Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/ArtistForum/Archive

Suspected sockpuppets



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SPA accounts promoting. They are clearly closely connected to the subject as they repeatedly add detailed personal information to the article which has not been published anywhere. Both ArtistForum and BuffaloOpera were indef blocked from Commons on 10 and 13 September 2017 respectively for socking and uploading dozens of copyvio images of Manasi,. Both ArtistForum and SaturnFakts were also indef blocked at the German Wikipedia for socking on the equivalent article on 19 and 23 August 2017 respectively,.

Observe the state of Matthias Manasi as written by ArtistForum on 28 August 2017. BuffaloOpera, SaturnFakts, and PaoloFontanella continued "tweaking" it, e.g., ,. I cleaned up and re-rewrote the article on 16 September 2017. PaoloFontanella returns 10 days later to re-add the material from ArtistForum's version. Matthias Manasi was nominated for deletion on 29 September 2017. (See Articles for deletion/Matthias Manasi.) On 30 September PaoloFontanella creates  using essentially ArtistForum's 28 August 2017 version of the article. For informational purposes I have also added 2003:ec:23c3:b180:f530:210e:27b0:5eb3 who added yet another copyvio image to the article the same day that BuffaloOpera uploaded it to Commons.

There are several more stale throw-away accounts associated with this article and its German equivalent, many of them based on entities related to Manasi or names suggesting news sources, e.g. User:Naplesclassic, User:Stanfordnews, User:Britishnews, User:Sinfoniaclassica. Both ArtistForum and BuffaloOpera follow this pattern. One of Manasi's booking agents is forumartists.com and Manasi conducts for Nickel City Opera in Buffalo, New York. Given the modus operandi, the huge amount of socking at Commons (see commons:Category:Sockpuppets of LatvianCulture), and the multiple Manasi socks blocked on German Wikipedia (,, , , . ), I suggest a checkuser to look for sleepers. Voceditenore (talk) 08:24, 30 September 2017 (UTC)

Background on the stale accounts  I have listed ArtistForum (the oldest non-stale account) as the master at this SPI. However,  is undoubtedly the ultimate master of this sock zoo. He is the oldest registered account (27 April 2010) and created Matthias Manasi 4 days later. He was indef blocked here and on the German Wikipedia (and for one week on Commons) for copyright violations on 18 November 2010. The next oldest one is Operamadrid (see below for links) created 22 July 2010 and blocked here the same day as a spam username (also blocked on the German Wikipedia as a sock of Musicintime ). He was followed by Espagna2000 (see below for links) created on 5 August 2010 who briefly edit-warred to add Maanasi's blog to the article and was blocked here for "abusing multiple accounts" on 18 November 2010. More background on the shenanigans from these three at this 2010 discussion at ANI. Other now stale SPA accounts followed in succession and remain unblocked on English Wikipedia:
 * Sinfoniaclassica (see below for links) created on 5 December 2010 and blocked the same day on German Wikipedia as a sock of Musicintime
 * Discussione (see below for links) created on 9 June 2011 and blocked the same day on German Wikipedia as a sock of Musicintime
 *  Britishnews  (see below for links) created on 19 July 2011 and blocked the same day on German Wikipedia for block evasion. This user is also a Matthias Manasi SPA on the French and Spanish Wikipedias
 * Stanfordnews (see below for links) created on 31 July 2011. This user is also a Matthias Manasi SPA on the French and Spanish Wikipedias
 * Naplesclassic (see below for links) created on 4 June 2012 and blocked the same day on German Wikipedia for block evasion

Voceditenore (talk) 08:20, 1 October 2017 (UTC)

Comments by other users
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I suggest blocking and tagging the entire Manasi SPA sockfarm:



I've already filed a report at COIN: WP:Conflict_of_interest/Noticeboard. -- Softlavender (talk) 08:59, 30 September 2017 (UTC)
 * Note to the checkuser/closing admin/Kevin. I would exclude from this list barring a positive checkuser result. He did make a few minor edits to Matthias Manasi but he is an editor in good standing at the German Wikipedia and edits on a wide range of subjects there . He shouldn't be blocked here solely on "duck" grounds. Voceditenore (talk) 06:53, 1 October 2017 (UTC)


 * Note to closing admin: When checking the duck behavior of the stale socks, please note Voceditenore's itemization of their global wiki contributions in the "Suspected sockpuppets" section above. Softlavender (talk) 01:24, 8 October 2017 (UTC)


 * Thanks for discovering the new user impersonating me. That user obviously needs to be indeffed. Draft:Matthias Manasi needs to be nuked. Since the evidence is overwhelming that this sockfarm is endlessly going to try to recreate this article, I would like to request that Matthias Manasi, Matthias Daniel Manasi, and Draft:Matthias Manasi be salted as well. Salting of the first two was requested by three highly experienced editors at WP:Articles for deletion/Matthias Manasi; however the closing administrator,, did not, and declined as premature when reached out to on his talkpage . I think this is no longer premature. Pinging  for comment. Softlavender (talk) 01:02, 14 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Good Grief! Will they never stop?! As an AfC reviewer, I have just declined the submitted Draft:Matthias Manasi (verbatim of one of the previous versions of Matthias Manasi) and left a comment there with links to the recent AfD and to this SPI. Note for GeneralizationsAreBad and the Checkuser: Orchestra Camerata Italiana, edited by Naplesclassic (see above for links) was also edited by Operamadrid (see above for links) and was created by Musicintime (see above for links) in 2010. The Orchestra Camerata Italiana is a small pick-up orchestra in Naples consisting largely of music students of which Matthias Manasi claimed to have been the "Music Director". I have no idea who re-created it circa 2016, but it's worth checking the contribution history of both versions of that article. It now has its own section in Draft:Matthias Manasi. Voceditenore (talk) 06:41, 14 October 2017 (UTC)


 * The stale socks (all except the stricken one are very obvious duck COI SPAs) need to be blocked and tagged (at least as suspected socks), because this is now obviously an LTA situation and the vast scope of the problem needs to be documented. Kevin can't do the blocking; an admin needs to do that and I suggest that the admin do the tagging and categorizing as well. Softlavender (talk) 03:05, 19 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Given the recreation of Draft:Matthias Manasi, I've salted Matthias Manasi and Matthias Daniel Manasi. I'll leave the SPI work to an admin who's more familiar with this venue. Patar knight - chat/contributions 03:38, 19 October 2017 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * - for checks among the non-stale named accounts to confirm and check for others. I'm still considering 's list of accounts, but from a quick glance, it's probably an open-and-shut duck case. Thanks, Kevin ( aka L235 ·&#32; t ·&#32; c) 14:53, 30 September 2017 (UTC)
 * - Katietalk 12:26, 2 October 2017 (UTC)
 * These accounts are ✅ to each other:


 * SaturnFakts is ✅ from this group. I did not run Hubertangusta as that account does not fit the pattern.
 * The remaining accounts save Hubertangusta are ..
 * Confirmed accounts blocked and tagged. Leaving open for behavioral analysis of the stale accounts. Katietalk 12:45, 2 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Thanks. As notes, I'm unable to check the deleted revs – holding open for an admin to confirm. Kevin ( aka L235 ·&#32; t ·&#32; c) 23:09, 7 October 2017 (UTC)
 * - Please check, who created Draft:Matthias Manasi. Impersonation of ?


 * Espagna2000: Edited Matthias Manasi on August 5 and 6, 2010. Both times to add this link:
 * Sinfoniaclassica: Edited above page 3 times on December 5, 2010. Added this link and that the subject worked with "the Çukurova State Symphony Orchestra, [and] Orchestra Camerata Italiana".
 * Discussione: Edited the same page 16 times on June 8-9, 2011. All linking, adding details of the subject's career, removing tags, etc.
 * Naplesclassic: One edit to the above page on June 4, 2012, to link to Orchestra Camerata Italiana, a page they created the day before. Another puff piece: "known for the excellence of its live performances and presentations and the impressive list of solists in its highly acclaimed concerts," etc.
 * Britishnews: 4 edits to Matthias Manasi on July 20, 2011, to remove some content and this link.
 * Stanfordnews: 3 edits to Matthias Manasi on July 30, 2011, to remove more content and the haberler link.

I hope that this is helpful. Thanks, GABgab 22:03, 13 October 2017 (UTC)
 * is ✅ to and  to the above socks. ~ Rob 13 Talk 13:03, 14 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Both now, draft deleted. GABgab 15:57, 14 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Is there anything else you'd like to do here? Thanks, GABgab 02:42, 19 October 2017 (UTC)
 * All the other accounts are stale, so closing. GABgab 15:12, 20 October 2017 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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 * per WP:Duck
 * recreate Draft:Matthias Manasi Hhhhhkohhhhh (talk) 17:13, 14 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Please help review, thanks! Hhhhhkohhhhh (talk) 17:21, 14 October 2017 (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

 * , . ~ Rob 13 Talk 17:24, 14 October 2017 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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Same obsession with getting and keeping an article about himself on Wikipedia. Both Matthias Manasi and Matthias Daniel Manasi have been deleted and salted. Draft:Matthias Manasi (created by confirmed socks) was deleted twice and semi-protected on October 14. MatthiasManasi created Draft:Matthias Manasi (conductor) the following day. The last two incarnations to attempt creating and recreating the draft are confirmed socks:

MatthiasManasi also created it:Matthias Manasi on the Italian Wikipedia on 21 October. It was previously created there by yet another confirmed sock,. Obvious duck, but the last SPI ran a Checkuser and turned up two sleepers. Not sure if another one should be run. Voceditenore (talk) 06:45, 28 October 2017 (UTC) Voceditenore (talk) 06:45, 28 October 2017 (UTC)

I have also added the accounts Claudine Gilberti and Lomita17. They have accounts here and although they have made no edits yet, they have both been active this month on the French Wikipedia adding additional promotional material to fr:Matthias Manasi, e.g., , in tandem with confirmed socks and. See. Voceditenore (talk) 08:38, 28 October 2017 (UTC)

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


 * I agree that a CheckUser should be run to see if there are any sleepers. I would also like the previous archived SPIs to be re-opened, as the requested actions were not done (tagging all of the ducks), and no sign-off of what had been done or completed was made by the closing admin. The reason all of the previous ducks need to be tagged as socks or suspected socks is that this is now a gigantic non-stop WP:LTA situation, and the only way for passersby to know that is for all of the socks to show up in categories on each account. Thank you. Softlavender (talk) 06:52, 28 October 2017 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * Any editor can tag an account as suspected of sockpuppetry (or blocked for sockpuppetry, if they are blocked for that but untagged). If you want a clerk specifically to do it, list the accounts that are currently untagged. ~ Rob 13 Talk 17:53, 28 October 2017 (UTC)
 * and (a sleeper) are ✅. ~ Rob 13 Talk 18:03, 28 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Case closed.  Vanjagenije  (talk)  11:47, 29 October 2017 (UTC)