Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2017 March 13

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March 13

Gadungan Island

Does Gadungan Island really exist, or is it a fake/hoax article? 86.20.193.222 (talk) 06:56, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

• It's not in The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World (2008 edition).
• It's not in Rand McNally's The New International Atlas (1991 edition).
• It's not in Google Maps.
• The article cited in the first reference is available free online in PDF, but it's page images only, not searchable text. Still, I skimmed it and it does not seem to mention this island, nor does it seem like the sort of article that would.
• The user who created the article has made only three other Wikipedia edits, one of which also relates to this same supposed island and the other two are about other minor islands in that part of the world (one a redlink, one not linked).
• The user who claimed to have validated the references in the article has made no other Wikipedia edits.

The second reference requires payment to see, and I'm not going to pay just for this reason. But I think we already have enough evidence to say "hoax" (and also "sock puppet") and to revert the user's other edits. --76.71.6.254 (talk) 08:27, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

Gadungan is a city in Java, 26 km from Surakarta. 80.5.88.48 (talk) 08:51, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

The first line of the article clearly says that the name means "fake" in the local language - then gives an alternative name in Arabic, which translates as "false." The further comment about it being difficult to see the island because of mist suggests that the author has included enough clues for us to spot what he is doing. The Michael Hitchcock work cited has the words "The Case of Bali" in its full title - and a search shows that there is a tourist village (not an island) in Bali named Gadungan. Wymspen (talk) 09:33, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for taking the time on this. I had been through the same thought-process and searching, but wasn't confident to tag it as a "blatant hoax" without a second opinion. The article has now been deleted. 86.20.193.222 (talk) 16:31, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

When was the article created? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:16, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

Resolved

@Baseball Bugs:

It was created 05:55, 13 March 2017 by Somuchphotography (talk · contribs), and marked "Reviewed: Good sources, well-written" at 06:09, 13 March 2017 by Verscaper (talk · contribs). I took notes while investigating. I've requested Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Somuchphotography. 86.20.193.222 (talk) 02:16, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

At least it wasn't around for long. You hear stories about hoax articles that linger for years before they're found out. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 03:23, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

Example; WP:Articles for deletion/Wichita Glade, Florida. Abductive (reasoning) 20:16, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

You know, Agloe was created as a hoax and became real; why shouldn't Wichita Glade have the same opportunity? —Tamfang (talk) 08:09, 15 March 2017 (UTC)