Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Arashtitan/Archive

Suspected sockpuppets



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I came across these two via the AfD for The Third World; Country or People?. A search for coverage quickly provided evidence that there's an undisclosed COI, namely that the article creator is the author of the book, Alireza Salehi-Nejad. What I noticed next was that the editor Bmajlesara had edited the article to remove tags from the article that designated it as having problems with notability and being an orphan. I also noted that they also tried to add a link to the WikiData page for Alireza Salehi-Nejad to two articles. They also tried to create SAGE Encyclopedia of Economics and Society, which listed Salehi-Nejad as one of its editors. The page was deleted as copyvio, but the above link should show that he serves as one of it editors. A look at the history page for WikiData's entry on Salehi-Nejad shows that both editors have edited the page heavily. What makes this all suspicious is that the book appears to be fairly obscure, as it has only been published through a publishing company that the author himself founded, making it essentially self-published. It's very unlikely that two people would come and try to edit a page for a book that has yet to receive any sort of independent coverage anywhere.

I'm not sure if this is sockpuppetry or meatpuppetry. My instinct here is undisclosed meatpuppetry. At the very least there definitely seems to be an attempt to promote this author and his book on Wikipedia with edits like this one, but that's a problem for the COI board. Tokyogirl79 (｡◕‿◕｡)  05:48, 12 October 2016 (UTC)
 * This has been brought up at COI/N as well. Tokyogirl79 (｡◕‿◕｡)  06:22, 12 October 2016 (UTC)

Comments by other users
''Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.'' Hi, The way I can see it user:Tokyogirl79 has more conflict of interests than anyone else involved. In addition, isn't it obvious that I use the same username all the time, everywhere? Hence, why should I have another account? I acknowledge that after reviewing all the terms, it appeasers that some of my contributions to Wikipedia are not in accordance to the guidelines, though they have not been made with the purpose of vandalism or whatsoever. Nevertheless, I am still concern about user:Tokyogirl79's COIs here. Arash Titan 08:29, 12 October 2016 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Arashtitan (talk • contribs)
 * I've moved this here since you put this in the wrong section. As far as my COI goes, I've already disclosed this on my userpage and on my alternate account. This account does not violate Wikipedia guidelines for alternate accounts, which states that you can have alternate accounts if they are clearly marked as such and there is a good rationale for having them, such as editing from a specific location or for specific topics. What violates COI and account guidelines is not disclosing a COI and having alternate accounts that are not labeled as such. Adding your own work as sourcing to Wikipedia is also a big no-no, as this is most often done as a form of self-promotion. My concern here is that there is a relatively new account that has been making articles and edits that are, in effect, trying to add this author (which looks to be yourself) to Wikipedia. It's possible that this is you under a different account, but it's just as likely if not more so that this is someone you asked to come to Wikipedia and make these edits - possibly as a way of getting around COI guidelines. All COI must be disclosed and you asking someone to come to Wikipedia and make edits coordinating with your own is a big COI. It doesn't matter if they are an employee, a friend from college, or someone you paid to create the article - this needs to be disclosed. Now as far as whether or not I have a COI in this situation, I do not. However the main COI concerns is something to be addressed in another location. I will say, however, that accusing me of violating COI guidelines isn't really a good way to defend yourself. Tokyogirl79 (｡◕‿◕｡)  09:10, 12 October 2016 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments
✅. Blocked, tagged, closing.--Bbb23 (talk) 14:02, 12 October 2016 (UTC)