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class="vector-toc-numb">2</span> <span>Standards</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Standards-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Tag_'em_to_stop_'em" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Tag_'em_to_stop_'em"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3</span> <span>Tag 'em to stop 'em</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Tag_'em_to_stop_'em-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-How_to_identify_spam_and_spammers" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#How_to_identify_spam_and_spammers"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4</span> <span>How to identify spam and spammers</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-How_to_identify_spam_and_spammers-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle How to identify spam and spammers subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-How_to_identify_spam_and_spammers-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Common_spammer_strawmen" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Common_spammer_strawmen"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.1</span> <span>Common spammer strawmen</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Common_spammer_strawmen-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Assuming_good_faith" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Assuming_good_faith"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.2</span> <span>Assuming good faith</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Assuming_good_faith-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Regular_clean-out_of_undiscussed_links" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Regular_clean-out_of_undiscussed_links"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.3</span> <span>Regular clean-out of undiscussed links</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Regular_clean-out_of_undiscussed_links-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-What_to_do_with_linkfarms" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#What_to_do_with_linkfarms"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.4</span> <span>What to do with linkfarms</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-What_to_do_with_linkfarms-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Promotional_sub-pages" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Promotional_sub-pages"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.5</span> <span>Promotional sub-pages</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Promotional_sub-pages-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-The_Campaign" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#The_Campaign"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5</span> <span>The Campaign</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-The_Campaign-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Guidelines,_policies,_and_essays" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Guidelines,_policies,_and_essays"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6</span> <span>Guidelines, policies, and essays</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Guidelines,_policies,_and_essays-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Templates" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Templates"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">7</span> <span>Templates</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Templates-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Templates subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Templates-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-{{subst:spam}}_and_related" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#{{subst:spam}}_and_related"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">7.1</span> <span>{{subst:spam}} and related</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-{{subst:spam}}_and_related-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-{{Advert}}" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#{{Advert}}"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">7.2</span> <span><span>{{</span>Advert<span>}}</span></span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-{{Advert}}-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-{{subst:WPSPAM-invite}}" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#{{subst:WPSPAM-invite}}"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">7.3</span> <span>{{subst:WPSPAM-invite}}</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-{{subst:WPSPAM-invite}}-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Standardised_edit_summary" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Standardised_edit_summary"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">8</span> <span>Standardised edit summary</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Standardised_edit_summary-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Recognition" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Recognition"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">9</span> <span>Recognition</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Recognition-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Recognition subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Recognition-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-The_Spamstar_of_Glory" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#The_Spamstar_of_Glory"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">9.1</span> <span>The Spamstar of Glory</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-The_Spamstar_of_Glory-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-The_Anti-Spam_Barnstar" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#The_Anti-Spam_Barnstar"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">9.2</span> <span>The Anti-Spam Barnstar</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-The_Anti-Spam_Barnstar-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Participants" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Participants"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">10</span> <span>Participants</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Participants-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Participants subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Participants-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Userbox" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Userbox"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">10.1</span> <span>Userbox</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Userbox-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Cross-wiki_coordination" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Cross-wiki_coordination"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">11</span> <span>Cross-wiki coordination</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Cross-wiki_coordination-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Tools" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Tools"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">12</span> <span>Tools</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Tools-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="mw-content-container"> <main id="content" class="mw-body"> <header class="mw-body-header vector-page-titlebar"> <nav aria-label="Contents" class="vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-titlebar-toc vector-button-flush-left" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Toggle the table of contents" > <label id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-label" for="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-listBullet mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-listBullet"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Toggle the table of contents</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading mw-first-heading"><span class="mw-page-title-namespace">Wikipedia</span><span class="mw-page-title-separator">:</span><span class="mw-page-title-main">WikiProject Spam</span></h1> <div id="p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown mw-portlet mw-portlet-lang" > <input type="checkbox" id="p-lang-btn-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox mw-interlanguage-selector" aria-label="Go to an article in another language. Available in 5 languages" > <label id="p-lang-btn-label" for="p-lang-btn-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--action-progressive mw-portlet-lang-heading-5" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-language-progressive mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-language-progressive"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">5 languages</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ar mw-list-item"><a href="https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%83%D9%8A%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%A7:%D9%85%D8%B4%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%B9_%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%83%D9%8A_%D8%B3%D8%AE%D8%A7%D9%85" title="ويكيبيديا:مشروع ويكي سخام – Arabic" lang="ar" hreflang="ar" data-title="ويكيبيديا:مشروع ويكي سخام" data-language-autonym="العربية" data-language-local-name="Arabic" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>العربية</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hi mw-list-item"><a href="https://hi.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%AA%E0%A5%80%E0%A4%A1%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%BE:%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%AF%E0%A5%8B%E0%A4%9C%E0%A4%A8%E0%A4%BE_%E0%A4%B8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AA%E0%A5%88%E0%A4%AE" title="विकिपीडिया:विकिपरियोजना स्पैम – Hindi" lang="hi" hreflang="hi" data-title="विकिपीडिया:विकिपरियोजना स्पैम" data-language-autonym="हिन्दी" data-language-local-name="Hindi" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>हिन्दी</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-it mw-list-item"><a href="https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progetto:Coordinamento/AntiSpam" title="Progetto:Coordinamento/AntiSpam – Italian" lang="it" hreflang="it" data-title="Progetto:Coordinamento/AntiSpam" data-language-autonym="Italiano" data-language-local-name="Italian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Italiano</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ms mw-list-item"><a href="https://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProjek_Spam" title="Wikipedia:WikiProjek Spam – Malay" lang="ms" hreflang="ms" data-title="Wikipedia:WikiProjek Spam" data-language-autonym="Bahasa Melayu" data-language-local-name="Malay" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Bahasa Melayu</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pl mw-list-item"><a href="https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikiprojekt:Spam" title="Wikiprojekt:Spam – Polish" lang="pl" hreflang="pl" data-title="Wikiprojekt:Spam" data-language-autonym="Polski" data-language-local-name="Polish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Polski</span></a></li> </ul> <div class="after-portlet after-portlet-lang"><span class="wb-langlinks-edit wb-langlinks-link"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:EntityPage/Q14037225#sitelinks-wikipedia" title="Edit interlanguage links" class="wbc-editpage">Edit links</a></span></div> </div> </div> </div> </header> <div class="vector-page-toolbar"> <div class="vector-page-toolbar-container"> <div id="left-navigation"> <nav aria-label="Namespaces"> <div id="p-associated-pages" class="vector-menu vector-menu-tabs mw-portlet mw-portlet-associated-pages" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-nstab-project" class="selected vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam" title="View the project page [c]" accesskey="c"><span>Project page</span></a></li><li id="ca-talk" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Spam" rel="discussion" title="Discuss improvements to the content page [t]" accesskey="t"><span>Talk</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="vector-variants-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown emptyPortlet" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-variants-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-variants-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Change language variant" > <label id="vector-variants-dropdown-label" for="vector-variants-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">English</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="p-variants" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-variants emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> <div id="right-navigation" class="vector-collapsible"> <nav aria-label="Views"> <div id="p-views" class="vector-menu vector-menu-tabs mw-portlet mw-portlet-views" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-view" class="selected vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam"><span>Read</span></a></li><li id="ca-edit" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam&action=edit" title="Edit this page [e]" accesskey="e"><span>Edit</span></a></li><li id="ca-history" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam&action=history" title="Past revisions of this page [h]" accesskey="h"><span>View history</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> <nav class="vector-page-tools-landmark" aria-label="Page tools"> <div id="vector-page-tools-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-tools-dropdown" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-tools-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-page-tools-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Tools" > <label id="vector-page-tools-dropdown-label" for="vector-page-tools-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Tools</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-page-tools-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> <div id="vector-page-tools" class="vector-page-tools vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-page-tools-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-unpinned" data-feature-name="page-tools-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-page-tools" data-pinned-container-id="vector-page-tools-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-page-tools-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Tools</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-page-tools.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-page-tools.unpin">hide</button> </div> <div id="p-cactions" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-cactions emptyPortlet vector-has-collapsible-items" title="More options" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Actions </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-more-view" class="selected vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam"><span>Read</span></a></li><li id="ca-more-edit" class="vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam&action=edit" title="Edit this page [e]" accesskey="e"><span>Edit</span></a></li><li id="ca-more-history" class="vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam&action=history"><span>View history</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-tb" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-tb" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> General </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="t-whatlinkshere" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:WhatLinksHere/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam" title="List of all English Wikipedia pages containing links to this page [j]" accesskey="j"><span>What links here</span></a></li><li id="t-recentchangeslinked" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam" rel="nofollow" title="Recent changes in pages linked from this page [k]" accesskey="k"><span>Related changes</span></a></li><li id="t-upload" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:File_Upload_Wizard" title="Upload files [u]" accesskey="u"><span>Upload file</span></a></li><li id="t-specialpages" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:SpecialPages" title="A list of all special pages [q]" accesskey="q"><span>Special pages</span></a></li><li id="t-permalink" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam&oldid=1239770590" title="Permanent link to this revision of this page"><span>Permanent link</span></a></li><li id="t-info" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam&action=info" title="More information about this page"><span>Page information</span></a></li><li id="t-urlshortener" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UrlShortener&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FWikipedia%3AWikiProject_Spam"><span>Get shortened URL</span></a></li><li id="t-urlshortener-qrcode" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:QrCode&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FWikipedia%3AWikiProject_Spam"><span>Download QR code</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-coll-print_export" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-coll-print_export" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Print/export </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="coll-download-as-rl" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:DownloadAsPdf&page=Wikipedia%3AWikiProject_Spam&action=show-download-screen" title="Download this page as a PDF file"><span>Download as PDF</span></a></li><li id="t-print" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam&printable=yes" title="Printable version of this page [p]" accesskey="p"><span>Printable version</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-wikibase-otherprojects" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-wikibase-otherprojects" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> In other projects </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li class="wb-otherproject-link wb-otherproject-meta mw-list-item"><a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikiproject:Antispam" hreflang="en"><span>Meta-Wiki</span></a></li><li id="t-wikibase" class="wb-otherproject-link wb-otherproject-wikibase-dataitem mw-list-item"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:EntityPage/Q14037225" title="Structured data on this page hosted by Wikidata [g]" accesskey="g"><span>Wikidata item</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> </div> <div class="vector-column-end"> <div class="vector-sticky-pinned-container"> <nav class="vector-page-tools-landmark" aria-label="Page tools"> <div id="vector-page-tools-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> </div> </nav> <nav class="vector-appearance-landmark" aria-label="Appearance"> <div id="vector-appearance-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> <div id="vector-appearance" class="vector-appearance vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-appearance-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-pinned" data-feature-name="appearance-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-appearance" data-pinned-container-id="vector-appearance-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-appearance-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Appearance</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-appearance.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-appearance.unpin">hide</button> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div id="bodyContent" class="vector-body" aria-labelledby="firstHeading" data-mw-ve-target-container> <div class="vector-body-before-content"> <div class="mw-indicators"> </div> <div id="siteSub" class="noprint">From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</div> </div> <div id="contentSub"><div id="mw-content-subtitle"></div></div> <div id="mw-content-text" class="mw-body-content"><div class="mw-content-ltr mw-parser-output" lang="en" dir="ltr"><div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none">Wikipedia spam fighting</div> <table style="background-color: transparent; text-align: center;" align="center" class="plainlinks"> <tbody><tr> <td class="nounderlines" style="text-align: center; font-size: 2em; line-height:normal;"><b>Report Spam</b><br/><br/> <figure class="mw-halign-center" typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/Special:NewSection/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Spam" title="Report Spam"><img alt="Report Spam" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8c/Shutdown_button.svg/115px-Shutdown_button.svg.png" decoding="async" width="115" height="115" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8c/Shutdown_button.svg/173px-Shutdown_button.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8c/Shutdown_button.svg/230px-Shutdown_button.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="48" data-file-height="48"/></a><figcaption>Report Spam</figcaption></figure><br/> </td></tr> <tr> <td><span style="color:#002bb8;font-weight:bold"> Use this button to report spam abuse (<a href="/wiki/Special:NewSection/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Spam" title="Special:NewSection/Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Spam">direct link</a>). This will create a new section/report on the talk page. </span> </td></tr></tbody></table> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1252059228">.mw-parser-output .module-shortcutboxplain{float:right;margin:0 0 0 1em;border:1px solid var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1);background-color:var(--background-color-base,#fff);padding:0.3em 0.6em 0.2em 0.6em;text-align:center;font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .module-shortcutboxleft{float:left;margin:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .module-shortcutlist{display:inline-block;border-bottom:1px solid var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1);margin-bottom:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .module-shortcutboxplain ul{font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .module-shortcutanchordiv{position:relative;top:-3em}.mw-parser-output li .module-shortcutanchordiv{float:right}.mw-parser-output .mbox-imageright .module-shortcutboxplain{padding:0.4em 1em 0.4em 1em;line-height:1.3;margin:0}</style><div class="module-shortcutanchordiv"><span id="WP:WPSPAM"></span></div><div class="module-shortcutboxplain noprint" role="note"><div class="module-shortcutlist"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Shortcut" title="Wikipedia:Shortcut">Shortcut</a></div><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1126788409">.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul{line-height:inherit;list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol li,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul li{margin-bottom:0}</style><div class="plainlist"><ul><li><span class="plainlinks"><a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WPSPAM&redirect=no">WP:WPSPAM</a></span></li></ul></div></div><figure class="mw-halign-right" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:BB61_USS_Iowa_BB61_broadside_USN.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ea/BB61_USS_Iowa_BB61_broadside_USN.jpg/350px-BB61_USS_Iowa_BB61_broadside_USN.jpg" decoding="async" width="350" height="446" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ea/BB61_USS_Iowa_BB61_broadside_USN.jpg/525px-BB61_USS_Iowa_BB61_broadside_USN.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ea/BB61_USS_Iowa_BB61_broadside_USN.jpg/700px-BB61_USS_Iowa_BB61_broadside_USN.jpg 2x" data-file-width="2354" data-file-height="3000"/></a><figcaption>WikiProject Spam engaging spammers off the coast of <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_(country)" title="Wikipedia:Wikipedia (country)">Wikipedia</a>.</figcaption></figure> <p>As Wikipedia grows in popularity, the temptation to misuse its editability to bring attention to other websites becomes nearly unbearable. At one end of the spectrum are professional spammers seeking to drive traffic to commercial sites. At the other end are webmasters of simple community sites who want to get more attention for their sites. This potential for self-promotion on Wikipedia must be managed—Wikipedia is not a "<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:What_Wikipedia_is_not#Wikipedia_is_not_a_mirror_or_a_repository_of_links.2C_images.2C_or_media_files" title="Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not">repository for links</a></i>" or a "<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:What_Wikipedia_is_not#Wikipedia_is_not_a_soapbox" title="Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not">vehicle for advertising</a></i>". Wikipedia exists for the purpose of creating a collaboratively edited encyclopedia, not for any individual to promote a site in which they have an interest. </p><p>Those promoting sites by linking to them from Wikipedia formerly saw major <a href="/wiki/Search_engine_optimization" title="Search engine optimization">search engine optimization</a> (SEO) benefits, due to Wikipedia's popularity. The ability to promote a site's appearance in search engine results was considered too great an incentive for people to add extraneous links to articles. So in February 2007, the English Wikipedia instituted a policy that tags external links "NOFOLLOW."<a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.itworldcanada.com/article/wikipedia-has-to-do-what-it-has-to-do/7755">[1]</a> This means that major search engines like Google no longer index these links. Many web site operators still seek to use Wikipedia to increase the number of inbound links to their sites, some either out of ignorance of SEO functionality or of this policy change, others because they simply hope to draw individual readers to their site through direct Wikipedia traffic. </p><p>Currently link spammers enjoy many advantages from the lack of cohesion to the spam-fighting process. It is possible to sneak links into relatively unwatched articles successfully. Such links may lie unexamined for months, gaining the appearance of legitimacy from having remained in an article so long. When spam links are reverted, there is not much communication. Spammers can return and add links when different editors are watching who do not know their history of editing-with-an-agenda. Frequently spam contributors take advantage of Wikipedia's <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:AGF" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:AGF">Assume good faith</a> policy. They may engage in <a href="/wiki/Strawman" class="mw-redirect" title="Strawman">straw-man</a> or <a href="/wiki/Special_pleading" title="Special pleading">special pleading</a> arguments for inclusion of their links under the guise that they have only the welfare of Wikipedia at heart, usually in the presence of evidence to the contrary. </p><p>WikiProject Spam is a voluntary <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:SPAM" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:SPAM">Spam</a>-fighting brigade. Our purpose is: to develop standards and processes for recognizing, hunting down, and eliminating link spam; to streamline communication between those who want to watch over articles to prevent it; and, to send a message by our actions and effectiveness that link spammers are fighting a war they cannot win. </p><p>If you would like to participate, we encourage you to add your name to the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam/Participants" title="Wikipedia:WikiProject Spam/Participants">sign-up list</a>. We encourage you to join in editing this page so we can grow toward consensus about the best way to fight link spam. You are welcome to relate any of your own current ongoing efforts to fight link spam on the talk page so that in the immediate future we can be aware of users that are acting with an agenda to promote an external site. </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc"/> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Removal_how-to" data-mw-thread-id="h-Removal_how-to"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Removal_how-to"></span>Removal how-to<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Removal_how-to"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Removal how-to"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>There are a variety of facets for dealing with inappropriate links. This guide breaks the process into a number of steps. Most editors will want to complete the first step. Editors interested in doing a more thorough job should follow through with additional measures. </p> <ol><li><b>Revert and warn the user:</b> when new spam appears on your <a href="/wiki/Help:Watching_pages" class="mw-redirect" title="Help:Watching pages">watchlist</a>, the easiest way to <a href="/wiki/Help:Reverting" title="Help:Reverting">remove or revert</a> it is by selecting the <a href="/wiki/Help:Diff" title="Help:Diff">diff</a> link, then select the <i>edit</i> above the left-hand column, include an appropriate <a href="/wiki/Help:Edit_summary" title="Help:Edit summary">edit summary</a>, <a href="/wiki/Help:Show_preview" title="Help:Show preview">preview</a> changes and finally save the page. If you come upon an article with spam, check the recent diffs (the <i>last</i> links) in the <a href="/wiki/Help:Page_history" title="Help:Page history">page history</a> to see if it was added recently in a way that damaged the article; revert the changes to restore the articles to its previous state. It is important to warn the user, which will likely stop the spamming or establish a history of problematic edits. To warn the user, go back to your watchlist or page history and select the <i>Talk</i> link associated with the editor and add {{subst:uw-spam1}} ~~~~ to that page. If the user already has a spam warning, add {{subst:uw-spam2}} ~~~~ or {{subst:uw-spam3}} ~~~~, or, if necessary, {{subst:uw-spam4}} ~~~~. At this point the task is done, but to see if the user added the same link to other articles, go on to step2.</li> <li><b>Check the user's contributions:</b> a user will often add the same link to multiple articles. This is often confirmation that the user is not editing in good faith. To check for this type of activity, select the <a href="/wiki/Help:User_contributions" title="Help:User contributions">contribs</a> (or for anonymous users the <a href="/wiki/Dot-decimal_notation" title="Dot-decimal notation">IP address</a>) link from your watch list or an article's history. This shows all the other edits the user recently made and selecting the <i>diff</i> link shows if the same link has been added to other articles. If inappropriate links are found, revert as in step one, but the user only needs to be warned once unless they have spammed since the last warning.</li> <li><b>Check for similar links:</b> a crafty spammer hides spamming by using <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Sock_puppetry" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Sock puppetry">multiple accounts</a>. This step involves finding all of the articles that contain a link to a particular site. If a link to www.example.com were discovered and removed in steps one and two, the next step is to use the <a href="/wiki/Special:LinkSearch" title="Special:LinkSearch">External links</a> command to find all articles that contain such links. One may enter www.example.com in the search box, but consider entering *.example.com because this will find not only www.example.com but also ads.example.com and any other domain that might have been used. (The External links command is found in the <a href="/wiki/Special:SpecialPages" title="Special:SpecialPages">Special pages</a> list, which has a link from the toolbox of every page.) An archived inventory of over 1000 problematic domains can be found at this project's <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam/LinkSearch" title="Wikipedia:WikiProject Spam/LinkSearch">LinkSearch</a> page.</li> <li><b>Identify the spammer:</b> the process of finding links in step three reveals which articles they are in but does not indicate which editor added them. To find out, use the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:BLAME" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:BLAME">WikiBlame</a> (<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://wikipedia.ramselehof.de/wikiblame.php">link</a>) or <a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/WWT" class="extiw" title="mw:WWT">Who wrote that?</a> tool to identify the editor. Enter the name of the article in the "Page" field and the domain name in the "Search for" field, then click "Start" to begin the search process. Once the edit is found, go back to step one and start cleaning up after this editor. <ul><li>Use <a class="external text" href="https://spamcheck.toolforge.org">Spamcheck</a> to find all of the users who have inserted a link and <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:RSPAM#ANN_Spamcheck" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:RSPAM">all of the links inserted by a user</a>.</li> <li>Try to get a report from <a href="/wiki/User:COIBot" title="User:COIBot">COIBot</a> for the domain, either by <a href="/wiki/User:COIBot/Poke" title="User:COIBot/Poke">poking the bot (requires access)</a>, or by creating a report at <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WPSPAM" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia talk:WPSPAM">WT:WPSPAM</a> (the underlying database that COIBot pulls data from is for approximately the last 7 years).</li> <li>For easy access to WikiBlame, enable <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/MoreMenu" class="extiw" title="m:MoreMenu">MoreMenu</a> in your <a href="/wiki/Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-gadgets" title="Special:Preferences">gadget preferences</a> to add a link to WikiBlame in the Wikipedia toolbar.</li> <li><i>Manual method:</i> If WikiBlame is down, you can use a <a href="/wiki/Divide_and_conquer_algorithm" class="mw-redirect" title="Divide and conquer algorithm">divide and conquer method</a> to find the exact point of insertion. Go to the <a href="/wiki/Help:Page_history" title="Help:Page history">article history</a> and expand it to 500 entries. Check to see if the link is present in the last revision in the list. If so, select the previous 500 changes and check again, repeating the process to find the subset of changes where the link appeared. To find the exact edit where the link was added, check the version in the middle of the 500 entries. If it is not present there, then it is in the edits above otherwise it is in the edits below. Check the middle of the appropriate half in the same manner. Often the edit summary includes the words <i>External links</i> which can help pinpoint the edit.</li> <li>For easy access to Who wrote that? browser add-ons are available and after running the tool, the user who added a link can be determined by simply hovering over it in the article.</li></ul></li> <li><b>Persistent spammers:</b> if an active spammer continues adding links after a {{subst:uw-spam4}} warning, report the user to the administrators at the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:AIV" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:AIV">intervention against vandalism page</a>. If blocks fail to stop the problem, or if the spammer is using multiple accounts and IPs, the case can be reported to the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:SBL" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:SBL">Spam blacklist</a>.</li> <li><b>Document</b> the target url. Post an example of the link you have been removing on this project's <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Spam" title="Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Spam">talk page</a>. If the site is spammed again, any future spam fighters who try a link search will realize that it is a repeat offense, and further action may be needed.</li></ol> <p><big>See also the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam/To-do" title="Wikipedia:WikiProject Spam/To-do">to-do list</a>.</big> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Standards" data-mw-thread-id="h-Standards"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Standards"></span>Standards<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Standards"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Standards"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The number one rule for Project members is this code of honor: "I will never insert links to my own sites into Wikipedia's article space." Not only is <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:COI" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:COI">Conflict of interest</a> a guideline that is generally accepted among editors, but many of us who run websites are too committed to their success (however we define it) to judge impartially whether or not they belong in an article. Moreover, we are actively reverting self-promotion linking by other editors, some of whom view the addition of their links as sincere attempts to service various communities. It is easier to gain the respect of these people if we hold ourselves to the highest possible standard and avoid any appearance of double-standards or hypocrisy. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Tag_'em_to_stop_'em" data-mw-thread-id="h-Tag_'em_to_stop_'em"><span id="Tag_.27em_to_stop_.27em"></span><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Tag_'em_to_stop_'em"></span>Tag 'em to stop 'em<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Tag_'em_to_stop_'em"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Tag 'em to stop 'em"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Spam edits automatically deserve a <b>{{subst:uw-spam1}}</b> tag on the user's talk page. <u><b>This is important!</b></u> First, to drive the message that spam is not welcome here, and second, to warn us of repeat offenders. Successive violations of the spam policy can be met with talk page additions of; </p> <ul><li>{{subst:uw-spam2}}</li> <li>{{subst:uw-spam3}}</li> <li>{{subst:uw-spam4}}</li></ul> <p>Know that you needn't go through all four warning templates in succession. </p> <hr style="visibility: hidden;"/><hr style="visibility: hidden;"/> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238436933">.mw-parser-output .ombox{margin:4px 0;border-collapse:collapse;border:1px solid #a2a9b1;background-color:var(--background-color-neutral-subtle,#f8f9fa);box-sizing:border-box;color:var(--color-base,#202122)}.mw-parser-output .ombox.mbox-small{font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em}.mw-parser-output .ombox-speedy{border:2px solid #b32424;background-color:#fee7e6}.mw-parser-output .ombox-delete{border:2px solid #b32424}.mw-parser-output .ombox-content{border:1px solid #f28500}.mw-parser-output .ombox-style{border:1px solid #fc3}.mw-parser-output .ombox-move{border:1px solid #9932cc}.mw-parser-output .ombox-protection{border:2px solid #a2a9b1}.mw-parser-output .ombox .mbox-text{border:none;padding:0.25em 0.9em;width:100%}.mw-parser-output .ombox .mbox-image{border:none;padding:2px 0 2px 0.9em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ombox .mbox-imageright{border:none;padding:2px 0.9em 2px 0;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ombox .mbox-empty-cell{border:none;padding:0;width:1px}.mw-parser-output .ombox .mbox-invalid-type{text-align:center}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .ombox{margin:4px 10%}.mw-parser-output .ombox.mbox-small{clear:right;float:right;margin:4px 0 4px 1em;width:238px}}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output table.ombox img{max-width:none!important}@media screen{html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .ombox-speedy{background-color:#310402}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .ombox-speedy{background-color:#310402}}</style><table class="plainlinks ombox ombox-notice" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><figure class="mw-halign-right" typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Crystal_Clear_app_ktip.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3c/Crystal_Clear_app_ktip.svg/40px-Crystal_Clear_app_ktip.svg.png" decoding="async" width="40" height="40" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3c/Crystal_Clear_app_ktip.svg/60px-Crystal_Clear_app_ktip.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3c/Crystal_Clear_app_ktip.svg/80px-Crystal_Clear_app_ktip.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128"/></a><figcaption></figcaption></figure></td><td class="mbox-text"><div><span style="font-size:110%;"><b>Tip: Twinkle can help you.</b></span></div> The easiest way to tag a spammer's talk page is to enable <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Twinkle" title="Wikipedia:Twinkle">Twinkle</a> in the Gadgets section of <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Twinkle#Installation" title="Wikipedia:Twinkle">your Preferences page</a> and to use Twinkle's "<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Twinkle/doc#Warn_(user_talk_warnings)" title="Wikipedia:Twinkle/doc">Warn</a>" tool.</td></tr></tbody></table> <hr style="visibility: hidden;"/> <p><i><b>Note:</b></i> When tagging spammers, it will help if you leave a "linksummary" template or <i>URL</i> with the warning, or formulate your own, like; </p> <dl><dd><code>==Additions of http://.spammydomain.com ==</code></dd> <dd><code>{{subst:uw-spam1}}--~~~~</code> <dl><dd><i><b>or</b></i></dd></dl></dd> <dd><code>== Addition(s) ==</code></dd> <dd><code>*{{LinkSummaryLive|spammydomain.com}}</code></dd> <dd><code>{{subst:uw-spam1}}--~~~~</code></dd></dl> <p>Leaving a link or template can help find IPs and accounts, months later. If a violation occurs after the fourth warning, you should report the offending user at the <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Administrator_intervention_against_vandalism&action=edit&section=1">Administrator intervention against vandalism</a> page. If there is ongoing abuse, over a period of time and you think a site should be <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:SBL" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:SBL">blacklisted</a>, report it. Placing the warning tag does not take much more effort than removing the spam itself, and can really help the effort to prevent the spam from returning. </p> <dl><dd><i>Further templates:</i> <a class="mw-selflink-fragment" href="#Templates">Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam#Templates</a></dd></dl> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="How_to_identify_spam_and_spammers" data-mw-thread-id="h-How_to_identify_spam_and_spammers"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-How_to_identify_spam_and_spammers"></span>How to identify spam and spammers<span data-mw-comment-end="h-How_to_identify_spam_and_spammers"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: How to identify spam and spammers"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ol><li>User is anonymous (an IP address)</li> <li>User:page and/or User_talk:page are red links</li> <li>No edit summary (other than, perhaps <code>/* External links */</code>)</li> <li>User has made only one edit, which consisted of inserting a link</li> <li>User has made multiple edits to related articles</li> <li>The majority of user's edits are to external links sections</li> <li>The link is a site that has Google/Yahoo ads (<a href="/wiki/AdSense" class="mw-redirect" title="AdSense">AdSense</a>/SM).</li> <li>Edits are marked "minor"</li> <li>Link is trying to sell a product or service</li> <li>User adds links to the top of a section, above far more relevant sites</li> <li>User replaces an existing link or part of an existing link.</li> <li>The syntax of the added link does not match the syntax used in the rest of the list</li> <li>User adds links to inappropriate sections of articles ("References", "See also", "For more information")</li> <li>User adds links that have been previously removed, without discussing on the talk page.</li> <li>Following a link takes you to a site that does not mention the specific topic of the page containing the link.</li> <li>Link is unrelated, or only marginally related to the article. For example, link on a biography to a specific page on a genealogy site describing the person's genealogy, but not the person.</li> <li>User adds links to other Wikipedia articles where he/she has already placed spam links.</li> <li>User includes within the link description, "hosted on example.com" with a separate link to example.com.</li> <li>Link is mangled, or it took many edits to get the syntax right. The spammer may be new to Wikipedia and not be familiar with Wikipedia syntax for external links.</li> <li>Text of the link goes beyond describing the contents to actively encouraging you to read it. For example, including text such as, "Read more about [subject] in [this fascinating article]"</li></ol> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Common_spammer_strawmen" data-mw-thread-id="h-Common_spammer_strawmen-How_to_identify_spam_and_spammers"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Common_spammer_strawmen-How_to_identify_spam_and_spammers"></span>Common spammer strawmen<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Common_spammer_strawmen-How_to_identify_spam_and_spammers"></span></h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Common spammer strawmen"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1252059228"><div class="module-shortcutanchordiv"><span id="WP:OTHERLINKS"></span></div><div class="module-shortcutboxplain noprint" role="note"><div class="module-shortcutlist"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Shortcut" title="Wikipedia:Shortcut">Shortcut</a></div><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1126788409"><div class="plainlist"><ul><li><span class="plainlinks"><a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:OTHERLINKS&redirect=no">WP:OTHERLINKS</a></span></li></ul></div></div> <p>The nature of Wikipedia means that one can not make a convincing argument based on whether other links in articles do or do not exist; that is because anyone can add any link to any article. Plenty of links exist that probably should not, and many links do not exist that probably should. So pointing out that some other link exists is not relevant to whether the link in question should also exist. </p><p>Spammers will often offer arguments in which an irrelevant topic is presented in order to divert attention from the original spam issue. These are some characteristic <a href="/wiki/Strawman" class="mw-redirect" title="Strawman">strawman</a> arguments; </p> <dl><dd><dl><dt>"<i>But you have links to commercial sites in the list.</i>"</dt> <dd>Spamming is about promoting your own site or a site you love, not about commercial sites at all. Links to commercial sites are often appropriate. Links to sites for the purpose of using Wikipedia to promote your site are not.</dd> <dt>"<i>But you have links to other sites that people have added for self-promotion.</i>"</dt> <dd>Those probably need to go, too. The fact that we have not gotten around to it yet does not mean that we have some obligation to have your site.</dd> <dt>"<i>But you have a link to site Y, and my site is just like that.</i>"</dt> <dd>We do not need to link to every site in existence that meets a certain criterion. Sometimes we just need one site representative of a category. (See also the comments about linking to web directories instead, so that Wikipedia does not become a web directory.)</dd> <dt>"<i>But these links have been here for a long time.</i>"</dt> <dd>There are <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:No_binding_decisions" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:No binding decisions">no binding decisions</a> on Wikipedia, especially when the decision was never discussed on the talk page. Just because nobody noticed your spam a long time ago does not mean you now have a "right" to keep it in.</dd> <dt>"<i>My link is useful.</i>"</dt> <dd>It is more likely that the link added has no more useful information than the Wikipedia article itself.</dd> <dt>"<i>My site is non-commercial, so it is not spamming" (or, my site is nonprofit, or charitable, or opposes cruelty to puppies, etc)</i>.</dt> <dd>It does not matter – being noncommercial (etc.) does not confer a license to spam even when it is true, and these sites are often trying to sell something even if the business is organized as a nonprofit.</dd></dl></dd></dl> <p>Further note, notice how many times "<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:COI" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:COI">my site</a>" (or "my link") appears in the above examples. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Assuming_good_faith" data-mw-thread-id="h-Assuming_good_faith-How_to_identify_spam_and_spammers"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Assuming_good_faith-How_to_identify_spam_and_spammers"></span>Assuming good faith<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Assuming_good_faith-How_to_identify_spam_and_spammers"></span></h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Assuming good faith"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Assume_good_faith" title="Wikipedia:Assume good faith">Assume good faith</a> is an important guideline on Wikipedia, but does not require that you assume good intentions when there is evidence to the contrary. Link spamming behavior fits a definite profile. When editors meet this profile, they are engaging in activity which is detrimental to Wikipedia, no matter how sincere they may have been in their edits. We should develop responses to those who engage in this behavior which encourage them to reform into productive Wikipedians, but we should waste no time in protecting Wikipedia from the damaging behavior through reverts and blocks where necessary. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Regular_clean-out_of_undiscussed_links" data-mw-thread-id="h-Regular_clean-out_of_undiscussed_links-How_to_identify_spam_and_spammers"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Regular_clean-out_of_undiscussed_links-How_to_identify_spam_and_spammers"></span>Regular clean-out of undiscussed links<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Regular_clean-out_of_undiscussed_links-How_to_identify_spam_and_spammers"></span></h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Regular clean-out of undiscussed links"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>What several editors in some articles do is go in every few days and remove any undiscussed external links. Call it quick and easy "house cleaning." To encourage sincere links, they leave this edit summary: </p> <dl><dd><i>Regular clean-out of undiscussed links. Please come to Talk page if you want a link not to be cleaned out regularly.</i></dd></dl> <p>One could easily start this strategy in any article by adding {{subst:<a href="/w/index.php?title=Template:Discuss_links_here&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Template:Discuss links here (page does not exist)">Discuss links here</a>}}<b>~~~~</b> to its talk page. The plan is to discourage people whose sole intention is self-promotion. </p><p>Also, add commented-out warnings to the External links section of the articles, themselves: </p> <dl><dd><i></i></dd></dl> <p>For this purpose the <a href="/wiki/Template:NoMoreLinks" class="mw-redirect" title="Template:NoMoreLinks">Template:NoMoreLinks</a> has been created. </p><p>This strategy is used in the following articles: </p> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Google_Maps" title="Google Maps">Google Maps</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/RuneScape" title="RuneScape">RuneScape</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Red_Hot_Chili_Peppers" title="Red Hot Chili Peppers">Red Hot Chili Peppers</a></li></ul> <p>This strategy is also helpful to deal with POV and conspiracy links: </p> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/September_11,_2001_attacks" class="mw-redirect" title="September 11, 2001 attacks">September 11, 2001 attacks</a> - where conspiracy links, videos, etc. are frequently added.</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="What_to_do_with_linkfarms" data-mw-thread-id="h-What_to_do_with_linkfarms-How_to_identify_spam_and_spammers"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-What_to_do_with_linkfarms-How_to_identify_spam_and_spammers"></span>What to do with linkfarms<span data-mw-comment-end="h-What_to_do_with_linkfarms-How_to_identify_spam_and_spammers"></span></h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: What to do with linkfarms"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1244412712">.mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 32px}.mw-parser-output .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;margin-top:0}@media(min-width:500px){.mw-parser-output .templatequotecite{padding-left:1.6em}}</style><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>"<i>... consider a sidewalk. Some litter accumulates. Soon, more litter accumulates. Eventually, people even start leaving bags of trash from take-out restaurants there or breaking into cars.</i>"</p><div class="templatequotecite">— <cite><i><a href="/wiki/Fixing_Broken_Windows" class="mw-redirect" title="Fixing Broken Windows">Fixing Broken Windows</a></i> by <i><a href="/wiki/George_L._Kelling" title="George L. Kelling">George L. Kelling</a> and Catherine Coles 1996</i></cite></div></blockquote> <p>A successful strategy for preventing <a href="/wiki/Linkfarm" class="mw-redirect" title="Linkfarm">linkfarms</a> is to fix the problems when they are small; </p> <ul><li><b>Wikipedia is <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:NOT" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:NOT">not a web directory</a> (<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:NOTDIR" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:NOTDIR">WP:NOTDIR</a>) or a <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:LINKFARM#LINK" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:LINKFARM">repository for links</a> (<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:LINKFARM" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:LINKFARM">WP:LINKFARM</a>)</b>. Sometimes, the easiest and best way to fix a linkfarm is to replace it with a helpful reference to a web directory, such as;</li></ul> <dl><dd><ol><li><a href="/wiki/Open_Directory_Project" class="mw-redirect" title="Open Directory Project">Open Directory Project</a> (<span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Template:Dmoz&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Template:Dmoz (page does not exist)">dmoz</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span>) → <code>{{Dmoz|Path/To/Category|Category's name}}</code></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Yahoo!_Directory" class="mw-redirect" title="Yahoo! Directory">Yahoo! Directory</a> (<span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Template:Yahoo_directory&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Template:Yahoo directory (page does not exist)">yahoo directory</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span>) → <code>{{Yahoo directory|Path/To/Category/|Category Name}}</code></li></ol> <dl><dd>Sometimes sections of articles reach the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Spam_event_horizon" title="Wikipedia:Spam event horizon">Spam Event Horizon</a> (<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:SPAMHOLE" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:SPAMHOLE">WP:SPAMHOLE</a>) where the number of links is so large that no realistic attempt can be made to assess relevance or the need for further inclusion. Excessively long "link lists", or an <i>External links</i> section broken down into 'subsections', are often a clear indication of a <i>Spam Event Horizon</i>.</dd></dl></dd></dl> <ul><li><b>"<a href="/wiki/Category:Lists_of_software" title="Category:Lists of software">List of...</a>" and "<a href="/wiki/Category:Software_comparisons" title="Category:Software comparisons">Comparison of...</a>" pages</b> are often prone to spam, as are <i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Lists" class="mw-disambig" title="Wikipedia:Lists">lists</a></i>, both <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Lists_(stand-alone_lists)" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Lists (stand-alone lists)">stand-alone</a> and <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Embedded_lists" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Embedded lists">embedded</a>. Lists are used in Wikipedia to organize information, and for <u>internal navigation</u>. Lists contain internally linked terms and thus serve as natural tables of contents and indexes of Wikipedia. Lists do not exist for the purpose of linking external websites. Whether "<a href="/wiki/Category:Lists_of_software" title="Category:Lists of software">List of...</a>" or "<a href="/wiki/Category:Software_comparisons" title="Category:Software comparisons">Comparison of...</a>" are embedded or <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Lists_(stand-alone_lists)" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Lists (stand-alone lists)">stand-alone</a>, they are subject to Wikipedia's policies such as <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:LINKFARM" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:LINKFARM">WP:LINKFARM</a>, <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:NOT" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:NOT">WP:NOT</a> and <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:SPAM" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:SPAM">WP:SPAM</a> among others. See also <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Write_the_Article_First" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Write the Article First">Write the Article First</a> (<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:WTAF" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:WTAF">WP:WTAF</a>).</li></ul> <dl><dd><i>Technology</i> articles are common targets, select "Related changes", to view recent edits within these specific categories; <dl><dd><ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Lists_of_software" title="Category:Lists of software">Category:Lists of software</a> → (<a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/Category:Lists_of_software" title="Special:RecentChangesLinked/Category:Lists of software">"Related changes"</a>)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Category:Lists_of_companies" title="Category:Lists of companies">Category:Lists of companies</a> → (<a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/Category:Lists_of_companies" title="Special:RecentChangesLinked/Category:Lists of companies">"Related changes"</a>)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Category:Software_comparisons" title="Category:Software comparisons">Category:Software comparisons</a> → (<a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/Category:Software_comparisons" title="Special:RecentChangesLinked/Category:Software comparisons">"Related changes"</a>)</li></ul></dd></dl></dd></dl> <ul><li><b>The <i>References</i> section is for references.</b> The <i>References</i> section of a Wikipedia article is not a list of <i>related</i> works or links; it is specifically the list of works that have been used as sources in the article. Reference sections in articles often become problem areas that can attract spam. Common forms of spam can be <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:LINKSPAM" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:LINKSPAM">WP:LINKSPAM</a>, <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:BOOKSPAM" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:BOOKSPAM">WP:BOOKSPAM</a> or <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:REFSPAM" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:REFSPAM">WP:REFSPAM</a>. Therefore, it is never correct for links or "<i>faux-references</i>" to reside in these sections if article content is not actually referring to it.</li></ul> <dl><dd><dl><dd><i><b>Note:</b></i> Similarly, (===Notes===) sections, (===Further reading===) sections and (===See also===) sections, should be scrutinized for <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:BOOKSPAM" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:BOOKSPAM">Book</a> and <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:LINKSPAM" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:LINKSPAM">link</a> spam that have not been added for verifying article content.</dd></dl></dd></dl> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Promotional_sub-pages" data-mw-thread-id="h-Promotional_sub-pages-How_to_identify_spam_and_spammers"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Promotional_sub-pages-How_to_identify_spam_and_spammers"></span>Promotional sub-pages<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Promotional_sub-pages-How_to_identify_spam_and_spammers"></span></h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: Promotional sub-pages"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>"Promotion" does not always mean commercial promotion: anything can be promoted, including a person, a non-commercial organization, a point of view, etc. User sub-pages and user sandboxes are increasingly being used by promotional accounts as a <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:NOTREPOSITORY" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:NOTREPOSITORY">dumping ground</a> / <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:NOTWEBHOST" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:NOTWEBHOST">web-host</a> for spam articles, vanity pieces and other promotional content not suitable for encyclopedic inclusion. Many of these <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:SPA" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:SPA">SPA</a> promotional accounts are also using articles for creation and <a href="/w/index.php?title=Category:Articles_in_the_Article_Incubator&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Category:Articles in the Article Incubator (page does not exist)">Article Incubator</a> for the same purpose. </p> <dl><dd><b>Speedy Delete</b> any advertising or promotion per <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:CSD#G11" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:CSD">WP:CSD#G11</a>. Simply Place the following tag on the offending page;</dd></dl> <dl><dd><dl><dd>Template; <dl><dd><dl><dd><code>{{<a href="/wiki/Template:Db-spam" class="mw-redirect" title="Template:Db-spam">db-spam</a>}}</code></dd></dl></dd></dl></dd></dl></dd></dl> <dl><dd><dl><dd>Copy paste; <dl><dd><dl><dd>{{db-spam}}</dd></dl></dd></dl></dd></dl></dd></dl> <dl><dd>If advertising or promotion is done in the userspace <i>with</i> a username that promotes or implies affiliation with the entity being promoted, place the following specialised <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:CSD#G11" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:CSD">WP:CSD#G11</a> tag on the offending page;</dd></dl> <dl><dd><dl><dd>Template; <dl><dd><code>{{<a href="/wiki/Template:Db-spamuser" title="Template:Db-spamuser">db-spamuser</a>}}</code></dd></dl></dd></dl></dd></dl> <dl><dd><dl><dd>Copy paste; <dl><dd>{{db-spamuser}}</dd></dl></dd></dl></dd></dl> <dl><dd><dl><dd>Promotional usernames can be reported to <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:UAA" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:UAA">WP:UAA</a>, since it is against the Wikipedia <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:UN" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:UN">username policy</a>. It will be helpful to submit the report by linking a diff or page being promoted.</dd></dl></dd></dl> <dl><dd><b>Spam blanking</b> is undertaken on pages where the content is for one reason or another, inappropriate advertising, promotional material or other spam. Spam blanking does not entail any revision deletion (see, <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Deletion_policy" title="Wikipedia:Deletion policy">Wikipedia:Deletion policy</a> and <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Hiding_revisions" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Hiding revisions">Wikipedia:Hiding revisions</a>).</dd></dl> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="The_Campaign" data-mw-thread-id="h-The_Campaign"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-The_Campaign"></span>The Campaign<span data-mw-comment-end="h-The_Campaign"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: The Campaign"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>We would want a concerted <a href="/wiki/Viral_marketing" title="Viral marketing">viral marketing</a> strategy involving </p> <ul><li>the project page (this one),</li> <li>the guideline page (<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Spam" title="Wikipedia:Spam">Wikipedia:Spam</a>),</li> <li>user message templates (<span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:Uw-spam1" title="Template:Uw-spam1">uw-spam1</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span> and others),</li> <li>a standardised edit summary,</li> <li>cleanup tags (<span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:Advert" class="mw-redirect" title="Template:Advert">Advert</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span>) and <span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:External_links" title="Template:External links">External links</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span>,</li> <li>a project invitation message (<span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:Wpspam-invite" class="mw-redirect" title="Template:Wpspam-invite">Wpspam-invite</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span>, and</li> <li>a category (<a href="/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_spam_cleanup" title="Category:Wikipedia spam cleanup">Category:Wikipedia spam cleanup</a>) that also serves as a "RecentChanges" watchlist.</li></ul> <p>and a dash of mentions in help pages, FAQs and fixup templates. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Guidelines,_policies,_and_essays" data-mw-thread-id="h-Guidelines,_policies,_and_essays"><span id="Guidelines.2C_policies.2C_and_essays"></span><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Guidelines,_policies,_and_essays"></span>Guidelines, policies, and essays<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Guidelines,_policies,_and_essays"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: Guidelines, policies, and essays"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <dl><dt>Policy</dt> <dd><ul><li><b><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:What_Wikipedia_is_not" title="Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not">Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not</a></b> (shortcut: <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:NOT" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:NOT">WP:NOT</a>) <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:NOT#REPOSITORY" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:NOT">Wikipedia is not a repository for links</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:What_Wikipedia_is_not#Wikipedia_is_not_a_soapbox" title="Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not">Wikipedia is not a vehicle for advertising</a></li></ul></li> <li><b><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:BLOCK#Disruption" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:BLOCK">Wikipedia:BLOCK#Disruption</a> </b>(Administrative actions) <ul><li>Persistent <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Spam" title="Wikipedia:Spam">spamming</a></li> <li>Accounts that appear, based on their edit history, to exist for the sole or primary purpose of promoting a person, company, product, service, or organization in apparent violation of <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Conflict_of_interest" title="Wikipedia:Conflict of interest">Conflict of interest</a> or <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Spam" title="Wikipedia:Spam">anti-spam</a> guidelines.</li></ul></li></ul></dd></dl> <dl><dt>Guidelines</dt> <dd><ul><li><b><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Spam" title="Wikipedia:Spam">Wikipedia:Spam</a></b> (shortcut: <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:SPAM" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:SPAM">WP:SPAM</a>) <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:SPAM#External_link_spamming" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:SPAM">External link spamming</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Spam#Citation_spam" title="Wikipedia:Spam">Citation spamming</a></li></ul></li> <li><b><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:External_links" title="Wikipedia:External links">Wikipedia:External links</a></b> (shortcut: <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:EL" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:EL">WP:EL</a>) <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:El#Links_normally_to_be_avoided" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:El">Links normally to be avoided</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:EL#Advertising_and_conflicts_of_interest" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:EL">Advertising and conflicts of interest</a></li></ul></li></ul></dd></dl> <dl><dt>Essays</dt> <dd><ul><li><b><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Grief" title="Wikipedia:Grief">Wikipedia:Grief</a></b></li> <li><b><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Spam_event_horizon" title="Wikipedia:Spam event horizon">Wikipedia:Spam event horizon</a></b></li></ul></dd></dl> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Templates" data-mw-thread-id="h-Templates"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Templates"></span>Templates<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Templates"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: Templates"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1129693374">.mw-parser-output .hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul{margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt,.mw-parser-output .hlist li{margin:0;display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul ul{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist .mw-empty-li{display:none}.mw-parser-output .hlist dt::after{content:": "}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li::after{content:" · ";font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li:last-child::after{content:none}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd 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ol>li{counter-increment:listitem}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol>li::before{content:" "counter(listitem)"\a0 "}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd ol>li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt ol>li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li ol>li:first-child::before{content:" ("counter(listitem)"\a0 "}</style><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1246091330">.mw-parser-output .sidebar{width:22em;float:right;clear:right;margin:0.5em 0 1em 1em;background:var(--background-color-neutral-subtle,#f8f9fa);border:1px solid var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1);padding:0.2em;text-align:center;line-height:1.4em;font-size:88%;border-collapse:collapse;display:table}body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .sidebar{display:table!important;float:right!important;margin:0.5em 0 1em 1em!important}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-subgroup{width:100%;margin:0;border-spacing:0}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-left{float:left;clear:left;margin:0.5em 1em 1em 0}.mw-parser-output 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0.8em;font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-collapse .sidebar-above,.mw-parser-output .sidebar-collapse .sidebar-below{border-top:1px solid #aaa;border-bottom:1px solid #aaa}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-navbar{text-align:right;font-size:115%;padding:0 0.4em 0.4em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-list-title{padding:0 0.4em;text-align:left;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6em;font-size:105%}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-list-title-c{padding:0 0.4em;text-align:center;margin:0 3.3em}@media(max-width:640px){body.mediawiki .mw-parser-output .sidebar{width:100%!important;clear:both;float:none!important;margin-left:0!important;margin-right:0!important}}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .sidebar a>img{max-width:none!important}@media screen{html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-list-title,html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle{background:transparent!important}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle a{color:var(--color-progressive)!important}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-list-title,html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle{background:transparent!important}html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle a{color:var(--color-progressive)!important}}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .sidebar{display:none!important}}</style><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1015940171">.mw-parser-output .Spam-nav .sidebar-heading{background-color:#ddd}.mw-parser-output .Spam-nav .sidebar-content{text-align:center}</style><table class="sidebar nomobile nowraplinks Spam-nav hlist"><tbody><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> Spam warnings</th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <ul><li><span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:Welcomespam" title="Template:Welcomespam">welcomespam</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:Uw-refspam" title="Template:Uw-refspam">uw-refspam</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:Uw-spam1" title="Template:Uw-spam1">uw-spam1</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:Uw-spam2" title="Template:Uw-spam2">uw-spam2</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:Uw-spam3" title="Template:Uw-spam3">uw-spam3</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:Uw-spam4" title="Template:Uw-spam4">uw-spam4</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:Uw-spam4im" title="Template:Uw-spam4im">uw-spam4im</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span></li></ul></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> Advertising warnings</th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <ul><li><span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:Uw-advert1" title="Template:Uw-advert1">uw-advert1</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:Uw-advert2" title="Template:Uw-advert2">uw-advert2</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:Uw-advert3" title="Template:Uw-advert3">uw-advert3</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:Uw-advert4" title="Template:Uw-advert4">uw-advert4</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span></li></ul></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> Article tags</th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <ul><li><span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:Promotional" title="Template:Promotional">promotional</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:Promotional_section" title="Template:Promotional section">promotional section</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:List_spam" title="Template:List spam">list spam</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:Manual" title="Template:Manual">manual</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:No_more_links" title="Template:No more links">no more links</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:Spam_link" title="Template:Spam link">spam link</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:Db-g11" title="Template:Db-g11">db-g11</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span> (for listing at <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:CSD" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:CSD">CSD</a>)</li></ul></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> Policy & Project</th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Spam" title="Wikipedia:Spam">Wikipedia:Spam</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:External_links" title="Wikipedia:External links">Wikipedia:External links</a></li> <li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Wikipedia:WikiProject Spam</a></li></ul></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-navbar"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239400231">.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:inline;font-size:88%;font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .navbar-collapse{float:left;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .navbar-boxtext{word-spacing:0}.mw-parser-output .navbar ul{display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;line-height:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::before{margin-right:-0.125em;content:"[ "}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::after{margin-left:-0.125em;content:" ]"}.mw-parser-output .navbar li{word-spacing:-0.125em}.mw-parser-output .navbar a>span,.mw-parser-output .navbar a>abbr{text-decoration:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-mini abbr{font-variant:small-caps;border-bottom:none;text-decoration:none;cursor:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-full{font-size:114%;margin:0 7em}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-mini{font-size:114%;margin:0 4em}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}@media(prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}}@media print{.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:none!important}}</style><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Spam-nav" title="Template:Spam-nav"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Template_talk:Spam-nav&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Template talk:Spam-nav (page does not exist)"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Spam-nav" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Spam-nav"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="{{subst:spam}}_and_related" data-mw-thread-id="h-{{subst:spam}}_and_related-Templates"><span id=".7B.7Bsubst:spam.7D.7D_and_related"></span><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-{{subst:spam}}_and_related-Templates"></span>{{<a href="/wiki/Template:Spam" class="mw-redirect" title="Template:Spam">subst:spam</a>}} and related<span data-mw-comment-end="h-{{subst:spam}}_and_related-Templates"></span></h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam&action=edit&section=13" title="Edit section: {{subst:spam}} and related"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><i>These templates should be substituted ({{subst:Uw-spam}}, etc) as per <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:SUBST" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:SUBST">WP:SUBST</a>.</i> </p> <ul><li>{{<a href="/wiki/Template:Uw-spam1" title="Template:Uw-spam1">subst:uw-spam1</a>}}</li> <li>{{<a href="/wiki/Template:Uw-spam2" title="Template:Uw-spam2">subst:uw-spam2</a>}}</li> <li>{{<a href="/wiki/Template:Uw-spam3" title="Template:Uw-spam3">subst:uw-spam3</a>}}</li> <li>{{<a href="/wiki/Template:Uw-spam4" title="Template:Uw-spam4">subst:uw-spam4</a>}}</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="{{Advert}}" data-mw-thread-id="h-{{Advert}}-Templates"><span id=".7B.7BAdvert.7D.7D"></span><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-{{Advert}}-Templates"></span><span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:Advert" class="mw-redirect" title="Template:Advert">Advert</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span><span data-mw-comment-end="h-{{Advert}}-Templates"></span></h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam&action=edit&section=14" title="Edit section: {{Advert}}"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:Advert" class="mw-redirect" title="Template:Advert">Advert</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span> for articles or sections with excessive spam. See <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Spam" title="Wikipedia:Spam">Wikipedia:Spam</a> for more details. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="{{subst:WPSPAM-invite}}" data-mw-thread-id="h-{{subst:WPSPAM-invite}}-Templates"><span id=".7B.7Bsubst:WPSPAM-invite.7D.7D"></span><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-{{subst:WPSPAM-invite}}-Templates"></span>{{<a href="/wiki/Template:WPSPAM-invite" class="mw-redirect" title="Template:WPSPAM-invite">subst:WPSPAM-invite</a>}}<span data-mw-comment-end="h-{{subst:WPSPAM-invite}}-Templates"></span></h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam&action=edit&section=15" title="Edit section: {{subst:WPSPAM-invite}}"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Saw someone revert or remove linkspam? Invite the comrade here with {{<a href="/wiki/Template:WPSPAM-invite" class="mw-redirect" title="Template:WPSPAM-invite">subst:WPSPAM-invite</a>}} placed on their User talk page. </p><p>A souped-up alternative: {{<a href="/wiki/Template:WPSPAM-invite-n" title="Template:WPSPAM-invite-n">subst:WPSPAM-invite-n</a>}}. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Standardised_edit_summary" data-mw-thread-id="h-Standardised_edit_summary"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Standardised_edit_summary"></span>Standardised edit summary<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Standardised_edit_summary"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam&action=edit&section=16" title="Edit section: Standardised edit summary"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><a href="/wiki/User:HorsePunchKid" title="User:HorsePunchKid">HorsePunchKid</a> suggests a standardised edit summary to raise awareness both of the problem and this particular effort: </p> <dl><dd><i>Removed link spam. Wikipedia is [[WP:NOT|NOT]] a link directory. Join [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Spam]] to help!</i></dd></dl> <p><a href="/wiki/User:Perfecto" class="mw-redirect" title="User:Perfecto">Perfecto</a> uses the following: </p> <dl><dd><i>Removed [[WP:EL|external link]] [[WP:SPAM|spam]]. ([[WP:WPSPAM|You can help!]])</i></dd></dl> <p>--<a href="/w/index.php?title=User:AudeVivere&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="User:AudeVivere (page does not exist)">Aude</a> suggests: </p> <dl><dd><i>Removed [[WP:EL|external link]] added by [[User talk:69.159.82.252|69.159.82.252]]. Wikipedia is [[WP:NOT|NOT]] a link directory. ([[WP:WPSPAM||WikiProject Spam]])</i> <dl><dd>Substitute the ip address/user name as appropriate.</dd></dl></dd></dl> <p><span style="color:silver;">TheJ</span><a href="/wiki/User:Iamthejabberwock" class="mw-redirect" title="User:Iamthejabberwock"><span style="color:blue;">a</span></a><span style="color:silver;">bb</span><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Esperanza" title="Wikipedia:Esperanza"><span style="color:lime;">e</span></a><span style="color:silver;">rw</span><a href="/wiki/User_talk:Iamthejabberwock" class="mw-redirect" title="User talk:Iamthejabberwock"><span style="color:red;">ʘ</span></a><span style="color:silver;">ck</span> suggests (for users of <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Tools/Navigation_popups" title="Wikipedia:Tools/Navigation popups">popups</a>): </p> <dl><dd><i>Reverted [[WP:EL|external link]] addition by [[Special:Contributions/<user>|<user>]] to version %s, using [[:en:Wikipedia:Tools/Navigation_popups|popups]]. Wikipedia is [[WP:NOT|NOT]] a link directory. ([[WP:WPSPAM|you can help!]])</i></dd></dl> <p>These edit summaries help drive a concerted <a href="/wiki/Viral_marketing" title="Viral marketing">viral marketing</a> strategy. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Recognition" data-mw-thread-id="h-Recognition"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Recognition"></span>Recognition<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Recognition"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam&action=edit&section=17" title="Edit section: Recognition"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="The_Spamstar_of_Glory" data-mw-thread-id="h-The_Spamstar_of_Glory-Recognition"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-The_Spamstar_of_Glory-Recognition"></span>The Spamstar of Glory<span data-mw-comment-end="h-The_Spamstar_of_Glory-Recognition"></span></h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam&action=edit&section=18" title="Edit section: The Spamstar of Glory"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The coveted Spamstar of Glory is awarded to those who show strong contributions to tracking down and stopping spammers as well as cleaning up their links. Introduced on <a href="/wiki/November_8" title="November 8">November 8</a>, <a href="/wiki/2006" title="2006">2006</a> by <a href="/wiki/User:A._B." title="User:A. B.">A. B.</a>, it originally consisted of a nicely Photoshopped <a href="/w/index.php?title=File:Spam_with_cans.jpeg&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="File:Spam with cans.jpeg (page does not exist)">can</a> of <a href="/wiki/Hormel" class="mw-redirect" title="Hormel">Hormel</a> <a href="/wiki/Spam_(food)" title="Spam (food)">spam</a> superimposed on a <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Barnstars" title="Wikipedia:Barnstars">barnstar</a>. Later, due to concerns about infringing on Hormel's trademark, the award was changed to the current design, adapted from the <a href="/wiki/Template:The_RickK_Anti-Vandalism_Barnstar" class="mw-redirect" title="Template:The RickK Anti-Vandalism Barnstar">The RickK Anti-Vandalism Barnstar</a> </p> <table style="border: 1px solid gray; background-color: #fdffe7;"> <tbody><tr> <td rowspan="2" style="vertical-align:middle;"><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Barnstar_of_Reversion_Hires.png" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d2/Barnstar_of_Reversion_Hires.png/110px-Barnstar_of_Reversion_Hires.png" decoding="async" width="110" height="105" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d2/Barnstar_of_Reversion_Hires.png/165px-Barnstar_of_Reversion_Hires.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d2/Barnstar_of_Reversion_Hires.png/220px-Barnstar_of_Reversion_Hires.png 2x" data-file-width="2000" data-file-height="1900"/></a></span> </td> <td rowspan="2"> </td> <td style="font-size: x-large; padding: 0; vertical-align: middle; height: 1.1em;"><b>The Spamstar of Glory</b> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="vertical-align: middle; border-top: 1px solid gray;">Presented to {{{1}}} for diligence in fighting spam on Wikipedia </td></tr></tbody></table> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Special:WhatLinksHere/File:Spamstar1.jpg" title="Special:WhatLinksHere/File:Spamstar1.jpg">List of the proud few</a> awarded this distinctive honor to date</li></ul> <p><br/> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="The_Anti-Spam_Barnstar" data-mw-thread-id="h-The_Anti-Spam_Barnstar-Recognition"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-The_Anti-Spam_Barnstar-Recognition"></span>The Anti-Spam Barnstar<span data-mw-comment-end="h-The_Anti-Spam_Barnstar-Recognition"></span></h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam&action=edit&section=19" title="Edit section: The Anti-Spam Barnstar"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <table style="border: 1px solid gray; background-color: #fdffe7;"> <tbody><tr> <td rowspan="2" style="vertical-align:middle;"><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:No_Spam_Barnstar_Hires.png" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/88/No_Spam_Barnstar_Hires.png/100px-No_Spam_Barnstar_Hires.png" decoding="async" width="100" height="95" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/88/No_Spam_Barnstar_Hires.png/150px-No_Spam_Barnstar_Hires.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/88/No_Spam_Barnstar_Hires.png/200px-No_Spam_Barnstar_Hires.png 2x" data-file-width="2000" data-file-height="1900"/></a></span> </td> <td rowspan="2"> </td> <td style="font-size: x-large; padding: 0; vertical-align: middle; height: 1.1em;"><b>The Anti-Spam Barnstar</b> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="vertical-align: middle; border-top: 1px solid gray;">Presented to {{{1}}} for diligence in fighting spam on Wikipedia </td></tr></tbody></table> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Special:WhatLinksHere/File:No_spam_barnstar.png" title="Special:WhatLinksHere/File:No spam barnstar.png">List of the proud few</a> awarded this distinctive honor to date</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Participants" data-mw-thread-id="h-Participants"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Participants"></span>Participants<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Participants"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam&action=edit&section=20" title="Edit section: Participants"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>See the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam/Participants" title="Wikipedia:WikiProject Spam/Participants">list of participants</a>. You can sign up and help us fight spam on Wikipedia!<br/> As of April 2017, we now have over 400 participants. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Userbox" data-mw-thread-id="h-Userbox-Participants"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Userbox-Participants"></span>Userbox<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Userbox-Participants"></span></h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam&action=edit&section=21" title="Edit section: Userbox"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Participants may add this to their userpage instead of signing up. </p> <table border="2" class="wikitable"><tbody><tr><td><b>Code:</b></td><td><b>Results in:</b></td></tr> <tr><td><span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:User_WikiProject_Spam" class="mw-redirect" title="Template:User WikiProject Spam">User WikiProject Spam</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span></td> <td><div class="wikipediauserbox" style="float:left;border:1px solid gray;margin:1px;width:238px"><table role="presentation" style="border-collapse:collapse;width:238px;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;background:#F7FAFF;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><td style="border:0;width:45px;height:45px;background:#FFF;text-align:center;font-size:14pt;font-weight:bold;color:black;padding:0 1px 0 0;line-height:1.25em;vertical-align:middle"><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:No-spam.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c8/No-spam.svg/39px-No-spam.svg.png" decoding="async" width="39" height="39" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c8/No-spam.svg/59px-No-spam.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c8/No-spam.svg/78px-No-spam.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="240" data-file-height="240"/></a></span></td><td style="border:0;text-align:left;font-size:8pt;padding:0 4px 0 4px;height:45px;line-height:1.25em;color:black;vertical-align:middle">This user is a <a href="/wiki/Category:WikiProject_Spam_participants" title="Category:WikiProject Spam participants"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239334494">'"`UNIQ--templatestyles-0000002F-QINU`"'</style><span class="tmp-color" style="color:">participant</span></a> in <a class="mw-selflink selflink"><span style="color:;font-weight:bold">WikiProject Spam</span></a>.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></td></tr> </tbody></table> <p>If you prefer not to use userboxes, you may add yourself directly to <a href="/wiki/Category:WikiProject_Spam_participants" title="Category:WikiProject Spam participants">Category:WikiProject Spam participants</a> by placing the following code on your Userpage: <code>[[Category:WikiProject Spam participants]]</code> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Cross-wiki_coordination" data-mw-thread-id="h-Cross-wiki_coordination"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Cross-wiki_coordination"></span>Cross-wiki coordination<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Cross-wiki_coordination"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam&action=edit&section=22" title="Edit section: Cross-wiki coordination"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>A <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikiproject:Antispam" class="extiw" title="meta:Wikiproject:Antispam">cross-wiki antispam project</a> exists on Meta-Wiki to "<i>coordinate reports, investigations and actions concerning cross-wiki spam, advertising and undisclosed paid editing.</i>", which can be used to track <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikiproject:Antispam/Archives" class="extiw" title="meta:Wikiproject:Antispam/Archives">long-term spam campaigns</a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Tools" data-mw-thread-id="h-Tools"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Tools"></span>Tools<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Tools"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam&action=edit&section=23" title="Edit section: Tools"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li>Search tools <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Special:LinkSearch" title="Special:LinkSearch">Special:Linksearch</a> – Find all external links to a particular site on en:Wikipedia; useful when a spam link is added by many different IP addresses or accounts.</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://wikipediatools.appspot.com/linksearch.jsp">Cross-wiki linksearch</a> – Search for a link across other language Wikipedias.</li> <li><a href="//toolserver.org/~eagle/spamArchiveSearch.php" class="extiw" title="tools:~eagle/spamArchiveSearch.php">Archive link search</a><sup class="noprint Inline-Template"><span style="white-space: nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Link_rot" title="Wikipedia:Link rot"><span title=" Dead link tagged March 2021">dead link</span></a></i><span style="visibility:hidden; color:transparent; padding-left:2px">‍</span>]</span></sup> – Search several common archives for variations on a URL that are not necessarily active links (for instance, exampleDOTcom). This is useful for finding previous conversations about particular sites.</li> <li><i><b><a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/Category:Articles_with_a_promotional_tone" title="Special:RecentChangesLinked/Category:Articles with a promotional tone">Wikipedia spam cleanup Search</a></b></i> – Search for articles in need of cleanup. This search shows recent edits to articles tagged with <span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:Advert" class="mw-redirect" title="Template:Advert">Advert</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span>. <dl><dd><a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/Category:Wikipedia_external_links_cleanup" title="Special:RecentChangesLinked/Category:Wikipedia external links cleanup">External Link Cleanup</a> – This category search has recently been included in the <a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/Category:Wikipedia_spam_cleanup" title="Special:RecentChangesLinked/Category:Wikipedia spam cleanup">Wikipedia spam cleanup Search</a>, and includes edits to articles where <span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:External_links" title="Template:External links">External links</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span> has been added.</dd></dl></li> <li><b><a href="/wiki/Template:Spamsearch" title="Template:Spamsearch">Template:Spamsearch</a></b> - A template with lists of search terms that help to detect spam in the userspace.</li></ul></li> <li>To combat repeat offenders, you may request to have links added to the <a href="/wiki/MediaWiki_talk:Spam-blacklist" title="MediaWiki talk:Spam-blacklist">local spam blacklist</a> (for links that have only been spammed on the English Wikipedia) or the <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Spam_blacklist" class="extiw" title="m:Talk:Spam blacklist">Wikimedia Global spam blacklist</a> (for links that have been spammed on more than one Wikimedia Foundation project).</li> <li>For links that are generally used in an inappropriate way by unestablished users, but which do not qualify for the meta or local spam blacklists, ask <a href="/wiki/User:XLinkBot" title="User:XLinkBot">User:XLinkBot</a> to monitor it with a request at <a href="/wiki/User_talk:XLinkBot/RevertList" title="User talk:XLinkBot/RevertList">User talk:XLinkBot/RevertList</a>.</li> <li>Watch the link addition feed in <span style="font-family: monospace,Courier; white-space: pre-wrap !important; word-wrap: break-word; max-width: 1200px; overflow: auto;">#wikipedia-en-spam</span> <sup class="plainlinks"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.libera.chat/?channel=#wikipedia-en-spam"><span style="color:green;">connect</span></a></sup>. There is a bot on there that reports all newly added links and keeps track of serial spammers. For more info see <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam/IRC_Channels" title="Wikipedia:WikiProject Spam/IRC Channels">/IRC Channels</a>.</li> <li>If no one is around to add something to the spam blacklist, contact users at <span style="font-family: monospace,Courier; white-space: pre-wrap !important; word-wrap: break-word; max-width: 1200px; overflow: auto;">##wikipedia-spam-t</span> <sup class="plainlinks"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.libera.chat/?channel=##wikipedia-spam-t"><span style="color:green;">connect</span></a></sup>.</li> <li><a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:AbuseLog&wpSearchFilter=80">Link spamming edit filter</a> for repeated addition of external links by non-autoconfirmed user.</li></ul> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238436933"><table class="plainlinks ombox ombox-notice" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:People_icon.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/People_icon.svg/45px-People_icon.svg.png" decoding="async" width="45" height="45" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/People_icon.svg/68px-People_icon.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/People_icon.svg/90px-People_icon.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="100" data-file-height="100"/></a></span></td><td class="mbox-text"><b>This is a <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject" title="Wikipedia:WikiProject">WikiProject</a>,</b> an area for focused collaboration among Wikipedians. New participants are welcome; please feel free to participate! <hr/> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><div class="hlist" style="font-size:85%; text-align:center;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Council/Guide" title="Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Guide">Guide to WikiProjects</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Council/Directory" title="Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Directory">Directory of WikiProjects</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table>    </div><noscript><img src="https://login.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAutoLogin/start?type=1x1" alt="" width="1" height="1" style="border: none; position: absolute;"></noscript> <div class="printfooter" data-nosnippet="">Retrieved from "<a dir="ltr" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam&oldid=1239770590">https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spam&oldid=1239770590</a>"</div></div> <div id="catlinks" class="catlinks" data-mw="interface"><div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="/wiki/Help:Category" title="Help:Category">Categories</a>: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Active_WikiProjects" title="Category:Active WikiProjects">Active WikiProjects</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_WikiProjects" title="Category:Wikipedia WikiProjects">Wikipedia WikiProjects</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_spam" title="Category:Wikipedia spam">Wikipedia spam</a></li></ul></div><div id="mw-hidden-catlinks" class="mw-hidden-catlinks mw-hidden-cats-hidden">Hidden category: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_move-protected_project_pages" title="Category:Wikipedia move-protected project pages">Wikipedia move-protected project pages</a></li></ul></div></div> </div> </main> </div> <div class="mw-footer-container"> <footer id="footer" class="mw-footer" > <ul id="footer-info"> <li id="footer-info-lastmod"> This page was last edited on 11 August 2024, at 12:38<span class="anonymous-show"> (UTC)</span>.</li> <li id="footer-info-copyright">Text is available under the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_4.0_International_License" title="Wikipedia:Text of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License</a>; additional terms may apply. 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