It emerged in early December 2011 that accounts operated by Bell Pottinger, a British PR firm, had been extensively editing Wikipedia to further their clients' interests. This page attempts to identify and remove these edits.
So far, eleven accounts are confirmed to have been operated by the firm, and several more cannot be confirmed but have suspicious editing records. The list is probably not complete - please let us know on the discussion page if you have found others.
The affected articles are listed below, grouped into clusters by topic. It should not be considered a list of clients, and there may be false positives.
The articles below are the complete contributions to articles by the confirmed Bell Pottinger accounts: Biggleswiki (talk · contribs) ; Charlesstewart99 (talk · contribs) ; Diginerd84 (talk · contribs) ; Pipsster (talk · contribs) ; Smythej (talk · contribs) ; GBSewnli (talk · contribs); Ejbsnow (talk · contribs) ; Techboy1900 (talk · contribs) ; Illyhawaii (talk · contribs) ; Awb44 (talk · contribs) ; Slaine1 (talk · contribs) ; and 109.231.203.194 (talk · contribs). Other edits are not currently included.
The list does not show deleted edits, or edits to discussion pages, etc. Check individual user contributions for those.
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Done. Reverted to a version before most of Bell Pottinger's involvement. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 21:22, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Done. Poor response: NPOV violation and puffery remained unnoticed for >5 weeks. Hans Adler 19:04, 8 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done removal of text describing the spouse of a business partner of Chris Murrey. Legitimate removal, whatever the motives. --Tagishsimon (talk) 16:32, 10 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] DonebyUser:Yk Yk Yk in August. Kilopi (talk) 22:12, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done - send to AfD. Highly positive new article on company with unclear notability left up for 8 months. — Mr. Stradivarius ♫ 11:28, 11 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done. Copyvio went undetected on page with 54 watchers. Gobonobo T C 17:01, 8 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done - formatting, okay. --Tagishsimon (talk) 16:46, 10 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done - Information inserted wasn't unduly promotional, and passed muster. However, I have reworded the sentence slightly, just in case. The Cavalry (Message me) 16:52, 8 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done IMO this has questionable notability, but it survived a sock-free AfD. Removed some extraneous and non-verified material. ThemFromSpace 22:21, 8 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done Most of the edits were fairly innocuous; those that weren't seem to have been edited out since; article has a {{COI}} tag on it. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 21:06, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done Wholesale revert back to before Diginers87's involvement (and that of a dodgy-looking IP). HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 01:09, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done. Deleted. Just a puff piece for a marginally notable businessman. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 21:01, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Done Cleaned some promotional/excessive language. ThemFromSpace 22:44, 8 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done Puff piece, only significant contributions were from BP accounts. Deleted. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 01:16, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Done. Poor response: Well-frequented article with 79 watchers ended with bizarre coatrack for >5 weeks. Hans Adler 16:39, 8 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done. Addition of name to list of entrepreneurs went uncontested. Gobonobo T C 16:51, 8 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done Promotional name-drop (subject's article also deleted). HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 01:16, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done. Toned down the language and trimmed a bit, but nothing too major. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 20:55, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Done. Reverted to an earlier version. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 20:55, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done. Deleted. Advert for Paramount Group. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 21:24, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Done Editor self-reverted. ThemFromSpace 22:50, 8 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done Off-topic material removed. ThemFromSpace 22:48, 8 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done both deleted—almost no involvement other than by BP accounts. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 18:55, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Done Removed promotional name-drop. ThemFromSpace 23:08, 8 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done Material already removed. ThemFromSpace 23:08, 8 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done Material already removed. ThemFromSpace 23:08, 8 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done I removed the irrelevant, promotional addition. ThemFromSpace 23:10, 8 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done Article deleted. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 00:55, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Done Edit was rapidly reverted. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 00:59, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done Promotional name-drop, long since removed. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 01:02, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Done. I had to rewrite the article completely based on sources that were hidden between countless clones of her cleansed and sugarcoated CV. Someone has done an excellent job of hiding significant chunks of her history (Charles Keating scandal and private equity). Hans Adler 00:14, 18 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Done. Linking article. Shimgray | talk | 22:16, 8 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done. Linking article. Shimgray | talk | 22:16, 8 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Not done Not promotional. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 20:06, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done One of the less subtle links to after dinner speakers for hire. Promotional mention removed. Yomanganitalk 12:35, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done. Nominated for deletion; non-notable product, full of dubious health claims and advertising. Community didn't notice this one, although one user did try and balance the article by pointing out the absurdity of the claims. The Cavalry (Message me) 17:05, 8 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Already done by The Cavalry. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 23:28, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done. Promotional insertion lasted 7 months, now removed. Polequant (talk) 12:07, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done. Promotional edit for Aspire was deleted one month after its introduction. Gobonobo T C 08:24, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done. Promotional additions, puffery was uncontested. Gobonobo T C 05:53, 9 December 2011 (UTC) [[#ref_{{{1}}}|^]] Sent to AfD—Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Dahabshiil. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 23:59, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done. Deleted. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 23:46, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Done. Promotional claim was uncontested. Gobonobo T C 05:59, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done. Plug for T&G from August 8 uncontested. Gobonobo T C 08:18, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done. Article created by BP; deleted as unambiguous advertising. Gobonobo T C 05:37, 10 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Done. Minor edit. Gobonobo T C 05:50, 10 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done Once the Earth Award stuff and unsupported claims were removed it became a one-line stub, so I've redirected it. Yomanganitalk 12:23, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done article created has no promotional language but borderline notability, now tagged as such. ThemFromSpace 22:37, 8 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done Most of the article was copyvio, but the institute looks notable at least. Yomanganitalk 00:37, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done, mostly harmless sentence about his support of Common Purpose was added. I have since removed it. The Cavalry (Message me) 05:50, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Done Harmless. Rich Farmbrough, 14:30, 11 December 2011 (UTC).[reply] Done. Optimal. Identified as spam and reverted within 24 hours. Gobonobo T C 14:17, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done. Promotional edits for Moletest from September 5 were uncontested. Gobonobo T C 05:21, 10 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]| All dealt with |
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Done - correcting a typo, wikilinking extant content. --Tagishsimon (talk) 16:19, 10 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done Correction: This edit sneakily removed mention of Henry Angest of Arbuthnot Banking from the Cash for Honours scandal, labelling it as an uncontroversial edit with a misleading edit summary. The Cavalry (Message me) 08:16, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done Biggleswiki added referenced info an a Chime acquisition. 109.231 added amended number of staff and details of offices, and added details of two more subsidiaries, without references. Changes remain in the article but appear to me to be benign. --Tagishsimon (talk) 16:26, 10 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done. Promotional edit with link for The 1945 unchallenged since April. Gobonobo T C 11:06, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done Edit already undone. Done Edits attempted to resolve "citation needed" flags, apparently without any other intent. A few dodgy sources now removed, but it's not one of our better articles anyway. Yomanganitalk 12:12, 13 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done Edit corrected external link. Yomanganitalk 15:01, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done. Minor edit. Gobonobo T C 04:12, 10 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done Unnecessary but harmless wiklink. Yomanganitalk 14:55, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done nominated for deletion Kilopi (talk) 22:12, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done. Minor edit. Gobonobo T C 04:38, 10 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done Insertion of COO of Libra Group to "Notable Alumni" undone after one month. Yomanganitalk 15:10, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Done - argument over date of birth, reverted within 9 minutes. --Tagishsimon (talk) 16:12, 10 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done - correcting a typo --Tagishsimon (talk) 16:14, 10 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done - addition of EL to disambiguation page. Removed two days later. --Tagishsimon (talk) 16:17, 10 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
(109.231.203.194 made 1 edits, 0 major, +2) (+2) Done Article rolled back to pre-BP state by User:Gobonobo. Rich Farmbrough, 14:49, 11 December 2011 (UTC).[reply]
Done. Minor edit. Gobonobo T C 07:23, 10 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done Addition of Barbara, Lady Judge. She remains listed as added, but presuming she is a Penn alumni, this seems fine. --Tagishsimon (talk) 16:37, 10 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Done - added inline EL to Global Strategy Forum; reverted today thus lasted just less than a year. --Tagishsimon (talk) 16:41, 10 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done. Minor edit promoting 80th birthday party. Gobonobo T C 05:34, 10 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done. Additions of protests critical of Saakashvili were reverted same day. Gobonobo T C 06:20, 10 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done - Addition of legit references. Yay! Biggleswiki is an old school games when he's not shilling. Additions remain in the article. --Tagishsimon (talk) 16:44, 10 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done. Suboptimal response: Spammy article on barely notable company superficially wikified and former name added. Copyvio missed. Hans Adler 14:53, 8 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done. Sounded like an advert. Polequant (talk) 15:38, 8 December 2011 (UTC) I have also AfDed this, for a few more opinions - not sure if it's notable. The Cavalry (Message me) 16:10, 8 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done. Edit was good. Thryduulf (talk) 12:21, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done. Edit just wikified a link or two. Yomanganitalk 12:26, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done You have to admire the barefaced cheek of editing an article to describe your modus operandi. Only some innocuous refs added. Looks fairly accurate, but then it would do. Yomanganitalk 01:41, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done. Minor edit. Gobonobo T C 07:09, 10 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done Added chairperson, Barbara Judge, with a ref. Seems acceptable/valid. Chzz ► 08:01, 12 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done - Information inserted wasn't unduly promotional and some wikilinks improved article. Several spam links to company financial & product details removed Leaky Caldron 17:54, 8 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done. OK response: AfC was declined on notability grounds, but copyvo not noticed. Hans Adler 15:16, 8 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done "Uncontentious" (more correctly, 'unrelated' to this investigation) - added date of death without ref; reverted within half hour; later confirmed as true by others) Chzz ► 07:42, 12 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done. Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Robert Langmead (2nd nomination) swayed by Pottinger accounts. Not sure about User:Martinj1973 - editing focused on this article and Natures Way Foods. Have redirected to article on company. Polequant (talk) 15:26, 8 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done - linking. Shimgray | talk | 22:51, 8 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done. Puffery from October 25 was uncontested. Gobonobo T C 04:35, 10 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done. Minor edit. Gobonobo T C 04:53, 10 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done Correct removal of stale tagged uncited fact. Rmhermen (talk) 00:26, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done Correctly unlinked redlink with external link provided instead. Rmhermen (talk) 23:53, 8 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done Legitimate edit. Rmhermen (talk) 23:53, 8 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done. Promotional article, but another article on same topic already exists, that doesn't appear to be by BP accounts so have redirected there. I'm still not sure about notability, so may be worth taking to AfD. Polequant (talk) 12:17, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done Just wikilinking Rmhermen (talk) 00:00, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]These pages may or may not have been edited by Bell Pottinger operated accounts.
Done (mostly). Poor response: Extreme puffery was not reduced in any way. (Still needs work from an someone knowledgeable in Sri Lankan economoy/politics.) Hans Adler 22:25, 8 December 2011 (UTC)[reply] Done Seems fine now. Edit from 2009 by Sussex10 seemed promotional, removed now but remained for about 1.5 years unreferenced. (Connolly15 (talk) 16:55, 8 December 2011 (UTC))[reply]
Confirmed Confirmed Confirmed Confirmed Confirmed Confirmed No non-deleted edits. RF. Confirmed No mainspace edits. Confirmed No non-deleted edits. RF. Confirmed No edits. Confirmed Only edits that need checking are to 
Likely Filed as the master, as it is the oldest account. All non-deleted edits reverted back in 2008. RF. Confirmed Likely - Stale, but may be a sock. Done - COI for one article, all edits in [450782235=1&oldid=443075301 one chunk] seem innocuous updating of name, and minor detail. Rich Farmbrough, 15:10, 11 December 2011 (UTC).[reply]
Unrelated technically, but edits still need checking Confirmed sock of Drake ice Confirmed Done No undeleted edits. Rich Farmbrough, 15:20, 11 December 2011 (UTC).[reply] Unrelated technically, behaviourally suggestive.I've indef'd all these accounts (and a few others I stumbled across during the cleanup process), with the exception of Martinj1973. Regardless of whether or not they belong to Bell Pottinger, they're all spammers and several of them are very obviously the same person. I left Martinj1973 because I can't be sure there—that account doesn't display the traits that some of the others have. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 02:20, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Confirmed as each other, and I have very good reason to believe that they are spammers. I also have good reason to believe that Drake (talk · contribs) is related, and I've indeffed them. PetersBah is Unrelated and most of the technical data is 
Stale, but I endorse the block. WilliamH (talk) 07:53, 9 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
