Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Arikhartnett/Archive

Suspected sockpuppets



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 * The user and their socks have made multiple unsourced changes to film-related articles. These usually come in the form of claiming one film studio will buy out another. Some cases:


 * These edits to Major film studio: A, B and C.
 * They claim Tristar is older than it is.
 * Both Arik069 and 68.172.41.107 have loudly rebuked any attempts to contact them.
 * And not to mention the similarities between the two user name accounts. Most recently, when I asked Arik069 to source one claim, they backed it up with Logopedia 2 (probably not a RS). The editor who started the Columbia Pictures page over there? Arikhartnett. Crboyer (talk) 20:27, 31 July 2016 (UTC)


 * Update: Arik069 was blocked indefinitely about a week ago, but they removed their block notice. I thought removing active block notices was not permitted.Crboyer (talk) 16:48, 21 August 2016 (UTC)

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

Logopedia 2 is another wiki hosted by Wikia. I believe it was intended to be another source of information about officially-released company logos and branding, similar to the original Logopedia on Wikia, but after it got overrun with people adding fan fiction logos/branding and other false information, the founder of that wiki left to try again on another wiki.
 * Edits on Logopedia 2 on Wikia

Arikhartnett has matching accounts with Wikia and the same IP address has edited there:
 * http://logos2.wikia.com/wiki/Special:Contributions?target=Arikhartnett
 * http://logos2.wikia.com/wiki/Special:Contributions?target=Arik069
 * http://logos2.wikia.com/wiki/Special:Contributions/68.172.41.107

The first account is amongst the list of suspected sockpuppets on Logopedia. A check of all those accounts show that all but LogoLover123 have been globally blocked by Wikia and approximately half of those accounts have been disabled by either Wikia or the user (most likely the former). The LogoLover123 account is permanently blocked on just Logopedia.

The Arik069 account was globally blocked by Wikia sometime after 7/19/2016, but it expired sometime prior to 8/5/2016.

Amongst the edits by the Arikhartnett account on Logopedia 2 are numerous instances of moving pages to new names and making matching edits to change the name of the company. Also among them are arguing or yelling at other users when they attempt to correct his edits or change it to a different name than what he did. Examples:


 * Blanking a page with an edit summary of "THIS IS WHAT DTV ROCKS GET FOR CLAIMING STARZ BUYS SONY. I AM GOING TO SAY ENTERTAINMENT ONE BUYS SONY!"
 * Stating TimeWarner is renamed to Pepsico Pictures Company with an edit summary of "STOP THAT! by the way, TIME WARNER CABLE is no longer existed. and TIME WARNER IS NOW DEAD! FOREVER!"
 * Pagemove to "The Heartnett Organisation", which is similar to the "Harnett Studios" he claims to be a part of.
 * Many instances of saying companies are closed, accompanied by yelling at another user (Edit summary: "DTV ROCKS IS NOT GOING TO EDIT THIS EVER AGAIN!")
 * Another claim that one company is merging into another (Edit summary: "UA is not owned by MGM anymore. UA is merging with DHX to form DHX/UA")

Under the Arik069 account, if you look at the profile information at the top of his Contributions page, you will see that his nickname is "The Hartnett Organisation Corporation", which is the same as the third edit I listed above.

The edits under that account follow the same pattern: renaming company pages to new names and altering the information on the page because of the supposed mergers and acquisitions, more yelling and threatening of other users, combining intimidating/harassing other users with statements of supposed mergers and acquisitions such as "OK Then! I Warned ya! i hope Entertainment One buys Sony, because Starz buys New Line and Castle Rock!" and IRC-style descriptive actions such as this one and this one.

The edits by the 68.172.41.107 IP address also follow the same pattern, so I won't list individual edits, but the profile page he created for that IP address also specifically lists "The Hartnett Organisation LLC".

The above information does not include actions taken on other wikis such as the Once Upon A Time, Company Bumpers, Frozen, Lost Media, Moviepedia, SpongeBob SquarePants, Simpsons, Dora the Explorer, Nickelodeon and other wikis at Wikipedia. A few have blocked the accounts due to the false information being added there.

I realize that edits and behavior on other websites are usually not sufficient reason to warrant a block or corrective action on Wikipedia, but in this case, the same user names and IP address are being used and exhibit the same behaviors and same false information. From what I have been able to research on Wikia, he has been engaging in both for about five years now, indicating a pattern of long-term vandalism spread across over three dozen accounts. Therefore, a longer block would be appropriate, up to and including a permanent block.

I am currently discussing the future of the Logopedia 2 wiki with its founder, so I recommend that any research that needs to be done there to support whatever action is taken here be done within the next week. —RRabbit42 (talk) 18:04, 7 August 2016 (UTC)


 * I forgot to add that some of the sockpuppet names listed on the Alex Perrine page include names of other administrators of the wiki or members of Wikia's VSTF group, specificially the names that have "Snelfu", "RansomTime" and "VHSGuy2011" in them. —RRabbit42 (talk) 18:40, 7 August 2016 (UTC)


 * Time to close this investigation?

I think that it's safe to close this investigation as Arik069 does not appear to be interested in appealing his block. In contrast, he has continued adding false information on other wikis, is altering statements to suit his version of events, and is leaving additional threatening messages.

The first instance of altering statements occured after Yamaguchi先生 left a notice for him on August 12th, informing him that he was permanently blocked for disruptive behavior and personal attacks. His response was to remove the message, but put in the edit summary a statement that he agreed he was being blocked for one month. The second occurred after he visited another wiki and added several instances of false information about companies. After I opted to permanently block him due to the numerous warnings he's received here and on other wikis, his reaction was to leave a somewhat threatening message for me on another wiki, but it included [sprout.wikia.com/wiki/User_talk:RRabbit42#YOU_BLOCKED_ME_FROM_LOGOPEDIA_2 another alteration of the timeframe], stating it was one month instead of permanent.

Since then, I have received several messages from him. This is the most aggressive message he's left for me. I'm not concerned with his ability to actually follow through on such statements, but I think it's a good indication he's not going to change his behavior any time soon.

If you have any further questions about this, please let me know. —RRabbit42 (talk) 02:15, 19 August 2016 (UTC)


 * Permanent blocks had to be set

In the interest of full disclosure, I have had to permanently block the Arik069 account on all wikis where I am an administrator due to the harassasing and threatening messages he continued to leave for me. Each occurred within minutes or just a couple of hours of when a previous block was set, and he did so by selecting a new wiki from the list I have displayed on my profile page. After about the third or fourth time, I set pre-emptive blocks on all the rest.

I have also received a complaint about his behavior on other Wikia-hosted wikis and after doing research into some of the edits there, I see that they contain the same pattern of false information about companies and harrassment, aggressiveness, belligerence and statements of violence towards others. The account is also permanently blocked on several of those. I will be turning in a request to Wikia to have the Arik069 account globally blocked on their site. The Arikhartnett account on Wikia was globally blocked on approximately July 19, 2016.

Therefore, I recommend that the block here on both accounts listed in this investigation not be removed at any point in the future. —RRabbit42 (talk) 14:05, 21 August 2016 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * The account was blocked indefinitely by Yamaguchi先生 and the IP blocked for a year by Widr. Mike V • Talk 18:33, 21 August 2016 (UTC)