Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Wran/Archive

Wran

Wran (talk⁺ · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · spi block · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki)

22 October 2011

Suspected sockpuppets

Alis9 (talk⁺ · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · spi block · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki)

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I first encountered the issue at an ANI thread that said there was possible edit warring going on at Dominique_Strauss-Kahn. Looking at the edit history, it appears Alis9 added content that was removed. Wran reverted the content back in three times. I started looking at their edit summaries and I found that they very often use the same lower case one word edit summaries which are usually "additions". Then I went to look at which account was first. Wran was the earliest account so I look at the date Alis9 was created (22 December 2010) and reviewed what Wran was doing around that time. I found that Wran was involved in a content dispute on The Rules of the Game. I found that Alis9's second edit was to support Wran's point of view on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Film where a source Wran wanted to use on The Rules of the Game was in dispute. Request a CU to determine if there was a violation of WP:3RR. v/r - T P 15:12, 22 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Comments by other users

Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

Wran and Alis9 both move around a lot, but there's no overlap and the other technical components don't match up. Given that the Wran edits come from multiple locations on two continents, there's every possibility that they are all Wran's devices. Have to use editing information to confirm the link.--Elen of the Roads (talk) 15:36, 22 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Administrator note Alright, those results make little to no sense to me. Are they using proxies? If so, that would explain some disparity. Anyway, given Elen's comment that it's possible they're the same, along with behavioral evidence, I've blocked and tagged Alis9. — HelloAnnyong ^{(say whaaat?!)} 17:20, 22 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

If you want a one word answer it's Inconclusive per this UTP diff. What I think Elen is trying to say is like say your Editor A (simulating Wran), i'm Editor B (similulating Alis9) and I live in New york (which I don't) and you live in France or something (all being hypothetical). You as editor A come on a business trip to NYC, Dallas, Denver, etc... and you have business trips in France too. Now me as editor A living in NYC is editing on the same or similiar device as you, but because were on such dynamic networks in NYC, you couldn't tell if I just used my time in NYC just to create this account. Now take that into account as if A could = B, and you get your inconclusive result. -- DQ (t) (e) 06:01, 23 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

You got it. I figure he has a laptop or similar, edits from devices in his company offices, maybe the odd cybercafe or hotel wifi, and for all I know the Alis account is his girlfriend's place. They never ever edit at the same time - the gap is always enough that he's back from a trip. So this is an odd case where the different IPs and devices don't actually preclude sockpuppetry --Elen of the Roads (talk) 11:19, 23 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, that makes sense. I'm okay with this outcome then. — HelloAnnyong ^{(say whaaat?!)} 12:58, 23 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

4 July 2013

Suspected sockpuppets

Massive Male Member (talk⁺ · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · spi block · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki)

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Massive Male Member's (direct and indirect) defending of Wran's edits [1][2] seems to establish a connection between them. Given that one of Wran's edits was reverted by Inanygivenhole and that Wran's name was mentioned in an ANI report by me and that immediately after, Massive Male Member registers on Wikipedia and continues the dispute right away, saying the same things and in the same tone, I think that it is reasonable to suspect sockpuppetry. Massive Male Member's reverts are not the only evidence (since any random malicious user watching the ANI board could start hounding other editors). What I deem to be strong evidence of sockpuppetry is the idiosyncratic style of language and personal attacks of both editors: [3][4][5] / [6][7][8][9][10]. --Omnipaedista (talk) 13:10, 4 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Comments by other users

Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.

this is clearly an accusation in "bad faith" to prevent his own incompetent and abusive editing being examined--Wran (talk) 21:06, 4 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

In my opinion, Massive Male Member is just a troll, possibly with the intention of impersonating Wran. Closing. King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 04:25, 5 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]