Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Alec Smithson/Archive

03 February 2016

 * Suspected sockpuppets

User was indef blocked in many wikis ( e.g. Italian and French) for creating hoaxes, we blocked him here. Identical poor English, same obsession with Natoli family and obscure Italian artists. See Yopie (talk) 00:20, 3 February 2016 (UTC)
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Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * Account already blocked. None of the IPs is active, so I'm closing the case.  Vanjagenije  (talk)  11:23, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

26 May 2016

 * Suspected sockpuppets




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Obvious sock, already blocked as such on fr.wp and pt.wp. Overlap in global edits with the topics of interest to the master includes: House of Natoli, Salvatore Garau, Carlo Bazzi, Fernando Carcupino, Francesco Filippini – all Smithson specials. Società Canottieri Milano relates to another Smithson obsession, Emilio Polli. Filing this just for the record, as the user has already been indeffed by. Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 10:29, 26 May 2016 (UTC)

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Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * Closing.  QEDK ( T  &#9749;  C ) 18:59, 26 May 2016 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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Pretty clearly socks of Alec Smithson, who is globally blocked since 2016 for cross-wiki abuse—copyvio, hoaxing, and persistent sock puppetry. Evidence to follow. Some of the evidence will be cross-wiki and may require a steward. Voceditenore (talk) 06:50, 11 December 2017 (UTC)

Brief summary of Smithson's modus operandi: Creates articles in multiple language Wikipedias using garbled machine translations without attribution. The articles were usually started on Italian Wikipedia, many of them started by Smithson under that account until it was globally locked, or later by sock accounts (see list here) or constantly shifting dynamic IPs. The IPs almost invariably resolve to Telecom Italia and are located in Milan or the surrounding area. When using a registered account, there is a marked tendency to alternately edit under the account and IP, sometimes in rapid succession (see it:Wikipedia:Utenti problematici/Alec Smithson). There are numerous obsessions in their editing pattern (see the LTA report for more). The most relevant ones in this SPI are members of the interrelated Natoli/Biotti/Polli families; the towns of Lierna, where some of them have summer homes, and Sperlinga, allegedly connected to the Natoli family whom Smithson claimed were the "Princes of Sperlinga"; and relatively obscure Italian artists and architects. Voceditenore (talk) 07:08, 11 December 2017 (UTC)

1. An article on an obscure Italian architect, Gualtiero Galmanini, was started on the Italian Wikipedia and extensively edited by Smithson socks. It was semi-protected in August 2017 and then deleted on 8 December 2017. Meanwhile, it was created on Simple Wikipedia in October 2017, twice deleted on 15 and 21 October, and finally recreated on 26 October by a Telecom Italia IP geolocating to Varese, a town near Milan. Observe the IP's global contributions that day (cross-wiki articles on Natoli people, Sperlinga, etc. and notably here on Natoli  and Antonino da Patti . (Smithson repeatedly claimed da Patti was a member of the Natoli family e.g. ). EnricTanter created an account on 24 October 2017 and immediately created Draft:Gualtiero Galmanini . Compare to the initial version on Simple Wikipedia . Identical. See also EnricTanter5 and its logs on Italian WP. TonyShang creates an account on 10 December (two days after the Italian version was deleted) and immediately creates Draft:TonyShang with virtually the same content as the current version of the Galmanini article on Simple WP, , both are badly machine translated versions of the now deleted Italian Wikipedia article. TonyShang subsequently edits the Simple article on Galmanini + edits numerous other cross-wiki pages related to Lierna, the Natoli family, etc.  Here they made repeated additions to lists of painters and sculptors, e.g. adding Luca Bestetti (a now deleted article created by an Alec Smithson sock. EthanSanders) and adding Vincenzo Cinque, (a now deleted article created by Alec Smithson). Today TonyShang also edited Lierna to add to the material put there 3 minutes earlier  by 80.116.53.74 which resolves to Telecom Italia in Milan. (Voceditenore talk) 08:22, 11 December 2017 (UTC) Updated by Voceditenore (talk) 10:43, 11 December 2017 (UTC)

2. Meanwhile Akman342 creates an account on 8 October. No edits here yet. However, cross-wiki they created de:Gualtiero Galmanini and added Galmanini's name and a building by Galmanini to it:Architettura italiana del Novecento. The article on the building, it:Palazzo 23, was deleted on the Italian Wikipedia in July 2017. Note that Palazzo 23 (Viale Beatrice D'Este, 23, Milan) is the address of Paolo Biotti, an article created by Alec Smithson. In keeping with Smithson's compulsion for cross-wiki spamming of machine translated articles, a series of IPs—all resolving to Telecom Italia in Milan—created articles on Palazzo 23 on Catalan WP, French WP, Spanish WP, Simple WP, Russian WP, and Vietnamese WP in October 2017. Akman342 also created at least one of the versions of the now multiply deleted es:Gualtiero Galmanini and the now deleted simple:Italian architecture of the twentieth century (a machine translation of it:Architettura italiana del Novecento). Voceditenore (talk) 09:10, 11 December 2017 (UTC) Updated by Voceditenore (talk) 15:55, 11 December 2017 (UTC)

I am asking for CheckUser because of the lengthy pattern of multiple accounts and sleepers created on other wikis and automatically created here. I'm also paging User:AttoRenato (also an admin on the Italian WP) and User:Justlettersandnumbers, both of whom are very familiar with the ongoing saga of Smithson and his socks. Voceditenore (talk) 09:20, 11 December 2017 (UTC)

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I'm in no doubt that is right about these. 80.116.53.74 is obviously Smithson too. I've added Sarter3 above – only two edits here, but global contributions show typical activity on typical Smithson topics such as Giuseppe Amisani and Palazzo Natoli. Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 11:14, 11 December 2017 (UTC)
 * Yes, even here, Sarter3's edits involve trying to slip Natoli family members into other articles . Unlike the first 3 socks above, this account is stale, but it clearly passes the duck test. Voceditenore (talk) 11:57, 11 December 2017 (UTC)


 * Note to closing admin (or Bbb23). Although the Sarter3 account is stale as is that of the sockmaster Alec Smithson, would it be possible to block it on behavioural evidence? Given the relentless persistence of Smithson, leaving one of his obvious socks running around loose and available for future use is asking for trouble. Is it also possible to to tag the CheckUser-blocked accounts TonyShang, EnricTanter, and Akman342 with    on the behavioural evidence presented above? Voceditenore (talk) 15:03, 12 December 2017 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * The case is, as is Sarter3.
 * The three other listed socks are ✅. Blocked them without tags.--Bbb23 (talk) 19:06, 11 December 2017 (UTC)
 * Tagged sockpuppets. If Sarter3 becomes active again, please refile another SPI. Closing. Sro23 (talk) 01:59, 20 December 2017 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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Edits match edit habits of globally locked user User:Alec_Smithson as per Long-term_abuse/Alec_Smithson Sau226 (talk) 13:15, 19 December 2017 (UTC)

Comments by other users
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Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * Stale IP. Closing. Sro23 (talk) 01:56, 20 December 2017 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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Royalty34 and 82.54.72.82 show exactly the same edit behavior as Alex Smithson outlined in Long-term abuse/Alec Smithson. In particular, the user creates articles/Wikiadata items/Commons files about real people but with patently false information and is heavily interested in Italian noble families. Royalty34 calls people "princess" (e.g.   ) though no source can be found which support this noble title. By creating many items on different projects (enWP, esWP, itWP, commons ,Wikidata) and interlinking them, a feeling of notability is established. 130.92.162.106 (talk) 10:14, 21 December 2018 (UTC)

Comments by other users
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Smithson changes IP all the time, so I'm not sure how much help check-user will be here. While the geolocation of the IP is typical of Smithson, the style of writing absolutely is not – this clear and competently-written content is very different from Smithson's mangled translationese. Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 12:00, 21 December 2018 (UTC)


 * I agree completely with Justlettersandnumbers. This is not Smithson. However, it is almost certainly the sock of the indef blocked, Same style and obsession with the Marin family. For more, see Sockpuppet investigations/Royalist Lady/Archive. For other blocked Royalist Lady socks on EN WP (13 in all), see Category:Wikipedia sockpuppets of Royalist Lady and Category:Suspected Wikipedia sockpuppets of Royalist Lady. Note to clerks: I suggest re-filing/merging this to Sockpuppet investigations/Royalist Lady. Voceditenore (talk) 12:43, 21 December 2018 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the comments. I hereby apologize for the false accusations. I created a new request at Sockpuppet investigations/Royalist Lady. 130.92.162.106 (talk) 12:56, 21 December 2018 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * Dealt with - closing. GABgab 18:11, 21 December 2018 (UTC)