Wikipedia:Conflict of interest/Noticeboard

"WP:COIN" redirects here. For the WikiProject on articles about coins, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Numismatics.

• Skip to TOC
• Skip to bottom

Welcome to Conflict of interest Noticeboard (COIN)
Sections older than 14 days archived by Lowercase sigmabot III. 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.
To begin a new discussion, enter the name of the relevant article below:

Search the COI noticeboard archives

Help answer requested edits

Category:Wikipedia requested edits is where COI editors have placed the {{Request edit}} template: Wikipedia requested edits Answered requested edits Declined requested edits Implemented requested edits Misplaced requested edits Partially implemented requested edits Talk:365 Media Group Talk:Aerie Pharmaceuticals Talk:Amnon Aharony Talk:Al Jazeera Media Network Talk:Alfa Laval Talk:John Antioco Talk:Lucius Artorius Castus Talk:Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology Talk:Sathya Sai Baba Talk:Stewart W. Bainum Jr. Talk:Richard A. Baker (businessman) Talk:Ella Ballentine Talk:Banyan Tree Holdings Talk:Barrett, The Honors College Talk:Berlin School of Business and Innovation Talk:James Bevan (diplomat) Talk:Beyond Meat Talk:Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson Talk:Len Blavatnik Talk:Brian Chambers (Curator) Talk:Brookfield Asset Management Talk:Walter Bruno Talk:Mark Burnett Talk:California Health Sciences University Talk:Campaign Legal Center Talk:Anne E. Carpenter Talk:Cenovus Energy Talk:Center for Documentary Studies Talk:Chainlink (blockchain) Talk:Change.org Talk:Kang-Yell Choi Talk:Christian Science Reading Room Talk:Colantonio Incorporated Talk:Colombo City Centre Talk:Conservation and restoration of cultural property Talk:David Copperfield (illusionist) Talk:Cracker Barrel Talk:Tom Crosshill Talk:Walter De Brouwer Talk:Digital agriculture Talk:Diligent Corporation Talk:Joe Dolce Talk:DoorDash Talk:Paul W Draper Talk:Duquesne City School District Talk:Jenny Durkan Talk:Dutch Bros. Coffee Talk:EConsult Talk:Electronic fluency device Talk:Michele Mario Elia Talk:EMV Talk:Energetic neutral atom Talk:Engine No. 1 Talk:EOS Group Talk:EPAM Systems Talk:Evernote Talk:F1000 (publisher) Talk:Jay Faison Talk:Families USA Talk:Fardad Fateri Talk:Federal University of Minas Gerais Talk:Thomas Fellows (author) Talk:Byington Ford Talk:Fortinet Talk:Frontiers Media Talk:Gregory Garde Talk:Vishal Garg (businessman) Talk:Georgia College & State University Talk:Geriatrics Talk:GoodLeap Talk:Gopuff Talk:Jonathan D. Gray Talk:Hearst Media Production Group Talk:Alexander D. Henderson Jr. Talk:Hikvision Talk:Home-Start Worldwide Talk:Hong Kong Jockey Club Talk:Hudson's Bay Company Talk:Human Appeal Talk:Bob Iger Talk:Illinois Eye Bank Talk:Interactive Brokers Talk:International Institute for Conservation Talk:International Republican Institute Talk:Philippe Jabre Talk:Bawa Jain Talk:James J. Peters VA Medical Center Talk:Jenoptik Talk:Tim Jones (writer) Talk:Judo Bank Talk:Michael Kempner Talk:Olaf Koch Talk:Karel Komárek Talk:Konecranes Talk:Kwik Fit Talk:L'Ermitage Beverly Hills Talk:L3Harris Technologies Talk:Marc J. Lane Talk:Laureate Education Talk:Leaders for Global Operations Talk:Steven Leath Talk:LegalShield Talk:Legatum Institute Talk:Marcus Lemonis Talk:Steve Linick Talk:Little Big (band) Talk:Jim Lobe Talk:LoopUp Talk:Lufthansa Cargo Talk:Pat Lundvall Talk:Lush (company) Talk:M9 half-track Talk:Maitreya Talk:Don Martin (journalist) Talk:Kelsey Martin Talk:Lisa Matisoo-Smith Talk:William McCurdy II Talk:Patrick McGuire (solicitor) Talk:Medifast Talk:Chris Meek Talk:Merit Group Talk:Metro AG Talk:Minimum description length Talk:Mobileye Talk:Mauro Moretti Talk:Marc Morial Talk:Multicloud Talk:Murex (financial software) Talk:MyRepublic Talk:Nanjing Cao Xueqin Memorial Museum Talk:National Medal of Honor Museum Talk:National Park Foundation Talk:NetDynamics Application Server Talk:Newmark Group Talk:Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi Talk:Ofer Strichman Talk:OLX Talk:Omaha Steaks Talk:ONEArmenia Talk:Noah Oppenheim Talk:Neri Oxman Talk:Earl A. Pace Jr. Talk:Park Lane Stables Teddington Talk:Anthony Pateras Talk:Pitney Bowes Talk:The Players' Tribune Talk:Gabe Polsky Talk:Presidential transition of Joe Biden Talk:Pristyn Care Talk:Private sector development Talk:Qnet Talk:Mubashir Husain Rehmani Talk:Republic Services Talk:Resolute Forest Products Talk:Joyce Rey Talk:André Rieu Talk:RINA (company) Talk:Riverbed Technology Talk:Rolling-element bearing Talk:Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Talk:Robert Rubin Talk:Ruder Finn Talk:Austin Russell (entrepreneur) Talk:Russian Space Research Institute Talk:Johnathon Schaech Talk:Sequoia Capital Talk:ShareRoot Talk:Ruchir Sharma Talk:Shinola (retail company) Talk:Sigma Pi Sigma Talk:Terje G. Simonsen Talk:Singapore Institute of Management Talk:Abdulah Skaka Talk:Carol Smallwood Talk:Soil Association Talk:SoldierStrong Talk:Taiwan+ Talk:TechnologyOne Talk:Tenova Takraf Talk:The Raw Story Talk:The Real News Network Talk:Thompson Coburn Talk:TikTok Talk:Top Glove Talk:U.S. International Development Finance Corporation Talk:Hamdi Ulukaya Talk:Uproxx Talk:Wilmer Valderrama Talk:Hans Vestberg Talk:Viatris Talk:Vivo (technology company) Talk:Wise Music Group Talk:Yahoo!

Soramitsu

• Draft:Soramitsu (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)
• Hyperledger (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)
• WRRichter1 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
• Metaxolotl (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
• Junji1337 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

There appears to be coordinated editing between these two editors, although the first one has declared that they are paid and the second one has disclaimed any conflict of interest. The first account has created the draft, and has properly declared that they are being paid. The second account now appears to be trying to improve the draft, but is not really neutralizing it. The second is a new account. The first is a new (paid) account except for one edit five months ago. This may be a case where an editor randomly is interested in the company another editor is being paid to edit, or it may be something else .... Robert McClenon (talk) 00:43, 18 February 2022 (UTC)

Hello, as far as I am concerned, I don't have any connection to the company or the other editor. If the style I am using within the article does not convey neutrality, I invite another editor to contribute. There are other instances where all mentions of the company and their works have been removed due to this conflict, which, as far as I can tell, were already within wikipedia from before this COI began. I am open to improving the draft and adding the information with the sole purpose of improving the information on wikipedia regarding cryptocurrencies and their infrastructure. Metaxolotl (talk) 10:27, 18 February 2022 (UTC)

There was also User:Junji1337, who says that 'A friend who does work at soramitsu sent me a link and I am happy to help out, so I edited it.' I'm not sure if this is sockpuppetry or just improper coordination, but coordination is obviously happening. - MrOllie (talk) 13:32, 18 February 2022 (UTC)

Recorded two of them at Talk:Hyperledger, one at Draft talk:Soramitsu and gave all three the standard {{Gs/alert}} for blockchain and cryptocurrency topics. --Drm310 🍁 (talk) 14:15, 18 February 2022 (UTC)

The draft is a crock. I examined the first seven reference and they are all annoucements and press-releases/whitepapers. It is a brochure article I think they're all coi. One main editor and other follow up editors to fix grammer, spelling, copyedit and so on. It seems to be a common pattern. Often we seems to focus on the main editor but the worker bees, i.e. rest of the company, tend to get missed. scope_creep^Talk 12:20, 19 February 2022 (UTC)

Editor Metaxolotl (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) has been working on it, almost since he arrived and submitted it for review as well. They're working together. scope_creep^Talk 12:25, 19 February 2022 (UTC)

Editor Junji1337 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) comes in and added the distributed legdger into the wikipedia listing page at Hyperledger and then editwars to keep it. They all have coi. Its offline coordinated activity and for this type of article and work it is coi. scope_creep^Talk 12:30, 19 February 2022 (UTC)

There is no offline coordinated activity. Whether Soramistu gets published or not does not make a difference to me. I am adding content to the crypto articles because it is factual and relevant. It is unfortunate timing that the initial draft of Soramitsu was effectively done by an employee, who disclosed the relationship. I have no relationship with the company or any other editors working on DLT, CBDC, crypto, etc. If there is any editwar going on, this is because admins have decided that they don't want to implement changes and consider themselves gatekeepers of obsolete information. Hyperledger, DLT, CBDC, etc advancements are happening. If the alleged COI is going to keep wikipedia from being updated, what is the point? Metaxolotl (talk) 11:02, 24 February 2022 (UTC)

@Metaxolotl: You started working on the draft article sn the same day you arrived, the day after it was created, which looks suspicuous. Of all the articles on Wikipedia you selected a draft? Also comments likes this: Reworked the draft to remove product value judgment and advertisement-sounding text. Upon further investigation, company notoriety has been determined by the importance of contributions in Asia and Oceania (ie developments in Cambodia, JICA assignments, PALM9 assignments) as well as the contributions to open-source distributed ledger technology. This looks like you work for the company. scope_creep^Talk 10:14, 1 March 2022 (UTC)

@Scope creep: I'm confused; how would an edit summary that says in part remove(d) ... advertisement-sounding text mean they work for the company? Miracusaurs (talk) 15:22, 1 March 2022 (UTC)

Mikheil Lomtadze

• Mikheil Lomtadze (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)
• Bash7oven (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

I've already tagged for CSD, as this is a blatant attempt to circumvent the salting of Mikhail Lomtadze, repeatedly re-created by Bodiadub. It stands to reason Bash is another un-declared paid editor. Chris Troutman (talk) 15:53, 23 February 2022 (UTC)

I am not following the "it stands to reason" argument. Bash7oven seems to have an interest in Uzbek and Kazakh politicians and business people. What is the alleged COI? Overall, the Mikheil Lomtadze article is in a terrible state. As of this writing, it looks like it is suffering from POV edits who wish to denigrate him rather than the product of editors paid to promote him. As a side note, there ought to be more meat in the sources than just constant updates to business appointments and Forbes rich lists to establish notability, although his stature may self-establish that. But I digress. --SVTCobra 17:58, 23 February 2022 (UTC)

@SVTCobra: The title is salted after the prior article was deleted. Another editor brought the draft through AfC, where I would have accepted it so I asked for un-protection. The MER-C and ToBeFree did not think the draft should be accepted. Bash7oven has moved that same rejected draft into mainspace, so I find it more likely that off-wiki coordination, rather than coincidental interest in the topic, explains this activity. Chris Troutman (talk) 23:27, 23 February 2022 (UTC)

I personally find this reasoning convincing for off-wiki coordination but am not aware of the (probable) sock farm having a COI with Lomtadze. Nonetheless, I think it would be prudent to wait for Bash7oven to comment on this thread. This particular kind of COI case tends to be quite obtuse to figure out without the other party responding. A. C. Santacruz ⁂ Please ping me! 23:33, 23 February 2022 (UTC)

I've sent this to Afd. It is huge puff piece, exceptionally promo at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Mikheil Lomtadze. Such an extreme level of promo would indicate COI. It so far off the scale. scope_creep^Talk 02:01, 28 February 2022 (UTC)

hey, sorry for not answering immediately. I dont expect or plan to monetize my account or expect any money from anyone. I looked through dozens and dozends of articles at Draft and found this one about Mikheil and Narzullo Oblomurodov this one as possible ready for main space. That's why I rewrote them and published. I deleted the promo as I see it, but left some basic information about that guys. --Bash7oven (talk) 15:11, 9 March 2022 (UTC)

Gregory J. Feist

• Gregory J. Feist (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)
• GregoryJFeist (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

Just noticed he wrote his own article. Needs a look over. scope_creep^Talk 12:33, 25 February 2022 (UTC)

Similarly named account Gjfeist (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) started Psychology of science in 2006. Vycl1994 (talk) 02:31, 26 February 2022 (UTC)

Not sure if this person meets notability criteria for academics either, but that's for elsewhere. KeeYou Flib (talk) 17:11, 28 February 2022 (UTC)

He does. scope_creep^Talk 20:56, 28 February 2022 (UTC)

Father for son

• Sheehan Kapahi (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)
• Mohitkapahi20 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

Mohit Kapahi is the father of Indian actor Sheehan Kapahi, and it seems he's only here to write Sheehan's prospective Wikipedia article, writing a draft and even tried decreasing protection on the page even though it's not protected. All of his contributions relate to this quest to make the page, which is clearly only for promotional purposes. Big stage dad vibes--CreecregofLife (talk) 18:07, 26 February 2022 (UTC)

Note that the first revision of Mohit's userpage says we are jointy trying to create this page so there are some WP:ROLE concerns as well. Miracusaurs (talk) 02:32, 27 February 2022 (UTC)

Yup. His ideal situation would be providing the competency that his son being 11 years old lacks, but even if he/they weren’t only interested in crafting Sheehan’s page, he doesn’t seem to quite have the fluency in English or the understanding of Wikipedia or its requirements to actually reach the competency he believes he brings.--CreecregofLife (talk) 03:59, 27 February 2022 (UTC)

Update - User has not edited from their account nor the IP account they used to answer their talk page messages in over 24 hours--CreecregofLife (talk) 00:50, 28 February 2022 (UTC)

Jim Harrington by Jim Harrington

• Jim Harrington (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)
• Producer48 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

This biography / advertisement page appears to have been written by Mr. Harrington himself in July 2011; I came across it randomly (I enjoy clicking on "Random article," what can I say?) Ten years later, I want to seriously strip it down and take everything out that's not cited online by reliable sources, but wanted to get input from experience editors here first. KeeYou Flib (talk) 17:06, 28 February 2022 (UTC)

@KeeYou Flib: Go for it. I doubt there will be much left once you're done, unless you can find better sources. Might be ripe for WP:AFD or WP:A7 speedy. --Drm310 🍁 (talk) 19:01, 28 February 2022 (UTC)

Jamie Merisotis

• Jamie Merisotis (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)
• John Strauss MFA MA (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

I found substantial deletion of content at Jamie Merisotis by a new editor. The editor is potentially an employee editing on behalf of an employer. Blue Riband► 16:42, 3 March 2022 (UTC)

@Blue Riband: Please be aware that posting any user's personal information is considered WP:OUTING unless they have already volunteered it. --Drm310 🍁 (talk) 13:59, 4 March 2022 (UTC)

@Drm310: I've removed the above web link to the editor's potential workplace and will be more aware of this in the future.Blue Riband► 14:23, 4 March 2022 (UTC)

Thank you. I have noted this user's account on the article talk page, as well as two other accounts. One is declared paid, the other undeclared but stale and whose edits predate the WP:PAID policy. --Drm310 🍁 (talk) 15:04, 4 March 2022 (UTC)

Chatri Sityodtong

• Chatri Sityodtong (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)
• Jacksonbulldog (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
• Roycegracie100 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
• Ammalove (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
• PinnacleLight (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
• Thaistory (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

There seems to be a clear coordinated effort going on for this BLP article, namely from WP:SPA accounts dating back as far back as 2013. Accounts such as Roycegracie100, the most recent active one, has exhibited WP:OWN behavior on the article for almost a decade now and would usually revert other users/IPs if it's something that may not be to the BLP's 'liking'. This behavior could also be seen with PinnacleLight as well as the other accounts. It seems likely that these users are either multiple people hired by the BLP, a single person with multiple accounts, or is the BLP themselves.

The other article which these accounts are all active in as well, Evolve MMA (first created by Jacksonbulldog, subsequently deleted and then re-recreated by Sadoka74 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log), is also directly connected to the BLP itself, being the creator of the company. Notice how both articles are also rife with puffery. Sadoka74 seems suspect too, pretty much all of their other contributions are also connected to this BLP, with the creation of articles of individuals competing in ONE Championship. Speaking of which, there's definitely something fishy going on with the ONE Championship (founded by the BLP) article as well, with the article exhibiting a similar peacocky tone. Razali Osman (talk) 20:00, 3 March 2022 (UTC)

Evolve MMA needs a WP:BEFORE but after removing the unsourced, mis-sourced and unrelated sources... there are only Primary sources remaining. Other two might survive an AfD, though ONE Championship has sourcing issues especially roster, which also has its own list that's not supported by sources.Slywriter (talk) 15:10, 4 March 2022 (UTC)

Rolex

• Rolex (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)
• Omega SA (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)
• Lioneagle13 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
• Asnelt (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

I'm fairly uninvolved here; just saw Asnelt was reported at AIV by Lioneagle13 (which was rejected with a message telling Lioneagle to go to COIN or ANI). Apparently there has been problems with puffery in the Rolex article? I figured that this squabble should be talked about somewhere here and perhaps fixed.

On January 13th this year, Bishonen removed a lot of puffery from the article and got it semi-protected. More recently, there has been a user, User:Asnelt, who apparently wishes to make the patent section neutral (and was a semi-sleeper before they decided to do this on the Rolex article, nothing wrong with that, but just stating this).

User:Lioneagle13 says that Asnelt's added information is an advert. (interestingly a lot of their edits seem to be in the "removing puffery and vandalism on pages of watch companies" topic, ex. they've reverted edits on Omega SA while claiming that they were vandalism committed by "a Rolex fanboy from Santa Monica"). The user Spencer left a COI notice on their talk page, another reason why I went to COIN. wizzito | say hello! 08:09, 4 March 2022 (UTC)

I'm not affiliated with Rolex or any other watch company and have no conflict of interest whatsoever. It is true that I haven't edited a lot on Wikipedia and could be called a semi-sleeper. Reading the patent section of the Rolex article, I felt that it wasn't neutral at all and started reading more into the topic. It's the first time I'm editing on watch topics. Before my edits, five out of the seven list entries in the innovations and patents section described a broad class of invention such as 'self-winding wristwatch' and then went on to say that actually, Rolex did not invent this. It is beyond me how anybody could think this is impartial. This is the "Notable innovations and patents" section. If it's not a Rolex invention after all, it shouldn't be in this section in the first place. My edits go into more detail and describe the actual invention / novelty and still contrast these to earlier inventions. All of these are supported by independent references. Before editing the Rolex page, I explained my concerns on the Rolex Talk page and, as nobody else engaged in the discussion, waited a week before changing the article. Asnelt (talk) 11:03, 4 March 2022 (UTC)

The way your account is responding doesn't look like you're new, just stating, nothing wrong. Was a semi-sleeper and all of a sudden you're editing a watch article, glamorizing like how the "respective" brands do to their own website. Wikipedia is the one place where facts and truth are untouched by relevant parties and hopefullly it will always be like that. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lioneagle13 (talk • contribs) 12:30, 4 March 2022 (UTC)

Sukhabodhananda

• Sukhabodhananda (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)
• Shakila100 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log).

Promotional/ likely COI editing on Sukhabodhananda. -KH-1 (talk) 02:44, 8 March 2022 (UTC)

Seems to be continually trying to update the same type of promo information indicating he is a UPE. He has been edit warring from from 22 Feb to 6 March and there was an earlier edit on August 2021 that added the same kind of promotional edit. It all promo edit, trying to sell his books. scope_creep^Talk 08:02, 10 March 2022 (UTC)

Frank Eric Lloyd

• Frank Eric Lloyd (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)
• Catfish Jim and the soapdish (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

Slightly unusual one this as I'm initiating discussion about an article that I primarily authored seven years ago about a relative of mine. Undoubtedly a COI although I didn't see it as such at the time. The intention was to write a neutral article about a subject I felt was notable, but it is arguable that I am not the best judge of that. I will not edit this article or stand in any way against consensus to remove. Catfish Jim and the soapdish 11:09, 9 March 2022 (UTC)