User talk:Kuru

Kuru's Talk Page

Welcome to my talk page. Please sign and date your entries by inserting ~~~~ at the end. Please note that I will usually respond on this page to keep the conversation together. If you have a question about a particular edit/reversion, please try to include a link to it if you can. WARNING: If you've come here because my name was used in a solicitation for a paid Wikipedia article, you are being scammed. In no way, shape, or form would I ever operate or advise as a paid editor. I also do not typically assist declared paid editors; I'm here as a volunteer to improve the project, not to help you turn a buck. Click HERE to start a new talk topic. Archives 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009 2010 • 2011 • 2012 • 2013 2014 • 2015 • 2016 • 2017 2018 • 2019 • 2020 • 2021 2022 • 2023 • 2024 • 2025

Citation needed in Nayaganaipriyal

Hi Kuru, you kicked out the praebook reference. I checked but cannot find another one. Shall I delete the "may be"-information on the scientist? --Tschips (talk) 17:26, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

Factual change on Chanel page

Good day to you @Kuru, Thank you for your previous edits to the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chanel page. I have COI with Chanel and have spotted inaccurate information on their page.

The current Chanel article states that Chanel have continued to do business in Russia since the start of the war with Ukraine, which is is incorrect. Chanel have stopped doing business in Russia and have even gone as far as to stop selling to Russian buyers outside of their borders.

This has been widely reported in the following places:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/04/07/opinion/companies-ukraine-boycott.html

https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN2L12C7/

https://fr.fashionnetwork.com/news/Ukraine-chanel-applique-l-embargo-aussi-aux-russes-en-dehors-de-la-russie,1394353.html

https://www.bfmtv.com/economie/entreprises-francaises-en-russie-ou-en-est-on-un-an-apres_AV-202302260097.html

https://www.lefigaro.fr/societes/lvmh-hermes-et-chanel-ferment-temporairement-leurs-boutiques-en-russie-20220304

Would you be able to spare some time to update this paragraph so it is accurate? Many thanks, Occasionalpedestrian (talk) 15:35, 11 January 2024 (UTC)

Howdy. For the record, I really don't do edits based on solicitation - especially from paid or conflicted editors. That said, there does seem to be some fairly obviously problematic material there. I've removed it since it was sourced to a tweet, and chimed in on the discussion you correctly started on the article's talk page. Thank you for following best practices on COI. Sam Kuru (talk) 02:33, 12 January 2024 (UTC)

Thank you, I appreciate your help Occasionalpedestrian (talk) 11:12, 12 January 2024 (UTC)

Paid editing by Systumm

Greetings Kuru,

Systumm has again promoted Bar Greenzaid (a clearly non-notable YouTuber) to mainspace without any improvements, despite your final warning. I think this type of behaviour is not acceptable from an already disclosed paid editor. Thanks. Maliner (talk) 18:33, 15 January 2024 (UTC)

Thanks. I've partially blocked the account for a few weeks. Hopefully that will suffice. Sam Kuru (talk) 12:19, 16 January 2024 (UTC)

Vipulanantha College

Hello, sir. I'm here to discuss Vipulanantha College, and the details I've shared are from their school book, Vipulam. As a former student near the school, I can attest to the accuracy of the information. It's common for schools in northern Sri Lanka to lack citations. If you need clarification, feel free to ask. Rather than removing new edits and promoting the outdated version without modern updates, I hope you understand. Thank you. Zeus2107 (talk) 13:52, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

I understand completely. Unfortunately, verifiability is a core policy: WP:V - I cannot simply take your attestation, especially when the material contains puffery and promotional claims. If there's material that is published under strong editorial controls, then please add citations to references that can be accessed. It's also a good idea to avoid linking to mirrors of Wikipedia. Thanks. Sam Kuru (talk) 14:00, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

Mr. Kuru, could you please clarify for me without removing the content: What types of sources should be mentioned or are needed? Zeus2107 (talk) 14:03, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

Email campaign

Good afternoon,

I received an unsolicited email from a group advertising its experience "for crafting impactful narratives" and offering the "prospect of immortalizing your story on Wikipedia." Out of curiosity, I asked for a specific user to validate the quality of the content this group can produce. In their reply, I was sent a link to this page along with a separate link to acewritingexperts.com. Not sure if you are affiliated with this effort, but if you are not, I thought you would want to know that this claim is being made. Dpapandria (talk) 19:35, 22 January 2024 (UTC)

You're being scammed. I am not, in any way, associated with any garbage SEO firms. Unfortunately, this kind of claim has become common as a credibility exercise for PR firms. Sam Kuru (talk) 19:43, 22 January 2024 (UTC)

@Dpapandria: This is an ongoing scam targeting innocent people. Those fraudsters illegally use the names of our trusted editors, such as administrators, patrollers, and AFC reviewers, to make their fraudulent services look legit. But it is clearly a scam. I will suggest that you disregard those unsolicited emails. Thanks. Maliner (talk) 19:47, 22 January 2024 (UTC)

I figured as much. I'll see if I can get more information and maybe some accounts to ban :). Dpapandria (talk) 20:27, 22 January 2024 (UTC)

Happy to look in to it; if they provide a list of "sample articles", that may be helpful. I can't see any history of that "company" abusing the project, but the domain is just a skinned WordPress blog with a proxied domain that just seems to be a few months old. There are thousands of these guys, so may be hard to hunt down. Sam Kuru (talk) 20:31, 22 January 2024 (UTC)

Came here by chance, judging by WHOIS it could be one of several Karachi-based companies (see list). Schminnte ^{[talk to me]} 23:15, 22 January 2024 (UTC)

Yup, I was only able to see that it was registered to WordPress' in-house registrar (automattic + sawbuck) and all of the data was redacted except for the province/country (Sindh, PK), which does line up to Karachi. The site is a hatchet job, so it's hard to tell what's real and what's cut&paste from a template. Sam Kuru (talk) 23:24, 22 January 2024 (UTC)

Here is what they gave me:

some of the articles authored by our team members:

Janet Mielke Schwartz - Authored by Ibtehaj

Jun Li (chemist) - Authored by Sami

Benjamin Abella - Authored by Hasan

Scott Hughes - Authored by Sami

Clement Farabet - Authored by Hasan

It appears at least two of these have already been flagged as problematic. The listed authors do not correspond to the user names listed in the articles' histories.

I asked for references and they gave contacts for three of the individuals profiled. They recommended that I reach out to the following people on LinkedIn:

[1]https://www.linkedin.com/in/janetmschwartz/

[2]https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-hughes-aaa89718/

[3]https://www.linkedin.com/in/jun-li-9357435/

The primary guy selling this (Owais Ahmed, owaiisahmedd<at>some email provider-starts with g.com) also offered to show me snapshots of email exchanges with the remaining two who did not want to be references (so shady!).

As far as the business, they offer a 35 day (!?!?) turn-around and ask a "standard fee" of US$3,555

I realize this is just the word of one guy. I'm happy to provide email messages and headers if that would be useful. Hope this helps you guys keep up the integrity of this invaluable resource. Dpapandria (talk) 03:04, 23 January 2024 (UTC)

Quick follow up:

• The Janet Mielke Schwartz article was obvious paid placement. It had a LA weekly marked advertorial from 'tedfuel', which appears to be a small SEO firm whose home page is a mashed-together wordpress site similar to the link above. There's also a 'reader's digest' marked advertorial and something from a gossip magazine blog that looks like another native ad, and some other blogs. Moved this to draft and removed the junk sources.
• The Jun Li (chemist) article by 'sami' was created by a blocked undisclosed paid editor, possibly a Wrathofyazdan sock. It was definately made via a Freelancer posted job handled by a Pakastani marketer who advertises creating Wikipedia articles (see Wikipedia:Conflict_of_interest/Noticeboard/Archive_203#Wrathofyazdan_socks). There's a long thread to look into here.
• Scott Hughes is pretty old; created in 2016. There was a recent edit to remove some negative information by a single purpose account that edited similar to the blocked editor at Jun Li (chemist). Will look in to that more as well.
• Benjamin Abella - Nothing obvious - recent addition by an IP and a low-volume account adding a selfie. This was created by a fairly prolific account that seems to focus on academic biographies.
• Clement Farabet - This seems likely to be a UDPE, the author has only created a few promotional biographies - one of which was filled with spam and moved out of mainspace by me in August; this included some really obvious advertorial and blackhat SEO sites. I left him a request for a paid editing disclosure which he seems to have ignored. Will look in to that more.

There's a few threads in there that I need to follow up on when I get some free time, but there's clearly paid editing involved in there. Sam Kuru (talk) 12:50, 23 January 2024 (UTC)

Appreciate your efforts. I did reply again asking for more articles, but I suspect they are wise to my schemes at this point. Thanks. Dpapandria (talk) 21:41, 23 January 2024 (UTC)

Apparently has not figured it out yet. Got a raft of email screen caps referencing the following (paid editor gmail addresses in parentheses):

Benjamin Arbella from 1/21/2024 (hazankhann)

Jun Li from 10/19/2023 (sheikhabdussamitariq)

Charitha Pattiaratchi from 11/28/2023 (elsakhannnnn)

Clement Farabet from 1/4/2024 (hazankhann)

Scott Hughes from 10/19/2023 (sheikhabdussamitariq)

Fun side note: the screens were captured on pirated copies of Windows.

I'm done at this point. Happy hunting. Dpapandria (talk) 13:59, 24 January 2024 (UTC)

Can you move my draft to article please

Hey I saw that you edited my draft:deuce mayne. Thank you I appreciate it. I have cleaned up the errors. Is it possible for you to move my article to the mane space? Thank you Indie.expo (talk) 03:35, 23 January 2024 (UTC)

Tyler Dusty Page Deleted

I had submitted a page based on an up and coming entrepreneur Tyler Dusty? I sourced him to TikTok And instagram where he has gained quite a following over the years and also added the articles where I had originally found him. It did not let me submit a citation to NY times though which was weird. Have never made a Wiki article before so I thought It would be cool since no one has made one for him yet, whats the reasoning for the deletion? I am Also not really familiar with how the platform works, maybe I submitted something wrong? Charlesdecar (talk) 17:46, 25 January 2024 (UTC)

We need reliable sources for articles, not instagram, tiktok, or fake SEO sites like usinsider. Articles consisting solely of silly puffery like "his journey serves as an inspirational blueprint for young entrepreneurs and business leaders", or "a tenacious pursuit of industry dominance" are typically deleted on sight. You're welcome to try again, but please use the WP:DRAFT process, and please use strong, reliable sources and avoid the adcopy. Thanks. Sam Kuru (talk) 17:51, 25 January 2024 (UTC)

I will edit and try again. Thank you so much for the help! Charlesdecar (talk) 17:55, 25 January 2024 (UTC)

Thanks for your edits ;)

Thank you for editing my draft Melvin Sims III, means a lot. If you have any other suggestions or methods of helping out beginners, would be happy to hear! NeiraMiley (talk) 06:10, 29 January 2024 (UTC)

Rejected edits - William Erbey

Hi Kuru. Thanks for taking the time to review the edits I have to William Erbey's Wikipedia page. However, I'm not sure I understand why they were rejected. Could you expand on your comment "rmv redirect links to a blacklisted seo site" please? The edits were made to add in objective information, based on a reputable source of information (MSN). Thanks very much. Best, Denvercopito (talk) 10:14, 2 February 2024 (UTC)

MSN functions as a news aggregator, republishing material from a number of shady sites. One of them, 'theubj' is a site that has been blacklisted globally across all Wikipedia projects as a SEO operation. Given the history of promotional edits on that article, it would be best to stick to quality sources. I'm sure you'll agree as a neutral editor that has absolutely nothing to do with the other spammer that was recently trying to whitewash that article. Sam Kuru (talk) 11:40, 2 February 2024 (UTC)

Hi Sam. Thanks for your swift reply. That's interesting to know, I didn't realise MSN worked like that! I'll keep an eye on the page and see how if any other edits are made. Best. Denvercopito (talk) 09:29, 5 February 2024 (UTC)

Kuru - a well deserved barnstar for you

		The Barnstar of Diligence
		Thank you so much, Kuru, for your continual hard work in ridding Wikipedia of promotional material to make it what it is supposed to be - you’re the best!

Quaerens-veritatem (talk) 04:51, 10 February 2024 (UTC)

@Quaerens-veritatem: Thank you! Sam Kuru (talk) 14:29, 10 February 2024 (UTC)

👍 Quaerens-veritatem (talk) 17:04, 10 February 2024 (UTC)

Ground News: deleted page

I see that you deleted a page Ground News, presumably about https://ground.news, a.k.a. Snapwise Inc. DBA Ground News. That appears to be a notable and indeed useful site, about which it would be useful to make a basic page, which I would be prepared to do. Since you deleted the previous page (G5: Creation by a blocked or banned user in violation of block or ban), I thought I would check with you first if there was anything I should watch out for, in order to avoid wasting effort! PJTraill (talk) 19:27, 11 February 2024 (UTC)

No objections; please be careful with sourcing as there's some paid placement in the wind. Avoid Forbes or USA Today contributor blogs. Sam Kuru (talk) 19:39, 11 February 2024 (UTC)

Thanks; I have seen in the meantime that it is hard to find many sources apart from the site itself, but I shall seek further. PJTraill (talk) 00:21, 12 February 2024 (UTC)

Hank Leiber article citation needed

Hello. I recently added about Hank Leiber being reassigned to the minor leagues with Baseball Reference Bullpen wiki as my reference. Thats in the first paragraph in MLB career section. Why was the citation not adequate? Baseball Reference is pretty reliable and I cant find it anywhere else. Well, any suggestions? I can delete it, but I think the citation was appropriate. Thank you for your time and have a good day.Theairportman33531 (talk) 13:41, 20 February 2024 (UTC)

Basebal Reference is fine, but the "Bullpen" section of the site is user-generated and does not meet our criteria for reliable sources. See the last discussion at WP:RSN here.Sam Kuru (talk) 13:45, 20 February 2024 (UTC)

Recreating CSD pages

Hi Kuru, after some discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Articles for creation and the Wikipedia Discord regarding COI/promo wording potentially blurring people's assessment of notability, I wanted to take a stab at some G5, G11, and G12 deleted pages. I came across Spacebit and Draft:Bitget (the latter I actually use to handle cryptocurrency sometimes), and I think they could meet notability with proper work, so I want to take a stab at them. As the deletor, do you have anything I should be alert for and material that could help point me in the right direction, before I recreate them? TLA^tlak 03:22, 28 February 2024 (UTC)

Spacebit was repeatedly a target for this sockfarm, which was funded through Wikibusiness, an LTA problem. Bitget was a client for the same paid editing farm. As they were both simple G5s, any editor in good standing is welcome to take a shot at it. I'd probably pick from the thousands of G11s created by misguided COI accounts instead of ones that involved actual paid abuse, but I have a chip on my shoulder with people who pay to unethically manipulate Wikipedia. Sam Kuru (talk) 03:44, 28 February 2024 (UTC)

Yeah, I just noticed that through the AfD nominations. To be fair, both of them have decent sourcing in multiple WP:GREL sources, so with proper work I think articles are possible.

Through the Discord, I was just worried I could get thrown under SPI and it would mess with my future trust / work in something like reviewing new pages. I think I'll just be bold, try it, and see what comes up. I'll do some more looking at G11 as well, thanks. TLA^tlak 03:55, 28 February 2024 (UTC)

Some early research includes a ton of Forbes contributor articles, which I know won't work.

@Kuru, here is a weird one: https://forbes.it/2023/03/23/ieo-bitget-come-lanciare-nuova-criptovaluta-2023/ – is this a staff, a contributor, or a staff contributor?! TLA^tlak 04:01, 28 February 2024 (UTC)

images

Hey Kuru, those images are mine in that I paid for the photographer and the photos all over the internet already, including my website. Same goes for all of the other ones, they're publicly available on webistes and I own them. So can I post them? Fordsavage (talk) 16:35, 28 February 2024 (UTC)

Ground News

Are you able to see if the current page that was just created is similar to the one you G5'd in December? CNMall41 (talk) 02:08, 1 March 2024 (UTC)

@CNMall41: Very different, just the usage of the logo uploaded by the prior sock. Different refs as well. Original was 50mMidas/Poybo/Justin Jin, who has been active again lately with scam domain takeovers, etc. Not clear on this one. Sam Kuru (talk) 02:16, 1 March 2024 (UTC)

Perfect. That's enough to get me in the rabbit hole at least. I'll let you know if something comes up. --CNMall41 (talk) 06:47, 1 March 2024 (UTC)

Draft:Bitget

Hi, noticed your comments on this page. I've just completed the draft and tried to avoid any advertorial / press release material, removed promotional content, etc. (as this was the primary topic of concern at previous AfDs). What do you think would be the next step? Should I bring it to the teahouse for discussion or would you be able to move it to the main space? Thanks TLA^tlak 06:34, 4 March 2024 (UTC)

Here is a source assessment table, let me know if you agree.

Source assessment table:
Source	Independent?	Reliable?	Significant coverage?	Count source toward GNG?
https//www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3241502/crypto-exchange-bitget-pulls-out-hong-kong-stops-pursuing-licence-months-after-launching-new		Paper of record	Entirely about Bitget	✔ Yes
https//www.ft.com/content/eea3a969-0dbd-4894-a049-1f566ef1660e		Perennial	Closer to Yes than partial.	✔ Yes
https//www.forbes.com/digital-assets/assets/bitget-token-bgb/		Presumably	? Database	? Unknown
https//techfundingnews.com/bitget-invests-30m-in-multi-chain-wallet-bitkeep-to-extend-its-services/	Relatively popular source for tech funding news	~ I'd say it's kind of a blog		~ Partial
https//capital.com/juventus-fc-players-ask-for-crypto-tips-says-bitget-md		~ Looks good, but crypto sites don't have the best rep	~	~ Partial
https//sunnewsonline.com/bitget-partners-with-leo-messi/		WP:NGRS		✔ Yes
https//techcrunch.com/2023/03/23/sec-clamps-down-on-coinbase-and-tron-while-do-kwon-is-arrested-overseas/		~ Fine for verification	Just a sentence, can be used for verification	✘ No
https//fortune.com/crypto/2023/04/04/crypto-trading-platform-bitget-gets-10-million-funding-round-from-dragonfly/			? WP:ROUTINE	? Unknown
This table may not be a final or consensus view; it may summarize developing consensus, or reflect assessments of a single editor. Created using {{source assess table}}.

TLA^tlak 06:34, 4 March 2024 (UTC)

I'll take a look today. Sam Kuru (talk) 12:03, 4 March 2024 (UTC)

No objections; FT is gold standard and none of these are repeated from the prior AFDs. Sam Kuru (talk) 12:21, 5 March 2024 (UTC)

Thanks: I've asked David Gerard to go ahead and move it to the mainspace. TLA^tlak 01:08, 6 March 2024 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Editor's Barnstar
	Thank you for making me aware of a mirror source I used on Geogaddi! Davest3r08 >:) (talk) 16:10, 7 March 2024 (UTC)

suspensions

I suspect that the Steve Franker, whom you banned for 48 hours after engaging in an edit war to change content without sources [4], is using another account [5]. Please compare the edits of both accounts, they are very similar and identical [6] and [7].Durziil89 (talk) 17:35, 12 March 2024 (UTC)

Will take a look. Sam Kuru (talk) 00:21, 13 March 2024 (UTC)

@Durziil89: That seems pretty clear. I've filed an SPI here to see if there's any other information available. You're welcome to comment there. Sam Kuru (talk) 00:37, 13 March 2024 (UTC)

ANI that may be of interest

There is currently a discussion at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents regarding an issue with which you may have been involved. The thread is User:Baregill demanding real-life info of another editor. Thank you. I'm just letting you know as this is connected to the comment on your talk page that was deleted, as well as the recent demands at Talk:Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth Nil Einne (talk) 02:57, 16 March 2024 (UTC)

Ethics Workshop Participation Request

Hi Kuru! We're conducting a series of participatory workshops with Wikipedia editors, administrators, researchers, and Wikimedia employees to discuss, and hopefully improve, Wikipedia's structures for online research (see meta research page). In an effort to get the right people in the room to discuss these topics, I'm reaching out here to see if you are interested in participating as an active administrator. We'd work with you to ensure this workshop can fit into your schedule, but are targeting end of April/early May. I'm happy to discuss any of these topics further here or on our talk page. Zentavious (talk) 14:24, 29 March 2024 (UTC)

Huge Sponsored Articles

I discovered yet another section of The Times of India beyond the two sections of Times of India which I added earlier to your list. This time, it's within the lifestyle subsection, referenced a whopping 185 times. This is huge, If I include drafts it is going to 193 times. Here is the list. Here is a article in lifestyle subsection which contain a disclaimer, all sources does not contain disclaimer. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/spotlight/globsyn-business-school-a-legacy-continuum-of-accomplishments/articleshow/90440692.cms

Two other News publication with small number of citations.

News18, FirstPost

While filtering out sponsored content, I came across sponsored articles from The Economic Times and ZEEBIZ that aren't categorized but are simply mentioned. "Disclaimer - The above content is non-editorial, and TIL hereby disclaims any and all warranties, expressed or implied, relating to it, and does not guarantee, vouch for or necessarily endorse any of the content."

Here are them:

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/education/globsyn-business-school-plans-to-use-augmented-reality-to-enhance-its-hybrid-delivery-model/articleshow/88068603.cms

https://www.zeebiz.com/agencies/serial-entrepreneur-investor-dr-somdutta-singh-deliberates-budget-2023-220497 Grabup (talk) 09:43, 13 April 2024 (UTC)

@Grabup: Awesome, thank you. I'll add those to my list. Sam Kuru (talk) 15:19, 13 April 2024 (UTC)

I think from this list of 193 citations, articles with disclaimer are paid and others are normal articles. Grabup (talk) 17:47, 14 April 2024 (UTC)

There is a relevant discussion here at RSN. Not sure why but it was just archived despite it still being under discussion. --CNMall41 (talk) 07:44, 15 April 2024 (UTC)

Ideological bias on wikipedia

User Jingiby pushes ideological bias against ethnic Macedonians. Everything related to republic of North Macedonia and Macedonians is edited by ethnic Bulgarian from Republic of Bulgaria.

For example about "Georgi Pulevski" the word "Macedonian" is removed constantly by him. The person fought how Macedonians are separate ethnicity but when u try to put his ethnicity it is removed by the Bulgarian editor. It just says he is Mijak (which is ethnographic group of Macedonians). This is like saying someone isn't american he is Californian.

Idk who to ask for help. Every Macedonian is complaining about this user for editing everything related to us. Would be really helpful if u could help our small ethnicity against bias. 46.217.67.206 (talk) 01:15, 15 April 2024 (UTC)

Sorry, I'm not terribly grounded on the Balkans - I'm sure there are other admins that are more informed. Sam Kuru (talk) 03:20, 16 April 2024 (UTC)

Finvasia

You mentioned an SEO farm. Can you give me more info? CNMall41 (talk) 01:24, 15 April 2024 (UTC)

@CNMall41: Public facing notes are here. Every one of these tie together directly with metadata. I have extensive offline notes or this farm, which I'd be happy to share with trusted peers. Most of the links have been cleaned up, but there's a lot at that primary link, so I'm working my way through it cautiously. Sam Kuru (talk) 02:19, 15 April 2024 (UTC)

Wonderful. Thanks for sharing. I began making a list from what I saw on Upwork but film-related sock farms have switched my focus. I do have this where I will add the link you sent. Impressive work. --CNMall41 (talk) 02:23, 15 April 2024 (UTC)

@CNMall41, That’s awsome, it will help to remove paid articles, kindly add these which I mentioned here before. Grabup (talk) 07:03, 15 April 2024 (UTC)