Wikipedia talk:List of hoaxes on Wikipedia

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This page has been mentioned by multiple media organizations: Adam Coomer (2013-05-13). "Should university students use Wikipedia?". The Guardian. Retrieved 2013-05-15. Omer Benjakob (2019-10-04). "The Fake Nazi Death Camp: Wikipedia's Longest Hoax, Exposed". Haaretz. Retrieved 2019-10-04. Pride David (February 1, 2023). "Wikipedia: the good, the bad and the ugly". Poynter Institute. Retrieved 2023-02-02. Allison Morrow (January 14, 2025). "In a minefield of glitchy AI search and social media, Wikipedia becomes one of the most reliable places on the internet". CNN. Retrieved 2024-01-14. Wikipedia's crowdsourcing model isn't perfect — [...] and it keeps a list of hoaxes that have taken off there.

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El castillo de los monstruos (1964 film)

This 17-year old article is about to be deleted as a hoax: El castillo de los monstruos (1964 film) (see talk page for discussion). Created as a redirect 7 March 2007, as an article 30 June 2009. Fram (talk) 18:43, 8 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

From the discussion it seems to be some kind of a database error or unintentional confusion rather than a hoax. Gawaon (talk) 07:12, 9 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

More like an IMDb hoax which got copied to here. Fram (talk) 07:35, 9 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Amberlihisar fortress in Turkey, other AI-generated articles in 404 Media article

https://www.404media.co/email/d516cf7f-3b5f-4bf4-93da-325d9522dd79/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter

Seems like the hoaxes mentioned in the article should be on the list. Seananony (talk) 00:39, 12 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I'm confused. How can this not be on the list:

Wikipedia:List of hoaxes on Wikipedia/Amberlihisar? Seananony (talk) 00:56, 12 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

This list is incomplete and you are likely to update it, but keep in mind not all errors are hoaxes. Also, you did not link to any discussion that explains why this is a hoax. @Scott who may offer more insight. _{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 04:53, 12 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Heya! It was speedy deleted as G3 (blatant hoax) by GeneralNotability without any discussion that I saw. I honestly don't know why it's been described as "AI-generated", by the way (hence its appearance in that article which is doing the rounds on social media at the moment). Is the idea here that a hoaxer would be too lazy to write all that and make up the references? Because after seeing plenty of detailed and well-structured hoaxes over the years, I would never make that assumption.  — Scott • talk 12:15, 14 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Scott I added Amberlihisar. Hopefully I did it right. Seananony (talk) 05:04, 13 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Kamini Yacht Club

Kamini Yacht Club looks like a qualified candidate for a spot among Extant for 10+ years, and has been brought to Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Kamini Yacht Club. Sam Sailor 10:49, 2 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Eric Braeden and the sinking of the MV Wilhelm Gustloff

Talk:Eric Braeden#Wilhelm Gustloff may qualify. Extant from 27 June 2018[1] till 4 November 2024.[2] The false claim that Braeden was a survivor of the disaster, added by an unregistered user 6 years ago, is spreading on social media since at least 2022, and has even made it into a number of books, and on other Wikipedias. Renerpho (talk) 04:27, 7 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

North East Mail

Created in 2012, North East Mail appears to be a hoax. Current prod tag says no results for it come up, and the alleged website never hosted any info about the publication. Is this one a hoax? Ten Pound Hammer • ^(What did I screw up now?) 23:00, 23 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think it's a hoax: there's an X profile, and the newspaper is listed on page 131 of this PDF of registered newspapers from the Registrar of Newspapers. The PDF also lists the owner of the newspaper, who appears to be a real person. Malerisch (talk) 10:28, 24 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Glamoč airport

This is not a hoax. See https://sr.wikipedia.org/sr-el/%D0%9F%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%B8%D0%B1%D0%B8%D1%98%D0%B0_%D0%98%D0%B2%D0%B5_%D0%9B%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%B5_%D0%A0%D0%B8%D0%B1%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B0_1943. or https://znaci.org/odrednica.php?slug=glamoc or many other sources in local languages including pictures (for instance https://www.mycity-military.com/Drugi-svetski-rat/Dornier-Do-17.html). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 176.76.226.79 (talk) 13:42, 9 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Lervik, Båstad Municipality

Is this a hoax? Bearian (talk) 02:43, 7 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

No, it's a real place in Sweden. -- Valjean (talk) (PING me) 03:58, 7 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Mandhara

I can't find anything relevant. Is this a hoax? Bearian (talk) 05:12, 7 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I ended up looking at the person who created the page and it appears that they have a history of making articles about non-existent villages in India.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/LDSHARMA Clammodest (talk) 06:52, 10 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]