Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Anatoly Karlin/Archive

Suspected sockpuppets
Both accounts are repeatedly vandalising vegan related articles.  Schminnte (talk • contribs) 14:57, 28 December 2022 (UTC)


 * Diffs are ,, and  Schminnte (talk • contribs) 15:00, 28 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Added Anatoly Karlin Powerful Takes, diffs are and   Schminnte (talk • contribs) 15:02, 28 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Added PowerfulTakes, similar editing patterns ( and  Schminnte (talk • contribs) 15:06, 28 December 2022 (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

 * - for a sleeper check and underlying IP block given the nature of the editing. Callanecc (talk • contribs • logs) 04:52, 29 December 2022 (UTC)
 * ✅., didn't see anyone else. Closing this. TonyBallioni (talk) 05:00, 30 December 2022 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets
His userpage clearly states that he is Anatoly Karlin, so I don't see how it could be clearer that this is yet another of his sock accounts. IntoThinAir (talk) 21:49, 21 April 2024 (UTC)

Comments by other users

 * Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.

The user IntoThinAir is likely my stalker. I was alerted to this episode today at RationalWiki; see the comment by Johns from 17:23, 21 April 2024 (UTC), who claimed that the Anatoly_Karlin account and its variations belonged to me. Earlier today, I corrected the record at my own SublimeWik profile here, which is my only one on Wikipedia. (Johns at RationalWiki learned of it because I posted the link to SublimeWik as part of my response to his accusations that I used sock puppets at Wikipedia). In light of IntoThinAir's involvement with RationalWiki as per his own public bio here, I think there's a good chance that the impersonator/anti-vegan troll is actually him. SublimeWik (talk) 23:09, 21 April 2024 (UTC)
 * I am not, and never have been, stalking Anatoly Karlin anywhere, nor do I control the Anatoly_Karlin account. In fact, this account is the only one I use to edit Wikipedia. While it is true that I am somewhat active on RationalWiki, that activity has nothing to do with Karlin. IntoThinAir (talk) 02:27, 22 April 2024 (UTC)
 * On investigating, I can confirm IntoThinAir (Jinkinson Smith) is a separate person from the O. D. Smith who is my long-time stalker. My main point still stands. This account is my one and only account on Wikipedia since 2009. I have no interest in the anti-vegan activism clumsily ascribed to me (I have a verified history of support for animal rights and lab grown meat), I never engaged in sock puppetry here or elsewhere, and the Anatoly_Karlin and related socks were not mine. The attempt by IntoThinAir to pass off my clarifying statement that this was an impersonation attempt, which I issued as soon as I was made aware it, came across as hostile and ill-intentioned - especially in light of IntoThinAir's apparent status as a longtime Wiki editor, and as such, doubtless well aware that anyone can pretend to be anybody on this platform. SublimeWik (talk) 13:08, 22 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Anyone can Google search "Anatoly Karlin" and see he is a far-right activist who writes for the anti-Semitic Unz Review and has a long history of attacking vegans. This same individual is also a global warming denialist who promotes grass-fed beef and calls vegans "mentally ill". Disclaimer I am the founder of WikiProject Veganism and Vegetarianism so I do take offense to Karlin's anti-vegan trolling calling us losers and mentally ill. Back in 2022 I was one of the users who reported the above account for spamming articles with anti-vegan nonsense. That was an obvious vandalism account.
 * The account Anatoly Karlin on Wikipedia made this edit many times "I am eating more beef, not just because it's healthy and delicious, but because I get a warm feeling, a real sense of pleasure, knowing that I'm voiding the efforts of some Green vegan loser in the West - as well as doing my small part to help Tropical Hyperborea along" which matches to Karlin's Twitter profile that he links to above word for word. That is definitely not an impersonation.
 * It's hard to take this user seriously when he has been well known for his anti-vegan activism for the last 10 years on social media. Even his own Wikipedia user-page claimed he followed the "paleo lifestyle" . I am not convinced any of these accounts are impersonations. Perhaps we should also look at WP:NONAZIS. Psychologist Guy (talk) 14:18, 22 April 2024 (UTC)
 * (1) I am not a Far Right activist and never have been. I left The Unz Review many years ago after its chief editor radicalized. However, even when I was there, I always retained full editorial control. I obviously do not speak for any of its other authors.
 * (2) Re-AGW denial. This is a hilarious lie. (1, 2)
 * (3) I am skeptical about the health benefits of veganism and allowed myself to make a couple of disparaging comments about it on my Twitter account. I also made some pro-vegan comments. In total, I appear to have mentioned "vegan" ~10 times over 16 years of Tweeting and ~60,000 Tweets (Wiki tells me twitter.com/search is on a blacklist, but you can confirm that for yourself by searching "from:powerfultakes vegan" on X). So the notion that I engaged in "anti-vegan activism" is again an unhinged lie, but should give readers some idea of this individual's epistemic standards (including analogous claims of far right activism).
 * (4) My Twitter is in the public space and that quote was pasted to RationalWiki and elsewhere. I do not engage in sock puppeting. However, my stalker does. SublimeWik (talk) 17:37, 22 April 2024 (UTC)
 * You are not being honest. These are your own words, "I endorse Richard Spencer. He started no wars and provoked no riots - much less "extremist" than Ziocons or BLM", if you are not far-right why do you endorse Richard B. Spencer?


 * There is a peer-reviewed paper written by John P. Jackson, Jr which describes your involvement with the far-right Unz Review and the alt-right movement, "Karlin is a similar figure who promotes antisemitic conspiracy theories and associates with alt-right political activist Richard Spencer". This was a source you tried to remove from the Wikipedia article for Unz Review . You are not acting in good faith here.


 * As for global warming, this is you "Global warming will make Russia into Tropical Hyperborea. All Russian patriots must support global warming." . You openly support global warming as positive, this is a type of global warming denialism.


 * From what I have just been emailed, you openly claim to be a glue addict "I suffer from glue addiction. I huff it every day." which you posted only recently, so perhaps this explains why you deny your past or your paranoia about a fictious  stalker.


 * As for anti-veganism, you are not telling the truth about your involvement with this. I have been involved with the vegan movement as a historian for over 25 years and I am in regular communication with all kinds of academics. I have been a sent a long list of the hateful messages you have been posting over years, messages which match these Wikipedia socks. A scan through your Reddit account reveals you have a long history of attacking vegans and promoting the carnivore diet. We have had issue on vegan and carnivore diet related Wikipedia articles from socks from the last 3 years. I personally believe it is you behind these socks as they all cite the same anti-vegan comment from your Twitter account but there is unlikely to be any CU data on this due to the age of the account so unless an admin is going to take action on behavioural evidence, it's a waste of time to continue this discussion. I will not be further commenting here. Psychologist Guy (talk) 20:01, 22 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Fascinating and as yet previously unknown facts to me about my biography. Here is the search of my Reddit account for vegan - zero hits. Veganism - zero. Let's try paleo - one book review. (I was interested in paleo at one point, and I do regard keto as an effective method of weight loss, but that is neither here nor there).
 * I don't deny that there might theoretically be a person posting anti-vegan stuff under my name (i.e., impersonating me). As I said, I do have a dedicated stalker. FWIW, it is in my own interests to uncover him - if he was actually involved in criminal harassment and was to face criminal sanctions as a result of that, I would be very happy to hear that not least because it would improve my own QoL - so I wish you the best of luck in that endeavor.
 * I was somewhat warm towards the Alt Right many years ago (this would be 2016) on account of their hereditarianism and anti-interventionism. Jackson's statement is defamation, as I noted on The Unz Review talk page. My "association" with Richard Spencer is that I met with him once. SublimeWik (talk) 22:27, 22 April 2024 (UTC)
 * The anti-vegan/far-right grift seems to be what you were about 2-5 years ago. Above you link to your Reddit account. Well we don't have to go far back to see racist comments from you "I am quite happy that few Blacks associate with Russia, considering the type of violence-ridden underclasses they tend to create in countries that open their doors to them. Not to mention the extreme chutzpah and aggressive sense of racial grievance they tend to act out towards their host countries. So yes, I'm racist and very happy with that." . Disturbing, say no more.


 * As for the Reddit search bar, that is not how it works, it will not give you old posts. They only go back around 6 months. All of your anti-vegan comments are between 2 and 5 years old. I have been given a whole log of these. We see here the same spam on Reddit from you that has been put on Wikipedia, "I have consciously begun consuming more beef just to trigger these climate change moralists. It gives me pleasure to think I am canceling out the efforts of some Green vegan loser just through eating what I enjoy anyway. Helping bring about a warmer, wetter world is a nice bonus." which matches to the socks listed above . Again, this anti-vegan comment on Reddit isn't an impersonation that is your own account that you have listed in your previous comment directly above me in this SPI. You have put exactly the same comment on both Reddit and Twitter so I am not convinced there is a third-party impersonating you. Attacking vegans is what you have spent time doing, your comment on Reddit was downrated 32 times, so nobody agrees with your trolling. You have put exactly the same comment on two websites, why not Wikipedia? Occam's razor says this is all you. Psychologist Guy (talk) 00:21, 23 April 2024 (UTC)
 * My bad - there was ONE mention of "vegan" on my account, five years ago, at about the same time as I posted the Tweet (according to Reddit Comment Search). Posted to /r/worldnews, i.e. not a vegan community. My sole mention of "veganism" on that account was neutral, and in the context of a philosophical discussion.
 * The comment on Blacks was in poor taste, but is unrepresentative of my commentary and was itself a response to a racist comment against Russians. You are on some kind of weird campaign here, so I will not engage you on other issues. SublimeWik (talk) 02:22, 23 April 2024 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * - Given that they are also actively disavowing a connection to this sockfarm, and did so before this report was filed, the name alone is not sufficient evidence to act on. Sir Sputnik (talk) 23:04, 21 April 2024 (UTC)
 * I was asked to have a look at it--but I'm not actually sure how SPI is the way to go here. The evidence presented here is meant, it seems, to tie this account with the real person, but that's not in doubt. If the editor is indeed, well, disruptive and shouldn't be here, other avenues should be pursued--ANI, AN, etc.--but there should be evidence, diffs, that the user is breaking our rules. Drmies (talk) 01:39, 23 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Closing per Drmies, SPI is not the right route for this. —Ingenuity (t • c) 03:20, 5 June 2024 (UTC)