Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Anna Lertreader/Archive

Suspected sockpuppets
Anna Lertreader was recently blocked for transphobic vandalism on Mridul Wadhwa and Talk:Mridul Wadhwa including making personal attacks on a named editor on the basis of her gender identity. The block was at 23:24 UTC. The IPv6 address popped ~13 minutes later to make a single edit arguing in the same vein and was reverted as an obvious sock. Acoustamatix was created at 01:33 UTC. This is very unlikely to be an unconnected account. Their first two edits were to Talk:Mridul Wadhwa where they argue in a similar vein again. It is highly unlikely that a brand new user would go to a talk page to carry on somebody else's pointless argument. Checkuser requested for confirmation.

Note that Anna Lertreader was warned about using IPs to evade a previous block back in November 2016.

Also note that "Acoustamatix" sounds like it might refer to Acousmatic sound, i.e. "sound that is heard without an originating cause being seen". That might well be the subtle boast of sockpuppeteer gloating over their perceived anonymity. DanielRigal (talk) 03:29, 21 January 2024 (UTC)


 * I was thinking about filing re:Acoustamatix as well. Wadhwa is getting a lot of negative attention right now on Twitter and some other unreliable corners of the internet, but the big "news" is more related to her rape crisis center work than the Linehan issue that both named accounts have lasered in on. The shared focus on such a minor aspect is suspicious. Here is Lertreader removing the Linehan bit from the article, here is their talk page comment about it, and here is acoustamatix's first ever edit, centering the same Linehan content. Firefangledfeathers (talk / contribs) 03:52, 21 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Saw this linked at RSN. Fwiw, I'm not sure they're the same person (though it is highly likely). Graham Linehan has been complaining about the article all day on Twitter and saying he'd be grateful to anyone who'd remove the content for him. The page was recently protected due to an influx of vandalism inspired by a larger revamped harassment campaign against Wadhwa. Probably safest to check for socking, but I wouldn't be completely surprised if they were unrelated. Additionally, User:78.32.132.195 may be related - their one edit is similar to some of Anna Lertreader's Your Friendly Neighborhood Sociologist ⚧ Ⓐ (talk) 04:27, 21 January 2024 (UTC)

See also Reliable_sources/Noticeboard where Acoustamatix is protesting with a tone that seems pretty similar to that of Anna Lertreader. --DanielRigal (talk) 03:47, 21 January 2024 (UTC)

Comments by other users

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

I had also been considering making this filing. I find both the timing of Acoustamatix's account creation (approximately two hours after Anna Lertreader was blocked), and that their  was to restart  that lead to Lertreader being blocked. The only thing that stopped me is that this could also potentially be meatpuppetry as a result of Twitter activity. I couldn't untangle that myself unfortunately. I do think there are grounds for a CU on the named accounts though, per CU policy points 2 and 3. Sideswipe9th (talk) 04:03, 21 January 2024 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * from a CU standpoint. . Dreamy Jazz talk to me &#124; my contributions 23:48, 21 January 2024 (UTC)
 * The timing is suspect, but behavioral evidence isn't strong enough to justify blocking/tagging. SPA or off-wiki canvassing can be handled through the usual methods. The Wordsmith Talk to me 21:18, 4 March 2024 (UTC)