Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/74.199.8.30/Archive

06 January 2013

 * Suspected sockpuppets




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

74.199.8.30, 76.112.31.81 and 24.192.153.233 have all tried to change the airdates for List of Darkwing Duck episodes, List of Goof Troop episodes and List of Aladdin episodes from dates which I researched, to erroneous dates listed on TV.com. Geolocation shows that all three addresses are located in Rochester, Michigan, with the same area code of 248, with latitude/longitude points only 1 nm/2 km apart. In addition, 74.199.8.30 and 24.192.153.233 have the same ISP and the same latitude/longitude.

Some background: TV.com claims that the 65-episode syndicated seasons of Darkwing Duck, Goof Troop and Aladdin each premiered over 65 consecutive weekdays from September-December; however, this is not true. Through personally researching posts made on the Usenet group alt.fan.disney.afternoon when the series originally aired, I have found that in all three cases, the original premieres were staggered throughout the season, starting in September and ending in May or February of the next year. Starting in October, episodes would begin to be repeated, with higher concentrations of new episodes during ratings sweeps periods (November, February, May). This chronology has been corroborated by the memories of multiple friends and contacts who watched the series in their original runs, and by the fact that for all three series, the onscreen copyrights of the later episodes have respective years of 1992, 1993 and 1995 rather than 1991, 1992 and 1994.

In 2010, I corrected the episode chronologies; when I was not able to find the exact airdates, I provided an approximate month or year. My fixed dates were accepted by the editors of the pages, and remained in place from 2010 until last year, when several IPs with similar behavior began changing them back to the TV.com dates. Here is the chronology of events relevant to this investigation:


 * 1) On 4 May 2012, List of Aladdin episodes was changed to the TV.com dates by 76.112.31.81. diff
 * 2) On 27 May 2012, List of Darkwing Duck episodes was changed to the TV.com dates by 74.199.8.30. diff
 * 3) On 17 August 2012, List of Aladdin episodes was reverted to the correct dates. diff
 * 4) On 15 September 2012, 76.112.31.81 again changed List of Aladdin episodes to the TV.com dates. diff
 * 5) On 20 September 2012, List of Aladdin episodes was again reverted to the correct dates. diff
 * 6) On 22 September 2012, 76.112.31.81 once again changed List of Aladdin episodes to the TV.com dates. diff This time, the page was reverted within hours. diff
 * 7) On 23 September 2012, List of Aladdin episodes was changed back to the TV.com dates, this time by 74.199.8.30, the same user who had changed List of Darkwing Duck episodes.diff Note that the edit explanation says "Don't you understand" implying that this user had attempted to change the dates before, except that the contribution history for 74.199.8.30 shows that said IP never made any prior edits to List of Aladdin episodes. Since 76.112.31.81 was the only user who had been trying to change the airdates to the TV.com dates, the statement "Don't you understand" suggests that both addresses are the same user. (Although it is not relevant to this investigation, I will note that 74.199.8.30 cited not only TV.com, but also the Internet Movie Database. I had previously corrected the airdates on IMDB too, but as of 23 September 2012 somebody had changed IMDB's dates back to the incorrect TV.com dates as well. I suspect it may be this same person, but again, that is not relevant to this investigation.)
 * 8) Within minutes, the airdate changes on List of Aladdin episodes were reverted. diff A few minutes later, 74.199.8.30 changed the dates again diff, but they were re-reverted two hours later. diff
 * 9) On 25 September 2012, 74.199.8.30 made another attempt to change the airdates on List of Aladdin episodes, citing both IMDB (which still had the incorrect dates) and TV.com itself. diff Within hours, the changes were once again reverted diff.
 * 10) On 26 September 2012, 74.199.8.30 changed List of Aladdin episodes to the TV.com dates yet again diff. The correct dates were again restored on 27 September 2012. diff
 * 11) On 28 September 2012, List of Aladdin episodes was once again changed to the wrong TV.com dates, this time by 76.112.31.81, citing TV.com (just like 74.199.8.30 did on 25 September). diff The fact that the edit by 76.112.31.81 came so soon after the edit war with 74.199.8.30 again suggests that both IP's are the same user.
 * 12) The same day, List of Aladdin episodes was again reverted to the correct dates diff, which have since remained in place.
 * 13) On 14 October 2012, I discovered that List of Darkwing Duck episodes had the inaccurate TV.com-sourced airdates, and so I reinstated the correct dates. diff Although they were subsequently changed back to the TV.com dates on 28 October 2012 diff, that edit was made by a different user, 200.120.62.232, who geolocation shows to be in Santiago, Chile, and who is thus not relevant to this investigation. On 9 November 2012, the accurate dates were reinstated. diff
 * 14) Also on 9 November 2012, List of Goof Troop episodes was changed to the inaccurate TV.com dates by 76.112.31.81 diff (Similar to the "Aladdin" situation mentioned earlier, as of 9 November 2012 IMDB had the same incorrect dates for "Goof Troop" as TV.com; I had corrected the dates at IMDB in October, but they had since been changed back - again, this is not directly relevant to the investigation, it's just background for why the user would be citing IMDB as evidence for those inaccurate dates.)
 * 15) On 18 November 2012, 74.199.8.30 again changed List of Darkwing Duck episodes to the TV.com dates diff (As with "Goof Troop", I had corrected the IMDB's dates for "Darkwing Duck" in October, but by 18 November they had again been changed back to the wrong TV.com dates - once again, not directly relevant, just background for why the user cited IMDB as evidence for the TV.com dates.)
 * 16) The same day, List of Darkwing Duck episodes was reverted to the accurate dates. diff Those dates continue to remain in place.
 * 17) On 31 December 2012, I reinstated my more accurate dates to List of Goof Troop episodes. diff This is when I viewed the edit histories for all three pages and noticed that 74.199.8.30 and/or 76.112.31.81 had changed or attempted to change the airdates all three pages to the TV.com dates. Thus, in my edit note I said that 76.112.31.81 "may be a sockpuppet" of 74.199.8.30.
 * 18) Today, 5 January 2013, List of Goof Troop episodes was again changed back to the TV.com dates, this time by 24.192.153.233. diff The page was reverted several hours later. diff

Since 24.192.153.233 cited TV.com and exhibited the same grammatical errors as 74.199.8.30 and 76.112.31.81 (e.g. "because it say" rather than "because it says"), I became suspicious that 24.192.153.233 might also be a sock. This is when I ran geolocates on all three and discovered that 24.192.153.233 has the same ISP and geographical coordinates as 74.199.8.30, and that all three are located in the same town (Rochester, Michigan) and the same area code (248).

Due to the identical geolocate data, I am certain that 24.192.153.233 is a sockpuppet of 74.199.8.30. Since 76.112.31.81 is located very close to the other two, I believe that it is also a sock of 74.199.8.30.

I implore the Wikipedia administrators to investigate this case further, and take the necessary actions if this is indeed a case of sockpuppetry. TServo2050 (talk) 01:47, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

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

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * These three IPs are definitely the same user. However, I cannot really say that there has been any pretending to be different people. Instead, it looks like somebody editing from home and then from a couple public WiFi spots. Therefore, WP:ANI or the various methods of dispute resolution. Reaper Eternal (talk) 02:15, 6 January 2013 (UTC)