Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/BarehamOliver/Archive

Suspected sockpuppets
The Good Dante has disclosed they are a clean start account having discontinued their previous account in January (2022) at Special:Diff/1071208127. Given the topic area centering around UK Murders there is some possibility that previous account was BarehamOliver who stopped editing at approximately the same time, with a possible slight overlap. Some aspects of the operation of the account are similar, though there appears to be little if any direct correlation on the accounts edited. BarehamOliver has been brought to my talk page 28 March 2022, and avoided question on other accounts. There has been an edit from The Good Dante 28 March 2022 so both accounts have been operating simultaneously so that is an indicator they may not be connected; and if that lack of connection determined as likely that is a good thing. Djm-leighpark (talk) 23:11, 28 March 2022 (UTC)

Comments by other users
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Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * - -- RoySmith (talk) 02:18, 29 March 2022 (UTC)
 * ✅ but this seems relatively benign and a first offence, so 1 week for Bareham and indef the sock (no tags). Please go read WP:CLEANSTART to understand better what the term means.  The behavior exhibited here does not meet the requirements of a clean start. -- RoySmith (talk) 02:23, 29 March 2022 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets
Large amount of overlap with the master and same topic area of British true crime cases. BarehamOliver and Classic Middlesex have very similar sandboxes. I don't believe that this is a legitimate use of multiple accounts as BarehamOliver was previously blocked for socking and splitting contributions in this way amounts to evasion of scrutiny in a BLP-sensitive topic area (VRT agents may be interested in 2022100310009461).

I also think that this case may be related to Sockpuppet investigations/Gordimalo based on the interest in British serial killers and the timing between the block of the last sock in that case (25 October 2021) and the creation of the BarehamOliver account (26 October 2021). The Gordimalo accounts are stale, but according to the archives there should be information on cuwiki. Spicy (talk) 21:17, 4 October 2022 (UTC)

Comments by other users

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Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * - Endorsing to confirm, investigate the relationship to Gordimalo and check for others (there are a few more accounts that I believe are related but which are likely to be stale by now). Thanks, Spicy (talk) 21:17, 4 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Starting with the easy stuff, all in IPs in the BarehamOliver and Gordimalo are in the same country, within about 200 km from each other (although, it's a country where geolocation is known to be dicey). And the user agents are all similar, but it's mostly a very common OS/Browser combination, so it probably doesn't mean much.  Overall, I'd probably call them  to each other. -- RoySmith (talk) 22:26, 4 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Looking at the new data,, , and are all ✅ to each other (and used up all their AGF in 28 March 2022).   is  but I can't quite get to confirmed for them.  It's also not impossible that  belongs as their own case and  goes with them.  I'll block the ones I'm sure of and leave the rest for a clerk to ponder. -- RoySmith (talk) 22:48, 4 October 2022 (UTC)
 * PS, taking another look at this, BarehamOliver and Gordimal just don't feel the same, so I'd advise against merging the cases. -- RoySmith (talk) 23:42, 4 October 2022 (UTC)
 * YellowWhippet – likely is enough for me there.  --Blablubbs (talk) 12:09, 5 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Thanks, closing. Spicy (talk) 18:08, 5 October 2022 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets
This account has a large amount of overlap with previous socks, shares the same general interest in British true crime, and returned to activity after a long hiatus on 6 October 2022 - the previous blocks in this case were made on 4 October 2022. Other red flag behaviour includes the creation of this article, which shows an extremely precocious knowledge of WP templates, formatting, etc. for someone who is not even extended confirmed. Spicy (talk) 23:56, 19 November 2022 (UTC)

Comments by other users

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 * Hi there,, yes I am a sock and I'd like to be blocked please. Frazerrex (talk) 00:34, 20 November 2022 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * - to confirm and check for others. Thanks, Spicy (talk) 23:57, 19 November 2022 (UTC)
 * Unsurprisingly, ✅ to .  Salvio 01:17, 20 November 2022 (UTC)
 * Blocked and tagged per sock’s request. Closing.  firefly  ( t · c ) 08:44, 20 November 2022 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets
Pro forma. GeneralNotability (talk) 03:18, 18 January 2023 (UTC)

Comments by other users

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Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * Clarke Bedford is ✅ to BarehamOliver by way of Frazerrex. Qlright is at best, but behavior is pretty solid in my eyes. The other two had multiple failed login attempts from Qlright's IP before they managed to log in as Qlright, but I'd say there's enough there to block as well.  all. GeneralNotability (talk) 03:20, 18 January 2023 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets
Began editing British true crime articles a week ago similarly to BarehamOliver and their sock, Classic Middlesex. See the contribs: Special:Contributions/Beautiful_Rosie Geoff &#124; Who, me? 17:00, 19 February 2023 (UTC)

Comments by other users

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Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * This isn't BarehamOliver. I have a decent guess at who it is, but there isn't block evasion going on, so no action needed. I do note that they've created three additional accounts, and will be quite upset if any of those are used improperly. GeneralNotability (talk) 17:08, 19 February 2023 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets
Kept  trying to add a superfluous link to the murder of Don Banfield on the Death of Nicola Bulley page. I can see on the Banfield page there has been previous sockpuppetry and apparent previous attempts to spam links to the page:, so perhaps an indicator of another sock? ErraticDrumlin (talk) 14:57, 16 March 2023 (UTC)

Comments by other users

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Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * The IP hasn't edited in several days, closing. Thanks, Spicy (talk) 16:38, 19 March 2023 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets
These editors all share BarehamOliver's special interest in British true crime and have edited the same pages as that sockmaster. In particular, Snugglewasp and Structuralists have both edit warred back in edits made by confirmed BarehamOliver socks in articles. Edits made in September 2022 by Classic Middlesex, were contested on talk and then by 3 other editors, and Snugglewasp restored the information each time. Reverts:,  and. Then, when I removed the information, citing onus, Structuralists immediately edited the page for the first time to revert the information in. I started an RfC and MeltingDistrict and 2 IP SPAs appeared (not bothered to include the IPs in the filing here because, meh, IPs (ETA 29/10: actually I added them. You won't comment on them but they are evidence)). This could just be following edits and not socking, but I have noted that these three editors tend to be active at the same times and inactive for long periods together. I looked at their timecards and timecards of BarehamOliver socks. These match closely, but far from conclusive as it just shows them following a regular pattern of more active on UK evenings and weekends, with occasional late nights at the weekend. Back to editing behaviour and defending BarehamOliver edits, Structuralists has been doing the same on another page and perhaps elsewhere. See, for instance, Which restores content removed that was placed by a sock:. Same sock also entered the usual see alsos. The style of editing and manner is very similar between these two editors, but I note less so with MeltingDistrict, who I don't believe is a sockpuppet, but suspect is more likely a meatpuppet. Not sure if this was enough to raise an SPI, I pasted edit histories for these three editors into a spreadsheet, and also the edit histories of all the BarehamOliver socks. It is the results of this analysis that led me to the conclusion that SPI is called for. I can share the spreadsheet, but some notables:
 * 1) The edit history of these three, and especially Structuralists and Snugglewasp falls very neatly into gaps in the identfied sock activity.
 * 2) There is no editing overlap with the socks (i.e, editing same day, with overlapping or even close times), even when the socks were active at periods they were active except for MeltingDistrict who does have a small amount of overlap - another reason for thinking this might be a MeatPuppet or perhaps unrelated. Happy for them to be left out of checkuser if clerks don't feel evidence is strong enough for that check.
 * 3) All three editors have initial activity and then very long gaps of inactivity. This is consistent with the socks - BarehamOliver socks often appear to be left as sleepers after initial creation - but also could be innocent. My own editing history has such gaps, so well aware that doesn't prove anything. However, importantly, the hiatus is almost entirely filled by the times when confirmed BarehamOliver socks were active, identified and blocked. None of these three were active for the entire time that The Good Dante, YellowWhippet, Bareham Oliver, Yellow Whippet, Classic Middlesex (the one they are edit warring to preserved edits for), Frazerrex and Thevicarofdibley were active, identified and blocked. They were also inactive (and Structuralists was not yet created) in November 2022 and had been inactive for over 6 months when a sleeper check was conducted on 19 November 2022. This gap is almost exactly filled by the confirmed sock activity.
 * 4) BarehamOliver sock, Clarke Bedford made their last ever edit on 3 December 2020 at 19:41. Snugglewasp's account was created the same day at 21:51. Sirfurboy🏄 (talk) 18:15, 28 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Just to add another but of evidence. In this comment Snugglewasp claims we had previously clashed at the Richard Gill page. We had not. Snugglewasp has never edited that page nor talk page, although Structuralists did, as did MeltingDistrict. Sirfurboy🏄 (talk) 20:11, 1 November 2023 (UTC)
 * Also, more evidence. I was a bit confused by Snugglewasp editing a non true-crime page, Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia but I see now that this was one BarehamOliver edited too. More evidence of Structuarlists edit warring for BarehamOliver edits can be found on the Allan Grimson page (a page edited by Structuralists and at least three BarehamOliver socks):
 * BarehamOliver Adds “Despite fears...” text, 15/12/21
 * Reverted by Djm-leighpark 21/1/22
 * Reaserted with modifications by confirmed sock, Frazerrex 24/2/22
 * Reverted by Djm-leighpark 24/2/22
 * In again by sock, Frazerrex 19/4/22
 * Expanded by Structralists 9/4/23
 * All reverted again by Nyttend 1/9/23
 * Restored by Structuralists 2 minutes later 1/9/23 Sirfurboy🏄 (talk) 21:03, 1 November 2023 (UTC)
 * More evidence. Structuralist, 1 month after joining, created a series of true crime pages in impressively complete state. See, , , . This highly unusual activity for new users is typical of BarehamOliver socks. E.g. Classic Middlesex: , , Bareham Olver, , , The good Dante: etc. So with all of the above, Structuralist . SnuggleWasp looks pretty clear but has not created such pages, but with clear crossover with articles and dates  too. MeltingDistrict - I still err on the side of this being a meatpuppet. Sirfurboy🏄 (talk) 17:58, 2 November 2023 (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

 * The three named accounts above are very to each other and technically  to the master based on log data. I would recommend leaning on behaviour for a connection to the master - that behavioural connection seems reasonable enough to me but a second pair of eyes wouldn't hurt.  firefly  ( t · c ) 23:13, 2 November 2023 (UTC)
 * Looks clearcut to me. I was already looking into this before I saw the SPI. Thanks Firefly. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 23:28, 2 November 2023 (UTC)
 * Closing.  firefly  ( t · c ) 09:47, 4 November 2023 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets
, a BarehamOliver sock, edited the Lucy Letby page prior to being blocked with a pattern of editing that showed a vendetta against Richard Gill. Also a pattern of disrupting RFCs (e.g. see all struck comments here.). After being blocked as a sockpuppet, they have shown a pattern of IP socking (ANI-1: ,ANI-2:). The RfC on Talk:Lucy Letby has been disrupted by canvassing by IP editors,, , , , (both now blocked, and with all the patterns of MeltingDistrict/Bareham Oliver). Now this user has arrived and on their very first edit !voted on this page. But it is this comment that bares all the hallmarks of MeltingDistrict's style., and this one even moreso: Sirfurboy🏄 (talk) 19:22, 4 January 2024 (UTC)

Comments by other users

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Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * Looks ❌ to past accounts: different continent, different devices, no indications of proxy use. Spicy (talk) 18:23, 5 January 2024 (UTC)