Wikipedia:Long-term abuse/Hanoi vandal

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Current status and updates
Status: Vandal is ACTIVE 

Basic information
The Hanoi vandal is a sneaky, IP-hopping, disruptive editor who has been introducing false information into music related articles for several years. Based in Hanoi (and sometimes geolocating to Nam Dinh or Korea via Korea Telecom), the Hanoi Vandal has been active since at least May 2007.

The name "Hanoi vandal" is a descriptive nickname, used because this person had not been known to have registered an account until May 2014 when was created and soon blocked indefinitely. was created in June 2017. was created in August 2017.

The person began using Philippines IPs in October 2016.

Targeted areas, pages, themes
Favorite targets of the vandal include the following artists and/or their works: The Carpenters, Elton John, the Eagles, John Miles, Eric Carmen, Il Divo, the Bee Gees, Gary Moore, Air Supply, Green Day, Sarah Brightman, ABBA, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Queen, Backstreet Boys, Westlife, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Charlotte Church, Meat Loaf, Diane Warren, Linkin Park, Heart, Boston, Warrant, X Japan, REO Speedwagon, Metallica, Guns 'n Roses, Prince, Avril Lavigne, Europe, Taylor Swift, Steps

Habitual behavior
The vandal's hallmarks include:
 * Falsely crediting collaborations between popular music artists, with a preference for those popular during the 1970s
 * Altering the recorded lengths of songs without any references
 * Altering playlists, sometimes adding or replacing tracks with ones that don't exist on the album or set list, favoring live and compilation ("best of" type) albums.
 * "Cross-referencing" their vandalism into multiple articles
 * Category warring - Changing, adding and removing categories
 * Altering/repeatedly removing templates
 * Failing to communicate with fellow editors, absolutely, with no attempt at even basic edit summaries
 * Uses any particular IP for a very short time, usually within a day or two, but rarely more than a week, then hops to a new IP, or even a new range, very quickly.
 * On several occasions the vandal has been observed operating more than one IP address simultaneously, hopping back and forth from one to another seemingly at will.
 * The vandalism is sneaky and is designed to be overlooked, although at times the vandal has taken to bolder, more blatant nonsense, such as his persistent assertion that John Miles is a member of the Eagles.
 * The vandal often mixes completely legit changes in with more suspicious ones within an individual edit, in an attempt to sneak the vandalism through undetected.
 * The vandal often makes several consecutive single edits that are 100% constructive, sometimes correcting misinformation that he himself has introduced months ago. These periods of constructive editing are usually short-lived and the vandal soon returns to add more false information and other nonsense.
 * The Hanoi Vandal does not edit any articles outside the realm of popular music.

Cases

 * Administrators' noticeboard/IncidentArchive945.
 * Rangeblock on 49.144.0.0/16 during 6–20 February 2017
 * Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents.
 * Rangeblock on 49.144.32.0/19 during 23 May – 23 June 2017
 * Rangeblock on 49.144.224.0/20 during 23 May – 23 June 2017

Confirmed and suspected accounts
Note: This list is incomplete and could be just the "tip of the iceberg". Any fair amount of time spent investigating the contributions of the IPs listed below invariably reveals more IPs belonging to the vandal. There could easily be hundreds more.

Involved IPs

 * 2021–2024
 * September 2023
 * September 2023
 * September 2023
 * May 2023
 * May 2023
 * May 2023
 * May 2023
 * Feb 2023
 * Oct–Dec 2022
 * Aug 2021
 * Jul 2021
 * Jul 2021
 * Jul 2021
 * Jul 2021
 * Jul 2021
 * Jul 2021
 * Jun 2021
 * May 2021
 * May 2021
 * May 2021
 * May 2021
 * May 2021
 * May 2021
 * May 2021
 * May 2021
 * May 2021
 * May 2021
 * May 2021
 * Apr 2021
 * Apr 2021
 * Apr 2021
 * Apr 2021
 * Apr 2021
 * Apr 2021
 * Apr 2021
 * Apr 2021
 * Apr 2021
 * Apr 2021
 * Mar 2021
 * Mar 2021
 * Mar 2021
 * Mar 2021
 * Mar 2021
 * Mar 2021
 * Mar 2021 (blocked 1 month)
 * Mar 2021
 * Mar 2021
 * Feb 2021
 * Feb 2021 (blocked 2 weeks)
 * Feb 2021
 * Feb 2021
 * Feb 2021
 * Feb 2021
 * Feb 2021 (blocked 1 week)
 * Feb 2021
 * Feb 2021
 * Feb 2021
 * Feb 2021
 * Feb 2021
 * Jan 2021
 * Jan 2021
 * Jan 2021
 * Jan 2021
 * Jan 2021
 * Jan 2021
 * Jan 2021
 * Jan 2021
 * Jan 2021
 * Jan 2021
 * Dec 2020
 * Dec 2020
 * Dec 2020
 * Nov 2020
 * Oct 2020
 * Oct 2020
 * Oct 2020
 * Oct 2020
 * Oct 2020
 * Oct 2020
 * Oct 2020
 * Oct 2020
 * Oct 2020
 * Sep 2020
 * Sep 2020
 * Sep 2020
 * Sep 2020
 * Sep 2020
 * Sep 2020
 * Aug 2020
 * Jul 2020
 * Apr 2020
 * Apr 2020
 * Mar 2020
 * Jan 2020
 * June 2019
 * June 2019
 * June 2019
 * March 2019
 * February 2019
 * February 2019
 * February 2019
 * February 2019
 * February 2019
 * February 2019
 * February 2019
 * July 2018
 * June 2018
 * June 2018
 * June 2018
 * June 2018
 * May 2018
 * May 2018
 * May 2018
 * May 2018
 * April 2018
 * April 2018
 * April 2018
 * August 2017
 * July 2017
 * July 2017
 * July 2017
 * July 2017
 * June 2017
 * June 2017
 * May 2017
 * May 2017
 * May 2017
 * May 2017
 * May 2017
 * May 2017
 * May 2017
 * May 2017
 * May 2017
 * May 2017
 * May 2017
 * May 2017
 * May 2017
 * April 2017
 * April 2017
 * April 2017
 * April 2017
 * April 2017
 * April 2017
 * April 2017
 * April 2017
 * April 2017
 * April 2017
 * April 2017
 * April 2017
 * April 2017
 * April 2017
 * March 2017
 * March 2017
 * March 2017
 * March 2017
 * March 2017
 * March 2017
 * March 2017
 * March 2017
 * March 2017
 * March 2017
 * March 2017
 * March 2017
 * March 2017
 * March 2017
 * March 2017
 * March 2017
 * March 2017
 * February 2017
 * February 2017
 * February 2017
 * February 2017
 * February 2017
 * February 2017
 * February 2017
 * February 2017
 * February 2017
 * February 2017
 * February 2017
 * February 2017
 * February 2017
 * February 2017
 * February 2017
 * February 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * January 2017
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * December 2016
 * November 2016
 * November 2016
 * November 2016
 * November 2016
 * November 2016
 * November 2016
 * November 2016
 * November 2016
 * November 2016
 * November 2016
 * November 2016
 * November 2016
 * November 2016
 * November 2016
 * October 2016
 * October 2016
 * October 2016
 * October 2016
 * October 2016
 * October 2016
 * October 2016
 * October 2016
 * October 2016
 * October 2016
 * October 2016
 * October 2016
 * October 2016
 * October 2016
 * October 2016
 * October 2016
 * October 2016
 * October 2016
 * October 2016
 * October 2016
 * October 2016
 * August 2016
 * September 2015 (blocked for one week on September 22)
 * September 2015
 * September 2015
 * August 2015
 * August 2015
 * August 2015
 * August 2015
 * July–August 2015
 * July 2015
 * July 2015
 * July 2015
 * July 2015
 * July 2015
 * July 2015
 * June–July 2015
 * June 2015
 * June 2015
 * June 2015
 * June 2015
 * June 2015
 * June 2015
 * May–June 2015
 * May 2015
 * May 2015
 * May 2015
 * May 2015
 * May 2015
 * May 2015
 * May 2015
 * May–June 2015
 * April 2015
 * April 2015
 * Nov 2014
 * Oct 2014
 * Aug 2014

2013








2012








2011






2010









 * Beginning on June 29, 2010, the Hanoi Vandal went on a massive vandalism spree lasting several months in which they used dozens upon dozens of IPs to aggressively edit-war their garbage into articles like Singing in the Twins Wonderland (Volume 1) (and Vol. 2 & 4) and most of the Alvin and the Chipmunks recordings (as well as Template:Alvin and the Chipmunks). The vast majority of the IPs used in these edit wars are not listed above due to the overwhelming volume.

2009








2008








2007