This is a cleanup process regarding an effort to spam links by disguising them as dead link replacements.
SeeWikipedia talk:WikiProject Spam#SEO,Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Spam#Spamming, andWikipedia:Administrators'_noticeboard/Archive267#SEO_spam_attack for previous discussions. Please start new discussions regarding this on this page.
It was discovered that certain individuals are utilizing{{Dead link}} templates to add spam links forSEO purposes, probably after following guides likethis. They try to disguise the addition of spam links by replacing or adding to dead link templates with links to their website. Such spam links can take the form of a direct link to the site or a link to a fake or delayed news article about the uncited statement (Example). Users often include edit summaries with "dead link", "edited link", "replaced dead link" or similar.
Ladsgroup has conducted a search for dead link removals over the past 3 months, the results of which can be found atUser:Ladsgroup/spam. Keep in mind that this search will have only found those times when the dead link template was removed, which does not always occur. A filter is tracking this tactic atSpecial:AbuseFilter/711.
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| Reports completed: |
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| Defer discussion: |
 Defer toXLinkBot |
| Defer toLocal blacklist |
| Defer toGlobal blacklist |
| Defer toedit filter |
| Information: |
 Additional information needed |
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Please use=== Descriptive section name === when reporting.
This is a list of accounts and websites which have already been reported (mostly from the above discussions), I'm adding them here to help centralise the reports.SamWalton (talk)12:56, 24 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Stewart5235 (talk ·contribs ·deleted contribs ·blacklist hits ·AbuseLog ·what links to user page ·count ·COIBot ·Spamcheck ·blacklist hits ·user page logs ·x-wiki ·status ·Edit filter search ·Google ·StopForumSpam)(Not blocked)
riflescopereviewsguide.com:Linksearchen(insource) -meta -de -fr -simple -wikt:en -wikt:fr •Spamcheck •blacklist hits •MER-C X-wiki •gs • Reports:Links on en -COIBot -COIBot-Local • Discussions:tracked -advanced -RSN • COIBot-Link,Local, &XWiki Reports - Wikipedia:en -fr -de • Google:search •meta • Domain:domaintools •AboutUs.com
Copied fromWT:WPSPAM. — Revi13:08, 24 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Tentative title - haven't investigated individual links. Possibly unrelated.
-C759 (talk)14:08, 27 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Please leave you comment atWikipedia talk:WikiProject Spam/Dead link spamming. — Revi04:31, 25 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]