Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/JD Caselaw

– This SPI case is open.

JD Caselaw

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

For archived investigations, see Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/JD Caselaw/Archive.

03 September 2010

Suspected sockpuppets

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

Evidence submitted by GregJackP

The userpage of JD Caselaw shows that he is a law student at Columbia University and a member of WikiProject Law. The userpage of Agradman shows that he is a law student at Columbia University and a member of WikiProjects Law, U.S. Congress and SCOTUS. Both the talk page of JD Caselaw and Agradman show that they are both on a Wikibreak. JD Caselaw has done "cleanup" editing of Agradman's talkpage [1] and [2]. Agradman has extensively edited JD Caselaw's user page (too many diffs, see page history instead. Both accounts have voted in AfDs Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Chysky v. Drake Bros. Co., Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Leonardo Ciampa, both in support of each other. Wikistalk shows interesting results here. Writing style and edit summaries of both accounts is very similar. See also comment here by Agradman about watchlisting an article created by JD Caselaw. GregJackP Boomer! 03:38, 3 September 2010 (UTC)

Comments by accused parties   

See Defending yourself against claims.

• This is Andrew Gradman. (The account is user:Agradman but I have always signed with my full name, Andrew Gradman.) Lately I have been editing with my JD Caselaw account because WikiBreak Enforcer is enabled on my user:Agradman account until December. Prior to today, I don't think I've ever positively stated that I own both accounts, but Wikipedia:Sock puppetry permits that:

Editors who use more than one account are advised to provide links between them on the user pages (see below). They can also redirect the user and user talk pages of that account to their main account. Do not use undisclosed alternative accounts without very good reason. If you must, do so only with care.

• My "very good reason" is that sometimes, I don't want to edit under my real name. As to whether I have done so "with care," there are two suspicious AfDs that I need to respond to.
• Regarding the AfD for Leonardo Ciampa, I used Agradman to vote, and JD Caselaw to make a supporting comment. Ordinarily, that would still be sockpuppetry, but in that instance I had a special justification: During the AfD, another editor indicated that he had been stalked by Mr. Ciampa himself for voicing a criticism of the Leonardo Ciampa article:

Note. I am recusing myself from all further discussion of this article and removing it from my watch list. In the past 24 hours, I have been accused of sockpuppetry, had my real name and physical location listed, and Leonardo Ciampa has tried to contact me personally. This is not worth my time (especially considering that the article receives so little traffic) and it's definitely not worth the aggravation and lost sleep. Life is too short.THD3 (talk) 14:36, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

• So, once I had voted for delete as Andrew Gradman, I felt frightened to use that account again to make my supporting comment. (Clearly this concern was on my mind at the time: I wrote, "The partisanship of the Keepers is creeping me out. try not to take this personally.")
• Regarding Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Chysky v. Drake Bros. Co.: I admit that on this one occasion I violated the sockpuppeting policy. And I know that that is really, really bad. But I think it's important to note that this behavior occurred in May 17 2009 -- fifteen months ago, one month after I joined Wikipedia, and before I knew wikipedia's sockpuppeting policy. The JD Caselaw account was four days old and the Agradman account had made its first substantial contributions only one month prior, in April 2009. (Prior to April 2009, Agradman had made only 32 edits; prior to 2009, only 16.) Since then I have never sockpuppeted, and I have proven to be an exemplary editor (nearly 9,000 edits, nearly 1,000 new articles, two DYK's, gave a lightning talk at the NYC WikiConference, and I've befriended many Wikipedians, online and offline, who will attest to my civility and fairness).
• And that's all there is to respond to! I can see why this AfD was initiated, but I feel as though I've explained myself thoroughly. Now my hope is that it will be addressed very promptly, because frankly, it's making me lose sleep. JD Caselaw(talk) 06:53, 3 September 2010 (UTC)

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