User talk:7/block

'''Archive of history why I was apparently blocked in error. ''' Posted to Carabinieri's talk page after I noticed the block in my watchlist: 

Block
There goes my spotless record. What happened?  7   talk   12:23, 24 May 2009 (UTC)


 * The reason is that your former account, User:JCutter, has been abused to send threatening e-mails to administrators, including myself. This is described here and here. When I first received the e-mail, I couldn't find the thread on the incidents' page. I sort of overreacted and banned both the JCutter and the 7 account. Once I read the thread saying that this vandal was only using editor's old accounts, i.e. that you were not to blame for this, I immediately unblocked you. I'm sorry for any inconviences this may have caused you, but I hope that you understand that I was in a situation in which I had no choice but to block your account. If anyone ever challenges because of this block, please tell me about it and I will set the record straight. Happy editing and please accept my apology, --Carabinieri (talk) 12:51, 24 May 2009 (UTC)
 * How can someone have logged into that account??? I don't understand how that can happen?  After my CHUU I tried to re-register that account to prevent wiki-identity theft, and it actually wouldn't let me re-register because it was too much like another user J-Cutter.   So how could someone have logged in???     7   talk   12:56, 24 May 2009 (UTC)
 * I honestly don't know. I'm not following this problem too closely. I can only refer you to the discussion on the incidents' page (see the section "Apparent threat by permabanned user The Fascist Chicken").--Carabinieri (talk) 13:04, 24 May 2009 (UTC)

Posted to ANI - JCutter: 

JCutter
User:JCutter, known also as User:7, has sent me an e-mail asking me to block as many constructive users as possible by midnight. He threatened he hack into Wikipedia and desysop me and as well as any other administrators, should we not comply with his request or attempt to block him. I can forward this e-mail to anyone who is interested, but WP:EMAIL prohibits me from actually posting the content of the e-mail here. I can't judge how serious this threat is and whether he really has the means to follow through on this. For now I am blocking both JCutter and 7. I have to go now and won't be home all evening, so I hope someone else will deal with this.--Carabinieri (talk) 10:48, 24 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Actually User:Chris G already appears to have blocked User:JCutter.--Carabinieri (talk) 10:51, 24 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Ok, just for the record: I've unblocked User:7, since apparently User:7 is a good-faith editor, who's former account is being exploited by a vandal, per the discussion on the incidents page.--Carabinieri (talk) 11:06, 24 May 2009 (UTC)

Posted to ANI - about the real person causing the problem: 

Apparent threat by permabanned user The Fascist Chicken
Last night I received a somewhat disturbing e-mail through the "E-mail this user" feature from someone claiming to be "The Fascist Chicken". (I checked and the username in question is permabanned as a sockpuppet of another permabanned user.) Here is the text of the e-mail, which was dated 1 a.m. on 22 May 2009:
 * ''Tonight, you’re all gonna be a part of a social experiment. Through the magic of hacking skills and steward powers, I’m ready right now to blow your minds sky high. Anyone attempts to block me or revert, you all get desysopped.


 * Each of you has a button to block another editor. At midnight, I desysop and block you all. If, however, one of you indefinitely blocks as many constructive editors as you can, I’ll let that admin keep their admin powers. So, who’s it gonna be? Wikipedia’s most-wanted scumbag collection or the sweet and innocent contributors? You choose. Oh, and you might wanna decide quickly because the other administrators may not be quite so noble. — The Joker''

It's probably some guy just blowing smoke but is there any way of shutting down the "e-mail this feature" ability for banned users? And if in the unlikely event this guy does follow through with his threat (if he meant midnight last night then he failed), what is the process for being re-sysopped? Did anyone else receive this e-mail? I personally don't remember ever dealing with this guy, myself. I'm generally not one for bothering to feed the trolls, but it does get annoying when I get e-mails of this nature. Personally I consider myself semi-retired from the project anyway - too much else happening in "real life" - but this is just annoying. 23skidoo (talk) 13:18, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

The same (self-described) joker has been uttering the same fantasy under a variety of usernames. We are all, like, so scared by this. -- Hoary (talk) 13:32, 22 May 2009 (UTC)


 * This is a known user. Revert block ignore. Since he's already blocked, simply ignore.Theresa Knott | token threats 13:33, 22 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Seems to me that he's just another user obsessed with The Dark Knight (film).As for the threat, you guys smell that? I smell bull crap. -- SKATER  Speak. 13:45, 22 May 2009 (UTC)
 * ...although "The Fascist Chicken" is a cool username LOL ( talk→  BWilkins   ←track ) 14:27, 22 May 2009 (UTC)
 * My name is cooler. Half  Shadow  16:58, 22 May 2009 (UTC)
 * "FascistChicken" is right, and his just fell into the stock pot. If they think they can frighten us into willing submission, they haven't been around very long or are thick. -Jeremy (v^_^v Cardmaker) 17:35, 22 May 2009 (UTC)
 * I really don't think this is a serious attempt at intimidating Wikipedia's body of editors. :-) It's probably just a bored teenager who's quite into The Dark Knight. … (Note: I also received a message from "The Joker.") AGK 20:36, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

It does not seem to be resolved. I just got an email from User:Semper discipulus saying the same thing. D rew  S  mith  What I've done  21:45, 22 May 2009 (UTC)
 * And I, one from User:Malathion.  Λυδ α cιτγ  04:51, 23 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Yes, it seems he reached the A's as I received one from that account as well. Blocked. --auburn pilot  talk  04:58, 23 May 2009 (UTC)
 * File another SPI, if possible, to root out the proxies. -Jeremy (v^_^v Cardmaker) 05:01, 23 May 2009 (UTC)
 * I just got one from User:Poppypetty, aka The Joker.  bibliomaniac 1  5  06:29, 23 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Mine came from User:Anthony S. Tsoumbris, the old username of User:E Pluribus Anthony. +Angr 07:44, 23 May 2009 (UTC)
 * I also got one this morning from User:Anthony S. Tsoumbris. It was a lovely thing to wake up to. AnemoneProjectors (talk) 07:53, 23 May 2009 (UTC)

D rew  S  mith  <font color=#ccc>What I've done  08:00, 23 May 2009 (UTC)

What I'm noticing is that these messages are coming from usernames that have been changed. User:The Fascist Chicken was renamed User:Private Butcher. User:Semper discipulus was renamed User:Semper discens, who is not blocked. User:Malathion was moved to User:Ryan Delaney, who is a currently active admin. User:Poppypetty was moved to User:Poppy, who is not blocked and is an admin at French Wikipedia. And User:Anthony S. Tsoumbris was moved to User:E Pluribus Anthony, who is not blocked. Does this mean all these users are also sockpuppets? Even Ryan Delaney and Poppy, who are both users in good standing and admins either here or at fr-wp? +Angr 08:03, 23 May 2009 (UTC)


 * It's my understanding that when an account is renamed, the old username becomes fair game for anyone who wants to re-register it. So no, I don't think that the established accounts have any role in this. --Bongwarrior (talk) 08:27, 23 May 2009 (UTC)
 * That is correct. This is also why anyone who requests a rename should re-register the old name after being renamed, and redir the upage/utalk to the right place. // roux <span style="border:1px solid #6D351A;-moz-border-radius-topright:10px;-moz-border-radius-bottomleft:10px;padding:0px 7px;font-size:30%;">  08:29, 23 May 2009 (UTC)
 * So the pattern is that this character is looking for users who renamed themselves, and is latching onto the old name, right? I wonder how many of those there are? Hundreds? Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots 08:46, 23 May 2009 (UTC)

Just for the record, I've also received one from 'Poppypetty'. Bettia  (bring on the trumpets!)  09:04, 23 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Yeh, it looks like he's working his way through the list of users alphabetically - at least those that have e-mail enabled, which I don't. He's using old ID's to log in and create new ones. So, in effect, he is conducting a social experiment. I'm assuming the admins are working behind the scenes to choke this character off before he gets too much farther along. Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots 09:13, 23 May 2009 (UTC)

It's from a known user. Just ignore. All this discussion simply feeds the troll. Theresa Knott &#124; token threats 09:12, 23 May 2009 (UTC)
 * One problem with you guys' theory. Poppypetty had a redirect from his old userpage. Poppypetty did re-register his old account, and redirected it.75.93.119.255 (talk) 09:43, 23 May 2009 (UTC)
 * The old user page redirected to the new one, but that doesn't mean the account itself was re-registered. Anyone can replace the content of a user page with a redirect to a new user page. +Angr 10:20, 23 May 2009 (UTC)


 * needs to be blocked, with email disabled.—  Dæ dαlus <sup style="color:green;">Contribs  06:49, 24 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Aw, I received a rather cute e-mail. Why so serious? -  Ca ri bb e a  n ~ H. Q.  20:49, 24 May 2009 (UTC)

Solution
It may be a sound idea to have the "ghosts" of all renamed accounts automatically re-registered through the software. I'm not sure about the technical implications of this, but I can't think of any cons logistically. It extinguishes this joker, anyway. &mdash; Anonymous Dissident  Talk 11:54, 24 May 2009 (UTC)
 * I suggested this a year and a half ago; the usuals have been doing this for a long time. Cheers, Jack Merridew 12:18, 24 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Mine was reregistered earlier this year after Johnny the Vandal got ahold of it and SUL'd it. I have it again, and I don't think the asylum inmate can guess its pass. As an aside, are we making sure that these accounts' SULs are nullified as soon as they are blocked? -<font color="32CD32">Jeremy <font color="4682B4">(v^_^v Cardmaker) 21:39, 24 May 2009 (UTC)