Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Arnav19/Archive

Suspected sockpuppets



 * Tools: Editor interaction utility • Interaction Timeline • User compare report Auto-generated every hour.

Some background: Arnav19 was a highly prolific article creator who worked from 2013 to December 2016 when Doc James blocked him for serial copyright violations. I, however, was going to drag him to ANI for serious competency concerns. He created over 300 articles, many about Indian Tamil-language television shows, people in these shows, awards surrounding these shows, etc. Arnav created many of these articles using some sort of template that was rife with mistakes, which he propagated to scores of articles. If you look at these examples you will notice a combination and repetition of the following MOS vios, including Template:Infobox television vios:
 * Caption for obvious title card, with title of show bolded. (We don't use captions for obvious title cards, and we don't bold needlessly.)
 * Use of "Tamil soap opera" in genre, as if Tamil soap operas were somehow unique. Links to Tamil television soap opera, which Arnav19 created.
 * In country he often erroneously adds Tamil Nadu, which is an Indian state. Here he consciously changes country from India to Tamil Nadu. Why?
 * Leading zeroes for numerals: 01, 02, 03 instead of 1, 2, 3.
 * In location he often puts Tamil Nadu by default, and sometimes other cities. Location parameter is to be used for countries, only if different from nation of origin.
 * Misuses of preceded_by and followed_by parameters in TV infoboxes. In an article about a TV show occupying the 8pm slot, he would use these parameters to indicate what show previously occupied the 8pm slot, and what show followed in that spot, instead of what the parameters were really for: to show production chronology within a franchise. (Star Trek: Voyager was "preceded_by" Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
 * He also included Tamil scripts in the lead, which have been contrary WP:NOINDICSCRIPT for a couple of years now, and he also uses them in the Infobox on the show_name line, with carriage returns in between. We haven't used this formatting for several years, having moved to native_name for Indic scripts, before the community put the kibosh on all Indic scripts in infobox and lead.

Now as for the connection between these two:
 * The interaction report between these two users is highly significant, including for dubiously notable standalone articles for highly-specific individual TV awards like Vijay Television Awards for Favourite International Find, Vijay Television Awards for Favourite Find, Vijay Television Awards for Favourite Comedian Fiction, Category:2010 in Tamil television, Category:2012 in Tamil television, Category:2013 in Tamil television, Sun Kudumbam Viruthugal for Best Supporting Actor, and the weirdly named List of Tamil soap operas present airing. These (and others) are articles that almost nobody cared about except for these two accounts.
 * Look at Thilakshan's user page and Arnav 19's user page. The order of some of the TV networks are the same. "End serial", "Off TV Series & Shows" vs "End show", grammatically weird phrasing. Both very proud to be Tamilian.
 * Though Thilakshan's account was created in May 2015, he only had a few edits then, but did overlap with Arnav19, like here. Two months after Arnav19 was indeffed, boom, Thilakshan suddenly blows up on 18 February, making edits to Neeli (TV series), an article created by Arnav19. By day 2, Thilakshan is an article creator, who has cleaned up some, but not all of the mistakes that he was making as Arnav19.

Now some individual edits from Thilakshan
 * Kadal Dadandhu Udhyogam Article created in April 2018. Contains Tamil script in lead and infobox. Note lower-case "soap opera" in genre parameter? This will repeat across multiple articles as if someone's using a bad template. Soap opera links to Tamil television soap opera.
 * Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Lil Champs (season 2) Tamil script in infobox and lead, "Tamil Nadu" in location parameter.
 * Vanthal Sridevi - Lowercase "soap opera" genre, linking to his Tamil soap article. "Tamil Nadu" in location parameter.
 * Nalam Nalam Ariya Aval - I like "friendship-melodrama". That's cute. Lowercase "soap opera" linking to Tamil soap article.
 * Hello Smyamala - Lowercase "soap opera" linking to Tamil soap article.
 * Weekend With Stars - "Logo of Weekend With Stars " Location: Tamil Nadu
 * Iruvar (TV series) - Needless caption with bold, lowercase "soap opera" linking to Tamil soap article. Keep in mind, this was created in February 2017, so he's been doing this lowercase soap opera thing for over a year and still hasn't spotted it.
 * Vidhi (TV series) - Lowercase soap opera, location: Tamil Nadu, misused preceded_by parameter.
 * Namma Veedu - Same as the others, misused preceded_by parameter.
 * Solvathellam Unmai (TV series) - This was the Thilakshan article that woke me up: Unnecessary caption for obvious title card. Title bolded in caption. Leading zeroes for season #. "Tamil reality-justice show" genre links to his Tamil soap article. (Interesting puffery: "This critically acclaimed show is the talk of the state"
 * Alaipayuthey (2017 TV series) - Needless captions with bold. Lower-case "soap opera" pointing to Arnav's article. Misused preceded_by and followed_by - Article says that the show replaced Maala, meaning in that time slot.
 * Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Lil Champs - Needless caption, Location: Tamil Nadu, followed_by Junior Super Star, with no indication of how they're related other than theme. This suggests time slot replacement.
 * Raja Rani (TV series) - Tamil scripts, lowercase "soap opera", location: Tamil Nadu, misused preceded_by
 * Vanakkam Tamizha - Leading zero in numeral, Location: Tamil Nadu, title card caption bolded, Tamil script.

Thilakshan's English skill level and formatting including smileys and dashes before signatures:
 * "maya thirai is a Tamil language web series and i have a so many references and it was a aired on ALT Balaji. Thankyou --"
 * "GSS, But i have also Episodes"
 * "Thanks, I do MY Best --"
 * "please don't delete, i am to improve this article.--"
 * "Yes it's true. You can not see the old data when new data arrives every week [snip] --"
 * "OK next article, I am write only Main & Recurring cast :) Thank You --"
 * "OK :)--"

Arnav19's English skill level and formatting including smileys and dashes before signatures:
 * "Can you please my Wiki Page unblock? --"
 * "Hello Robvanvee, Sorry now i can't improve Oorum Unavum, because my Wikipedia was blocked, give me time I'll do that more improve. I think you understand me. :)--"
 * "Hi Xyzspaniel, Sorry now i can't Nadanthathu Enna? Kutramum Pinnaniyum, because my Wikipedia was blocked, give me time I'll do that more improve. I think you understand me. :)--
 * "I agree with you, because i am new for wikipedia, now i learn how to write Wikipedia article. please give me chance, I would like to write on wikipedia about Tamil Language series. --" (Note that he's claiming to be new, despite editing for several years off and on)
 * "Sorry, i understand my fault :(--"
 * "oh noooo :( you have any other solution for my wikipedia Page unblock?--" Cyphoidbomb (talk) 16:28, 31 May 2018 (UTC)


 * CU Request: Though I know that Arnav19's data is long since stale, can we see if Thilakshan has any other accounts open? Since there was an overlap between Thilakshan and Arnav, he clearly had two accounts back in 2015, so he may also have multiple accounts open now. Thank you. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 16:43, 31 May 2018 (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

 * - Arnav19 is, and CheckUsers generally don't check a single account. Sir Sputnik (talk) 17:12, 31 May 2018 (UTC)
 * I acknowledged above that Arnav19 is stale. I was asking a CU to check for multiple accounts related to Thilakshan since the two heavily-suspected accounts above were open at the same time. I don't know that that's unreasonable. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 03:09, 1 June 2018 (UTC)
 * Single-account sleeper checks so rarely produce useful results that they're generally not worthwhile, even if there is strong evidence of sockpuppetry. Sir Sputnik (talk) 16:10, 1 June 2018 (UTC)


 * Nothing left to do here. Closing. Sro23 (talk) 00:01, 7 June 2018 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



 * Tools: Editor interaction utility • Interaction Timeline • User compare report Auto-generated every hour.

I'm going to ruminate about whether I'll block him myself, but if anyone else wants to mull it over, I'm game. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 14:59, 8 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Both edit Tamil TV articles heavily.
 * Typical meaningless first edit by Sham65 to user page to throw off redlink.
 * 12 areas of intersection with last suspected sock, Thilakshan, in 134 edits by Sham65, including to obscure areas like templates and an image.
 * Template:Colors Tamil shows was created by Thilakshan.
 * Template:Sun TV shows has many edits by Arnav19 and Thilakshan
 * Perazhagi was created by Thilakshan
 * Yaaradi Nee Mohini (TV series) was created by Thilakshan
 * Recreated Vanthal Sridevi, which had previously been created by Thilakshan. this version of that original article is not much different from the first submitted edit of the new article.
 * Note that old version of Vanthal Sridevi says:
 * Vanthal Sridevi (Tamil: வந்தாள் ஸ்ரீதேவி) is a 2018 Tamil Language family melodrama directed by Arun Ralan and starring Ananya, Nandhan loganadhan and Sonia.[1] It replaced the reality show Enga Veetu Mapillai, and is broadcast on Colors Tamil every Monday to Friday from 18 April 2018 at 21:00 (IST).[2]
 * New version reads:
 * Vanthal Sridevi (Tamil: வந்தாள் ஸ்ரீதேவி) (lit.:Sridevi came in) is a 2018 Tamil Language family Melodrama starring Ananya, Nandhan loganadhan, Sirisha Sougandh and Sonia. It is a remake of the Kannada language series Lakshmi Baramma. The show replaces Enga Veetu Mapillai and airs on Colors Tamil from 18 April, 2018 on Monday to Friday at 21:00 (IST) time slot.[1]
 * Notice the general shape of the lead phrasing. Note the Tamil script is in contravention of WP:NOINDICSCRIPT, which I noted in my last report. Note the miscapitalisation of "Language" and "loganadhan". Note the lack of italics around Enga Veetu Mapillai. The consistent lack of competent writing is a hallmark of Arnav19.
 * In the External links section of both articles there are two links. The links are worded identically: Colors Tamil Official Facebook in Tamil / Colors Tamil Official Youtube Channel in Tamil. Note the bizarre capitalisation. The above evidence just tells me that the king of the problematic article template, Arnav19, was working off a backed-up copy of the last deleted article.
 * I've decided to ask for a CU. I don't know if we have any details on Arnav19, but I'm curious if we can link this user to Thilakshan. The Thilakshan sock was a slam-dunk for Arnav. This one has strong evidence, but there are some things this guy does that are different from the original Arnav19 account--he's improved his article templates somewhat to at least not include the most glaring errors. So I'm not 100% on Sham. I actually asked him twice on his talk page why he's evading his block. He didn't answer the question and now he's gone radio silent, so I also wonder if he's set up shop from a different account. Yet another need for a CU. Thanks, Cyphoidbomb (talk) 14:27, 19 October 2018 (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

 * .  AGK  &#9632;   17:14, 20 October 2018 (UTC)
 * I'll get to work with the block and deletions. I have also noticed since 2016 that occasional IPs from Switzerland edit around Arnav19's edits. this one I believe is yet another. Obviously no comment requested. Just adding for completion. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 19:29, 20 October 2018 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



 * Tools: Editor interaction utility • Interaction Timeline • User compare report Auto-generated every hour.

Last year blocked  as a sock of Arnav19. Thilakshan is now editing on simple and using this IP (and probably others) to pull those changes into articles here. For example, they created Thari] article on simple just recently. The .228 IP then added it to several articles here. The IP also edited the simple article during their editing session here. IP geolocates to Switzerland which was noted by the checkuser last year..  Ravensfire  (talk) 15:24, 28 March 2019 (UTC)


 * I haven't, I think they're using IP's to edit here and accounts on simple to create new articles. I'll keep an eye out for anything odd.  They're hitting a couple of articles pretty consistently of late (see the IP's editing history).  Ravensfire  (talk) 15:55, 28 March 2019 (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

 * I blocked the IP before you opened the SPI. Good raven-eye work, Ravensfire! I do wonder if he has any accounts open though. Have you seen anything suggestive of that? Cyphoidbomb (talk) 15:37, 28 March 2019 (UTC)
 * There doesn't seem to be anything left to do. NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 07:57, 29 March 2019 (UTC)