User talk:HelloAnnyong/Archive 10

Archive 5Archive 8Archive 9Archive 10Archive 11Archive 12Archive 15

SPI warrented?

I know that you have some expertise in these matters. I'm kind of baffled about when an SPI is and is not warranted and am reluctant to start something of that significance without just cause. Could you take a look at what's going on at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Embox and let me know whether or not starting an SPI is warranted? Best regards, TRANSPORTERMAN (TALK) 15:40, 1 December 2010 (UTC)

That could be sockpuppetry, but it could also be off-Wiki meatpuppeting. It may be worth a checkuser, if only to discern what's going on. Either way, on that AfD, all of the new accounts can be written off with {{spa}}. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 16:05, 1 December 2010 (UTC)
Okay: Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Sikmir. Regards. TRANSPORTERMAN (TALK) 16:25, 1 December 2010 (UTC)
Rasenfassenblasety, I missed one. See here. Thanks for your help. Regards, TRANSPORTERMAN (TALK) 18:23, 1 December 2010 (UTC) Addressed, already by Tiptoety. Sorry for the bother, TRANSPORTERMAN (TALK) 18:25, 1 December 2010 (UTC)
No worries; this case was a good catch either way. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 18:49, 1 December 2010 (UTC)

I moved your comment

[1] Hope you don't mind. Rambo's Revenge (talk) 15:14, 2 December 2010 (UTC)

Damn! I put it in the wrong place. Thanks for fixing that. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 15:34, 2 December 2010 (UTC)

another potential sock has appeared...pretty obvious. 124.43.235.205 (talk · contribs) LibStar (talk) 05:49, 3 December 2010 (UTC)

and this one 124.43.234.170 (talk · contribs)LibStar (talk) 08:10, 3 December 2010 (UTC)
Just a heads-up - you should use the {{IP}} template instead of user in this case. But I blocked the first one for block evasion; the second IP isn't really anything so I left it alone for now. If it edits again, though, let me know. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 12:55, 3 December 2010 (UTC)

SameerJaved?

Hi!

Any thoughts on whether Shalalal (talk · contribs) could be another sock of SameerJaved (talk · contribs)? They seem to have made almost identical additions to the same articles (cf. this with this). Gabbe (talk) 02:29, 4 December 2010 (UTC)

You're right, it's possible. I've opened a request for it. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 05:01, 4 December 2010 (UTC)

Lorynote

Good call, thanks. Funnily enough, last night I discovered that a Lorynote account had been created on pt.wiki (where Jackiestud is indefinitely blocked) just a few days after this account was created. I'd already asked the blocking Admin there to contact me, and I've let him know about this block. They are luckier than us though, she's hardly edited there at all, clearly too busy here. Dougweller (talk) 06:02, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

Should that fact be added to the archive? Dougweller (talk) 06:03, 5 December 2010 (UTC)
Eh, it's sort of beyond the scope of our Wiki. One glance at SUL and anyone can see what's going on. (Actually, the account has also done some editing on es.wiki and fr.wiki.) But being blocked on one Wikiproject doesn't necessarily mean you can't participate in others; for example, Ottava Rima is active on Commons and Wikiversity. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 06:08, 5 December 2010 (UTC)
No, I wasn't even thinking about anything being done elsewhere, and I know that being blocked on one doesn't mean you can't edit elsewhere, just that it is more evidence and should perhaps be noted. But that isn't necessary I gather. How do you look at SUL? Dougweller (talk) 06:44, 5 December 2010 (UTC)
Easiest way is to go to the user's contribs page, scroll down to the bar on the bottom, and click SUL. This is a direct link. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 14:08, 5 December 2010 (UTC)
Thanks. Very useful. I seem to be still finding my way around the new interface. Dougweller (talk) 15:54, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

sorry

it was a test Jacob12190 (talk) 10:48, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Right-wing politics request for semi-protect

Could you please look at this article again. Roger Scruton was semi-protected after SlimVirgin wrote, "Problems since October 22 with an anon, using various IP addresses (in the ranges 88.104–88.110, and 85.211) removing criticism, reverting other editors, and insulting people on the talk page. He has been doing the same at other articles related to right-wing politics, and is believed to be the banned Yorkshirian (talk · contribs). An SPI report yesterday led to a range block, but the same anon is back at Roger Scruton today. The blocking admin, T Canens, advised that semi-protection of the targeted articles is the best solution".

We had been discussing the issue at "IPs at Talk:Right-wing politics and Roger Scruton"[2]. The IPs have been soapboxing on the talk page and insulting other editors, e.g., "Wikipedia should not be an exploration of your ignorance.... You are a textbook example of somebody who damages the reputation of Wikipedia.... Your bigotry and intolerance are almost amusing.... I am getting the impression you are delusional.... I am very clearly getting the impression you are delusional.... you are delusional.... As defined by somebody who is delusional?" There are countless examples of this.

TFD (talk) 00:15, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

Okay, but I was going based on evidence. The page has been untouched for a week. Just because the editor edited there before does not mean they are now. Maybe they decided that it wasn't worth their effort anymore, who knows. There isn't enough recent activity there to justify a protect. If there was any evidence of active socking on that page then I would consider a block, but there isn't. And we don't pre-emptively protect articles, either. As a side note, if you consider it, keeping it unblocked may serve as a honeypot. Not that I advocate acting that way, of course, but just showing you another perspective. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 03:18, 7 December 2010 (UTC)
IOW an account or fixed IP of a banned user may be blocked, an account or fixed IP that abuses talk page privileges (through soapboxing or abusive comments) may be blocked, but no action may be taken against a dynamic IP that is a sock of a banned user and abuses talk page privileges. TFD (talk) 07:21, 7 December 2010 (UTC)
Wait a second. Are we talking about Right-wing politics or Talk:Right-wing politics? I've been meaning the former.. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 12:57, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

Thanks!

for dealing the sockpuppetry issue at Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Ahmed Ghazi. I'm really surprised about User:Someone65 being involved and few others not being. Thanks again. :) --Sayed Mohammad Faiz Haidertcs 04:25, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

Sockpuppetrry

Hi, now I checked the user compare report from Shovon who is trying to ban me for sock puppetry, Im pretty new (almost 1 week) so I dont know all the rules but if correcting the person who is the sockpuppet (gargabook) from an edit they got horribly wrong is bad then Im really sorry I didn't know about this rule, but the edit I made to it isn't Vandalism it was factual and I have never vandalised in Wikipedia, but do notice that the main thing I have been doing is removing overpraise from mainly India articles as overpraise is ripe (I got this from googling the IPL when I saw the news about Australia's version of the IPL and noticing the overpraise on it also from the Comm Games 2010 page a while ago) and notice that Shovon is a bigtime Indian editor so maybe an abuse of privilidges or something might be happening--Luke193 (talk) 11:45, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

Uh... I'm going to give him a chance to actually respond, and then take it from there. But it seems like there may not be much evidence, so truth may out. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 12:43, 8 December 2010 (UTC)
Since you're reviewing the case, you probably might want to compare the wording of the above and the first unblock request. Elockid (Alternate) (Talk) 16:57, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

Meenas

"DEAR SIR...some people are intentionally behind tribals..specially meenas article,and adding nonsense like they were animal,PLEASE ban those people..like ip address 59.161.47.25 with immediate effect,I will tell you some more people who are intentionally behind tribals and backward people,they are systematically conspiring against backward and innocent tribal people since thousand of years.They are so selfish that u cant even imagine;PLEASE ban 59.161.47.25,THANKS".Bigbrothersorder (talk) 12:22, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

Uh.. what. What is this in regards to? — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 12:43, 8 December 2010 (UTC)


DEAR SIR..please look at tribals..specially meenas and backward peoples article,some selfish people are adding nonsense and abusing tribals n backward people again n again..wat is this nonsense..?,please give your few minutes and check tribals(st),backward people(obc) and sc(dalit) articles.The nonsense people who are intentionally behind tribals are 59.161.47.25,,81.101.116.123,,ban them immediately please,,AND 81.101.116.123,,86.179.144.43,,86.162.140.193,,87.194.22.30,,82.24.107.240,,82.17.249.111 are definitely the SAME person..please ban him immediately for the sake of TRUTH.,,,people assisting him may be ShelfSkewed,,Ohconfucius,,59.161.47.25,,Oldag07,,125.22.95.71,,FOR THE SAKE OF TRUTH/AUTHENTIC HISTORY AND REALITY PLEASE BAN them..atleast for tribal articles.THANKS YOU N WIKIBigbrothersorder (talk) 13:04, 10 December 2010 (UTC)

No.. no, we're not going to do that. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 15:09, 10 December 2010 (UTC)


Dear sir..a very happy new year 2011..Bigbrothersorder (talk) 06:35, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

Christopher Columbus

Hi ! Thanks for the message. [ Origin theories of Christopher Columbus ] --Davide41 (talk) 18:18, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

Thanks!

I just wanted to say thanks for helping clear out the sockpuppetry issues with LUUWDA. It was my first time reporting such an incident (which I discovered as a result of incivility directed at me). You responded switfly, making me feel that I did the right thing. jsfouche ☽☾Talk 18:29, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for your comment, I didn't realize how checkusers worked :p I've since looked at WP:CHECKUSER, and that clarified it. dmz 21:03, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

Re: SPI Rcool35 still at it

Please take a look at this update, Rcool35 is also using another IP number range to evade his block: Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Rcool35 Archived investigation: [3] Thank you! --BatteryIncluded (talk) 03:45, 9 December 2010 (UTC)

I've closed this case. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. Cheers! TNXMan 14:22, 9 December 2010 (UTC)

All the thanks go to you for dealing with it. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 14:50, 9 December 2010 (UTC)

Stale CU data

So I was looking at Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Pohick2 and was wondering: what's the general length of time that CU data is good for? VernoWhitney (talk) 16:10, 9 December 2010 (UTC)

Check your email. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 16:33, 9 December 2010 (UTC)

Please double check and comment my corrections at Software visualization

Hi HelloAnnyong. Can you please check and comment the reverts I did here, and the 3-4 preseding edits. Add, revert-by-Ptrb, Add-back, revert-by-Ptrb. And maybe keep eye on this back and forth. Thanks. Ptrb (talk) 16:10, 10 December 2010 (UTC)

You were right on that edit, but you don't really need to point the editor to discuss with me first. In cases like that, you're better off discussing on the talk page. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 16:41, 10 December 2010 (UTC)
Similar back/forth discussion going on here too Code coverage. I've requested discussion at articles talk page. Would appreciate if you could keep eye on that Code coverage. I guess admins word is stronger than mine. Ptrb (talk) 20:08, 11 December 2010 (UTC)

New Stanovc/Whatelsetodo sock

[4] fairly obvious it's him. Thanks, Athenean (talk) 22:59, 10 December 2010 (UTC)

Blocked and tagged. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 00:41, 11 December 2010 (UTC)
Thanks a lot. This is a serial sockmaster, we can be sure he will be back again. Athenean (talk) 00:44, 11 December 2010 (UTC)

There is just no stopping this guy [5]. Athenean (talk) 21:58, 11 December 2010 (UTC)

Blah. I've added this to the SPI case. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 22:05, 11 December 2010 (UTC)
Thanks a lot, 'ppreciate it. Athenean (talk) 22:06, 11 December 2010 (UTC)
And another one [6]. Is there anything that can be done about this? Rangeblock? It won't stop otherwise. Athenean (talk) 18:38, 18 December 2010 (UTC)
Blocked. Last time I asked, they said the range was too big to block. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 18:44, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

Letting you know

Thanks for your recent help to me at SPI. I just thought that, as a courtesy, I should notify you of this: [7]. Please don't block the IP. --Tryptofish (talk) 18:31, 11 December 2010 (UTC)

Honestly I'm not sure that telling them to add to AN from an IP was the right move. In this case WP:OFFER applies, I think. They did the first part (contact an experienced editor), and I think that second part about opening a thread at ANI falls to you to do it, if you agree that the block should be reviewed. On the other hand, the standard offer says "wait six months without sockpuppeting", and for this person it's been.. five days. Maybe a little too soon. But if you really think that the editor deserves another chance, then by all means give it a shot. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 19:18, 11 December 2010 (UTC)
OK, woops, I guess I'm still in need of more experience, since I didn't know about OFFER until now. (For that reason, it would have been good if you had left them a message about that when you blocked them, as I suggested.) Let me tell you what I think about the five days thing, though. I certainly could be wrong, and I'm unfamiliar with the original history of that editor, but it looks to me like the recent socking that I've been reporting has been a case of good-faith, albeit foolish, attempts to make a clean start, just doing it in all the wrong ways. Anyway, given that I might or might not be wrong about that, and given that what's done is done, I think it will be OK for me to not open an AN thread myself. Let's see what he does, as that will be something of a test of whether or not he "gets it". If I change the instructions to him now, it will just complicate things. I'll keep an eye on it (I'm monitoring AN and ANI anyway, because of another block discussion where I've been commenting), and I'll certainly speak up if and when a thread starts. But I think it will be good in this case to put the onus on him to take the initiative. Thanks again. --Tryptofish (talk) 19:33, 11 December 2010 (UTC)

Looks like I extended too much AGF. Just letting you know about WP:ANI#Deliberate block evasion by IP sock, in case you might like to comment or observe. Thanks again for your help and advice. --Tryptofish (talk) 20:51, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

It looks like there isn't going to be any more light shed at AN/I. Up to you, but my opinion is that it would be OK for you to go ahead and issue that IP rangeblock, maybe to end around the end of this month. Leaving it temporarily like that will still allow for a good faith comeback. --Tryptofish (talk) 00:11, 21 December 2010 (UTC)

Actually, I'm going to let it go for now. There hasn't been any activity from the 66.71.97.32/28 range in three days, so it's kinda stale. If it does start up again, though, let me know and we'll look into it. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 00:50, 21 December 2010 (UTC)
That makes good sense. Will do. Thanks. --Tryptofish (talk) 19:49, 21 December 2010 (UTC)

Wiki Brah sock?

Could this be yet another in the long string? (wikilinks purposely excluded to avoid tipping him off if it is) WuhWuzDat 19:52, 11 December 2010 (UTC)

Seems like it. Blocked and tagged. And I opened/close a case for it. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 20:10, 11 December 2010 (UTC)

Request

Hi there, I've request Get 'Em Girls (album) for semi-protection due to continuous IP vandalism. ozurbanmusic (talk) 11:39, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

A request

I was wondering if you could train me to become a clerk, or at least show me the ropes of how it works. When reverting vandalism, I've come across a couple users/IPs that seem like they might be Socks to me, but I'm not sure what evidence is needed and what to put in the case. I know that training me to become a clerk would be a bit overkill for my purposes, but it would also mean that if there's ever a need for more, you could grab me :p. Thanks, dmz 17:20, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

Hey. To be completely honest, clerks generally have more experience editing on Wikipedia, and I don't think a thousand edits is quite enough to get started. We're also not really taking on new clerks right now. In the meantime, I would say keep editing and gain some more experience, and check back in a few months to see what's up. If you're asking about what's required to start a case, that's a different story. In terms of evidence, you need to provide tangible evidence of commonalities between accounts - things like similar edits, similar edit summaries, that sort of thing. If you have specific questions, feel free to ask me. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 17:50, 12 December 2010 (UTC)
Thanks, I'll come back if I have more questions. dmz 19:40, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

KentKnight007

Can you please log the block results from Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Shutterbug at the page WP:ARBSCI? Thank you very much for your prompt actions in this matter, -- Cirt (talk) 19:50, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

So done. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 19:52, 12 December 2010 (UTC)
Thank you very much! Can anything additional be done about this repeated behavior pattern from this banned user? Can the underlying IP be blocked? -- Cirt (talk) 19:54, 12 December 2010 (UTC)
As I understand it, they're not on a static IP, so it'd have to be a rangeblock. Problem is that it's a pretty wide range, and there's at least one good IP in there. So no, unfortunately there isn't really much to do in that regard. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 20:00, 12 December 2010 (UTC)
Thanks very much for the prompt replies. No worries, -- Cirt (talk) 20:02, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

Advice re Delicious carbuncle

At ANI, BLPN, NPOVN, WT:SCN, and multiple other locations, this user is abusing forumshopping and attempting to game the system in retaliation for my reporting the user to ANI over the user's BLP violations and the user's disruption on the topic of WP:ARBSCI with those selfsame BLP violations. What can be done about this? Should the user be reported for forumshopping-disruption related to WP:ARBSCI? Multiple users have commented that the user's counter-claims have little merit. Thank you for your time, -- Cirt (talk) 20:05, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

  1. ARBSCI notice [8]
  2. BLP violations [9]
  3. Gaming and forumshopping [10]

Thoughts? -- Cirt (talk) 20:07, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

SPI Check

Regarding this request Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Alex79818, I have another IP address to add user:66.177.19.78. Noting this threat [11], it seems that he is determined to disrupt the articles using multiple IP addresses. Do I need to reopen the SPI? Wee Curry Monster talk 21:35, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

That IP is blocked for two days for block evasion, so it's fine for now. You don't need to include it. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 21:48, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

SPI - Abhishek191288

Hi, Since you were the clerk for Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Abhishek191288/Archive, can you handle the unblock(s) based on User_talk:Tnxman307#Wikipedia:Sockpuppet_investigations.2FAbhishek191288.2FArchive? I think Tnxman307 went offline quite immediately after rechecking and last thing I want to do is wheel war on unblocks right now, but I don't want to leave the editor hanging either:) Also, you're probably better off fixing whatever needs fixing on the SPI page. cheers. —SpacemanSpiff 20:05, 13 December 2010 (UTC)

I've unblocked Abhishek191288 and updated the archive. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 20:14, 13 December 2010 (UTC)
Thanks. Also, one of the other editors is blocked based on the same SPI, that need unblocking too? cheers. —SpacemanSpiff 20:24, 13 December 2010 (UTC)
Ah.. yeah, I guess so. So done. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 20:26, 13 December 2010 (UTC)
Thx again. BTW, just as an FYI, the Shinas one has a history Wikipedia:Requests for checkuser/Case/Anwar saadat, although only IP socks have been documented, other socks have been blocked without SPIs and the master's had escalating blocks, last of which was three months. cheers. —SpacemanSpiff 20:34, 13 December 2010 (UTC)

Regarding Vandalism by Thmc1 - PLEASE READ!

The following is a copy of a message I left on Thmc1's investigation: Annoyong, I think you should re-start the investigation on 96.242.217.91. He's back once again, and making the exact same edit ("NY Chinatown has the largest concentration of Chinese people in the western hemisphere...) on the "Chinatown" page as with the other chinatown pages. I don't think it's merely a co-incidence that this person mysteriously disappears right after the start of the investigation, only to return immediately upon its suspension. Whoever this person is, has been(IMHO) keeping tabs on the Thmc investigation file. If it were somebody else, they wouldn't know where to look since the investigation file was opened under Thmc's user name and not under IP "96.242.217.91". An examination of the IP's edit log also shows no record of deleted messages tipping off the individual in question, so this person clearly had prior knowledge of Thmc1 & was keeping abreast of the current situation. I am now more suspicious than ever that this person is, in fact, Thmc1, or connected to him/her in some way. What's your take on this?MBaxter1 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 21:31, 13 December 2010 (UTC).

It was one edit three days ago, so this is a bit stale. Calm down. One edit is, in my opinion, not enough to go around blocking IPs. If it happens again, let me know and I'll take care of it. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 18:16, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

MentorRC

I think MentorRC (talk · contribs) simply couldn't remember the exact spelling of the account he created and so created a new, similarly named account Mentor rc (talk · contribs). See the discussion I had with him here. He did agree that the account could be "deleted", but as I'm not an admin and couldn't block him, I put that alternate account tag on his user page to hopefully help him avoid being blocked for it. I don't think he intended to appear to be two different people at the AfD, but simply switched back to MentorRC once he realized his mistake.

However I didn't realize Rosy13 (talk · contribs) was a third account, so I'm less certain now it was just a mistake. I've also been wondering if he is perhaps also ContributeUS (talk · contribs), who wasn't mentioned in the SPI report, but is the only other keep !vote on the AfD. Yworo (talk) 00:11, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

A CU was just run on ContributeUS, and it was found to be Red X Unrelated. Probably meatpuppetry then, though it seems like they want the article deleted. Maybe. I'm not really sure how to interpret their comment on the AfD. Anyway, Mentor rc is now using only that one account, so hopefully that ends it. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 00:19, 14 December 2010 (UTC)
Yes, I think it probably covers it. I'll fix up the tags as you've moved the SPI. I think you got that right, I'd call MentorRC the primary account. Yworo (talk) 00:21, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

Looks like User:MentorRC may be evading their block by editing with IP 129.27.143.117 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · page moves · block user · block log) Yworo (talk) 17:22, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

response

I don't have an account. I started with the satellite map of the Sahara desert which was reverted without good reason. Hired gun --75.162.21.102 (talk) 00:53, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

Since you commented on the respective sockpuppetry case, you may be interested in this posting I have made on the Administrators' noticeboard. Thanks. Backtable Speak to meconcerning my deeds. 02:08, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

Thanks

Thank You very much for unblocking me. I am very glad about the same. Abhishek191288 (talk) 03:53, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

This SPI case is now closed but I have seen what could be more evidence. Here is a discussion on a talk page [12]. Both User:Pfainuk and User:Wee Curry Monster leave a double space between each sentence which leaves me to believe their the same editer.--MFIrelandTalk 23:59, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

Kevorkmail

Started a new about Kevorkmail [13] --Supreme Deliciousness (talk) 11:14, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Why wasn't he indeffed? how many block evasions has he done now? --Supreme Deliciousness (talk) 12:59, 16 December 2010 (UTC)
Because it was an IP, and not entirely confirmed that he was up to it. If he sockpuppets again we'll deal with it as necessary, but SPI isn't a place to get revenge. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 13:02, 16 December 2010 (UTC)
Actually I have evidence that undoubtedly confirms that the IP is him. Do you want me to send it through mail? --Supreme Deliciousness (talk) 13:05, 16 December 2010 (UTC)
Um.. you can if you want, but I'm not going to change my block based on it. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 13:16, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

TisTRU

Emr, I am TisTRu and you have apparently blocked me. Can only assume this is some sort of misunderstanding as all my contributions have been accurate, truthful and only with the intention of improving an article. If you have an issue with any particular edit pray tell? You have certainly never contacted me regarding my contributions. Otherwise I am a a loss. Would it not be more sensible to discuss whatever issue you have rather than just putting a bock on my account? Not having internet at home i tend to use internet cafe or friends computer if that has caused confusion? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.105.5.61 (talk) 20:16, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Pending a closer look, I've unblocked TisTRu (talk · contribs). — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 20:24, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Sock

Hello. I'm not sure how to add a new sock to a closed SPI, but I suspect User:The_guapo should join the list of Wikipedia:Sockpuppet_investigations/Farmertedmustgo. Please help!--v/r - TP 20:28, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Relisted. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 20:32, 16 December 2010 (UTC)
Great thanks. What's the process to do that. Can only clerk's relist or can a general editor do it as well? I've always been confused by WP:SPI, is there anywhere that details the processes a little better?--v/r - TP 20:40, 16 December 2010 (UTC)
In this case, you could have added the username to the list and left a note saying "I'm adding this account to the list" or something, and one of the clerks would've seen it. And yeah, only clerks get to endorse/relist. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 20:44, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Report

Hey, I'm pretty sure Taribhen (talk · contribs) is another sock of User:Dr.Mukesh111, whose army of socks you've recently blocked. ShahidTalk2me 00:08, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Opened a case. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 01:58, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Thanks :)

Glad to help. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 06:16, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

More socks of Shinas/Anwar Saadat

I have identified a few more socks of Anwar Saadat/Shinas. He is currently targeting Malaysian/Indonesian articles relating to hinduism (or with any other indian connection). He has been removing wikilinks to India/Hinduism and categories relating to hinduism with deceptive edit summaries like "cleanup" and removing "excessive links". All four accounts were created within ten days. Can you check this. Or should I file yet another SPI?. The last time i did it he hounded me across wikis using a open proxies and i had to go ask for help inmeta to get a global block. Can you help me on this.

Qaru, sillysickn and muziah (his socks) used to do this: - [14],[15], [16], [17], [18]

Current socks are also doing the same thing: 1) Burstminor 2) ChloeJH91 3) Plotruly 4) An IP from his known range [19]

You can see the IP starts work on 9.46, plotruly picks up at 9.51, ChloeJH91 continues from 9.54 to 10.12, then BurstMinor continues from 10.26 to 10.35. All four edit Indonesian/Malaysian articles removing categories and wikilinks with edit summaries like "cleanup" and "rm excessive links" --Sodabottle (talk) 16:19, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

Okay, so... add a case for it. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 18:30, 18 December 2010 (UTC)
Filed one.--Sodabottle (talk) 18:48, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

only three days

Only three days? For deliberately hoaxing his picture into an article, I would prefer Indefinite? User is clearly a disruptive vandal. Off2riorob (talk) 17:37, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

It seems to me, like if such users are going to get such minor restrictions and then to be allowed to freely return it is hardly worth the time and the responsibility to make a SPI report. Off2riorob (talk) 17:39, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Settle down. I've upped it to two weeks. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 17:41, 19 December 2010 (UTC)
Settle down, three days was a joke, such poor administrative decisions make users feel it is not worth making reports and they stop to be bothered. Two weeks is better, I would have indefinitely blocked him for attempting a hoax like that, he is detrimental to the project in all ways. Off2riorob (talk) 17:44, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

And he has been blocked for puppeting previously - get him indef'd - Off2riorob (talk) 17:46, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Are you going to indef him or shall I ask for a review of your actions? Off2riorob (talk) 18:01, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Is that a threat? Leave it out, man. You're better than that.  f o x  18:04, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Christmas Card

User:DeltaQuad/Christmas2010

Hi. Because of serious concerns, I would like to add User:Jrkso and User:Kaddoo to the Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Lagoo sab file, if you do not mind. All users have the same field of interest, the same writing style, they edit the same articles, and - as far as I can tell - they never show up at the same time. Thank you. Tajik (talk) 23:47, 21 December 2010 (UTC)

Sure, toss them on, but discuss why you're adding them on there. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 23:54, 21 December 2010 (UTC)
I did, at Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Lagoo sab. User:Kaddoo was suggested by User:Chartinael. He has explained that as well. But thank you anyway. Tajik (talk) 00:13, 22 December 2010 (UTC)

Question

Hello. Is User_talk:Who_am_I_a_sock_of? checkuser worthy?--v/r - TP 14:29, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

Another Stanovc sock

[20]. This guy is unstoppable. Is there anything that can be done? He is quite disruptive, creating all kinds of nonsensical articles (e.g. Illyrian agriculture). Athenean (talk) 20:59, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

I've opened an SPI case with a checkuser so we can dig out other socks, and also possibly get an IP block here. As to garbage articles, they can be deleted as WP:CSD#G5, articles created by blocked editors. You could also put them up for AFD under that reason if you think there would be some level of controversy. I see a bunch of articles that could be deleted - Illyrians of ancient Italy, Illyrian States, etc. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 23:59, 23 December 2010 (UTC)
Thanks a lot. Athenean (talk) 00:08, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

Hi there. I've just lifted your block on the above account, per checkuser. It's really not a good idea to pre-emptively block an account just like that when there's already a WP:SPI case open, especially as this case wasn't nearly as WP:DUCKy as all that. Either way, we'll quickly get to the bottom of it, y'know? In this case, you blocked him in error & left an indelible mark on his block log - Alison 03:09, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

Yeah, I know. As I explained on the SPI page, I found that edit he made to be a little bitey, but I was wrong. Anyway, I've informed the editor that he was unblocked and apologized for it. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 03:15, 24 December 2010 (UTC)
I didn't read it as bitey so much as a wry grin. He'd already known that adding him to the CU case was a waste of time (looking at his IPs is very telling indeed) and he was basically rolling his eyes. At least that's the way I read it. If it's okay to block sarky editors on WP, there are a couple of dozen I'd like to 'off' right now :) Anyways - onwards we go ... - Alison 03:25, 24 December 2010 (UTC)
And thank you for apologizing to the guy, unprompted. That's the proper thing to do - plenty of other admins out there would have walked away. So +1 for that! - Alison 03:27, 24 December 2010 (UTC)
thanks for restoring those. John lilburne (talk) 19:51, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

Block Avoidance

Hi fellow editor, what report do I file when I think a user is reverting articles from his IP to avoid doing it from the logged in account to avoid blocking. Thanks --Sikh-History 18:11, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

I assume you're referring to the latest set of edits on Jat people. An SPI case is fine, but I rejected the the request for a checkuser. See, according to the privacy policy, we're not allowed to reveal an editor's IP, so running a CU to say "Editor X is editing from 1.2.3.4" can't be done. The case is still open, however, and we can act based on behavior. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 18:19, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

IP continuing to follow me around and reverting my edits

This IP that followed me and another guy around and went back to the exact same location as Brein: [21]

After the investigation was closed he is now continuing to follow me around and reverting me:[22]

Even if you dont believe that its him, what am I supposed to do about this? --Supreme Deliciousness (talk) 23:01, 25 December 2010 (UTC)

The IPs do locate back to the same range and company, so my guess is that it's the same person, and their IP just changed. It does seem like you're being stalked a bit, so you could open a thread at WP:ANI about it. Or if they're being particularly belligerent on one page, you could list it at WP:AE and point out the trail. WP:ARBPIA says that there's a 1RR restriction in place for all Israel/Palestine articles, and I see three reversions on Rujm el-Hiri from that IP. But this isn't my fight to fight. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 23:16, 25 December 2010 (UTC)
There has already been a ANI report, [23], so if you know that he violated the 1rr, why haven't you blocked him? he knows about the rule:[24] --Supreme Deliciousness (talk) 23:30, 25 December 2010 (UTC)
Your ANI thread was about linking this person to Chesdovi. Then you tried to link them to Breein1007. That's not the right way to go about it, accusing IPs of being other editors. All that I see here is that two IPs seem to have undone an inordinate amount of your edits. I'm not going to unilaterally block, particularly when there's an ArbCom enforcement in place. And I won't be used as your enforcer. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 23:50, 25 December 2010 (UTC)

Did I do that right?--v/r - TP 16:09, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Nevermind, seems it wasn't right and another clerk found/took care of it.--v/r - TP 16:11, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Blocked user - could their talkpage access be revoked?

Hi HA, you blocked User:Leila Fletcher back in November for being a vandal-only account and a sockpuppet of User:Chantessy. They are now using their talk page for the same behaviour that got them blocked - it's no big deal really, but seems a bit counterproductive. Could their talk page access be revoked? Cheers, --bonadea contributions talk 21:44, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Good catch. So done. And I've redirected their talk page to the user page. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 21:50, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Yet another Stanovc sock

[25], a real no-brainer this one, he even refers to an article of his that was speedied. Athenean (talk) 01:38, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Yes, that was quite obvious. Think it's worth a check for other accounts? Doesn't seem necessary to me, but.. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 01:53, 31 December 2010 (UTC)
He doesn't seem to use sleeper accounts, just creates new ones as he goes. Thanks, Athenean (talk) 02:01, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Blue Water Navy

Regarding the issue recently brought to your attention on the Blue Water navy article, I was looking for advice. The talk discussion had gained a small level of consensus for content removal for a variety of reasons among myself and a small number of other editors, however a single user now objects to this and was reverting the edits made that reflected consensus. How should I deal with this without, frankly, engaging in an edit war? Thanks for any advice. G.R. Allison (talk) 17:11, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Just because there's some small consensus does not give you immunity from 3RR. If you think the editor is being tendentious and is deliberately not listening to the consensus then that's another story, but your ANI report didn't say that. Honestly that talk page is starting to descend into bad faith and ad hominem attacks, so that's not good either. Admins don't really get involved in content disputes; we have dispute resolution to handle that for us. I'd say you're looking at MedCab or RFC as viable options right now. Of course, as 3RR warnings have been issued, any further edit wars can be taken to WP:AN3. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 17:31, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

DavidYork71 report becoming confused

Please see my latest note. We need to clean some things up there... --Jayron32 17:09, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

So done. Self fail. :/ — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 18:33, 1 January 2011 (UTC)
Mooch ass grassy ass! --Jayron32 22:04, 1 January 2011 (UTC)
Considering that the CU was run on User:Screaminsista when it was thought to be a DavidYork71 sock, would it be advisable to run another one now that Otto4711 is thought to be the sockmaster, just to see if there are other socks? Beyond My Ken (talk) 22:51, 1 January 2011 (UTC)
I endorsed the case for a check, so now it's up to a checkuser. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 23:40, 1 January 2011 (UTC)
Apologies - I might have messed the format up a bit for the latest one - thanks for fixing it all up folks SatuSuro 00:07, 2 January 2011 (UTC)
(ec, @HelloAnnyong) Actually, unless I'm misreading things, it looks like you endorsed the new DavidYork71 sock for a CU check, which Alison did, but marked the Otto4711 open case to be closed [26]. Beyond My Ken (talk) 00:09, 2 January 2011 (UTC)
Sure, why not. I've endorsed the Otto4711 case for a relist; we'll let the CUs decide if it's necessary. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 01:11, 2 January 2011 (UTC)
Thanks. It may turn out to have been totally unnecessary, but I think it's worth doing. Beyond My Ken (talk) 02:29, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Poland Spring

About Bisphenol_A containing Poland Spring bottles:

HelloAnyong,

Do you consider FDA statements on BPA and certain countries banning the use of BPA in food containers a POV? Why is it POV to state that BPA is considered harmful, otherwise? Could you explain please?

This is from wikipedia's own page on BPA: "A 2010 report from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) raised further concerns regarding exposure of fetuses, infants and young children.[1] In September 2010, Canada became the first country to declare BPA as a toxic substance.[2][3] In the European Union and Canada BPA use is banned in baby bottles.[4] — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.116.157.138 (talkcontribs) 04:11, January 2, 2011

True, but listing it there seems to be suggesting that Poland Spring is endangering people's lives or something. We don't really go around putting a label on every article about a product that uses BPA. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 04:22, 2 January 2011 (UTC)
Yes, the suggestion is correct. Using BPA in food containers is endangering people's lives. That is the position of dozen or so countries banning the substance? What good is wikipedia if you are omitting the most relevant information. Is it because Poland Spring might be slighted?
I don't see a problem putting a label on every article about a product or store that uses/carries BPA. Here is
one for you http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_Foods_Market —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.116.157.138 (talk) 04:42, 2 January 2011 (UTC)
That article doesn't say "BPA is considered harmful for human consumption", as far as I can see. Let me clarify a bit: the effects of BPA should remain on the BPA article. There's no reason to go around labeling every article with the data, and I think to do so would be pushing a point of view. If there was some larger issue with Poland Spring using BPA - say, if some people got sick - then we could justify it a bit more. But we don't put warning labels on articles. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 04:55, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Don't know what to do with this

User:59.101.8.179 made two edits in October 2008, and then nothing until 12 November 2010 -- and has been editing consistently and frequently since then. Some of their edits are problematic, but many or most are productive and helpful. On the other hand, there's about a dozen warning tags on their talk page, and they have responded to none of them. In fact, in about 2000 edits they haven't made a single edit to any talk page. This has ever indication of being a banned or indef-blocked user who wants to contribute, and is doing their very best to fly under the radar to do so.

Since I don't have a clue who it might be, I don't think I have enough behavioral evidence to file an SPI. (And if I did, CUs wouldn't connect an account with an IP anyway.) Is there some way to bring it to a CheckUser's attention for their consideration, or do I need to laboriously go through the IPs contributions and try to find an apparent connection to some banned or blocked user? The CUs might even recognize the editor behind the IP by the subjects they edit.

What do you suggest I do? Beyond My Ken (talk) 06:52, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Honestly, without any sort of guess as to who it might be, the CUs won't run a check on an IP - and even then they don't usually check an IP unless in extreme circumstances, which this does not seem to be. This editor seems all over the place, and it doesn't really strike me as any one person. What I have seen some people do is report to ANI an editor who does not talk on talk pages, respond to user pages, or anything like that. It may or may not work; a block may cause the editor to engage, but perhaps not. You can open an SPI case and say in it that you don't know who it is, but you want to see if anyone else has an idea. Sometimes that works, but sometimes it doesn't. Alternatively you could message some of the more experienced clerks and see if the edit patterns seem familiar. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 23:26, 2 January 2011 (UTC)
Very good, thank you. Beyond My Ken (talk) 23:55, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Two requests

Hi, HelloAnnyong,

I don't think we've "met" on-wiki, but I was just looking for an administrator on the administrator list who doesn't have a vacation message up, and I recalled your name from some thread I surfed by. I have two requests: 1) Administrator MastCell formally warned a disruptive editor[27] under the discretionary sanctions of Race and intelligence ArbCom case, mentioning that warning in an ArbCom enforcement request thread[28] but he didn't have opportunity to log in the warning on the ArbCom case log of blocks, bans, and restrictions, as other editors have done, before he decided he needed a break from admin tasks for a while. (I think all of you who are admins are underappreciated, and aren't getting enough back-up and assistance in your helpful work for the project.) Could I trouble you please to make the log entry after you verify the diffs? I'm not sure if I have authority to do that myself; I am not an administrator. My other request 2) is could you please check whether a topic-banned user's new username new user page new user talk blank former contributions list contribution list of new name is consistent with the WP:CLEANSTART policy or otherwise authorized by administrator action? I'm a big believer in letting bygones be bygones, but I can't tell if there are project policies implicated by the name change here. Whatever is cool with the project policies is cool with me. Thanks for your help. Have a very happy new year. -- WeijiBaikeBianji (talk, how I edit) 22:31, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

So first, the username change was done by an bureaucrat through the correct channels, so it's fine. And I've listed the warning on the AE page. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 23:36, 2 January 2011 (UTC)
Thank you for your help. Looking at the link to the user name change log and following some of the links there helped me understand the policies of the project better. Users blanking their entire user talk page (which, of course, includes the writings of other users, including administrators in some cases) is disfavored in the usual circumstances, although some exceptions may apply, right? Best wishes for a great new year. -- WeijiBaikeBianji (talk, how I edit) 01:03, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

Sockpuppet/Brittany Cintron

Thanks for looking into this, that's my first encounter with a rogue editor. The bigger issue seems to be her insistence upon beating the dead horse on this page, and continually reverting edits and calling them "vandalism" simply because she doesn't agree with them. I'm relatively new to disputes; I've already had a Third Opinion request, which seems to have at least calmed some of the reverting, but if this persists, what do you recommend? I don't much like the idea of getting into an editing war, but I doubt too many others have this article on their watchlist. Echoedmyron (talk) 17:14, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

Part of the problem is that it's a slow moving issue. She only edits once or twice a month, and I doubt we'll see any sort of edit warring here. Quoting laws into the article is clearly unacceptable, but it doesn't happen enough to escalate this. Basically I would say monitor the situation for now, and if it worsens then list the issue at ANI or BLPN. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 17:28, 3 January 2011 (UTC)
Thanks for the feedback. Hopefully I don't need to ask for further advice/help. Echoedmyron (talk) 18:17, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

Hi. You mentioned "Still, I think a sleeper check is needed". What's a sleeper check? Thx for your action. --Filius Rosadis (talk) 02:11, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

Sleepers are accounts that have been registered but not used for any edits. They're still connected to a sockmaster, but it's not obvious because they haven't edited. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 02:13, 4 January 2011 (UTC)
Thanks. --Filius Rosadis (talk) 02:32, 4 January 2011 (UTC)
Results: inconclusive (possibly shared university IP). However, editions were disruptive. Is there a way to block both users anyway? --Filius Rosadis (talk) 12:55, 4 January 2011 (UTC)
See the SPI page. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 13:12, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

RE: Decline for Investigation

Hi Fellow editor, I noticed you declined this. That is fine, but I am concerned that the User:Khalsaburg had many other alts, and their was a campaign of WP:Wikistalking and WP:Harassment directed at me. There was also an incident of WP:Outing by this user, who was suspected of being Khalsaburg. Also see this investigation here Thanks--Sikh-History 14:12, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

Um, what. I guess so, but like I said on the report, the data is extremely stale, so we can't run a CU on it. I also don't see how the Heliosphere report is related to this at all. If this is just a list of people with whom you've had disagreements, well, you're misusing sockpuppet investigations. Not everyone who has an argument with you is the same person, and accusing them of being so is a sign of bad faith. On top of that, there's no reason to act on accounts that haven't edited in over a year, like Heliosphere. I just updated the SPI case with why I think that Khalsaburg and Intothefire aren't the same person. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 14:33, 4 January 2011 (UTC)
Thats definitely not my intention. That would be a gross misuse of Wikipedia. Just a year or so ago we had an editor who came here with many alts, and started doing some pretty unsavoury things, like the WP:Outing incident. As you are aware, some countries that do not have democracy, WP:Outing can be used target people. The editing styles seems to match up between Satanoid, Khalsaburg, Heliosphere etc etc, but if you say it's not him/her, then that's cool. Thanks--Sikh-History 14:43, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

Another sock?

אמין מקור (talk · contribs) may be a sock of אֶפְרָתָה (talk · contribs). Dougweller (talk) 15:27, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

It's possible; I've relisted the case. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 15:49, 4 January 2011 (UTC)
Thanks. Dougweller (talk) 16:52, 4 January 2011 (UTC)
Nice catch; that definitely helped. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 17:12, 4 January 2011 (UTC)
And how about Floeticsoulchild, as this and Oh boy my danny boy were the only users to vote Strong keep at Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2010 December 28#Category:Fictional straight males? (Aside from them, everyone voated to delete it.) עוד מישהו Od Mishehu 13:18, 5 January 2011 (UTC)
Mm... possible, I suppose, though based on edit behavior I'd say that's someone else. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 13:21, 5 January 2011 (UTC)

In response to your comments at Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Wyandanch, I added some comments regarding sock puppetry and unacceptable use of multiple accounts, as I understand it. Thanks for all that you do. JoeSperrazza (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 23:02, 4 January 2011 (UTC).

Talkback

Hello, HelloAnnyong. You have new messages at MegastarLV's talk page.
Message added 01:39, 5 January 2011 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

User requests unblock  Ronhjones  (Talk) 01:39, 5 January 2011 (UTC)

I sent you an email about this. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 02:28, 5 January 2011 (UTC)

Hello. A good day to you. I see that you have blocked User:8qblog for a period of 24 hours. Isn't 24 hours too little? I feel 48 hours would have been correct. —Abhishek191288 (talk) 01:56, 5 January 2011 (UTC)

That's nice. First time offense for edit warring, and did it with an IP? Usually that's only 24h. If they do it again, then we'll look at longer blocks. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 02:06, 5 January 2011 (UTC)
He has done it again here. Abhishek191288 (talk) 09:51, 5 January 2011 (UTC)
Wonderful. Block extended and page protected. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 12:51, 5 January 2011 (UTC)
Is there any action that could be taken for this? The user apparently has deleted the same.—Abhishek191288 (talk) 16:16, 7 January 2011 (UTC)
Well, that seems a little offensive. I've revdel'd it out. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 16:38, 7 January 2011 (UTC)

Well that wasn't the first time though. This is his first one. Could you delete this revision from my talk pls.—Abhishek191288 (talk) 16:50, 7 January 2011 (UTC)

Eh, that one is not _quite_ offensive enough for me to revdel, I think. But surely you removed it from the talk page? — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 16:55, 7 January 2011 (UTC)
Using the f*** word against an editor isn't offensive? Anyways, some other editor undid that revision on my talk. —Abhishek191288 (talk) 17:04, 7 January 2011 (UTC)

Hello! Nice to see that you've started using this template. In addition, I've now merged Template:SockmasterProven into this template, so you can now use {{SockBlock|masterblock=yes|period=optional|evidence=evidence}} when blocking a sockmaster for sock puppetry. If you in some cases can't add evidence to a sockmaster block, I can fix that issue for you. Also, if you have any doubts about using this template, take a look at the documentation. By the way, keep up your great work! I think you're doing a good job at SPI. Best regards, HeyMid (contribs) 15:42, 5 January 2011 (UTC)

Awesome, that'll definitely be getting used. Thanks for the heads up. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 15:51, 5 January 2011 (UTC)

Autostereoscopy

Please stop changing Autostereoscopy. Add your own section if you must, but please leave my contribution as it is.

You are incorrect when you state that my contributions are unsourced. Read the Dodgson article cited in the reference I provide in the footnote (currently #20: Dodgson, N.A.; J. R. Moore, S. R. Lang (1999). "Multi-View Autostereoscopic 3D Display"). Dodgson is a well-known researcher in this field, and in fact is a contributor to this very page. Everthing you state is unsourced is actually found in this paper, and everthing in the paper is generally consistent with the overwhelming body of literature in this field. Read the papaer.

With respect to "unencyclopedic", that's merely your opinion, not backed by any authority. There is nothing in the contribution that's in clear violation of any Wiki policy or guideline.

As for the technological content of your edits, I adhere to my position that they are wrong technologically, since they omit any discussion of multiple views. As a consequence, the edits you make are unintelligible and do not explain the basis for autostereoscopy's simulation of movement parallax. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.4.24.167 (talk) 15:45, 5 January 2011 (UTC)

Hi! I don't know how I managed to duplicate it, but I appreciate your cleanup. Thanks, Drmies (talk) 16:05, 5 January 2011 (UTC)

Hi there - I noticed you blocked this user for sockpuppetry. The user used sockpuppetry on Mass killings under Communist regimes, a controversial article within WP:DIGWUREN. The sockpuppet was used to avoid a 1RR restriction ([29] [30]). Would you have any objection if, under WP:DIGWUREN, I imposed a topic ban from Eastern European articles on top of your block? --Mkativerata (talk) 20:20, 5 January 2011 (UTC)

No objections here. I would support a topic ban as well. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 20:22, 5 January 2011 (UTC)
Thanks, on reflection I've just banned him/her from the one article as he/she appears to have had no interest in Eastern European topics generally. --Mkativerata (talk) 20:36, 5 January 2011 (UTC)

Sockaccount

Since you have already dealed [[31]] with the specific user, he is again socking and creating one of his 'or' style unsourced articles [[32]] that was speedy deleted some weeks ago.Alexikoua (talk) 00:09, 6 January 2011 (UTC)

Good catch. I've taken care of the user and the article. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 02:13, 6 January 2011 (UTC)

Pbl1998 blocked as sock

Hi there. As the original blocking admin, I was wondering if you could review this case as I think the wrong outcome was reached and repeated unblock requests aren't getting anywhere. User:Willrocks10 was reported to SPI by me for the blatent use of a sock pupper user:Wokingrocks. This was very obvious and they were blocked straight away. The case was then widened to include user:Pbl1998 and user:Jargonia. CU has shown they are editing on the same IP, at similar times and on similar articles, so PBL and Jargonia were both blocked and have remained so. When I first encountered these editors, I thought they might be socks, but having watched them edit over multiple articles (several of which have now been deleted) over the last month, it became apparent they were not the same person. e.g. here is a set of diffs showing them edit warring with each other.

diff http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Export_House&diff=next&oldid=402178188 pbl says bat

diff http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Export_House&diff=next&oldid=402686199 willrocks says B.A.T

diff http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Export_House&diff=prev&oldid=402686780 pbl says bat again

diff http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Export_House&diff=next&oldid=402686922 WR B.A.T

diff http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Export_House&diff=next&oldid=402853671 pbl bat

diff http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Export_House&diff=next&oldid=402853815 WR B.A.T

diff http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Export_House&diff=next&oldid=402854828 pbl bat

diff http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Export_House&diff=next&oldid=402854923 WR B.A.T

diff http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Export_House&diff=next&oldid=402855027 pbl bat

diff http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Export_House&diff=next&oldid=403384839 WR B.A.T

This is not the only example and they have also argued with each other on AfD pages. Trouble is, to see this you need to wade through about a months worth of edits on multiple articles, half of which have been deleted now. I saw it because I was watching all those articles at the time.

What we have here is two schoolkids who are editing together in the school library, hence the common IP. They are also editing at lunchtimes and similar, hence the times, and because they are friends in real life, they are collaborating on the same articles. By way of demonstrating this, user:Jargonia was also tagged and blocked as a sock of Willrocks10 from a CU result, but if you look at thier contributions, all they ever did was oppose him in AfD. It makes no sense for them to be a sock and vote against, in fact as they would cancel out PBLs vote it makes the entire endeavour pointless. I think Jargonia is actually a third student who saw what they were doing and decided to create an account purely to cause mischief.

PBL has attempted to appeal an unblock several times, and I have tried to support this, but it seems the reviewing admins aren't looking beyond the CU, and PBL is too inexperienced to frame thier requests very well, so its not working. Hence this appeal.

Even though it was me who raised the SPI in the first palce, I really think an injustice has been done here and would appreciate it if you could take another look. Thanks in advance for your consideration in this matter.--ThePaintedOne (talk) 15:19, 6 January 2011 (UTC)

You know, it's funny that you bring it up. I got an email from Jargonia about this, asking to be unblocked. Indeed, it seems that you're right. Sort of. Willrocks10 actually posted on the archive page and wrote "Jroginia is in fact my arch enemy at school we dislike each other. The school runs on the smae internet ID so thats how wikipedia is getting confused and think we are all the same accounts." (Also they were unhappy with you and let it be known in that comment.) That Pbl1998 has previously sockpuppeted makes this all the more difficult, and will certainly complicate issues going forward.
I'm rather disinclined to override Sandstein's unblock request for Pbl1998. The editor definitely has not shown that they won't do it again, and actually even said "I can't say I won't do it again because I haven't done anything wrong." That's not the right attitude to take, particularly when you're asking for an unblock. Another thing here is that none of these editors have really made any positive contributions, and I'm not entirely convinced that they won't come back and cause chaos. Aside from battling on the List of tallest buildings article, Jargonia's only other edits have been to post on the AfD for the article. So if they're just going to come back and continue to cause chaos, why is the unblock necessary? Perhaps the block reason needs to be changed, then, but that's a different issue.
Now having said that, it's true that  CheckUser is not magic pixie dust, and there can be extenuating circumstances. And I agree that what we have here are three people who know each other outside of Wikipedia and are just messing around. To that end, I am considering unblocking Jargonia. But the Pbl1998 one is harder for me to justify.
As a side note, per this edit it makes it look like you made a comment on there. May want to fix that. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 16:11, 6 January 2011 (UTC)
Bear in mind that if you accept that PBL isn't a sock of Willrocks10, he hasn't used socks. Wokingrocks was a sock of Willrocks, not PBL, and I beleive Willrocks has owned up to that. I know what you mean about the attitude, but again if you assume for the sake of argument PBL isn't a sock, he genuinely hasn't done anything wrong, it was Willrocks who used the sock not him. Also, while Willrocks10 has indeed caused havoc and done a lot of disruptive editing, PBL while inexperienced has not been that bad. He has no warnings on his talk page, just notes about deletions, and his contributions on the AfD's were pretty good faith, versus Willrocks being so disruptive as to pick up a 24hr ban. PBL's main crime is not understanding notabillity, a common issue for newcomers, but has shown that he is receptive to listening to other editors. The bizare outome here is that Willrocks is the truly disruptive editor, and he is now active again and free to edit (and his recent contributions shown a continuing pattern of ignoring consensus), whereas PBL who is just new and needs to learn is indef blocked, a very harsh outcome for pretty minor newcomer crimes. --ThePaintedOne (talk) 16:33, 6 January 2011 (UTC)
It's true that Willrocks' edits have been disruptive, but I'm not going to indef block him solely based on that. If he continues that pattern of editing, he may end up blocked through other avenues. Anyway, I've unblocked Jargonia, and I hope that I do not come to regret this decision. As I said, though, I'm not going to unilaterally override a denied unblock request. I see you've discussed this with Sandstein, so you may want to bring up this unblocking with them. I do tend to agree, though, that their edits are fairly low quality. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 17:09, 6 January 2011 (UTC)
I'm not suggesting willrocks be blocked, his editing style will bring that about by himself if he carries on. I just find the situation odd. Sandstein already pointed me in your direction as he doesn't want to overide the checkuser result, so I'm going in circles! I can't speak for Jargonia, but with regards Pbl1998 I would be happy to keep an eye on them and try to mentor them to making better contributions. Their main crime is just bring new, not malicious and after all this I would hope they are receptive to advice. If you accept they aren't a sock they haven't done anything worthy of a block, never mind an indef. I think Jargonia demonstrates that CU is not reliable in this case, and without that the behaviour (e.g the diffs I supplied above) don't support them being a sock. Without the SPI they would never have been blocked in the first place--ThePaintedOne (talk) 17:38, 6 January 2011 (UTC)
I've unblocked Pbl1998. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 03:57, 7 January 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Guffydrawers

Hello HelloAnnyong

You investigated my contributions and blocked two other accounts I was using. I accept the ban and will avoid the temptation to use multiple accounts. Please may I explain why I was doing so, and ask for your assistance?

I am a serious editor who wishes only to make positive contributions to WP. The reason for using multiple identities was in an attempt to throw off a stalker. The stalker has been undoing any edit by me, anyone in the same (large) company as me (shared IP) and other innocent editors. Despite multiple invitations to discuss the reversion of my edits the stalker has not done so.

The stalker uses IP addresses of open proxies and anonymisers, hopping from IP to IP. A list of some of the IPs more recently used is below.

221.130.23.87/88/90/116/121

221.194.132.217/218/220/222/223/224

74.112.4.185

202.108.50.69/70/71/73/75/76/77

A non-exhaustive list of the articles that the stalker has vandalised by reverting edits, without any regard to their worth or content is:

Alla Pugacheva , Arte Povera , Changi , Chester , Council of Islamic Revolution (Iran) , Daniela Katzenberger , Feuerzangenbowle , Florea Ispir , Ibotenic acid , Labour Party (UK) deputy leadership election, 2007 , Mulled wine , Patagonia , Paul di Resta , Pif gadget , Quantum compression , RAF Gan , Santa Ponsa , Sport in Singapore , Strasbourg , The Assembly Line , Vindaloo , Zuckerhütl

I foolishly tried to revert the reversions - leading to an edit war that got us nowhere, for which I sincerely apologise.

The stalker has now taken to placing a Sockpuppet tag on my user page and reverting any attempt of mine to clear this page and get on with what I wish to do: edit articles in a positive spirit and accepting the views of other editors.

I do not ask for unblocking of the other accounts I used, just for advice on throwing off this stalker.

Kind regards Guffydrawers (talk) 22:57, 6 January 2011 (UTC)

If you're being stalked, the answer is not to register multiple accounts. Per WP:PROXY, open proxies can be blocked at any time, so you should report any open proxies that you know of that are being misused. And if you truly believe that you are being stalked, you should bring it up on WP:ANI or one of the other noticeboards. Even if there's some potential rationale, that does not exempt you from policies. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 04:09, 7 January 2011 (UTC)
Thank you for your advice, HelloAnnyong. As mentioned above I accept the ban. I do not seek exemption from any policy. Yes, I truly believe what I say. Thanks for giving me a lead to go on.

Kind regards

Guffydrawers (talk) 06:43, 7 January 2011 (UTC)

Michaël Youn

Thanks for the semi-protection ! GL (talk) 17:06, 7 January 2011 (UTC)

Sock template removed

I noticed a user removed a sock template from the user page, from an investigation you recently closed. Would you take a look? --Pnm (talk) 04:36, 8 January 2011 (UTC)

Good catch. I've undone the removal and warned the master. And I'll be keeping an eye on that page. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 04:41, 8 January 2011 (UTC)
If I'm not mistaken a sock puppet is when a single person personifies two people which I did not. I'm assuming your system did the analysis by IP Address. Djtimekeeper is my best friend we both used the same computer at Green River Community College. Before you start accusing people be fair. I will gladly provide both mine and Djtimekeepers name and might even give you other information to verify we are two different people. Now stop being a dictator and think before you randomly accuse people.-Rainbowofpeace (talk) 07:39, 8 January 2011 (UTC)

When closed this you wrote:

"Account was blocked by Hohohobo and the IPs are jumping around"

Shouldn't that be: "Hohohobo account blocked by Rjanag..." [33]

Best, Voceditenore (talk) 15:06, 8 January 2011 (UTC)

Haha, self fail. So fixed. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 15:16, 8 January 2011 (UTC)

Samsonite spi

Hi, I saw that closure, nice one, best wishes. Off2riorob (talk) 16:19, 9 January 2011 (UTC)

Could you please...

...have a look into my conduct regarding the situation between AkankshaG and I. The user is claiming stalking & intimidation at the COIN and has removed a message from me on her talk page [34] asking for me in the diff to "Please stop stalking me. You are not welcome on my talk page. Leave me alone." This is serious issue because should nothing be done at the end of the COIN complaint, I don't think that we will be able to work together harmoniously at any Article at all, and it will be difficult to continue. Not sure if this is genuine fear of me, or a smokescreen to avoid the issue raised at COIN. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Phearson (talkcontribs) 18:02, January 9, 2011

COIN isn't my specialty, but I can tell you that the editor is allowed to remove notes from their talk page. Honestly I don't really like the idea of ruling on the COIN case, particularly since I'm tangentially involved through SPI and whatnot. I think it may be best for you two to avoid each other until the case is settled. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 18:31, 9 January 2011 (UTC)
I wasn't asking for a ruling, but I will take your advice on avoiding until settled. Phearson (talk) 19:44, 9 January 2011 (UTC)

We really should stop meeting like this! Drmies (talk) 15:59, 11 January 2011 (UTC)

Ha. You do know I'm an SPI clerk, right? — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 16:05, 11 January 2011 (UTC)
Yes, I figured that out after the last one. Until then, I really only knew that you had a funky name, and I've wondered if you picked it because it's so close to "Hello Annoying" or if that was a bonus you discovered afterward. But I haven't been involved in many SPIs until recently, when they seem to come my way with some regularity. Oh, I meant to say this last time: I appreciate your quick action and your help with guiding me through some of the ins and outs. Thanks! Drmies (talk) 16:12, 11 January 2011 (UTC)
Glad to help. And my username is a reference to a TV show. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 16:29, 11 January 2011 (UTC)

We cutoff with the wrong start hope we can resolve it

We cutoff with the wrong start hope we can resolve it , sorry for any discomfort, I am living for a while, and hopefully coming soon.

Progressive one (talk) 09:28, 13 January 2011 (UTC)

The SPI case

Hi HelloAnnyong. Could you please take a look at this case on Aram-van? I added a few more accounts for CU because of the recent possibly coordinated mass activity of several suspicious accounts. I had filed an AN report because of an active edit-warring by these accounts here. An administrator said this had more to do with SPI than with AN board. That's why I added these accounts. It is my belief they could be connected considering abnormal activity also found in this recent case with strange results. So, can you please let me know if the information from my AN report on edit warring needs to be copied to the current SPI case or it is sufficient to just have it as a link to AN report? Thank you in advance! Tuscumbia (talk) 15:51, 13 January 2011 (UTC)

Merge needed

Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Ludovica91 >> Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Satt 2. Dynamo Stavropol (talk) 22:42, 13 January 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Indextookviewsgoals

Thanks for your help there. --John (talk) 06:28, 14 January 2011 (UTC)

Query

Hey Annyong,

Firstly, kudos on all the effort you put into SPIs. Someone has to police WP for all these kinds of shinenigans!

Secondly, when you say that CU doesn't link accounts to IPs, I presume that is to avoid WP:OUTING, yes? If so, then I guess it's not really possible to block an IP for socking, as you won't be able to definitively demonstrate that an IP matches a registered user. Is that conclusion correct?

Thanks, NickCT (talk) 17:49, 14 January 2011 (UTC)

The privacy policy doesn't allow us to say "User XYZ has edited from IP 1.2.3.4." Yes, it's an outing thing of sorts. That doesn't mean we can't block an IP based on behavioral evidence, though. And when we block a user account, the autoblock will also block the editor's IP, so sometimes that takes care of the problem as well. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 17:51, 14 January 2011 (UTC)
Awesome. Thanks for satisfying my curiosity. So blocking a user for socking automatically blocks the IP that user was linked to by CU. I guess the autoblock doesn't show up when you check the IP's contributions.... regardless, thanks for the info. NickCT (talk) 17:56, 14 January 2011 (UTC)
That's not what I said. Any time a user is blocked for anything with the autoblock IP enabled, it blocks their IP as well. Whether or not that's the IP that's listed in the CU case is a different story. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 17:58, 14 January 2011 (UTC)
I understand. I think we're mis-communicating here. Say SockX edits from IP Y. If SockX is checked and autoblocked, IP Y is blocked as well, right?
My question is, if you check the block log for IP Y will you see the autoblock? NickCT (talk) 18:03, 14 January 2011 (UTC)
Yes to the first question, no to the second. At least, not if you're not an admin. I think showing the block would also be outing of a sort. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 19:24, 14 January 2011 (UTC)
re "showing the block would also be outing of a sort" - Exactly. This was sorta the point I was driving at. Thanks. NickCT (talk) 20:04, 14 January 2011 (UTC)

Slap on the wrist to GoldDragon

Hello, noticed GoldDragon earned themself a block extension by evading a block. Just wondering why they get the tiniest slap on the wrist, yet many editors are banned indefinitely on the first sign of this behaviour. This user adds terribly sourced material to pages, and ignores attempts to get them to improve or discuss it. As much as they may have good-intentions, this user has shown an unwillingness to change. I'm hoping you'll reconsider based on the ever-increasing pile of evidence. - ʄɭoʏɗiaɲ τ ¢ 16:01, 15 January 2011 (UTC)

You're right. It's really up to the blocking admin. Perhaps I'm being too lenient, but blocks are cheap. If it happens again, it'll be an indef block. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 16:12, 15 January 2011 (UTC)

I don't know if you might find something of interest here or not. I'm wondering if I can hear something meowing... Peridon (talk) 22:04, 16 January 2011 (UTC)

Um, do you mean quacking? It just seems like one editor posting repeatedly. I don't see any new accounts coming through and pushing the vote one way or another, or anything like that. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 23:36, 16 January 2011 (UTC)
Perhaps I should have said meowying. The user was involved in an SPI Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Meowy/Archive in his first edits and is here editing in an area of the world also edited by the socks or suspects. Lady Of Shalott is keeping an eye on things too, at my request. I've not got enough SPI experience to be sure, which is why I'm turning to those with deeper knowledge. Peridon (talk) 00:32, 17 January 2011 (UTC)
I have noted this. It is getting close to harrasement. Scribblescribblescribble (talk) 18:29, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
I'm not the only one seeing this user is Meowy evading his ban. What else is new? Tuscumbia (talk) 14:54, 24 January 2011 (UTC)
You're talking about Xebulon (talk · contribs), I assume? The CU data on Meowy is, as I stated on the SPI case, stale. Find some actual diffs that show that the two accounts are the same (and not just another Armenia/Azerbaijan POV pusher) and relist the case. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 15:13, 24 January 2011 (UTC)
I was talking about Scribblescribblescribble. I think it would be a good idea to check users who had been reported to be Meowy in Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Meowy/Archive and compare the IPs to that of Scribblescribblescribble. I'm not sure how it is reported or done though. This person travels a lot and it's not the first time he uses sockpuppets. The behavior is quite the same though. So were the behavioral patterns of User:Ionidasz and User:Magotteers (the latter account had previously confirmed he was Ionidasz). Tuscumbia (talk) 16:06, 24 January 2011 (UTC)

Not so impressed

I must say I was rather underwhelmed by your response to my SPI case, as I have stated here. The account admitted to innocently using multiple accounts and it seems to me you've accepted that version at face value, when in fact the diffs provide a clear portrait of someone lying in edit summaries and editing deceptively and disruptively, including getting away with hiding the AfD for days. And you're "impressed"? I thank you for your attention in the SPI but you're complimenting him, when it seems clear he now just wants to whitewash what he's not-so-innocently done with these accounts, really bugs me. Shawn in Montreal (talk) 03:13, 17 January 2011 (UTC)

"Impressed" was the wrong word, and I've struck that out. I really meant that it was good to see that the user actually admitted to socking. I look at at least a dozen of these cases a day, and very rarely does the master own up to their actions. The article's now up for CSD now, so his socking was for naught anyway. He can whitewash if he wants, but the case is still there and the socks are still tagged. I'm sorry if I came off as overly apologetic; that really was not my intention. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 03:22, 17 January 2011 (UTC)
You know what, I think that it may have been the right word; I am impressed too. It's like raising kids--when they own up to a lie, one is impressed, even though it doesn't mitigate the lie. Drmies (talk) 18:49, 18 January 2011 (UTC)

stale...

Sorry for wasting your time. I learned something new. Thanks, Drmies (talk) 18:41, 18 January 2011 (UTC)

confused

The COI and sockpuppetry are (were) to be part of the basis for AfDing the article following the closure of the case. I thought it looked "bulletproof" as cases go. Since he is lying to defend the puppet on two current threads, is this not active attempts at deception & sockpuppetry?
⋙–Berean–Hunter—► ((⊕)) 15:30, 20 January 2011 (UTC)

I wouldn't use sockpuppetry as a basis for AfD, as it's not directly tied to the actual notability of the article. What you could use this case for is that Griffey35jsb is an SPA, so any votes they give could be disregarded. Either way, it's difficult (for me, anyway) to justify a block on an account that hasn't edited in over three weeks. Suppose a checkuser was run and it was determined that the accounts were possible matches. I don't feel strongly enough about the connection between the accounts now, and a CU wouldn't help that at all.
If you want to AfD the article, find other justification - advertising, for example. I have a feeling that the subject is actually notable, though I'm not positive he passes WP:AUTHOR. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 15:48, 20 January 2011 (UTC)
Thank you, that helps. Once closed, would you be looking for any edits from Griffey to justify re-opening or certain types of edits. I can keep a watch on them but don't want to open a case that won't pass. That would only add to the caseload at SPI and effectually waste time. I understand your concerns that you make above now.
I've noticed that AfDs bring the socks out of the woodwork, too. :)
⋙–Berean–Hunter—► ((⊕)) 17:05, 20 January 2011 (UTC)

SPI

Hi HelloAnnyyong. Could you please take a look at this one? Tuscumbia (talk) 21:00, 21 January 2011 (UTC)

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