Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/67.44.208.145/Archive

01 May 2016

 * Suspected sockpuppets




 * User compare report Auto-generated every hour.
 * Editor interaction utility

Multiple vandalism-only accounts (frequently blocked) editing consistently on the same articles, usually movies.

Please note: Consider this example, made 15 days apart by different accounts. Note common features, such as "Rio Conchos [title of the movie] in 2011" located in the Plot headline (although the year varies in other edits), frequent line breaks, and grammar issues. Quivico (talk) 03:08, 1 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Similar IP addresses
 * constant vandalism using similar cues (dates changed, specific words, grammatical errors with blank lines and incomplete sentences, mentioning what appears to be an airing date of the mentioned movie on the same specific station)
 * multiple (as in tens, if not hundreds) of edits over a few days (long period in October 2015, shorter ones Jan-Feb 2016, Mar 2016, Apr-May 2016)
 * account desertion shortly before or after bans issued

Comments by other users
''Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.''

I think this is an anonymous editor with dynamic IP rather than sock puppetry but there is a history of unhelpful edits to Western film articles. Characteristics include changing the production date (typically 1950s) to a recent date when they were aired by WAPT, and changing the plot to include characters or actors from Paw Patrol. User:Certes/Western has an incomplete list of the IP addresses and articles involved. Certes (talk) 09:18, 1 May 2016 (UTC)

I understand why you are closing this case as an SPI. Is there a more appropriate place to raise the matter instead? There was further vandalism to The Outriders today, and to a BLP Jenna Ortega. Certes (talk) 14:49, 2 May 2016 (UTC) (updated later)

I don't have a recommendation, I'm hoping a more experienced editor can suggest an effective way to deter the vandal. What we need is to range-protect a dozen articles against 67.44.208.0/22 but I don't think that's a feature! Current IP ; targets in the last hour Walk the Proud Land‎‎ and Apache Rifles‎‎. Certes (talk) 23:26, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * I blocked one IP range for a week, but there is not much we can do here. The editor changes IP addresses over large IP ranges. I'm closing this case.  Vanjagenije  (talk)  13:03, 2 May 2016 (UTC)
 * What exactly do you think we should do? I do not see anything, and I'm not talking about SPI, but generally.  Vanjagenije  (talk)  17:39, 4 May 2016 (UTC)
 * There is no such thing as a "range-protect of articles". Articles can be semi-protected or fully protected. Some of the article that were targeted by this vandal are semi-protected, but they keep vandalizing new articles, so that protecting cannot help much. Range block means blocking the whole range of IP addresses, but we cannot apply that if the same range is used by many other decent editors. Simply speaking, there is not much we can do. We can protect pages targeted by the vandal, and we can block his IPs, but that would be wasting of time since he keeps changing articles and IPs.  Vanjagenije  (talk)  08:24, 5 May 2016 (UTC)