Wikipedia:Conflict of interest/Noticeboard#BiH paid editing.3F

• {{pagelinks|Jung Jin-young (singer)}}
• {{userlinks|Jjyupdate}}

A single purpose account whose username indicates that they are only invested in the article's subject. They have not responded to a 2021 COI warning and have twice been warned for nonconstructive edits. Vegantics (talk) 20:15, 11 April 2025 (UTC)

Hello! I am having a discussion with @Discussthis on the talk page about which version of this article is preferable: Special:Permalink/1281531495 (possibly with some edits), which I accepted based on a draft by @Gadgetgyal, who is the subject of the article and has declared her COI on the talk page, or the current version Special:Permalink/1285544028, to which Discussthis revert the article due to it being a "PR update". I'm bring this here because (1) the discussion is about a COI edit request and (2) Discussthis believes that I have an undeclared COI here. I do not, but I am happy to leave this decision to any uninvolved editors that want to take a look. Rusalkii (talk) 07:12, 15 April 2025 (UTC)

:Would probably be helpful to have someone else weigh in here. My opinion is that @Rusalkii is taking this very personally, hence my COI suspicion. If we just look at the facts: anyone who has the money to can hire a publicist, who will then target ameneable journalists to publish whatever their client wants. We know this. Some claims in this article update are unsourced, some are sourced and yet when you check sources they are just the article subjects reported statements - these are not investigative journalist pieces but fluff PR. As an example, there is a claim about how much a company sold for yet no proof of this, no financial records, there's no evidence of anything. This is a matter of integrity and the ways in which Wikipedia is utilised for personal gain at the expsense of truth. If you personally knew the article subject or had a vested interest in them then it might feel unfair, otherwise it's an objcetive call. Discussthis (talk) 18:36, 15 April 2025 (UTC)

:::I got a ping here, but am unsure any input from me is needed/helpful. I (Gadgetgyal) am the article-subject. User Rusalkii is an impartial editor with no affiliation to me. Discussthis has not disclosed a COI, but their edits are exclusively focused on deleting content about me[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Discussthis]? If there is any way I can be of assistance, please let me know. Gadgetgyal (talk) 19:23, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

:::: The ping was an FYI, you're welcome to comment but it's not at all necessary here. Rusalkii (talk) 19:46, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

::There's room to critique Gadgetgyal's proposed changes, but I really don't see anything here or at Talk:Amber Atherton that suggests that Rusalkii is taking this personally or behaving out of order. On the other hand, Discussthis has steadily amped up accusations of ulterior motives without really providing anything to back it up. It's frankly silly to see an editor who has made 19 edits over 1.5 years, all to the single article in question, accuse an editor with over 30,000 edits to a wide range of articles of having a conflict of interest with that topic. _signed, Rosguill ^talk 19:39, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

::: I am not particularly concerned about the COI allegations here, I'd just like a second look at the proposed change and for someone to weigh in on whether they think it's better to reinstate Special:Permalink/1281531495 over the current content. Rusalkii (talk) 19:46, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

::::You might want to look at previous articles versions of Silicon Valley grifters who have since been convicted of fraud. Would you have been happy to support their unverifiable claims? Statements of fact with good sources, ideally multiple trustworthy sources, are the hallmarks of a trustworthy article. Discussthis (talk) 01:23, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

• {{pagelinks|Henry Furlow Owsley III}}
• {{pagelinks|Peter S. Kaufman}}
• {{userlinks|Gtdigital}}

The above user has created the above two BLPs, both about the co-founders of the same investment bank, and both read like resumes. In fact, the BLP of Peter S. Kaufman is so much like a resume that it is linked to directly from [https://gordiangroup.com/leadership/peter-s-kaufman/ his page on the bank's official website]. Gtdigital may actually be Peter S. Kaufman. The headshot of Kaufman appearing in his article, which appears to be self-taken, was uploaded by Gtdigital and he names himself as its author. He has previously unilaterally removed the COI hatnote from the Kaufman article. His user page was [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Gtdigital&oldid=230266125 initially] just promotional links for Kaufman. He also claims to be the author of the only other file he has uploaded, the headshot in Owsley's article. This means one of two things: (1) either this is inaccurate and he is violating the actual author's copyright or (2) he actually has taken portrait photographs of Mr. Owsley, meaning he is too close to the subject of his BLP for it to be appropriate. All of his edits have been related to the bank's founders and the bank itself. He has twice created articles about the bank itself which have been speedily deleted per WP:G11. These BLPs are no different. Dennis C. Abrams (talk) 19:39, 16 April 2025 (UTC)

:I have added the required Template:COIN-notice at User talk:Gtdigital#Notice of Conflict of interest noticeboard discussion. — Pemilligan (talk) 20:25, 16 April 2025 (UTC)

::sorry about that Dennis C. Abrams (talk) 21:12, 16 April 2025 (UTC)

• {{pagelinks|Mike Bushell}}
• {{userlinks|Mr Goggin}}

Mr Goggin has made few edits to wikipedia, all except one to Mike Bushell.

• {{diff|Mike Bushell||277887096|16:05, 17 March 2009}}: adds unsourced info about "Arthur the Stoat" and specifies {{tq|"It is a common myth that Mike is the son of Garry Bushell"}}.
• {{diff|Mike Bushell|||13:51, 15 December 2017}}: adds unsourced info {{tq|"In December 2017 he received a Christmas card from the music star "Stormzy", and this made him cry with the joy of a Jackal"}}. their userpage begins {{tq|"Jackalness elusivity and illusivity both elusive ..."}}.

17 April 2025

• {{diff|Mike Bushell|1286055944|1281201469|re-adds}} unsourced info about "Arthur the Stoat", as well as an external link to a youtube page for "Arthur the Stoat".
• having seen all the above i remove the unsourced material and link, and post a coi notice.
• they {{diff|Mike Bushell|1286070938|1286058408|re-add}} the link before then repling to the above notice, ignoring the coi aspect and only insisting they are adding facts.
• i remove the link again and leave a notice about external linking to which they reply, again insisting they are adding facts as well as stating {{tq|"If you like I can arrange for a scan of his birth certificate so that we can prove that? Would you like one? I can get you one"}}. i reply to provide information about rs, and again ask if they have a coi. this goes unanswered.
• they re-add unsourced "Arthur the Stoat" info, are reverted, re-add the same youtube link, are reverted and warned by User:Whpq, {{diff|Mike Bushell|1286093335|1286092939|re-add}} the same info and link.

given all the above, it appears that Mr Goggin has a WP:EXTERNALREL concerning Mike Bushell and/or "Arthur the Stoat" which is giving rise to a disruptive editing pattern. fifteen thousand two hundred twenty four (talk) 02:51, 18 April 2025 (UTC)

• {{pagelinks|Lisa Feret}}
• {{userlinks|165.127.14.3}}

There was a previous discussion about this in 2021, and it seems the same thing is still happening four years later. 165.127.14.3 is an IP registered to the "State of Colorado General Government", and despite several warnings and apparent knowledge of how to use talk pages, is still editing COI pages: Colorado State Capitol, Alex Valdez (removing information critical of him), and Lisa Feret (adding several thousand bytes of promotional and badly sourced information).

Is there a reason this IP wasn't blocked the first time? Almost all of its edits have been to politics-related pages, and IP seems to have no intention of stopping or responding to warnings. Iiii I I I (talk) 04:58, 19 April 2025 (UTC)

:(Pinging previously involved editors in case you're interested: {{ping|Mathmitch7|Melcous|Jon698|Seraphimblade|p=}}.) Iiii I I I (talk) 05:02, 19 April 2025 (UTC)

:diff review:

:* 16 April 2025: uncited claims

:* 18 February 2025: promotional puffery and over-reliance on primary sources

:* 30 January 2024: {{tq|"... are you working on a page for our new state rep Chad Clifford we want to know more about him ..."}} coi implication

:* 4 May 2023: unexplained removal of cited information that reflects poorly on subject

:* 11 May 2021: addition of uncited information about multiple living persons

:* 23 April 2019: addition of uncited, and possibly undue, information

:near all of their edits are in the stated political space, many are minor uncontroversial changes; however, when issues do arise a coi appears to be a contributing factor and attempts to communicate these problems are unsuccessful. might be worth considering ani, but since this is an ip and the problematic edits are sparse i'm not sure what kind of outcome that'd bring. fifteen thousand two hundred twenty four (talk) 02:50, 20 April 2025 (UTC)

::Thank you very much for tagging me here, I'm glad to continue the discussion. I highly recommend editors look at the previous discussion as I had previously identified over 40 affected articles and 5 IP addresses, all of which belong to Colorado government computers. I think further investigation of similar addresses would also be a good idea, eg, anything in the 165.127.14.X range.

::I am in favor of blocking particularly bad individual addresses like the one in this report. This is surely preferable to a range block.

::I am considering filing a report with the Colorado Office of Legislative Workplace Relations, as per the leg's [https://leg.colorado.gov/workplace-expectations Workplace Expectations Policy]. I do not know what the legislature's IT department's abuse policy is like, or how to contact them. However, it seems filing a complaint with the organization directly is a good idea, as they surely have more ability to stop this than we do. This is one of the courses of action advised on Wikipedia:Blocking IP addresses. - - mathmitch7 ^{(talk/contribs)} 16:44, 21 April 2025 (UTC)

• {{pagelinks|Community Bank Bangladesh}}
• {{userlinks|Mr. Yasser Noor77}}
• {{userlinks|Mr. mohammad kamal uddin}}

I originally thought about taking this to SPI, but I figured this would be a more relevant place because these accounts may not actually be run by the same person (though from what I can see there very likely is some sort of connection between them). Both of these editors have been attempting to change information on Community Bank Bangladesh (particularly related to personnel and their roles) and attempting to add promotional content in the lead section. [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Community_Bank_Bangladesh&diff=prev&oldid=1286333611] [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Community_Bank_Bangladesh&diff=prev&oldid=1286480278] 331dot has attempted to engage in talks about disclosing a possible COI or possibly editing for pay on both of their talk pages on multiple occasions, [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Mr._mohammad_kamal_uddin&diff=prev&oldid=1286347231] [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Mr._Yasser_Noor77&diff=prev&oldid=1286508203] but neither of them have acknowledged that or responded to this point, even after a final warning was given to Mr. Yasser Noor77. ProClasher97 ~ Have A Question? 11:06, 21 April 2025 (UTC)

:I blocked Noor for UPE. 331dot (talk) 12:15, 21 April 2025 (UTC)

• {{pagelinks|Kevin Alves}}
• {{userlinks|JJ.Shniffer}}

JJ.Shniffer appears to have a COI with regards to the actor/former figure skater Kevin Alves. All of this user's edits have been to this one article. This user has failed to respond to the COI notice posted to their talk page. Bgsu98 (Talk) 14:20, 22 April 2025 (UTC)

:Hi there, I never saw this on my talk page actually. I'm not associated with the subject on this page. JJ.Shniffer (talk) 14:24, 22 April 2025 (UTC)

::@Bgsu98 JJ.Shniffer (talk) 14:27, 22 April 2025 (UTC)

:While there have been some problematic edits there is no prior discussion of—nor advice regarding—COI on JJ.Shniffer's talk page. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 12:16, 23 April 2025 (UTC)

::Drmies raised a COI notice on his talk page in June 2024 that received no acknowledgment or follow-up. Bgsu98 (Talk) 12:24, 23 April 2025 (UTC)

:::Apologies; I don't know how I missed that. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 14:17, 23 April 2025 (UTC)

::@Pigsonthewing -- https://lamp.skatecanada.ca/suspended-en.pdf  // You can see that the suspension was retracted with this link as his name is removed. This link that takes you directly to the official Skate Canada website is active and his name is not there because the suspension was retracted.

::@Bgsu98 - I am not affiliated or have any association with the subject on this page. As I mentioned before, I never saw that talk page with where this was raised previously in June 2024. JJ.Shniffer (talk) 14:13, 23 April 2025 (UTC)

• {{pagelinks|M. S. Ramachandra Rao}}
• {{userlinks|M.S. Ramachandr Rao}}
• {{userlinks|KarthicK2730}}
• {{userlinks|KannaNLGD}}

These three editors have made edits to this article about an academic. I have warned {{noping|M.S. Ramachandr Rao}} about conflict of interest, but he has continued to edit the article. {{noping|KarthicK2730}} says they work with M. S. Ramachandra Rao. I am not definite that {{noping|KannaNLGD}} has a conflict of interest, but the pattern of edits suggests that the three accounts are working together. Tacyarg (talk) 06:03, 23 April 2025 (UTC)

:M.S. Ramachandr Rao has now added to the article's Talk page {{tq|All the information we are providing is genuine - I am an academician and we are following all WikiPedia norms. Karthik and Kannan work in my office and they are updating information on my behalf from the bio-data (CV) provided by me. Kannan's account was a test account and Karthik was editing regularly with his account. Information update/editing happens with my knowledge. We can remove these two accounts (Karthik and Kannan) if that is conflicting with the policies and any further editing/updating information will be done from one account (M.S. Ramachandra Rao). Is that fine.}} Tacyarg (talk) 06:55, 23 April 2025 (UTC)

::I have commented at the article Talk page, suggesting some major surgery that is needed. - Roxy the dog 13:12, 23 April 2025 (UTC)

• {{pagelinks|Neil Mandt}}
• {{userlinks|Neilmandt}}

Neil Mandt is making changes to Neil Mandt page. This is clearly UPE 2603:3003:B10:2500:F99E:7D04:14AB:4F03 (talk) 16:24, 22 April 2025 (UTC)

:Restored. -- Pemilligan (talk) 17:15, 23 April 2025 (UTC)

: Neilmandt's last edit was on 21 October 2024. Advice on CoI was given on their talk page in April 2022. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 16:25, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

• {{userlinks|CycoMa2}}

Again this is a self report. I have done similar report in regards to the ancestry of my dad.

Now I am doing the same here but in regards to my mom. However, unlike my dad where I don't have many memories of his family or know many of his relatives I do have a a lot of memories of my mom's side of the family and I know them very well.

So there is a lot more of a personal element to this.

My mom's maiden name is Hatfield and there is tons of evidences to support the possibility that she is indeed related to the Hatfields that were involved in the Hatfield–McCoy feud.

I do remember her telling me that either her dad or maybe possibly her grandpa telling her family does indeed have connection to those Hatfields. I don't remember her dad because he died due to drug issues when I was an infant.

I checked many sites and almost all of them kept point to the fact my mom's family came from a man with the last name Hatfield who resided in Russell County, Virginia.(Various sources have stated that Devil Anse's great grandfather resided there and later moved westward) Mind at the moment all of this is just based on primary sources.

The surname Hatfield is a prevalent surname in America.

I do also in some way have a little bit of a connection to this.

I do remember going to the Hatfield-McCoy dinner show as a kid and I did go to the Hatfield cemetery where Devil Anse was buried.

Mind you, my mom doesn't take this whole thing too seriously. Just because you have the same surname as someone doesn't mean you are related.

I am currently working on an article Draft:Hatfield family.

I am declaring conflict of interest just in case a secondary source does confirm this connection.CycoMa2 (talk) 22:01, 23 April 2025 (UTC)

:How is this not a duplicate of the more detailed, better sourced article Hatfield–McCoy feud (including family tree)? BusterD (talk) 22:08, 23 April 2025 (UTC)

::There are books in historical societies with 1000s of pages that go in depth on the Hatfield family.

::Also there are notable members of this family who have no involvement with the feud.

::Also the sources I use are the exact same sources from that article.CycoMa2 (talk) 22:26, 23 April 2025 (UTC)

:::There are 3 books I have found.

:::Right now I don’t have access to these books.

:::I would have to go to a historical society library to get them.CycoMa2 (talk) 22:34, 23 April 2025 (UTC)

• {{pagelinks|Irene Hays}}
• {{userlinks|Jane Peverley}}
• {{userlinks|167.98.152.196}}

The editors appear to be employees of Ms. Hays and have been using Wikipedia to promote her and the company.   –Skywatcher68 (talk) 14:19, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

:Man, that article is jammed full of unnecessary WP:PUFFERY. Bgsu98 (Talk) 14:23, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

This user's edits and username suggest a COI with the company concerned as they are making unreferenced additions to the controversy section to remove or mitigate the referenced information .Atlantic306 (talk) 19:46, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

:No conflict, I have a personal interest in the captive insurance industry as a whole and find that this controversy section maligns the use of captive subsidiaries as scams to hide money and information. It also maligns Hawaii as a domicile for such captives. My edits were meant to achieve Wikipedia's goal of neutrality, so that the captive insurance industry is represented fairly. Washcoguy (talk) 21:48, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

• {{pagelinks|Clean Water Services}}
• {{userlinks|Washcoguy}}

• {{pagelinks|Randy Lennox}}
• {{userlinks|BBiz2257}}

I’d like to raise concerns about the Randy Lennox article, which has a long-standing pattern of promotional content and potential COI editing. A recurring editor appears to be primarily responsible for inserting highly favorable language and name-dropping celebrity endorsements inconsistent with WP:NPOV, WP:PEACOCK, WP:UNDUE, etc.

Here’s a sample of the current language:

{{tq|“helped discover and develop internationally renowned Canadian artists including...”}}

{{tq|“a man without whom American and Canadian music would certainly not be the same...”}}

The COI template was added back in 2024, eventually removed. The above lines were removed by another editor, but recently restored by {{user|BBiz2257}}.

In addition, the following IPs have made zero edits outside this page, and their edits seem to be PR-related:

• {{user|64.229.18.146}}
• {{user|74.12.179.86}}
• {{user|199.167.157.95}}
• {{user|74.14.80.173}}
• {{user|147.194.38.198}}

This is just more recently too, as pointed out by {{user|RetroCosmos}} in March 2024.

This would otherwise be an easy fix, but this pattern is continuing through evasive editing strategies.

I’ve posted on the article's talk page here: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Randy_Lennox]

Given the recurring promotional tone, IP-only PR-edits, possible undisclosed COI, and a history of content being re-added despite earlier removal, I wonder if it would be appropriate for page protection, COI investigation, or a neutral rewrite.

Would appreciate input or review by experienced editors.

Thanks.

tofubird | ✉ 22:07, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

:@Tofubird I saw Mr Lennox give a speech a few years ago and took an interest in his career which led me to originally contribute to his page.

:I agree that the page has had a history of COI/PR edits, which is why in March 2024 I removed about 15% of the word count in my best attempt at an NPOV edit. [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?diff=1221745041&oldid=1215487643&title=Randy_Lennox As you can see from the edit diff], I removed numerous instances of promotional language and irrelevant details that didn’t serve the article's neutrality or content.

:When I saw last week that the Bono and Gene Simmons quotes had been removed, I looked at the edit log and saw that a ton of edits had been made by newbies (given the repeated presence of the 'Newcomer task' tag on the edit). I believe these edits were made by well-intentioned but inexperienced editors "being bold" with their first edits, as a result of the page being featured in some edit directory when you added the peacock tag.

:To directly address the two restorations I made:

:1) The quotes from Bono and Gene Simmons are directly relevant to his career and are sourced from publicly available material, meeting Wikipedia’s verifiability requirement. I restored them because they offer verifiable insight into Mr. Lennox's professional recognition. Could you please clarify your concerns about these quotes?

:2) Given Mr. Lennox’s senior role, ‘worked with’ implies a closer working relationship than is accurate, while ‘helped discover and develop’ better captures the broader scope of his impact on these artists without exaggerating or overstating his closeness or impact. Since the change was also made by a newbie, it seemed appropriate to roll back.

:While 'internationally renowned' could be seen as promotional, the artists mentioned have made significant contributions on the international stage, which I believe warrants the term. Do you have a suggestion for alternate wording that conveys the same meaning? Widely recognized? Well-known internationally? Something that is both neutral but also does not erase Mr. Lennox's contributions to Canadian cultural exports.

:I hope you'll agree that taken as a whole, my contributions are rooted in, and reflect, my commitment to NPOV.

:I look forward to your feedback on how we can refine the language further.

:--BBiz2257 (talk) 13:25, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

678-620-4154-

• {{pagelinks|article name}}sms
• {{userlinks|username}} natilie Sargent sms

talk

Replace this with a brief explanation of the situation. 2600:1700:5570:BE70:9C63:2781:ECF6:F5FA (talk) 09:36, 25 April 2025 (UTC)