Wikipedia:Suspected sock puppets/Eyrian, Gazpacho, JB196, Molag Bal, and Mrs random

User:Eyrian, User:Gazpacho, User:JB196, User:Molag Bal, and User:Mrs random

Suspected sockpuppeteers

Eyrian (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · page moves · block user · block log)
Gazpacho (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · page moves · block user · block log)
JB196 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · page moves · block user · block log)
Molag Bal (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · page moves · block user · block log)
Mrs random (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · page moves · block user · block log)

Confirmed sockpuppets

Suspected sockpuppets

Report submission by

--Le Grand Roi des Citrouilles^Tally-ho! 17:26, 3 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Evidence

After posting evidence here, Thatcher suggested I instead post my report at Suspected sock puppets. To summarize, checkusers and arbcom cases have determined that Eyrian, Gazpacho, JB196, Molag Bal, and Mrs random all engaged in sockpuppetry in "in popular culture" related AfDs. So far at least all of the following have either admitted to or been confirmed by checkusers as being socks or puppeteers: AndalusianNaugahyde, AshbyJnr, Blueanode, Brandon97, Burntsauce, Casperonline, Dannycali, Davenbelle, Diyarbakir, D73733C8-CC80-11D0-B225-00C04FB6C2F5, Eyrian, Gazpacho, Golfcam, IPSOS, Jack Merridew, JohnEMcClure, LAZY 1L, Moby Dick, Mrs random, Note to Cool Cat, 75.5.225.151, SolidPlaid, Varlak, and Yeshivish. Some of these accounts were blocked as socks of JB196 and Molag Bal, i.e. too of the project's most prolific sockpuppeeters who have combined hundreds of socks. If THAT is what we faced in fiction related AfDs and policy discussions, who knows how many edits these and those accounts I have not listed that are associated with these banned users made to policy and guideline pages or influenced other good faith editors. Collectively, they made THOUSANDS of edits many of which were overwhelming AfDs with delete votes and harassing their critics (notice some of these accounts for blocked for stalking and incivility even prior to the checkusers confirmed sockpuppetry). I also suspect that the following currently unblocked accounts may be related due to strikingly similar editing patterns (rapid delete "votes" in AfDs in many of the same AfDs or kinds of AfDs as the blocked accounts): Blahblahme, Bulldog123, Crazysuit, Hornet35, Keb25, MarkBul, 138.88.170.131, Saikokira, 76.80.112.235, 68.163.65.119, StaticElectric, and Tregoweth. While these accounts have seemingly stopped editing, it is nevertheless important to determine if they are indeed socks to 1) determine the actual extent of the damage done by Eyrian, Gazpacho, JB196, Molag Bal, and Mrs random and 2) to block those determined to be socks so that they do not make a "come back" and cause further disruption. For additional evidence, please see here. Sincerely, --Le Grand Roi des Citrouilles^Tally-ho! 17:26, 3 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Comments

There's relevance to this request: the validity of quite a few AFDs may be at stake. Le Grand Roi des Citrouilles turned out to be right on target about some concerns last year that got validated in the Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Alkivar and Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Eyrian cases. Some people were doing an end run around site policies to advance a deletionist agenda. If the older accounts turn out to be socks then Roi would have a solid reason to open some DRVs. Durova^Charge! 18:00, 3 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Conclusions: 1) This needs to be split up into multiple cases - you can't just lump a whole lot of serial sockpuppeteers together and say "well, it's probably one of these". Users like JB196 and Molag Bal have absolutely nothing in common with each other other than being known to use socks.; 2) It'd be tough to work out which are socks and which aren't now; probably most if not all are, but most of those haven't edited since 2007 and their contribs would be too stale to checkuser.; 3) In theory, votestacking at AfD isn't generally a problem (RfA is a different issue), because the !vote is either valid or it isn't - a pile of WP:ILIKEIT Keep votes or WP:ITSNOTNOTABLE Delete !votes can and should be disregarded by the closing admin. Can you provide some examples of AfDs where these socks have led to an AfD reaching a different concolusion to that it "should have"? Black Kite 11:53, 5 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]