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Hackers and jokesters

Hi GS, haven't bothered you in a while, so I figured you missed me. I blocked KeroppiKid, a very strange new user (created September 26), who almost immediately opened up very bizarre subjects at the Teahouse having to do with problems at Simple and a couple of edits at the Wikipedia sandbox. Their editing at Simple is rather lively, and I just noticed this moment that they say on their userpage that Sharkoii is also their account here (I haven't blocked that account because I wasn't aware of it until now).

Both at Simple and here they started talking about their account being "hacked", apparently by their little brother (really, they need to come up with a different relative), and for that, plus so many edits that seemed more like trolling than anything else, I blocked them as WP:NOTHERE. I know I could have just blocked them as compromised, but I wasn't convinced that was the case.

They edited an article called List of Sanrio characters. One of the Japanese character toys is Keroppi, hence the username I suppose. YouAreGoingToSweden, a user blocked on September 25, one day before the KeroppiKid account was created, also edited the article. Then I started noticing other similarities between the two, e.g., editing the Wikipedia sandbox and opening up a weird thread at the Teahouse. They also edited Keroppi. A lot of coincidences, even if not everything adds up (YAGTS seems even younger and sillier than KeroppiKid). What do you think?--Bbb23 (talk) 14:16, 20 October 2023 (UTC)

Bbb23: Hmm. Well, I'd call those three  Confirmed to one another - they're overlapping in a short space of time on a single IPv4 address, and separately on an IPv6 /64 range. I think most of their editing is coming from a school, there are a great many accounts on a small range with childish usernames, and a fair amount of petty vandalism coming from that range. I may have a poke about later and block some more accounts, or perhaps the whole range - I haven't come across anything constructive from it yet, but I need to step away from the screen. Girth Summit (blether) 14:34, 20 October 2023 (UTC)
Thanks. Maybe after you're done, we can think about tagging. And what about global locks? A fair amount of cross-wiki abuse is involved here. I'm not real happy with the "relationship" the user has developed with Fr33kman, an administrator (former steward) at Simple, not that I blame Fr33kman, but the shennanigans are obvious, at least to cynical me.--Bbb23 (talk) 14:57, 20 October 2023 (UTC)
Bbb23 let me know about this thread. There was a lot of nonsense over at User talk:Chompshark that resulted in me finding a slew of related accounts. See Category:Wikipedia sockpuppets of Chompshark. I didn't file an SPI because I uncovered this during an unblock request. Let me know if I can be helpful. --Yamla (talk) 18:31, 20 October 2023 (UTC)
Something I noticed. Chompshark identified Special:contributions/204.116.209.221 as their IP. zzuuzz CU-blocked that IP on May 8, 2023, for 3 months. When I expanded that IP to Special:contributions/204.116.209.0/24, I noticed that you (GS) CU-blocked Special:contributions/204.116.209.198 today for 2 years. There has been recent disruption from other IPs in that range, so I've blocked the range for 3 months. And, as long as I'm here, please note "shark" in Chompshark and Sharkoii. I agree that all these IPs are probably school IPs. Back to you guys.--Bbb23 (talk) 18:59, 20 October 2023 (UTC)
As it happens, that range is currently mentioned in 2 places on my talk page. I've been trying to go light-touch on it for a while, as problems within it can be localised to some extent, but I've come to the conclusion that nailing the whole /24 is probably the only solution. It's been on my list of things to do. Greenville County School District, btw. As for the sockmasters, CUs can see my own opinion in the log, but I doubt it's definitive and it's not very consequential anyway, stemming from around May. -- zzuuzz (talk) 19:13, 20 October 2023 (UTC)
Bbb23 I've taken another look at this this morning.
  • The following are definitely, unambiguously confirmed to one another: KeroppiKid, KeroSalt, Sharkoii. Those three overlap not only on the school IPs, but also on a separate /64 range. Looking at other accounts on the school's range, the following accounts don't show up on that /64, but I'd call them confirmed to the above because they've edited from the same specific IPs within minutes of the others (plus the behavioural similarities and article overlap): YouAreGoingToSweden, Chompshark.
  • After that, it gets a bit harder to be quite so confident. There is a lot of nonsense coming from the range, and the accounts are all technically indistinguishable. There is one extended confirmed account using the range, which appears to be doing good work and which has been editing productively at the same time as the disruptive accounts have been active on different IPs within the range - I'm confident they're unrelated. There is another account which I am not less confident about - it could be the same person as KeroppiKid, but I think it's more probably just a newb doing newb stuff, and I'm inclined to leave them alone.
  • Then there are numerous other accounts, mostly unused, some with names like I.eat.yummy.toes., Chanceisstupid, EllisIsHot, Balls1234WTF and such like. The ones with the obviously disruptive usernames are blocked, but some of them aren't - they might have been created in good faith by folk who happen to share the connection, I guess we can deal with them as and when they start editing.
As for the cross-wiki stuff - I dunno, might be worth requesting global lock on the confirmed accounts, since they do seem to be up to some shenanigans on Simple. I don't know why Fr33kman has been giving them so much of his time, maybe he just has more AGF left in his reservoir than some of us. Girth Summit (blether) 10:57, 21 October 2023 (UTC)
Thanks, GS. This is what I propose. I will file a pro forma SPI. This will make it easier to tag and request global locks with the script. The master will be Sharkoii (the oldest account, not just in terms of creation but first edit). All of the above accounts will be included in the case, and all the tags will be confirmed. I don't see any downside, and the upside is to have a case going forward in case more accounts pop up. What do you think? Yamla?--Bbb23 (talk) 13:41, 21 October 2023 (UTC)
Works for me. Girth Summit (blether) 14:30, 21 October 2023 (UTC)
Yeah, I'll add the resulting SPI page to my watchlist. :( --Yamla (talk) 17:20, 21 October 2023 (UTC)
 Done. See Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Sharkoii.--Bbb23 (talk) 18:15, 21 October 2023 (UTC)

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Raj Hanse

Hi, could this edit be a sock of Raj Hanse (talk · contribs), who was recently blocked itself as a sock account? The use of first person singular with reference to sources already given by Raj does seem rather telling. - Sitush (talk) 19:32, 24 October 2023 (UTC)

Don't know for sure; I don't think it's the same person, but they've only made two edits since 2022, so I don't have a lot of data to go on. They seem to be indicating that they're willing to drop the stick, maybe just wait and see, report it if there's more evidence. Girth Summit (blether) 11:58, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

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Miscellaneous

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:22, 7 November 2023 (UTC)

This IP might be rajput bhatti

Special:Contributions/223.123.3.239

I also have a feeling this might also be their account

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Thobla

Since they edit in religion of country pages and was created after the previous accounts were blocked

Actually they are they reverted a edit from a user to one of their older editd from a sock puppet account

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bulgaria&oldid=1182805879

Also another ip making similar edits

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/182.177.6.68


This IP has readded the previous edits of rajput bhatti Barbardo (talk) 18:35, 7 November 2023 (UTC)

Hi - I'm going to bed soon, I'm not going to be able to look at this for hours. You've left multiple message so I assume it's urgent - consider AIV? Cheers Girth Summit (blether) 23:22, 7 November 2023 (UTC)
Okay I just wanted to say rajputbhatti is back. Barbardo (talk) 13:25, 8 November 2023 (UTC)
You were right - I've blocked the account, as well as Nirmest. Feel free to revert anything they've done. No comment on the IPs... Girth Summit (blether) 13:33, 8 November 2023 (UTC)

apropos of nothing

Security Guard: From outer space, an alien.
Bruce Banner: No.
Security Guard: Well then son, you've got a condition. -- Deepfriedokra (talk) 10:06, 9 November 2023 (UTC)

You're seeing something I'm not about those former usernames by the way - what am I missing? Girth Summit (blether) 11:13, 9 November 2023 (UTC)
Nothing that meaningful. -- Deepfriedokra (talk) 12:06, 9 November 2023 (UTC)

What do you think?

What do you think about Pladero? I kept thinking I could figure out on my own who the master is, but I could not. I even looked at Wikiquote, where the editor created new pages and then "incorporated" them here, to see if that gave me any hints, but it didn't. So, here are the details:

  1. Account created October 15, 2023, and has a whopping 2,066 edits
  2. Strong focus on creating interlocking - and some very strange - categories
  3. Focus on disambig pages
  4. Creates redirects
  5. Edits portal space
  6. Assesses article Talk pages
It's OOODDD. I've no idea who that is, or why they're blocked, but I interpreted this comment as an admission that they are a sock of a blocked account, so I ran a check. Do you think it's worth mass rollbacking? Girth Summit (blether) 08:29, 9 November 2023 (UTC)
Aargh, I missed that nasty comment on Liz's Talk page, would have made everything easier, at least in requesting the check. With the kinds of things the user did, I'm going to do more of a selective mass delete, don't know about rolling back edits themselves. I need to take a look-see as I just got on Wikipedia (couldn't sleep) and saw your ping. By the way, Edward-Woodrow, whom you mentioned on Pladero's Talk page, is not an admin.--Bbb23 (talk) 11:44, 9 November 2023 (UTC)
Yeah, I knew they're not an admin, but I saw the username hanging around a couple of the unblock requests on the older accounts and they seem to be a reasonable experienced editor - if they came across their edits in the past, I reasoned that they might do so again, and it doesn't hurt to have non-admins aware of the situation so they can report future recurrences to at SPI. Girth Summit (blether) 11:50, 9 November 2023 (UTC)
By the way, I did a first pass on their contribs already and deleted any page creations that weren't redirects, disambig pages or templates/categories. Those might still warrant a review, but there are too many of them for me to look at in a free period at work... Girth Summit (blether) 11:52, 9 November 2023 (UTC)
That's fine, it's just that you called him an admin in your comment. We must've crossed. I did a mass rollback after all (much easier to delete empty cats than ones with pages in them) and then deleted a huge number of cats (all that I saw anyway). Also deleted a draft and a template (after undoing the links to it). Just like you, I left the redirects and disambig Talk pages alone, too much analysis in my view needed before deleting to make sure I don't make things worse by deletion. I'm done now. If you want to continue later when you have some time, that's up to you. Oh, and I never thanked you for the check: thanks. :-) --Bbb23 (talk) 12:28, 9 November 2023 (UTC)

Articles and drafts by User:Fancy vibēs

All the articles and drafts created by User:Fancy vibēs about castes and dynasties are hoaxes. It seems they have created numerous fake articles by copying names and information from existing dynasties, and these should be deleted. There are Parmar, Parmar, Himachal Pradesh, Parmar Nagar, Parmar (Jat clan), Tomar Gurjar (clan), Chechens in Kyrgyzstan and Hun clan.

– DreamRimmer (talk) 13:08, 11 November 2023 (UTC)

I've deleted them all per G5, except for Hun clan, which had a significant amount of attention from another editor; I've asked that editor if they think the article should still exist, or if they'd be happy with deletion (since most of their edits were to remove dubious content rather than to add anything). Girth Summit (blether) 13:16, 11 November 2023 (UTC)
Thank you; I have added my comment there. – DreamRimmer (talk) 13:44, 11 November 2023 (UTC)

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SPI

Thanks for the early spot with Malaisei here. Behaviour clearly matches Kung Hibbe, but we'd never have noticed it from such a short contribution history without CU. Certes (talk) 19:46, 13 November 2023 (UTC)

No worries - that's what the tool's for, I wouldn't have spotted it myself without the technical data (although once I'd seen the account editing from the same IPs, the behaviour made it a done deal). Girth Summit (blether) 20:13, 13 November 2023 (UTC)

random?

I never think of you as random. More like foreordained. -- Deepfriedokra (talk) 09:37, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

Ha! FWIW, I always think of you when I revoke TPA. You have huge patience to have worked the UTRS queue as long as you have. 'We're sick of your shit here onwiki - go talk to DFO...' Girth Summit (blether) 21:09, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

Speedy deletion of Category:Wikipedia sockpuppets of Rafiul Officail

The page Category:Wikipedia sockpuppets of Rafiul Officail has been speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This was done under section C1 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the category had been empty for seven days or more and was not a disambiguation category, a category redirect, a featured topics category, under discussion at Categories for discussion, or a project category that by its nature may have become empty on occasion.

Please do not recreate the material without addressing these concerns, but do not hesitate to add information in line with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. If you think this page should not have been deleted for this reason, you may contact the deleting administrator, or if you have already done so, you may open a discussion at Wikipedia:Deletion review. Vanjagenije (talk) 19:26, 15 November 2023 (UTC)

Aw - that was a great category, why do you nasty admins delete my cool stuff? Girth Summit (blether) 20:10, 15 November 2023 (UTC)

Finese

Sorry, fresh out. Will adopt and adapt, but could not improve. -- Deepfriedokra (talk) 21:44, 15 November 2023 (UTC)

UTRS is not user friendly. -- Deepfriedokra (talk) 21:45, 15 November 2023 (UTC)
I should have expected as much - I tried to get into VTRS a couple of times, but ended up staring at the screen scratching my head for a looong time... Girth Summit (blether) 21:52, 15 November 2023 (UTC)

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Some time ago you blocked the master

in Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Thakor Sumant Sinhji Jhala and now 2409:40D6:D:5D99:8000:0:0:0 has created Draft:Devi Movement which was of interest to the master. Is it sufficient to mention this to you or should I create an SPI for this IP and the master? 🇺🇦 FiddleTimtrent FaddleTalk to me 🇺🇦 12:09, 20 November 2023 (UTC)

Overtaken by events, another editor has opened a new SPI, though I doubt it can go anywhere 🇺🇦 FiddleTimtrent FaddleTalk to me 🇺🇦 17:00, 22 November 2023 (UTC)

Suspected sock puppet and COI complaint

Hi, I am complaining about the freelancer continuously publishing spams in return of payments. She is from Dubai and below is her Upwork profile where you can find the evidence:

https://www.upwork.com/freelancers/~01bfb4d3cfe85e7304

Below are the pages, she published in return of payments:

https://wiki.riteme.site/wiki/Transkriptor

https://wiki.riteme.site/wiki/Linda_Penn

https://wiki.riteme.site/wiki/Webz.io

Also, you can see the feedback on her profile which means she is continuously violating Wikipedia TOS. Also, she is created many accounts for publishing spams. 39.48.3.223 (talk) 21:28, 23 November 2023 (UTC)

Defeedme IP range

I've ID'd the IP range that Defeedme is using anonymously. There are 18 recent edits that are definitely them; I suspect many (maybe as much as 90%) of the scattered other edits in that range are also them, because the style is similar, but there's no hard proof because those don't directly involve me or their own block. Since you are familiar with the case, I wanted to notify you. Thanks. Wes sideman (talk) 15:03, 27 November 2023 (UTC)

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Pickage of your brain

No need to read the article, but Park Loop Road (which I created recently) is partly tolled and partly freely accessed. Because of this, it is my contention that the article should be part of both Category:Roads in Maine and Category:Toll roads in Maine, even though the former is the parent. Thoughts? Seasider53 (talk) 11:28, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

rajput bhatti sock is back

Special:Contributions/Indapamide


Is restoring their old edits. Barbardo (talk) 14:28, 1 December 2023 (UTC)

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Merry Christmas, Girth Summit!
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Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 11:54, 1 January 2024 (UTC)

Sockpuppet

Hello. This new account آفریغ is another sockpuppet account of blocked User:Hisksjueeu. 175.106.53.175 (talk) 21:06, 2 January 2024 (UTC)

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Lack of service

Apologies, talk page watchers, for my recent absence. A lot of stuff going on offline - I haven't been intentionally staying away, there's just been one thing after another. Hope to be back at it in the days to come. Happy new year one and all. Girth Summit (blether) 18:30, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

Glad to see you pop up again. Had been worried about your radio silence. Happy 2024! Star Mississippi 13:47, 10 January 2024 (UTC)
Nothing to worry about - work was manic with various things in the run up to the end of term, and then it was the Christmas hols and I was driving up and down the length of the country to see relatives, in-laws and friends - just didn't seem to have time for it. Back to normal now though with the start of the new term. Girth Summit (blether) 13:57, 10 January 2024 (UTC)

Now that you're back ...

Nice to see you resume your good work. Ever the opportunist, compare Pinkjart with Drsftufy. Drsftufy has only one edit and that is to add a pictue to Riccardo Matlakas, an article created by Pinkjart. Both use the visual editor. Similar edit summaries. Also the master has a terrible history at Commons with every image they've created having been deleted. I'm surprised they haven't been blocked for so many copyright violations. Last item: the master's userpage says "I started creating and editing wiki pages in 2020." The account was created last month. I think there's enough for me to block behaviorally, but a check might disclose other accounts. Thanks.--Bbb23 (talk) 17:00, 13 January 2024 (UTC)

The following accounts are all operating out of the same IP, within days of each other: Pinkjart, Drsftufy, MlimaMoja (globally locked and blocked here as a sock), Sheapill (globally locked and blocked here as a sock of a different master - I'm certain that it's the same user as MlimaMoja), OranMax, MonkeyBitter. I'm not 100% certain, but colour me fairly confident that it's all the same person. I've got to dash though - can you take the action needed? Girth Summit (blether) 18:32, 13 January 2024 (UTC)
I blocked the unblocked accounts you noted. I wasn't sure how to tag. Could you please do that when you return, or tell me what tags you wish and I'll take care of it? Also, I think all of these accounts should be globally locked, but I hate going to Meta to do that. Maybe you could do that? Finally, glancing at some of the edits of the socks, I noticed Koitaleel. Looked the same to me. Thanks for your help.--Bbb23 (talk) 18:54, 13 January 2024 (UTC)
Ok, I'll look at this properly next time I've got a minute. There's definitely at least two SPI cases implicated, a non-zero number of articles that will want G5ing, and some locks to be put in place. Cheers Girth Summit (blether) 19:07, 13 January 2024 (UTC)
Koitaleel was very likely, technically, to the others. Looks like this is all Aniflower. Will raise a proforma SPI case and tag/request locks from there. Girth Summit (blether) 11:24, 15 January 2024 (UTC)

FYI

Reference this, I believe they are back. Will likely let them edit a little to in order to confirm the editing behavior. I also think I filed the original for the wrong master as it should be this. Thanks for CU and block on the other. CNMall41 (talk) 06:28, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

 Technically indistinguishable. Will go back and look at the tags/case later, gotta run. Girth Summit (blether) 09:41, 17 January 2024 (UTC)
Think I've sorted out the tags. Girth Summit (blether) 10:53, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

Question

This is about Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/あすぺるがあすぺしゃりすと. When blocking in a previous case I didn't add tags since I felt that there were too many accounts that applying tags just wastes the database with useless revisions. Blablubbs didn't for another case either. In other cases other admins/CUs have applied tags. Do you think this is a case where we should put the template notice that recommends not tagging? 0xDeadbeef→∞ (talk to me) 14:47, 13 January 2024 (UTC)

In a case like that, I wouldn't normally add tags. However, with usernames like those, which have characters from scripts I'm unfamiliar with, and which appear in batches that are very similar to one another, I actually find the tags helpful because it makes it very clear which ones I've processed and which ones I haven't (I run a script that marks accounts tagged as socks with coloured Ms and Ps). Essentially, I was marking them off with tags as I made my way through them. There's probably a more efficient way of doing that, and if anyone would know better than me it would be Blablubbs, but it did the job that I wanted it to. Girth Summit (blether) 15:11, 13 January 2024 (UTC)
Sorry, only getting to this now. If you're asking how I organise checks with large numbers of socks on disparate ranges so that I know who has and hasn't been checked: I mostly rely on a script which highlights – among other things – a) whether a target has ever been checked and b) whether I was the most recent person to do so. If you're asking how I organise those checks so that I know who is and isn't related, that's a bit trickier. If it gets really complicated, I usually take notes either on the case itself, on cuwiki, or in the SPIhelper preview. I sometimes also just block accounts right as I find them, so that I don't "discover" and note them down multiple times. Hope that makes sense(?). --Blablubbs (talk) 11:29, 17 January 2024 (UTC)
Yeah, it was a bit like that, but I didn't think making notes would help me - it was one of those cases with dozens of socks with very similar usernames written in non-Latin scripts. Essentially, they all looked like bunches of identical squiggles to my ignorant eyes, so I needed a way of making sure that I'd checked and blocked all of the reported accounts; and all of the ones that were coming up in my searches. I found tagging them, so they show up with the red P next to them in both lists, worked nicely. Girth Summit (blether) 12:55, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

National Iranian American Council

Hi, I stumbled across the above article while patrolling Recent changes - not an article or topic area that I would normally have any interest in. I just fully protected the article because of contentious editing by new users James Bertrand 8 (not as new but a large gap and not many edits, especially to anything but the article and its Talk page), STOPNIAC (blocked), and Just want to make some quick edits here (socky username and clear WP:SPA). Behaviorally, it's too hard for me to sort out the editors' POVs, but my suspicion is that Just want and STOPNIAC are related, and Bertrand is suspicious as well but unlikely to be a sock of one or the other user.--Bbb23 (talk) 16:45, 20 January 2024 (UTC)

STOPNIAC and James Bertrand 8 are the same person - I've blocked JB8. Just want appears to be using proxies. Girth Summit (blether) 17:03, 20 January 2024 (UTC)
Called that one wrong. Thanks.--Bbb23 (talk) 17:18, 20 January 2024 (UTC)
What do you think I should do with the article now? Lift the protection? Revert JB8's last edit per WP:BANREVERT? Both? --Bbb23 (talk) 17:25, 20 January 2024 (UTC)
I think the protection is probably warranted - I wouldn't be at all surprised if JB8 were to return in one form or another in the near future. I share your concerns about the 'Just want' account - they are raising a lot of red flags. However, I've seen enough sock-on-sock edit wars to be wary of the dangers of wading in blind and reverting the hell out of everyone, and I know almost nothing about the subject matter so I would not be the right person to determine if one or other of them is 'right'. Might be worth raising it at a relevant Wikiproject to see if an experienced editor wants to cast an eye over the recent changes? Girth Summit (blether) 17:31, 20 January 2024 (UTC)
I think I'll just leave the whole thing be. If I were to notify a project and yet leave the protection in place, I'd have to monitor the whole thing, acting as a sort of intermediary, not something I want to do. The page has about 50 page watchers. Perhaps it'll get some reasonable suggestions on the Talk page. Honestly, I try to avoid all articles related to the Middle East.--Bbb23 (talk) 17:45, 20 January 2024 (UTC)

Checkuser request

Hi Girth Summit. Could you please check Rsmaravi and Qazwsxedc789? It looks like they abandoned the latter account to avoid being blocked after multiple warnings. Daniel Quinlan (talk) 22:47, 20 January 2024 (UTC)

Sure. Rsmaravi is a  Confirmed sock of the blocked account Anuj.251 - no doubt whatsoever. Qazwsxedc789 is less obvious, technically, but they overlap with Rsmaravi on two separate ranges and there is nothing to distinguish them technically. I've blocked both. Girth Summit (blether) 23:08, 20 January 2024 (UTC)
Thanks. Daniel Quinlan (talk) 23:13, 20 January 2024 (UTC)

Just noticed

Your check/cheque/czech userboxes. That's my kind of wit. I think Douglas Adams (or maybe Pterry) wrote somewhere that puns are considered a capital offense in some cultures, and Bill on True Blood told us "You have to understand, most vampires are very old. Puns used to be a very appreciated form of humor." Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 09:28, 22 January 2024 (UTC)

And the master is...

Hi, I just blocked Enigma Enforcer as a sock, but I'm not sure who the master is. I've blocked IPs recently with the same edit summaries ("ban evasion WP:BKFIP"). They all geolocate to England (same country as BKFIP himself), and maybe that's who they are. See, e.g., Special:contributions/194.74.135.100. They generally revert my edits. EE tried to attack me at Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Vujkovica brdo, but were prevented by the filter log, but then the now-blocked sock, Bocin kolega made the same edit that EE tried to make (I reverted it). Yet England is not the right location for Vb's socks, so I find that more puzzling than helpful. I know you can't say anything about the IPs, but a check of EE might reveal information that you can disclose. Thanks.--Bbb23 (talk) 18:32, 24 January 2024 (UTC)

More data for you: Mischief Maestro.--Bbb23 (talk) 18:43, 24 January 2024 (UTC)
Fun usernames: Whimsy Warlock.--Bbb23 (talk) 18:58, 24 January 2024 (UTC)
Not sure who it is. They're confirmed to a bunch of throwaway accounts like Accomplished Dough, Hater of Dill and a few others; all of the IPs I've seen them on are currently blocked, and I don't see any unblocked accounts. Doesn't feel like BKFIP, but I couldn't rule it out. Girth Summit (blether) 20:05, 24 January 2024 (UTC)
I'll add that the IP they use most frequently has quite a long block log, and a lot of racist trolling in its logged out contribs. Again, that doesn't feel like BKFIP to me (although I'm not over-familiar with that case). Girth Summit (blether) 20:08, 24 January 2024 (UTC)
Some of the edits by some of the socks have a thing against Horse Eye's Back (see, e.g., Hater of Dill's edits). Maybe they have some idea of who it is.--Bbb23 (talk) 21:19, 24 January 2024 (UTC)
Its BKFIP, see Symphony of Chaos (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) for example. One thing to note on the actual IPs is that most of the historical edits aren't BKFIP, they're primarily hopping around a UK mobile provider's stockpile of IPs so there are often earlier unconnected edits. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 14:21, 25 January 2024 (UTC)
I'm don't really understand your comments other than your opinion that this is BKFIP. Speaking technically only, BKFIP used to be fairly easy to identify. Perhaps that's changed since I ran checks against him. I've gone ahead and tagged the recent accounts as confirmed to Accomplished Dough, the oldest of them. At least it will provide an anchor to connect any future socking.--Bbb23 (talk) 14:31, 25 January 2024 (UTC)
There have been IPs where only the most recent edits appeared to be BKFIP. My own experience with BKFIP has been less than a calendar year long, this is the edit where I apparently got their goat[1] and afterwords became a target (you will notice that the phrase "bullshit" subsequently began appearing in much of their vandalism). Horse Eye's Back (talk) 15:43, 25 January 2024 (UTC)

Request to check profusely editing sock

Hi Girth Summit! Could you please take a look at the case currently at Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/SheryOfficial? I'm really 100% sure it's them (what I wrote e.g. here equally applies to this account too) and they're editing quite profusely. ☿ Apaugasma (talk ☉) 12:53, 27 January 2024 (UTC)

Done. Girth Summit (blether) 15:34, 27 January 2024 (UTC)

Very weird ...

If you have a moment, you might want to look at Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Lineargraphing and the apparent aftermath at Cyprus76's Talk page. It's all very weird.--Bbb23 (talk) 14:18, 30 January 2024 (UTC)

There's something fishy going on. Cyprus76, Endersslay and Lineargraphing are all very clearly closely connected - aside from the fact they're all chatting back and forth on one another's user talk pages, they are also editing from the same couple of IPs at the same times of day, often within minutes of one another, and they are using near-identical AUs. The only reason I haven't already blocked them all is that they are not all using the exact same UA at the same times - one will be using a slightly different version number. It might be consistent with (for example) students using a shared bank of devices, some of which have downloaded an update and some of which haven't; naturally, it would also be consistent with one person using two such devices to chat to themselves and generally mess about. Whatever is the case, I don't buy for a second that they don't all know each other. Girth Summit (blether) 14:41, 30 January 2024 (UTC)
It's all a bit much for me to stomach. See, e.g., User:Endersslay/Imperial Cabal.--Bbb23 (talk) 14:48, 30 January 2024 (UTC)
Meh. There are enough admins with userboxes about cabals (extant and otherwise) and rougeness that I could imagine some newbs thinking that they're just playing along with an in joke. Could be three kids in a computer lab together, or one person just doing weird stuff to amuse themselves - I expect I did some fairly silly stuff when I was seventeen and the internet was in its infancy. I'd probably wait to see whether either of the other two come clean about the connection and give a passable explanation. Girth Summit (blether) 16:00, 30 January 2024 (UTC)

Twice in one day

Aren't you the lucky one? I blocked two accounts last November, Self made theory, the older account, and My self made theory, the twin. Now because one of them is still on my watchlist, I noticed Bshshajajajajj, created a few weeks after my blocks, editing on their behalf. I'm not quite comfortable blocking the latest account as a sock, but I do think there's enough evidence to warrant a check.--Bbb23 (talk) 16:08, 30 January 2024 (UTC)

Well, I'll offer you It's Self made theory as  Confirmed, and Bshshajajajajj is very likely to them - both already blocked (by me, just now). On one of the IPs that the group used, I also stumbled across the already-blocked Vadoxit1gsuper, and their confirmed alt account Goonall. Looks like UPE - don't know if they're connected to your little group, there was a bit of a time gap and fairly generic UAs. Can you figure out the tags? Girth Summit (blether) 18:31, 30 January 2024 (UTC)
Doesn't look like Vadox and Goonall are connected to the others, or at least there's insufficient behavioral evidence to connect them. Okay if I just tag the ones that are confirmed, and proven for Bshshajajajajj? --Bbb23 (talk) 18:43, 30 January 2024 (UTC)
Of course, do what you think best - I didn't really look at the behaviour much. Girth Summit (blether) 19:19, 30 January 2024 (UTC)
 Done --Bbb23 (talk) 20:41, 30 January 2024 (UTC)

2024 service



Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht

Happy New Year

2024

Thank you for bringing - per community consensus - the Medal of Joy to my talk! As you know, I have a DYK on the Main page, but my story would be different, about Figaro, - this Figaro. -- Gerda Arendt (talk) 22:01, 12 January 2024 (UTC)

On the Main page: the person who made the pictured festival possible --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:44, 16 January 2024 (UTC)

You certainly rack up a lot of DYKs! I took a look at your 'stories' page, it's pretty impressive. (The ordering is a bit weird though - I'm sure there'd be a way to list them in date order rather than alphabetically. I'm speculating though - I don't really know how to do that...) Girth Summit (blether) 13:53, 17 January 2024 (UTC)
story · music · places
I wonder where you looked. The Stories are by calendar, beginning 1 January. The index is sortable by many things. -Yesterday was a friend's birthday, with related music. - I'm on vacation - see places. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 22:17, 31 January 2024 (UTC)
I looked here. When I look at it, it's ordering them alphanumerically rather than by date order, so all the January dates from 2023 and 2024 are bunched together with 2023 dates and 2024 dates mixed up (e.g. 12 Jan 2024, 13 Jan 2023, 14 Jan 2023, 15 Jan 2024...). I'll be on vacation myself in just over a week - going to visit my brother in Edinbugh, he moved into a new house yesterday. Girth Summit (blether) 09:17, 1 February 2024 (UTC)

WikiProject Yorkshire Newsletter - February 2024

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12:37, 1 February 2024 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – February 2024

News and updates for administrators from the past month (January 2024).

CheckUser changes

removed Wugapodes

Interface administrator changes

removed

Guideline and policy news

  • An RfC about increasing the inactivity requirement for Interface administrators is open for feedback.

Technical news

  • Pages that use the JSON contentmodel will now use tabs instead of spaces for auto-indentation. This will significantly reduce the page size. (T326065)

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  • Following a motion, the Arbitration Committee adopted a new enforcement restriction on January 4, 2024, wherein the Committee may apply the 'Reliable source consensus-required restriction' to specified topic areas.
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Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:02, 1 February 2024 (UTC)

Happy Christmas

Merry Christmas, Girth Summit

or whatever else you may celebrate at this time of year.

Thank you for all your work on Wikipedia throughout the year

and may 2024 prove to be a happy and successful year for you and your family

Josey Wales Parley 22:06, 23 December 2023 (UTC)

Hey, Joseywales1961 - sorry, I was away for a few weeks over Christmas, and I've just noticed this. Is that your dog? Gorgeous - I want to give her tummy rubs :) Girth Summit (blether) 18:29, 3 February 2024 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Ramos1990

I want to close the above case as a scattershot report and without merit. I just closed Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Phoenixhill, which attacks the filer of the Ramos case. Both users have been going at each other in another dispute and have carried it over to SPI. The reason I haven't closed the Ramos one is because of the filer's reference to Ticket:2024011710009412, which, of course, I can't see. I suspect the "CU Team"'s "invitation" to file the report was not based on any merit the report had but simply that you folk would not review it outside of SPI. Is it okay if I close the report? --Bbb23 (talk) 16:56, 3 February 2024 (UTC)

Sorry, Beeb - I am still to make good on my ambition to invest the time needed to get my head around using the VRT system. Perhaps GeneralNotability or Blablubbs (or any other friendly talk page watcher with the correct permissions) would be willing to take a look. Girth Summit (blether) 17:09, 3 February 2024 (UTC)
Ha! I don't remember there being a VRT system when I was a CU, but maybe I just didn't know about it. I'll wait to see if either CU responds.--Bbb23 (talk) 19:17, 3 February 2024 (UTC)

Hate to beg, but here I am begging

Saw you were online for another SPI and hoping maybe, possibly, pretty please, you can have a look at this one since they are still adding and removing content while awaiting CU results. Understand its a lot of accounts so no big deal if you don't. CNMall41 (talk) 21:28, 2 February 2024 (UTC)

Hi - this came in after I logged out yesterday, sorry. I'll try to get a chance to look at it today, but you're right, there's a lot to unpick there. As an aside, is there a reason why you listed several socks that are already blocked and tagged in your most recent filing? Just as a matter of keeping the record straightforward for the archive, it's generally better to list the active accounts in the 'suspected socks' bit; if you want us to compare against particular accounts, you can link to them in the rationale for the finding. Girth Summit (blether) 10:25, 3 February 2024 (UTC)
Remember when you were only asked things about obscure architects from the 16th century? Seasider53 (talk) 11:23, 3 February 2024 (UTC)
Ah, peaceful days! Girth Summit (blether) 11:25, 3 February 2024 (UTC)
First of all, thank you for all the work here. I know it was a chore and takes away from your enjoyment of editing other things on Wikipedia. You did a thorough job! If you were in Cali I'd buy you dinner. Noted about the other accounts. I listed them since they were all editing the same pages as the new socks and thought it would be easier for a CU to see but will do as you stated going forward. Again, huge thanks!!!!!! --CNMall41 (talk) 01:49, 4 February 2024 (UTC)

Cricket Butterfly

Does this ever end? lol Seriously, appreciate all the work. I think it actually bleeds into AfC but want to make sure the dots are connected completely before filing that one. CNMall41 (talk) 19:41, 5 February 2024 (UTC)

Sometimes once you start pulling on a thread, you don't know when it will end! I should be thanking you for reporting them and writing up all the evidence - we're both on the same team. Girth Summit (blether) 19:48, 5 February 2024 (UTC)
I honestly cannot make this up. I just found another string which I am filing a new report on now (going with Cricket Butterfly although it overlaps). I started to request G5 on some of the creations from Milli's Boy but going to leave them for edit history (I need to email some private evidence for other accounts involved - pretty clear system gaming). --CNMall41 (talk) 05:22, 6 February 2024 (UTC)
I sent email to check user address as well as you through Wiki as I am unsure if they received any of my previous responses. If you see the same thing I am seeing (once you read the evidence) it may be a wider web than I originally thought. --CNMall41 (talk) 05:33, 6 February 2024 (UTC)

Just FYI

Hello Girth Summit! Since you often handle this LTA's cases at SPI, I just wanted to let you know that I posted this request: Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard#Mass-rollback for LTA. Kind regards, ☿ Apaugasma (talk ☉) 15:44, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

Feedback requests from the Feedback Request Service

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Administrators' newsletter – March 2024

News and updates for administrators from the past month (February 2024).

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WikiProject Yorkshire Newsletter - March 2024

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12:36, 1 March 2024 (UTC)

Please block this sockpuppet

Hello, I saw you were involve in blocking FYE31. Since then, they have made two more sockpuppets that were also blocked, Canofsoup1 and DLCY89*. You can compare their edit histories to see the trend: broken English, an exclusive fixation on local elections in California, and an obsessive drive to remove gray colored bars from election infoboxes. They have now made a new account: Qpi361. They've only made a few edits so far, but it's clearly the same person; broken English, local elections in California, and removing gray colored bars from infoboxes. Please block then (and do an IP ban or something, if possible).BottleOfChocolateMilk (talk) 20:12, 6 March 2024 (UTC)

Looks like Bbb23 got there before me. I'm not super-active at the moment, work is crazy, so any future reports would probably be better made at SPI than here - you can use WP:TWINKLE to make reports, it's pretty straightforward. Hope to be back on an even keel at work soon, and back in the SPI saddle... Girth Summit (blether) 21:33, 7 March 2024 (UTC)
Me too! --Bbb23 (talk) 00:45, 8 March 2024 (UTC)

Your email

Thank you for your detailed reply. I agree that inaction is the best course in the circumstances. I wish you every success with the career challenges/changes. Regards, Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 18:42, 11 March 2024 (UTC)

Was Marcus Brutus a coward?

I was reading about Roman history (especially Julius Caesar) and I was very intrigued by Marcus Brutus' character, but I am confused as to why he was mentioned as a coward in some places.


What do you think? Samman24 (talk) 19:20, 14 March 2024 (UTC)

Feedback request: All RFCs request for comment

Your feedback is requested at Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals) on a "All RFCs" request for comment. Thank you for helping out!
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About blocked sock SBD091

Newly-registered editor has been going around restoring socks' edits, claiming to be reverting socks' edits.   –Skywatcher68 (talk) 15:21, 31 March 2024 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – April 2024

News and updates for administrators from the past month (March 2024).

Administrator changes

removed

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  • The Toolforge Grid Engine services have been shut down after the final migration process from Grid Engine to Kubernetes. (T313405)

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  • Editors are invited to sign up for The Core Contest, an initiative running from April 15 to May 31, which aims to improve vital and other core articles on Wikipedia.
Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:47, 1 April 2024 (UTC)

New Pages Patrol newsletter April 2024

Hello Girth Summit,

New Page Review queue January to March 2024

Backlog update: The October drive reduced the article backlog from 11,626 to 7,609 and the redirect backlog from 16,985 to 6,431! Congratulations to Schminnte, who led with over 2,300 points.

Following that, New Page Patrol organized another backlog drive for articles in January 2024. The January drive started with 13,650 articles and reduced the backlog to 7,430 articles. Congratulations to JTtheOG, who achieved first place with 1,340 points in this drive.

Looking at the graph, it seems like backlog drives are one of the only things keeping the backlog under control. Another backlog drive is being planned for May. Feel free to participate in the May backlog drive planning discussion.

It's worth noting that both queues are gradually increasing again and are nearing 14,034 articles and 22,540 redirects. We encourage you to keep contributing, even if it's just a single patrol per day. Your support is greatly appreciated!

2023 Awards

Onel5969 won the 2023 cup with 17,761 article reviews last year - that's an average of nearly 50/day. There was one Platinum Award (10,000+ reviews), 2 Gold Awards (5000+ reviews), 6 Silver (2000+), 8 Bronze (1000+), 30 Iron (360+) and 70 more for the 100+ barnstar. Hey man im josh led on redirect reviews by clearing 36,175 of them. For the full details, see the Awards page and the Hall of Fame. Congratulations everyone for their efforts in reviewing!

WMF work on PageTriage: The WMF Moderator Tools team and volunteer software developers deployed the rewritten NewPagesFeed in October, and then gave the NewPagesFeed a slight visual facelift in November. This concludes most major work to Special:NewPagesFeed, and most major work by the WMF Moderator Tools team, who wrapped up their major work on PageTriage in October. The WMF Moderator Tools team and volunteer software developers will continue small work on PageTriage as time permits.

Recruitment: A couple of the coordinators have been inviting editors to become reviewers, via mass-messages to their talk pages. If you know someone who you'd think would make a good reviewer, then a personal invitation to them would be great. Additionally, if there are Wikiprojects that you are active on, then you can add a post there asking participants to join NPP. Please be careful not to double invite folks that have already been invited.

Reviewing tip: Reviewers who prefer to patrol new pages within their most familiar subjects can use the regularly updated NPP Browser tool.

Reminders:

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:27, 2 April 2024 (UTC)

Feedback request: All RFCs request for comment

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Milli's Boy sock

Hello Girth Summit, I hope you are doing well. You blocked Milli's Boy two months ago for socking. I believe they have returned with the User:Pulmowrites account. They are requesting a review in the same way for the same type of South Indian film. Both users use two (~~) before their signature. Please check 1 and 2. I am reporting this here as I don't know who the master account is. Thanks in advance. – DreamRimmer (talk) 13:39, 5 April 2024 (UTC)

Case page found. Reported at Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Cricket Butterfly. – DreamRimmer (talk) 04:32, 6 April 2024 (UTC)
@DreamRimmer:, Good catch on that with the signatures!!--CNMall41 (talk) 05:42, 6 April 2024 (UTC)

Leeds Wikipedia meetup on Saturday 4th May

Hello there! Interested in having a chat with fellow Wikipedians? There's a meetup in Leeds on Saturday 4th May 2024, at the Tiled Hall Café at Leeds Central Library.

Full details here.

You're receiving this one-off message as you're either a member of WikiProject Yorkshire, you've expressed an interest in a previous Leeds meetup years ago, or (for about 4 of you), we've met :)

I plan to organise more in future, so if you'd like to be notified next time, please say so over on the meetup page.

Please also invite any Wikimedia people you know (or have had wiki dealings with) – spread the word! Hope to see you there.

Jonathan Deamer (talk)

20:35, 7 April 2024 (UTC)

Block evasion

Since you are the CU who recently addressed the Kolossoni case, would you please have a look at the recent edits on my talkpage? I wasn't sure at first, but the more the IP range in question writes there and in their article talkpage contributions, the more they do sound like Kolossoni evading their sockblock. The same writing style, the same level of language fluency, the same bludgeoning, the fact that the range started editing two days after Kolossoni's unblock appeal was denied, the fact they were watching the other edits SLIMHANNYA made, and so on; the only difference is the mobile editing. I do see a couple of specific details I could e-mail to you, but given how much attention Kolossoni paid to talkpages, I'm reluctant to openly post them. It seems to me that a rangeblock is in order, if it wouldn't cause too much collateral damage.

Separately, I'm starting to get a strong vibe that Kolossoni is connected to a certain well-known LTA, where they tick a lot of boxes: obsession with East Asian genetics and culture--especially ancient origins (including specifically Genetic history of East Asians); long-winded edit summaries; specific ethnic claims among the socks, or usernames that suggest a specific ethnic background (Kolossoni claimed to be German in Australia, Turtle Historian claimed to be Korean in Australia, 素敵なカタチ claimed to be Japanese in America, "Crumpets & Muffins" suggests a UK connection); and removal of sourced material. Grandpallama (talk) 16:11, 5 April 2024 (UTC)

I am this IP range that OP is accusing to be Kolossoni. I keep telling them I am not them. I do suspect they knows I am not a Korean nationalist. But they hype this up and his friend go support it, in order to get me checked. But "fishing"— when you push for the use of the CheckUser tools without good cause specific to a given user account is prohibited per policy and they are manipulating the evidence against me when there are none.[2] However I doubt checkuser machine could confirm him to be me because I know for a fact I am not him, and so I support a fair investigation to prove that too. But I do suspect Grandpallama is unfairly twisting me to be him in hope to get me blocked as his suspected. And that's why I need to defend myself and so he can go call it bludgeoning. I don't care as he made up his mind but he is wrong about me being this Kolossoni. And why I am good with checkuser tools to show he is wrong on this. There's no need to take anyone's words for it but just test me against Kolossoni please. 49.180.201.37 (talk) 22:14, 5 April 2024 (UTC)
@Grandpallama In your talk page, you say I was bludgeoning it. What you call as "bludgeoning" was my attempt to tell you that I am not him and tried to explain that to you with reason. Your friend's biggest accusation against me seems to be that I gave him the impression that I am some Korean nationalist.[3] But what edit could I have possibly done to deserve that lofty claim? I never once attacked Japan in cherry blossoms article or ever put Korea above them so I haven't even exhibited any real signs of being a Korean nationalist as they claim. If there is an edit, do show it to me. And what's ridiculous is I mentioned Korea briefly once in that article. Yes, a grand total of just once. Yet that's all it takes to smear me wrongfully as a Korean nationalist? [4] Simply mentioning Korea once isn't enough to so surely say one is a Korean nationalist and don't like to be concluded as one so liberally, with such poor evidence.
Also saying to Girth Summit that I have followed your friend is blatantly misleading. Actually he was the one that reverted me and then replied first on my talk thread that I had created.[5] So naturally I was curious and after waiting around a hour for his reply back, I looked at his profile. I also looked at recon rabbit's profile too. That's not following but a typical reaction for any editor whenever an unfamiliar someone replies to your thread quickly and you want to know what they are about.49.180.201.37 (talk) 12:00, 6 April 2024 (UTC)
And though I am not wanting to defend this Austrian WorldCreaterFighter. I think you are possibly also wrong to accuse him of being Kolossoni too. I had a look at his listed anon edits and many seem very prejudiced against Koreans. Your friend gave me an impression that Kolossoni was some pro Korean nationalist. And if that's accurate, then it appears to me that the Austrian may not fit his profile so well. Are you even that sure they are the same person?[6][7]
Or accusing another person who may have absolutely nothing to do with this Kolossoni?49.180.201.37 (talk) 12:00, 6 April 2024 (UTC)
Grandpallama, sorry for the delay - I'm only sporadically available at the moment, going through some big stuff IRL at the moment. So, the CU policy prohibits me from connecting IPs with accounts, even when those accounts are blocked. I am therefore not able to comment on the technical evidence that may or may not link these IPs with that account; behavioural investigation would be necessary, which I don't currently have time for, could you add any details to the open SPI case please? I did uncover an unused sock that is confirmed to Kolossoni - Knowledge Pudding - but that's all I'm able to divulge at this point, sorry. Girth Summit (blether) 09:46, 8 April 2024 (UTC)
I know you can't divulge technical details, but thank you for taking another peek; knowing there was an additional sock is helpful in itself. So far, the IP has primarily been concerned with being a nuisance at various talkpages, which is why I hadn't pursued anything at SPI. Now they've drawn a block from all the quacking their constant posting has caused. Good luck with the "big stuff", which I hope is all firmly of a positive nature! Grandpallama (talk) 16:30, 8 April 2024 (UTC)

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WikiProject Yorkshire Newsletter - April 2024

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12:33, 9 April 2024 (UTC)

Thank you

Thanks for draftifying UV Creations. I was just about to message you about it. – DreamRimmer (talk) 12:25, 10 April 2024 (UTC)

No worries. I see that there was a discussion about that article at the COI noticeboard last month - if only someone had thought to dig a bit deeper at the time, the technical connection was clear as day. Girth Summit (blether) 12:37, 10 April 2024 (UTC)
I've just made sure to keep an eye on all the articles that this farm has heavily edited. – DreamRimmer (talk) 12:55, 10 April 2024 (UTC)
@DreamRimmerConsidering all these investigations and such, why would I bother editing the previous articles? 😂 I've observed the pattern of how a sock puppet account can get caught. I'll simply create a new ID with a new IP and device. Thank you! Cheers! 👍 ~~2409:40F0:1008:A252:B497:D90C:A8B5:5080 (talk) 13:35, 10 April 2024 (UTC)

Re: TBan

Hello @Girth Summit, I am reaching out to discuss the possibility of amending the terms of my topic ban, specifically regarding the timeline for appealing the ban. I would like to request a reduction in the appeal period from 12 months to 6 months.

Since my imposed topic ban, I have remained committed to contributing positively to Wikipedia. My intent has always been to contribute positively to wikipedia within the guidelines and policies that govern our community. I believe my editing history post-ban reflects a genuine effort to adhere to these principles and contribute valuable information to various subjects.

My original ban stemmed from an unintentional violation of wikipedia's meatpuppetry policy, which occurred during a collaboration with a former co-worker. This was not a deliberate attempt to manipulate or undermine Wikipedia's procedures but a misunderstanding of the collaboration boundaries within the platform's guidelines, Since then, I have taken steps to deepen my understanding of Wikipedia's policies and community standards to ensure that my contributions are constructive.

One area I am particularly interested in contributing to involves the concept of the Network State, coined by Balaji Srinivasan in his book and other governance-related articles. I believe that by engaging in such topics, I can offer valuable insights and content to Wikipedia, improving the coverage of emerging concepts in governance and digital communities.

Given my history of constructive contributions and my commitment to continuous learning and adherence to Wikipedia's policies, I'd like to respectfully request that you consider my appeal to reduce the waiting period for my topic ban appeal to 6 months. I am fully prepared to engage in further discussions or fulfill any requirements the community or you may deem necessary to facilitate this request.

Thank you for considering my request. Mr Vili talk 03:14, 29 March 2024 (UTC)

Hi Mr Vili, sorry for the slow response, I've been very busy with real life things these past few weeks.
Now, for the benefit of any talk page watchers who stumble across this, and in the interests of keeping the record straight, your original block was because of the connection with an account that you were collaborating with, and which you assert belonged to a co-worker rather than yourself. You did then afterwards deliberately evade that block by making an actual sockpuppet account, so let's not pretend that your block record is purely a result of some innocent misunderstandings on your part.
Now, with regards to your request, I've taken a brief look at some of your recent editing, and I find some of it rather concerning. For example, I looked at Jamba (language model), which you authored. In my personal view, the article is written in a highly promotional manner, and would benefit from a great deal of pruning, or perhaps a complete rewrite. It's not just the tone though, it's the sourcing. The article contains this sentence: Jamba performs well across a number of key measurements including throughput and efficiency while outperforming or matching other state-of-the-art models in its class on a wide range of performance benchmarks while having significantly greater context limits enabling use-cases that require increased context. The assertions in the sentence are supported by two citations. One of them is a promotional piece on the website of the language model's creator - that is a primary, affiliated source, and it absolutely should not be used to support any assertion about the subject's efficacy. The other citation is to VentureBeat, which appears to be quite cagey in its language - I see no assertion there about the subject' efficacy that does not have hedging language in it such as 'According to AI21 Labs' or 'AI21 Labs also claims that...' and such like. In other words, we are asking our readers to take the word of the model's creator for assertions about how good it is - that simply is not how we write articles, and it does not give me a great deal of comfort when I'm considering whether you have really taken on board what our mission is here.
Diffing a bit further, I stumbled upon this deletion discussion, a highly respected and very experienced administrator and former arbitrator noted that you weren't just edit warring at the article, you were edit warring over content supported by some very dubious sources in an article that was covered by WP:BLP restrictions. That also gives me very little comfort.
I'm afraid that I do not think that it would be in anyone's interests, including your own, to allow an early appeal of your ban - I think that it would actually serve you better to have a longer period of time in which you can learn more about how to write neutral, factual content, and source it appropriately, before asking the community to consider rescinding your topic ban. Best, Girth Summit (blether) 15:35, 1 April 2024 (UTC)
@Girth Summit no problem, thank you for the reply.
Sorry I just wanted to clarify the actual sockpuppet account I created was indeed a misunderstanding (I created it thinking that WP:FRESHSTART applied, but I did not read carefully and skipped the part about where it does not apply to accounts that are blocked)
The real issue there in my opinion was my denial of sock-puppetry with that account after it was discovered.
You are right about the article content about Jamba, I believe there was definitely room for improvement in that article - I can't write the perfect article every time but my goal/intention was to improve coverage over new AI models and serve as a base for future editors to further improve the AI models. I believe the section you mentioned definitely has some tone/sourcing issues and should be written in a more neutral way.
Regarding the edit warring, they were relatively uncontroversial additions (his number of children, and about his hair transplant) - Daniel Case (admin) stated "The editors involved also seem to have settled this amicably" - I don't believe any of our intentions were to edit war, when I reverted the 2nd or 3rd time, I created a talk page section to discuss it further"
With all in this in mind, I believe my block was never truly a result of my editing quality, rather of my meatpuppetry which has completely ceased as I no longer edit with that person (and the sockpuppet account was a mistake I created after misinterpreting fresh start policy, but then denying sockpuppetry which I take accountability for)
Would you be willing to reconsider in light of this? Mr Vili talk 05:25, 9 April 2024 (UTC)
No, I remain of the opinion that the TBan serves your own interests, and those of the project. I would suggest that you spend some time working on improving those articles you started to get rid of the promotional language and ensure that they are properly supported by independent, secondary sources - that would be likely to give people more confidence in your editing abilities, and would put you in a better place to apply for the Tban to be lifted in six months time. Girth Summit (blether) 16:08, 11 April 2024 (UTC)

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Potential Sockpuppet

Saw you in the Seltzer Shank sockpuppet investigation. I don't know how to add a new case though. User:DIEDOGS could be a potential sockpuppet. Newly created account but went right to editing Jobbykrust and making a sandbox page for Offensive Weapon. Also replaced Northern Ireland with British as in this diff [8]. Would appreciate if you could check it out. StreetcarEnjoyer (talk) 18:55, 26 April 2024 (UTC)

Seems pretty obvious. Girth Summit (blether) 07:33, 27 April 2024 (UTC)

SPI helper script

The script appears to be not saving categories. I've been seeing redlinks at various SPIs lately, the latest being Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/JAP2024. I then manually save the cat. Can you look into this, or should it be GeneralNotability, who hasn't been around since resigning from the Committee?--Bbb23 (talk) 15:12, 28 April 2024 (UTC)

Yeah, I'd seen that GN hadn't been around recently, which is unfortunate since that script is very much his baby. I'm not remotely qualified to make check for bugs - I know that RoySmith knows a bit about coding, but I don't know whether he can offer any advice or suggest anyone else who might be able to. Girth Summit (blether) 16:05, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
I'll take a look, but can't promise much. That's all Javascript, which isn't my strength. RoySmith (talk) 16:13, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
@Bbb23 the next time you see this happen, please ping me. RoySmith (talk) 16:16, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
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