Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Badmintonhist/Archive

14 April 2015

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Badmintonhist was finally indeffed in October 2014 after innumerable warnings and "last chances" because he could not stop himself from hounding me even after the imposition of a (one-way) interaction ban. The KatieHepPal account was created in November 2014 and has edited in exclusively the same topic areas, eg. articles Care Net (hist) and Susan B. Anthony abortion dispute (hist)/Susan B. Anthony (hist), making edits that are sometimes helpful but sometimes partisan and unconstructive. There's also overlap with, who was recently blocked as a sock of Badmintonhist following a harassing ANI report. I've suspected the Katie account for some time, but decided to file an SPI after the user obviously followed me to a couple of articles I'd just edited that that account had never edited before, which is the same thing Badmintonhist did. (,, - as you can see, these all follow directly upon my edits, and "Katie" has never edited these articles before - not all of these are reversions or edits of me, but it's been established both in general and, IIRC, in Badmintonhist's case specifically that demonstrating to another user that you're stalking their history constitutes hounding even if you're not always reverting them). –Roscelese (talk &sdot; contribs) 18:34, 14 April 2015 (UTC)

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 * is . Only one edit by the master is not stale. As an aside, the master was indeffed in August 2014, not October.--Bbb23 (talk) 23:26, 14 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Account blocked and tagged. Mike V • Talk 23:45, 14 April 2015 (UTC)

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Motsebboh was registered after confirmed sock KatieHepPal was blocked. Along with Badmintonhist, all three are interested in abortion, the Susan B. Anthony abortion dispute, abortion debate, abortion in the United States, and anti-abortion feminism, as may be seen in this editor interaction tool. Motsebboh has similare interacton styles, more evidence to come on that. Binksternet (talk) 21:30, 2 May 2017 (UTC)


 * Some similarities exist in the interaction and communication style. In the edit summary space, Motsebboh sometimes uses all-caps to emphasis a word or two. KatieHepPal did the same, as did Badmintonhist.
 * Also in edit summaries, Motsebboh inserts piped links to guidelines while retaining reading flow:
 * "...aren't reliable for facts..."
 * "...being given too much weight by being included here..."
 * "...seems to have been added here to promote sympathy for the procedure..."
 * Badmintonhist did the same thing:
 * "Again, this would seem to be original resarch, however reasonable the conclusion."
 * "...overly detailed and politically slanted..."
 * "...rather than your analysis of situation." Motsebboh and Badmintonhist both use the abbreviation POV versus NPOV.

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This one's obvious. The two topics that Badmintonhist obsessed about were abortion, in particular the article Susan B. Anthony abortion dispute, and the article on the Southern Poverty Law Center. These are also exactly the articles Motsebboh obsesses about (with more emphasis on the latter). See the SPI request right above this one for diffs for Badmintonhist. A quick look at edit histories of both accounts, as well as that of the other Badmintonhist sock User:KatieHepPal, easily confirms the correlation.

Here are the edit histories:
 * KatieHepPal
 * Badmintonhist
 * Motsebboh

Note that all three accounts have made edits to Susan B. Anthony and abortion related articles: KatieHepPal (example diff, one of many), Badmintonhist (several) and then Motsebboh:  (example diffs, one of many). Indeed, some of the edits made by Motsebboh in 2016 are very similar to those made by KatieHepPal in 2015 (compare to  both concern Ravinsky) to ones made by Badmintonhist in 2012.

On SPLC, Motsebboh's edits and arguments are almost exactly the same as those made by Badmintonhist. For example compare the comments made by Badmintonhist in this RfC from 2012 (do a search for their username) about Ken Silverstein to recent comments by Motsebboh.

Basically there's a ton of these diffs that could be provided but the correlation is so close so as to make it a moot point. And it's very unlikely that someone would share this common interest of Susan B. Anthony and SPLC.

Also, I asked Motsebboh on their talk page if they were Badmintonhist/KatieHepPal and they haven't answered. Since they have been busy editing since then, they have seen the question. The fact that they have chosen not to answer it can pretty much be taken as an affirmation.Volunteer Marek (talk) 21:41, 2 May 2017 (UTC) Volunteer Marek (talk) 21:41, 2 May 2017 (UTC)


 * I'd been thinking this myself for a while due to similarity of style, so I appreciate Bink and Marek's accumulation of harder evidence. In addition, Badmintonhist's eventual permablock was for stalking me, something I've had to warn Motsebboh about - several times, I believe - as well. User:Binksternet and User:Volunteer Marek, let me know if I can help on anything specific here. –Roscelese (talk &sdot; contribs) 22:15, 2 May 2017 (UTC)
 * Yes, Motsebboh has definitely been following me to various articles. I created the Black genocide conspiracy theory article, and Motsebboh came to the article to remove text. Another example is the article about the Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum, where Motsebboh came along to revert me, adding back the bit about Restellism (abortion). Binksternet (talk) 16:17, 3 May 2017 (UTC)


 * Waiting for some movement on this...  Eve rgr een Fir  (talk) 14:02, 11 May 2017 (UTC)

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. New reports might be easier for me to close now that I'm familiar with the sock master. NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 15:53, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

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Return to Southern Poverty Law Center, as with previously-banned sockpuppet User:Motsebboh, history of IP edits includes multiple edits to articles about badminton, consistent with history of master. NorthBySouthBaranof (talk) 15:19, 31 August 2017 (UTC)
 * Sock is now harassing User:Roscelese, the original target of Badmintonhist's harassment & hounding which led to the interaction ban and eventual indefinite block. NorthBySouthBaranof (talk) 16:12, 31 August 2017 (UTC)

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 * Yup, it's Badmintonhist again. I checked the IP's edit history and besides their ongoing interest in the SPLC, the IP also has a history of editing a) badminton articles and b) articles created by me and/or recently edited by me. –Roscelese (talk &sdot; contribs) 16:21, 31 August 2017 (UTC)

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 * I've blocked the IP for 6 months; BMH seems to have been on this IP for a while, so it's semi-static, and no obvious edits from non-banned people so doesn't seem shared. I'll leave tagging, if appropriate, up to a clerk or someone who is more familiar with usual practice. --Floquenbeam (talk) 16:28, 31 August 2017 (UTC)


 * There's no need to tag an IP, so closing. Sro23 (talk) 17:18, 31 August 2017 (UTC)

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S806 was registered in August 2014, five days after Badmintonhist was blocked indefinitely. S806 made a few uncontroversial edits, then went to the Young earth creationism article and began to tangle with in the same fashion as Badmintonhist. After this, S806 took a break for three years. Upon returning, S806 made various edits, then on March 5 began to focus on the Christina Hoff Sommers biography in the same manner as confirmed sock Motsebboh. But S806 also ducked into the Comfort women talk page to insert a jab at me, Binksternet, out of the blue. Neither Badmintonhist nor any of the Badmintonhist socks ever contributed to the Comfort women article or talk page, so this shows that S806 was following me around, in the same manner as Rhode Island IP 131.109.225.24 and confirmed sock KatieHepPal at the Susan B. Anthony talk page. No need for checkuser as the older accounts are now stale. Binksternet (talk) 17:15, 15 March 2018 (UTC)


 * Changing to CU request, to see whether ProtoNexus is connected to S806. ProtoNexus is a brand new user who registered the username three days after S806 initiated a discussion at Talk:Christina Hoff Sommers under the heading "feminist and anti-feminist", and two days after initiated a discussion under the heading "removal of material". The fifth-ever edit from ProtoNexus was at that talk page, supporting the views of FreeKnowledgeCreator and S806. ProtoNexus was questioned as a sock by . ProtoNexus seems like a sock to me, too, but I can't tell whether the account is connected to S806 or FreeKnowledgeCreator, who has violated MULTIPLE in the past (see Sockpuppet investigations/FreeKnowledgeCreator/Archive.) Badmintonhist was associated with Rhode Island IPs while FreeKnowledgeCreator is from New Zealand.

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 * Y'know, I'd just been wondering where the next Badmintonhist sock was going to pop up. Both obviously come in as experienced users, and between the two of them they have Young Earth creationism, Christina Hoff Sommers, and bothering Bink in common with BH/his older socks, as well as a superficially similar writing style. Sommers in particular is part of BH's longstanding interest in antifeminist women. Probably not enough to convict on, but enough to CU on. –Roscelese (talk &sdot; contribs) 01:20, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

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S806 and ProtoNexus are very to each other even though ProtoNexus is using a proxy. They are to the master. Blocked both accounts without tags.--Bbb23 (talk) 14:32, 16 March 2018 (UTC)
 * Closing.  QEDK ( 後  ☕  桜 ) 13:32, 22 March 2018 (UTC)

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Badmintonhist has previously been known to edit from Rhode Island, including using Rhode Island IPs to sockpuppet following his ban for harassing me (see previous cases here). This account jumped as an obviously experienced user into an area where I was already engaged in a disagreement  in a way that seems unlikely to be coincidental given the account's location and single-purpose tendency. The talkpage style also pings me as similar; I wouldn't be able to articulate why, but that's what made me decide to run the IP tracker. –Roscelese (talk &sdot; contribs) 21:14, 27 November 2018 (UTC)

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 * Checkuser not needed as the case is obvious from behavior. Badmintonhist was blocked for violating an IBan, for the inability to leave Roscelese alone. IP 68.0.205.227 showed up two weeks ago to challenge Roscelese about homosexuality at the Stéphane Grappelli biography. Badmintonhist was editing from the area of Rhode Island, and this IP is from the same place. In edit summaries, the IP and Badmintonhist both spell oops the formal/British way: "whoops". Both the IP and Badmintonhist use the edit summary to make a point about "Wikipedia's voice". Both the IP and Badmintonhist have put the descriptor "flat-out" in an edit summary. Finally, the IP is taking a socially conservative stance in the same manner as Badmintonhist. Binksternet (talk) 21:30, 27 November 2018 (UTC)


 * , other Rhode Island IPs in the same /21 range have come forward to edit articles about the sport of badminton (which is the first and continuing interest of Badmintonhist) as well as to harass Roscelese. For instance, in 2017, IP 68.0.204.180 put this little hateful gem on the user talk page of Roscelese, and the same IP made badminton sports edits. The IP was blocked by Floquenbeam who named Badmintonhist in the summary. Earlier, in May 2015, Rhode Island IP 131.109.225.9 made some changes to an article that Roscelese was working on, after which that IP was blocked as a sock of Badmintonhist. Roscelese continued working on the article, but then Rhode Island IP 68.0.207.169 zoomed in to revert, following that with more harassment at other articles. The IP was blocked, again with Badmintonhist named as the sockmaster. So we have proof of previous socking of the same variety using IPs from the same location. Binksternet (talk) 05:59, 29 November 2018 (UTC)


 * Also, the confirmed sock Motsebboh spelled oops the same way in edit summaries. Motsebboh also argued about "Wikipedia's voice" in edit summaries. This happened so often with Badmintonhist and socks that I'm not surprised to see the new IP use the same type of edit summary. Binksternet (talk) 06:12, 29 November 2018 (UTC)

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 * I find this evidence persuasive, but it isn't a slam-dunk yes, and given how long it's been since the master was blocked, I'd like a second opinion. Vanamonde (talk) 04:37, 29 November 2018 (UTC)


 * IP blocked for two weeks. Strongly argued case, and this parting shot convinced me that Wikipedia has no further need for this person's services. Favonian (talk) 17:38, 29 November 2018 (UTC)

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Pretty obvious&mdash;IP geolocates to Rhode Island, as with the numerous other IP's he's used to evade his ban, and the focus is on conservative US politics and, well, badminton. He does this every time he gets assigned a new IP address. MastCell Talk 17:12, 10 July 2020 (UTC)

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User admitted it here when called out by MastCell; then stopped editing but couldn't quite resist another message this morning. Blocked the IP for two weeks, I don't think there's much else that needs doing here for now. Marking for close. ~ mazca  talk 12:02, 12 July 2020 (UTC)

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FBPlunger is a new user who is already very familiar with process, and already very aggressive with assertions. The area of interest is still Catholic/feminist/abortion; same as previous socks. Both FBPlunger and the Rhode Island IP use a Badmintonhist-style edit summary to make a point about "Wikipedia's voice", the same as previouse socks. The Portugal IP is on some blacklists, so perhaps it is a proxy, or maybe Badmintonhist is visiting. This diff showing the Portugal IP complaining about "that said" was followed shortly by FBPlunger registering the username and making a talk page comment about "that said". Checkuser requested to make certain. Binksternet (talk) 05:41, 26 October 2020 (UTC)

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 * Pictogram voting wait blue.svg Checking...  ~Oshwah~  (talk) (contribs)   00:36, 27 October 2020 (UTC)
 * I don't have any other evidence connecting this account to the master or other sock puppets.  ~Oshwah~  (talk) (contribs)   00:56, 27 October 2020 (UTC)
 * I don't have any other evidence connecting this account to the master or other sock puppets.  ~Oshwah~  (talk) (contribs)   00:56, 27 October 2020 (UTC)
 * I don't have any other evidence connecting this account to the master or other sock puppets.  ~Oshwah~  (talk) (contribs)   00:56, 27 October 2020 (UTC)


 * Accounts are blocked, and IP edits are over a week old. Closing. -- Amanda  (aka DQ) 18:21, 27 October 2020 (UTC)

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Checkuser cannot be applied because the previous socks are stale. IP 70.181.40.210 is confirmed to be Badmintonhist, having posted an unblock request on Badmintonhist's user talk page, and then explicitly signing as Badmintonhist. IP 70.181.40.210 and new user Tbobbed have been editing on the same unusual combination of pages, from badminton player James Richard Poole to United Daughters of the Confederacy and Human rights in Singapore. At the Poole biography, Tbobbed and 70.181.40.210 edited in quick succession, with Tbobbed coming in to correct the template code of a flag icon that had been added six minutes earlier by the IP. Obviously the same person. In general, Tbobbed is picking up the political side of Badmintonhist's edit history, sharing an interest in antifeminism and anti-abortion activism, while the IP is doing most of the badminton sports side of things. Binksternet (talk) 20:05, 15 February 2021 (UTC)

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 * I'm persuaded based on the evidence presented, and other similarities I won't expand on here. Account blocked and tagged, IP appears stable and has been in use by this user since April 2020, blocking for one year. Girth Summit  (blether)  11:23, 27 February 2021 (UTC)