Wikipedia:Conflict of interest/Noticeboard

Welcome to Conflict of interest Noticeboard (COIN)
Sections older than 14 days archived by Lowercase sigmabot III. (For help, see Wikipedia:Purge) This Conflict of interest/Noticeboard (COIN) page is for determining whether a specific editor has a conflict of interest (COI) for a specific article and whether an edit by a COIN-declared COI editor meets a requirement of the Conflict of Interest guideline. A conflict of interest may occur when an editor has a close personal or business connection with article topics. Post here if you are concerned that an editor has a COI, and is using Wikipedia to promote their own interests at the expense of neutrality. For content disputes, try proposing changes at the article talk page first and otherwise follow the Wikipedia:Dispute resolution procedural policy.
You must notify any editor who is the subject of a discussion. You may use {{subst:coin-notice}} ~~~~ to do so.
Additional notes: This page should only be used when ordinary talk page discussion has been attempted and failed to resolve the issue, such as when an editor has repeatedly added problematic material over an extended period. Do not post personal information about other editors here without their permission. Non-public evidence of a conflict of interest can be emailed to paid-en-wpwikipedia.org for review by a functionary. If in doubt, you can contact an individual functionary or the Arbitration Committee privately for advice. The COI guideline does not absolutely prohibit people with a connection to a subject from editing articles on that subject. Editors who have such a connection can still comply with the COI guideline by discussing proposed article changes first, or by making uncontroversial edits. COI allegations should not be used as a "trump card" in disputes over article content. However, paid editing without disclosure is prohibited. Consider using the template series {{Uw-paid1}} through {{Uw-paid4}}. Your report or advice request regarding COI incidents should include diff links and focus on one or more items in the COI guideline. In response, COIN may determine whether a specific editor has a COI for a specific article. There are three possible outcomes to your COIN request: 1. COIN consensus determines that an editor has a COI for a specific article. In response, the relevant article talk pages may be tagged with {{Connected contributor}}, the article page may be tagged with {{COI}}, and/or the user may be warned via {{subst:uw-coi|Article}}. 2. COIN consensus determines that an editor does not have a COI for a specific article. In response, editors should refrain from further accusing that editor of having a conflict of interest. Feel free to repost at COIN if additional COI evidence comes to light that was not previously addressed. 3. There is no COIN consensus. Here, Lowercase sigmabot III will automatically archive the thread when it is older than 14 days. Once COIN declares that an editor has a COI for a specific article, COIN (or a variety of other noticeboards) may be used to determine whether an edit by a COIN-declared COI editor meets a requirement of the Wikipedia:Conflict of interest guideline.
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Help answer requested edits

Category:Wikipedia conflict of interest edit requests is where COI editors have placed the {{edit COI}} template: Wikipedia conflict of interest edit requests Talk:A Time Called You Talk:A&P Talk:Advanced Research and Invention Agency Talk:American Water Works Talk:Florence Ashley Talk:Astex Pharmaceuticals Talk:Avia Solutions Group Talk:Bank of Greene County Talk:William Bolcom Talk:Mike Cannon-Brookes Talk:Sukhinder Singh Cassidy Talk:John Challis Talk:Sonia Chang-Díaz Talk:Change Healthcare Talk:Character.ai Talk:Chicago Board Options Exchange Talk:Chime (company) Talk:Civic Hall at Union Square Talk:Cohen Milstein Talk:Aaron Cohen-Gadol Talk:The Culinary Institute of America Talk:Dahua Technology Talk:Dark Castle Entertainment Talk:Paul Devlin (filmmaker) Talk:Discovery Land Company Talk:Dixy Chicken Talk:Ed Dodds Talk:Dowa Holdings Talk:Emergent BioSolutions Talk:End-user license agreement Talk:ESAB Talk:Ex Libris Group Talk:Scott Farquhar Talk:Fastly Talk:Randy Fine Talk:Anne Finucane Talk:Florida Power & Light Talk:Bryan Fogel Talk:Forecasting Love and Weather Talk:John Freund (business executive) Talk:Bradley Fried Talk:Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media Talk:Judy Genshaft Talk:Geotab Talk:GetYourGuide Talk:GLX Digital Talk:Colin Goldberg Talk:Grail (company) Talk:Green Line (TRAX) Talk:Kenneth C. Griffin Talk:Grove Collaborative Talk:Gulliver Preparatory School Talk:Shashi Gupta Talk:H.B. Fuller Talk:Richard Harland Talk:Arlene Harris (inventor) Talk:Heterodox Academy Talk:Eric Hippeau Talk:History of the Jews in Charleston, South Carolina Talk:HOK (firm) Talk:Index Ventures Talk:Industrious Talk:Institutional Venture Partners Talk:International Churches of Christ Talk:Sultan Al Jaber Talk:Simcha Jacobovici Talk:Valerie Jarrett Talk:Jefferson Awards for Public Service Talk:Joe Biden judicial appointment controversies Talk:Edward D. "Ted" Jones Draft talk:Juris Svenne Talk:Amitabh Kant Talk:Jeffrey Katzenberg Talk:KieranTimberlake Talk:King School Talk:King the Land Talk:Karl Lagerfeld Talk:Dion Lee Talk:Jeffrey Leiden Talk:Martin Lewis (financial journalist) Talk:Library of Congress Subject Headings Talk:Robert Luciano Talk:Geoffrey von Maltzahn Talk:Masdar Talk:Metlifecare Talk:Christos Metskas Talk:Monero Talk:Moody Nolan Talk:MP Materials Talk:Neuroscience Research Australia Talk:NextEra Energy Talk:Nondestructive Evaluation 4.0 Talk:Oasis Management Talk:Omaha Steaks Talk:Operating system Talk:Orphan Train Talk:Orphanage Talk:OUTtv (Canadian TV channel) Talk:Joseph C. Papa Talk:Janneke Parrish Talk:Perkins Eastman Talk:Pershing Square Capital Management Talk:Matthew Pittinsky Talk:Plinabulin Talk:Programming language Talk:Pure Storage Talk:David E. I. Pyott Talk:Qiagen Talk:Quantitative storytelling Talk:Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership Talk:Jarred Rome Talk:Elizabeth Rowe (flutist) Talk:Eric Rubin Talk:Roland Rudd Talk:Jay Ruderman Talk:Sartorius AG Talk:Scandia (theme parks) Talk:ShareFile Talk:Joanna Shields, Baroness Shields Talk:Site Number 4 Mnt 85 Talk:Dragan Šolak (businessman) Talk:SoundExchange Talk:Subway (restaurant) Talk:Sysco Talk:Joseph Tabrikian Talk:Steve Tappin Talk:Tenants and Owners Development Corporation Talk:Tencent Talk:The Red Sleeve Talk:Titmouse, Inc. Talk:Jean-Pascal Tricoire Talk:Maria-Ana Tupan Talk:Bradley Tusk Talk:UK Biobank Talk:Carla Ulbrich Talk:United Launch Alliance Talk:United States Postal Service Talk:UnitedHealth Group Talk:Veris Residential Talk:Versapay Talk:VML (agency) Talk:Dan Wagner Talk:Terry Wahls Talk:Dashun Wang Talk:Washington University Medical Center Talk:Joey Wat Talk:Wearable cardioverter defibrillator Talk:Mark Weisbrot Talk:Thomas Albert Work Talk:Sam Yagan Talk:Zearn Talk:Zero-day vulnerability Talk:Zions Bancorporation

David Darom

• David Darom (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)
• Ntronb (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

The article's subject has edited in the past and also uploaded images from his books backed up by SPA user:Ntronb The article promotes the subjects work and books with little evidence of notability some books are self published, some references are forums. Needs someone to look at it afresh. Teapotgeorge^Talk 17:57, 1 February 2011 (UTC)

They admitted here that Ntronb is his daughter. The subject just appears notable, based on a couple of hits in the Jerusalem Post 20 odd years ago, but the OR issues that naturally occur when a relative writes an article need sorting out. SmartSE (talk) 15:43, 7 February 2011 (UTC)

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

• The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

Currently their is a large corruption scandal breaking / having been reported on the misuse of funds from the Global Fund worldwide. The Global Fund is seemingly trying to make any passages providing information on these dealings disappear. I have seen similar "activities" on press reports with various newspaper / large web sites.

The Wikipedia article on the Global Fund http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Global_Fund_to_Fight_AIDS,_Tuberculosis_and_Malaria that contained such fully referenced passages has been systematically changed from an Global Fund IP address and by an user (Rbourgoing) who most likely is the GFATM staff member Robert Bourgoing (see http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/secretariat/contacts/?lang=en) from the GFATM External Relations / Media department.

Key passages that describing the uncovered fraud within the GFATM programs and other well known issues were removed by these (GFATM) users.

The users in question are 195.65.48.209 (talk · contribs) and Rbourgoing (talk · contribs).

I've left a note on the named account with links to COI. WhatamIdoing (talk) 01:52, 8 February 2011 (UTC)

Need some help with a user and his edits

Nickcreevy (talk · contribs) has thrice created an article concerning on Nicholas Creevy, a photographer who fails notability guidelines. Initially, I was going to permanently block the account on grounds that the username was inappropriate/disruptive, but after thinking the matter through I think it may be better for me to leave this in the hands of people better suited to determining what the relevant actions should be in this case. I've deleted one of the three reincarnations of the photographer article and locked it to prevent recreation, but a more permanent solution needs to be found here. TomStar81 (Talk) 08:36, 4 February 2011 (UTC)

Halo: Reach

• Halo: Reach (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)
• Msammons (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

At WP:Requests for permissions/Confirmed, user says that they would like to fix the article on Halo: Reach as one of the designers. Perseus8235 (talk) 18:07, 4 February 2011 (UTC) — Perseus8235 (talk • contribs) has made few or no other edits outside this topic.

Eh, I'm User:Perseus, Son of Zeus after the account got compromised. --Perseus8235 (talk) 18:20, 4 February 2011 (UTC)

Varsity letter

• Varsity letter (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)
• Plaque Guy (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

This user's only edits have been to Varsity letter. While adding some useful content all the refs they added were to a flickr page that contained images and a link to the Plaques and Such company website. This was brought to my attention after I was emailed by a competing company who had been blocked from using Wikipedia for spamming similar articles. -- role^player 18:22, 4 February 2011 (UTC)

Looks a bit stale, since the links were added > a year ago and are now removed. Feel free to drop a note back here if they return again. SmartSE (talk) 15:27, 7 February 2011 (UTC)

KDON-FM

• KDON-FM (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)
• Clypso2 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

Mentioned at Wikipedia:Requests for permissions/Confirmed. Perseus8235 (talk) 18:29, 4 February 2011 (UTC)

What's the problem with that? SmartSE (talk) 15:25, 7 February 2011 (UTC)

Jose Mari Chan

• Jose Mari Chan (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)
• Josemarichan (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

User appears to be an SPA for the subject in question, and has been into committing COI violations since April 2009. It's either that the subject himself uses the account, or an associate, representative or perhaps an obsessed fan of his is in control of it. Blake Gripling (talk) 03:32, 6 February 2011 (UTC)

Nation Pollster, Henry D'Andrea

• Henry D'Andrea (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)
• Nation Pollster (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)
• Thehenry (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

This user has created their own autobiography several times and just created an article about their own company. See this version of their user page for the reason why this is a COI. dif cheers Guerillero | My Talk 06:49, 6 February 2011 (UTC)

Ukrainian Artists Society of Australia‎

• Ukrainian Artists Society of Australia‎ (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)
• Pkravchenko (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

I have a strong suspicion User:Pkravchenko has a connection with Ukrainian Artists Society of Australia‎. The surname Kravchenko appears as a key member of the organisation in the article and this user has continually argued on longwinded policy guidelines in the AfD and refused my continual request for inline citations. the style of arguing rather than addressing concerns of lack of inline statements and mainstream media coverage to me suggests a conflict of interest (I've seen this many a time in an AfD). as per WP:AVOIDCOI, surely those with a close connection to an organisation should avoid participating in its AfD. LibStar (talk) 01:27, 7 February 2011 (UTC)

The way they uploaded this logo, "Current logo of the Ukrainian Artists Society of Australia (NSW). Design by P. Kravchenko, Australia." whilst saying it is their own work appears to be a self-outing. The article also indicates a COI is likely: "Peter Kravchenko (Sydney) became its secretary". If this is the case then it would certainly explain why the article is apparently largely original research and unverifiable. I'd advise Pkravchenko to refrain from editing the article, per WP:BESTCOI and likewise to let the community judge notability at the AfD. SmartSE (talk) 13:58, 7 February 2011 (UTC)

thanks Smartse, my further research, from this website, Paul Kravchenko is the Society's president. Conflict of interest if I ever saw one, of course an organisation president would want a WP article. LibStar (talk) 23:13, 7 February 2011 (UTC)

Actually, no, User:Smartse, it does not certainly explain everything at all -- you are condemning me by believing that everything you appear to see must be part of a deliberate motive to deceive everyone. Firstly, I am not Peter Kravchenko, and secondly, you would have to prove that it is original research before you made such an allegation. I have provided images of the 3 main references that were in the bibliography on the talk page. This gives you the opportunity to OCR and to translate the articles. Until there is a wider consensus from the 'community' I would ask you to refrain from making prejudicial comments public about me. --Pkravchenko (talk) 14:54, 8 February 2011 (UTC)

My dear User:LibStar, I'm saddened that you had to work so hard to find that information, but if you had spent a few seconds looking at the Ukrainian version of the page, it would have been very clear that I am listed there as the president. You too, will have to translate the information in the sources I have provided to ascertain whether I have "advanced my interest" over the interests of Wikipedia. --Pkravchenko (talk) 14:54, 8 February 2011 (UTC)

why did you not say that when I first asked if you had a connection? WP:AVOIDCOI applies here, it is clear you want the article kept no matter what. See article talk page regarding WP:OWN. LibStar (talk) 15:03, 8 February 2011 (UTC)

no question there is a conflict of interest. you have a clear interest in wanting the article retained as the president of the subject. LibStar (talk) 05:53, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

Hair transplantation

• Hair transplantation (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)
• Samjonesnewcastle (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
• 112.134.115.179 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
• 112.134.118.116 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

I'm sensitive to spamming and promotion in hair-loss articles after the amount of time we wasted on the now-deleted Robert M. Bernstein and its author Rbernstein. During that period, WP:REFSPAM for "FUE hair transplant clinic Sri Lanka" was recognized and removed. Later, 112.134.115.179 (talk · contribs), an IP in Sri Lanka, added material supportive of "recent research in Sri Lanka" that I reverted. Samjonesnewcastle (talk · contribs) restored the material, claiming on his talk page "There is published data from Sri Lanka to show that with enough training and a strict extraction protocol it is possible to perform FUE on all clients. This is vital information and should be included". Later yet, 112.134.118.116 (talk · contribs), also in Sri Lanka, edited this bit of puffery about how soon the client can get back to work after a transplant. This is looking like a combination of promotion and setup for future WP:REFSPAM by later adding a citation to some Sri Lankan clinic. Earlier, Samjonesnewcastle (talk · contribs) added a now-removed external link to a Daily Mail article about a celebrity hair transplant. The article's topmost user comment is:

It take about 4.5 months for the hair to start to grow after a hair transplant. Also £30000 is way too much to pay for surgery. In some places it costs as low as $1.5 a graft and thats for the newer FUE not what looks like FUT done here. Try Sri Lanka for instance. I know as Ive had it done there and the results are excellent.

- sam jones, newcastle, England, 08/1/2011 02:41

--CliffC (talk) 17:26, 7 February 2011 (UTC)

The same content you removed was replaced, but I've removed it again as unsourced and potentially promotional. The pattern of editing seen would certainly indicate some form of puppetry - it certainly passes the duck test - but at the moment it looks to be dealt with. I'll keep an eye on the article and do what I can to keep spam out - this whole area seems to be a complete mess though, making it hard to tell what is factual and what is potentially inaccurate. SmartSE (talk) 12:29, 8 February 2011 (UTC)

TaskForceMajella

• TaskForceMajella (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)
• Jpvandijk (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

Editor has created article and continues editing it based largely on citations of what appear to be his own published academic papers. I'd hate to discourage an expert from participating, but this seems too close to the line. Other perspectives are of course welcome. LeadSongDog come howl! 18:10, 7 February 2011 (UTC)

I haven't seen any sign of you discussing this issue with him... Did I miss it? WhatamIdoing (talk) 02:08, 8 February 2011 (UTC)

fircks

• Vito Roberto Palazzolo (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)
• fircks (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

Claims that he is a friend of Vito Palazzolo. He has been constantly vandalizing the article for almost two years now. Adding stuff like this and this. Quaber (talk) 13:53, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

Someone's already posted about this at WP:BLPN, here - that looks like a better venue for this to me, since fircks may have a valid point. SmartSE (talk) 11:04, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

Alice_(programming_language)

• Alice_(programming_language) (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)
• Christopher Monsanto (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

This user has placed Articles for deletion tags on Alice_(programming_language) and other programming languages. As per his page User:Christopher Monsanto and this link and this one (to confirm his identity) it is clear his is trying to have either a) Other programming languages deleted in revenge for not having his there or b) having the standards lowered to have his language included. In any case WP:COI applies even if there are other reasons... he has shown he cannot be biased because these are the only edits he has done. CanadianLinuxUser (talk) 22:50, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

In my 5 years of editing on Wikipedia (I used to edit under a different name and on IPs), I have never created a Wikipedia page about anything I have been remotely involved with. Either way, I have made a number of non-AfD edits even on this name.

The programming language section of Wikipedia is a mess at the moment--it is impossible to browse the categories/lists and find interesting, notable languages because everyone and their mother creates Wikipedia pages about their pet programming languages. I am being bold and trying to fix this problem by tagging articles that have questionable notability and nominating articles in which I could find no reliable sources of for deletion. I've been wanting to improve other PL articles in the mean time, but ever since I spent a day or two nominating articles for deletion 1) I have been bombarded with accusations of bad faith, 2) my userpage has been vandalized and 3) and my AfDs have been spammed by special-interest groups who resort to personal attacks instead of providing reliable sources to support their claims. I want to help Wikipedia--the PL section is in need of knowledgeable editors, and as I have 12 years of experience programming and am an active researcher at Princeton University in the field of programming languages, I figure I fit the bill. The resistance I have received has been unexpected.

Seriously, I challenge you to find a specific edit where I have demonstrably acted in bad faith. I can point to several where I have been understanding and patient even after being attacked. Christopher Monsanto (talk) 23:09, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

I agree that the pages need clean up, requesting deletion is a WP:COI and the only edits you have done. You may cite your source for so called 5 years of experience but it is irrelevant. You are requesting the deletion of pages and how strange that in every article you have requested there is consensus of KEEP. CanadianLinuxUser (talk) 23:14, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

Just give it up dude. The community has spoken, yet you still persist. Pulling every Wikipedia rule out of the book just makes it look like you have something to prove. Butting heads with the community is counterproductive and will only lead to further animosity from your peers. Put your experience into cleaning up and expanding on pages, instead of deleting them. Bananas21ca (talk) 06:30, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

As far as I can tell there is no COI here - starting an AfD on something you consider to not be notable is not a COI. Christopher Monsanto appears to me to be acting in the best interests of the project but has been unfairly been the subject of personal attacks when people should just be focusing on the content and finding sources to show that languages are notable. I don't really think there is anything to discuss here. SmartSE (talk) 11:01, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

As I stated, requesting cleanup, no conflict... requesting DELETION... that is when he crossed the line. As stated in WP:FAILN For articles of unclear notability, deletion should be a last resort. CanadianLinuxUser (talk) 11:19, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

Hell, Alice is not the only language he marked. just check the Nemerle Articles for deletion, he is an inadequate imbecile from hell ! What are you talking about !? He doesn't care about people talk to him, he ignores everything ! and still deleting things without caring about other peoples opinions, check it yourself. Read his damn profile, and don't you think that "largest gaming websites in the world" is even non notable and research without simple knowledges about things he keep marking, seriously after his first sentence on his user page, I am tempted to add "I am also an idiot.", no offense here. Just look his page "ALGOL is damn very notable" Oh man , really ? And Nemerle - best meta-programming .NET language with macros is not, there is no point to discuss with that dumb. nCdy