07:07, 3 May 2020 (UTC)

    Verywell, 2

    Verywell is a family of four websites; the above three are blacklisted. I already made a thread about them last month, see here, but I forgot about it afterwards. On 28 April, I decided to give it another try and went to WP:RSN. In the ensuing thread, it was claimed that the Verywell sites had been spammed. There is no evidence of this. Two LinkReports exists: verywell.com (which now redirects to verywellhealth.com) and verywellmind.com. However, these don't actually show spamming. The verywellmind.com report does show repeated editing from a very wide IP range (197.156.*.*), but if you look closely, this is actually a single user from Ethiopia who stubbornly attempted to insert a link into Video game addiction, *after* the site was blacklisted.

    Verywell was banned following this thread, which cited a small sockpuppet case. However, this involved no spamming. Only a copyvio.

    I believe that the Verywell sites were unjustly blacklisted and I propose their removal. There is no consensus whether the sites are reliable (I believe they are), but that issue is unrelated to this banlist, which is primarily to prevent spamming, for which there is no evidence. Cheers, Manifestation (talk) 18:29, 4 May 2020 (UTC)

    Manifestation, noting, as I did in the RS thread, that the excuse of the single Ethiopian is invalid, as the same link was added to the same page through an open proxy in France, and there are 3 instances weeks apart. I do not think that the stubbornness there is solely related to a person that was unable to add that link, I believe that there is more there behind those attempted edits.
    I still believe it was justly banned, it was abused by multiple editors in a case relating to copyvio material. It was a just way of stopping that abuse. Reliability is not a reason to blacklist, but I do believe that there is no value in unblacklisting something that is abused unless there is widespread use for a site, where widespread use is not there if it is largely unreliable, or unsuitable as a source (and since this is health-related, WP:MEDRS should be satisfied that this is a good source).
    I am not entertaining requests that state that the site was unjustly banned (that may have been a situation of the moment, of which you cannot even see all the evidence, and where some information is not known: was the editor attempting to spam by copying their information and linking to it (i.e. spamming; note that the pages ranked in the top 10 medical sites less than a year after launch), or was it an uninvolved editor who desperately tried to incorporate the data).
    I would entertain a delisting if one can show that there is widespread use of a site, and there is not widespread spamming. I can concur with the latter part of your evaluation (though I haven't gone through all the (attempted) edits to get a wider view), the WP:RSN thread does not seem hopeful for the former: a conclusion of 'marginally reliable' even when not taking into account WP:MEDRS does not help. I am still in favour of just whitelisting the (likely very few) cases where reliability and use can be shown. --Dirk Beetstra 09:38, 5 May 2020 (UTC)
    "it was abused by multiple editors in a case relating to copyvio material"
    That was actually a college student from Sri Lanka who copy-pasted text into Social anxiety disorder. She used two or three accounts, and one IP. It wasn't spamming. The case can be found here. Further analysis is here.
    As for the Ethiopian person, he or she did indeed use a VPS IP from French company OVH in a failed attempt to bypass the blacklist. They tried repeatedly to insert this article to Video game addiction, a subject he/she apparently felt very strong about. In the verywellmind.com LinkReport, the first ten IPs that made edit #93 to #109 are as follows: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. As you can deduce from the edits, the dynamic IPs are from Ethiopia, and they have not spammed. Cheers, Manifestation (talk) 18:05, 5 May 2020 (UTC)
    I keep learning new things about Misplaced Pages. I just found out that there are actually *four* LinkReports, not two. This site just overwhelms me. :-(
    The above LinkReports show no evidence of spamming. - Manifestation (talk) 18:07, 5 May 2020 (UTC)
    Manifestation, in your view. I am not so cure. Before we risk opening the floodgates, is there consensus that this meets WP:RS and WP:MEDRS? Guy (help!) 20:51, 5 May 2020 (UTC)
    Manifestation, I already stated that there maybe was not real spamming. However, there was pushing with copyvio, and using the spam blacklist to mitigate that is very well within the scope, especially if a site is of marginal reliability (it could even be if the site is very reliable, we do blacklist specific links to reliable material if there is someone pushing it). Do we now really want to de-blacklist because 'maybe it was not spamming', while knowing that it is of marginal reliability. My suggestion remains: it is better to whitelist specific links where there is consensus that it is needed and reliable.
    (COIBot will regenerate reports when requested, posting here inside {{LinkSummary}}-templates is one of the ways of requesting the bot to do that). Dirk Beetstra 06:14, 6 May 2020 (UTC)
    @JzG: The issue of reliability is unrelated to blacklisting, but I do think the sites are reliable. The Verywell sites have review teams of board-certified physicians, who peer review articles. They are also supported by the Health On the Net Foundation (see here: Verywell Health, Verywell Mind, Verywell Fit, Verywell Family). They are popular press sites, which should never be used primarily, but could be used as ancilary refs. WP:MEDPOP warns against them, but also states that if they are of a high quality, they could be used. See also the comments on the RS noticeboard.
    @Beetstra: Those copyvios were done in late 2018 by three accounts and one IP from Sri Lanka, see the sockpuppet case. Copy-paste jobs are not a good reason to banlist a site.
    Blacklisting all popular press sites and whitelisting specific links to them is bureaucratic, time-consuming, and un-Wikipedian. I wouldn't be for it. - Manifestation (talk) 09:33, 6 May 2020 (UTC)

    Verywell is a popular collection of sites, with Alexa ranks of 3,644 (verywellhealth.com), 4,240 (verywellmind.com), and 9,386 (verywellfamily.com). In my opinion, the threshold of evidence required to blacklist popular sites with valid use cases (including Verywell, which can still be used for non-scientific and non-medical information according to WP:MEDPOP) should be higher, as blacklisting these sites causes a substantial amount of collateral damage by making it more difficult for editors to use these sources correctly. Considering that verywellfamily.com, verywellhealth.com, and verywellmind.com have already been blacklisted for over a year, I support Manifestation's proposal to remove them from the spam blacklist. If the spamming recurs, we can always revert the edits and blacklist the domains again. — Newslinger talk 17:42, 6 May 2020 (UTC)

    "If the spamming recurs, we can always revert the edits and blacklist the domains again."
    While I have not seen evidence of spamming, I agree that if there will be, the domains must go back on the list. I also concur with the rest of your comment. Also, do you happen to know if COIBot will continue to update the LinkReports, even after the domains are no longer on the banlist? Because if COIBot keeps updating them, I can watchlist the LinkReports and keep an eye on them. Cheers, Manifestation (talk) 19:17, 6 May 2020 (UTC)

    And? Is Verywell going to be removed? - Manifestation (talk) 07:56, 13 May 2020 (UTC)

    Pinging Praxidicae here, who closed my previous thread. @Praxidicae, you dismissed my request last time because Verywell had "persistent violations of WP:MEDRS", which is false. This has since been changed to "persistent abuse", which is also false. Considering the evidence I have produced in support of Verywell, what is your current opinion? Cheers, Manifestation (talk) 07:58, 13 May 2020 (UTC)

    @Manifestation: You could have pinged me as well. I stand with my last points. Yes, maybe it was not spamming (smaller maybe it was). However, by your own point, it is of 'marginal reliability' and I stand then with the 'maybe it was not spamming, maybe it was': I am of the opinion that we should see this at the whitelist first. If there is really a significant use we can revisit this, but with one granted whitelist and one declined whitelist request in 2 years I do not think that we have a volume of links that the whitelist cannot handle (and then, I have to see whether we really think that this is suitable for use in many of the cases where we do see requests). --Dirk Beetstra 08:31, 13 May 2020 (UTC)

    @Beetstra: I prefer removal from the blacklist entirely because there was no spamming or abuse.
    @JzG: What is your opinion? Remove or not remove?
    @Newslinger: What do you think? And you haven't replied to my comment about the LinkReports yet (see above). Cheers, Manifestation (talk) 10:56, 13 May 2020 (UTC)
    @Manifestation: You can dogmatically repeat: ‘there was no spamming’, it is not the only concern regarding this site. I stand with the point: maybe there wasn’t any spamming, maybe there was. I know that you want it off this list, but ‘maybe spammed’ x ‘marginally reliable’ x ‘can easily be handled with whitelisting to curb both the spamming and the misuse of this marginally reliable site’ lands me at a preference to see how much we really need vs. how much would have to be removed because it was misused first. The few whitelist requests we saw does not give that image clearly yet. —Dirk Beetstra 11:07, 13 May 2020 (UTC)

    mentaldaily.com

    The archives show that the URL was previously blocked due to a user, named Scorpion293, who engaged in paid advertising/spamming/sockpuppets.

    Explain how the link can be useful on Misplaced Pages: I am in the process of expanding a section of the Aurora, Texas page. I found the website on the University of North Texas At Dallas Library Resources page and would like to add an in-depth story they published that's on Google News, as there aren't others on the web with that information, I've looked through search engines already. The Dallas Morning News is the only other source that provides some of the information for my edits on the section of the Airship incident from the 1890s.

    Explain your reasoning why the blacklisting is not necessary anymore: This is perhaps the only reliable source where I can find this particular information to make the edits on the section of that page. The site is also listed on other universities and academic institutions. HSE001 (talk) 02:09, 6 May 2020 (UTC)

    @HSE001: no Declined,  Defer to Whitelist for specific links on this domain. --Dirk Beetstra 17:55, 10 May 2020 (UTC)
    HSE001, As a rule of thumb, when a blog is the only source for something, it's not significant. And in this case, given that the blog was almost certtainly started well after the incident, you should be able to identify the original source and use that. Guy (help!) 19:23, 12 May 2020 (UTC)

    weirdcrap.com

    This site was previously usurped by domain grabbers and blacklisted in May 2011, but the site was restored later that year (c. 3 July 2011 - see wayback) and has been the same ever since. I would like to restore the URLs that were removed from Chick tract and possibly other places.--Auric talk 14:11, 10 May 2020 (UTC)

    Auric, how is that a reliable source? Guy (help!) 19:20, 12 May 2020 (UTC)
    I'm not sure what you mean. The source was previously usurped and is now fine. No problem was found previously and I can't see any now.--Auric talk 19:26, 12 May 2020 (UTC)

    pv-magazine.com

    Explain how the link can be useful on Misplaced Pages: PV-Magazine is one of the most respected and cited sources of information on the global photovoltaics sector.

    Explain your reasoning why the blacklisting is not necessary anymore: I don't know why they were blacklisted, but they would be a useful source for many pages on this topic. RaAmun (talk) 12:26, 11 May 2020 (UTC)

    For the reviewing admin, the most recent discussion. Praxidicae (talk) 12:47, 11 May 2020 (UTC)
    @RaAmun: no Declined. it was blacklisted because it was badly, heavily spammed. I know they promised to stop shortly after it was blacklisted, but 5 years later someone of the company did comment again on a thread regarding this site - they are following this.
    Most of the material is churnalism, more than original journalism. They republish material. Examples, quoting from their front page: "The EU research group tasked with optimizing renewable energy auction procurement processes said ..."; www.pv-magazine.com/2020/05/11/solar-canopies-can-put-pv-panels-in-some-new-and-interesting-places/ is completely recombined from the information presented here, here, here, and here (including the pictures), and another headline on the front page "Scottish start-up Gravitricity is planning a project to store surplus power from renewables at Port of Leith", leads to the article @ www.pv-magazine.com/2020/05/11/storing-wind-and-solar-with-new-gravity-based-system/: "Scottish start-up Gravitricity has developed a gravity energy storage system it says ..." (all my bolding). It is all rewritten from the original sources. They are, basically, a primary source pretending to be a secondary source. For the (very, very) few cases where the material can be shown to be original enough, the whitelist will suffice. --Dirk Beetstra 13:20, 11 May 2020 (UTC)

    www.themoviedb.org

    Explain how the link can be useful on Misplaced Pages: I tried to add a movie link to themoviedb.org, but was surprised to see it flagged as spam. I believe themoviedb.org is a reasonable portal for movie information. Also flagged is tmdb.org, which redirects to themoviedb.org Explain your reasoning why the blacklisting is not necessary anymore: I wondered why it was flagged in the first place, but even if the site was low quality in the beginning, it is acceptable now. 81.170.243.50 (talk) 19:16, 12 May 2020 (UTC)

    no Declined. This was spammed very hard. --Dirk Beetstra 03:50, 13 May 2020 (UTC)

    Logging / COIBot Instructions

    Blacklist logging

    Full instructions for admins


    Quick reference

    For Spam reports or requests originating from this page, use template {{/request|0#section_name}}

    • {{/request|213416274#Section_name}}
    • Insert the oldid 213416274 a hash "#" and the Section_name (Underscoring_spaces_where_applicable):
    • Use within the entry log here.

    For Spam reports or requests originating from Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Spam use template {{WPSPAM|0#section_name}}

    • {{WPSPAM|182725895#Section_name}}
    • Insert the oldid 182725895 a hash "#" and the Section_name (Underscoring_spaces_where_applicable):
    • Use within the entry log here.
    Note: If you do not log your entries, it may be removed if someone appeals the entry and no valid reasons can be found.

    Addition to the COIBot reports

    The lower list in the COIBot reports now have after each link four numbers between brackets (e.g. "www.example.com (0, 0, 0, 0)"):

    1. first number, how many links did this user add (is the same after each link)
    2. second number, how many times did this link get added to wikipedia (for as far as the linkwatcher database goes back)
    3. third number, how many times did this user add this link
    4. fourth number, to how many different wikipedia did this user add this link.

    If the third number or the fourth number are high with respect to the first or the second, then that means that the user has at least a preference for using that link. Be careful with other statistics from these numbers (e.g. good user who adds a lot of links). If there are more statistics that would be useful, please notify me, and I will have a look if I can get the info out of the database and report it. This data is available in real-time on IRC.

    Poking COIBot

    When adding {{LinkSummary}}, {{UserSummary}} and/or {{IPSummary}} templates to WT:WPSPAM, WT:SBL, WT:SWL and User:COIBot/Poke (the latter for privileged editors) COIBot will generate linkreports for the domains, and userreports for users and IPs.


    Discussion

    This section is for other discussions involving the blacklist. Old entries are archived

    Naming

    I have opened a discussion at m:Talk:Spam blacklist about renaming the feature to something like "external link deny list" to remove the black/white terminology and reflect the fact that (e.g.) URL shorteners are blacklisted preemptively and may not be spam. Guy (help!) 13:55, 4 May 2020 (UTC)

    .xyz

    The .xyz TLD is by way of being a frequent flyer here. There are some (but not many) that are usable (e.g. abc.xyz, Alphabet's domain) but the vast majority of existing and new links are at best crap and very often spam. I think we should blacklist the TLD and whitelist the handful of valid ones. Guy (help!) 19:29, 12 May 2020 (UTC)

    Categories: