Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Big Towel/Archive

05 April 2015

 * Suspected sockpuppets




 * User compare report Auto-generated every hour.
 * Editor interaction utility

This is growing sock farm. The master may be another user and displays traits similar to (see WP:Sockpuppet investigations/Mauricio80/Archive). A quick glance at the contributions of each user shows that they typically create skeleton articles for 2015-2015 basketball teams, with empty sections or sections that contain 'TBD'.


 * Big Towel:
 * Big plate:
 * Barechest: (revert in support of Big plate
 * Barenight:
 * Big Steak:
 * Nightstation:
 * Windstorms:
 * Realfun:

Note also the similarities in most of the user names. Several of these users have also posted odd, taunting comments:
 * Big plate:
 * Barechest:
 * Barenight:

I'm requesting a CU to positively connect the accounts and identify any sleepers. - MrX 14:50, 5 April 2015 (UTC)

Added two more. IP 68.102.58.146 jumps on the bandwagon on several of the articles.

Pinging and  who are also familiar with this activity.- MrX 15:03, 5 April 2015 (UTC)

Comments by other users
''Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.''
 * I am familiar with this situation and I concur this sock farm is growing out of control. The user is obsessed with creating future sports articles, not just for the 2015-16 NCAA men's basketball season, but for Super Bowls, NHL seasons, and NHL playoffs. He was told a number of times that these articles generally don't meet GNG yet given how far off they are (exception is next season's men's basketball pages, per WP:CBBALL). It appears his editing is well-intentioned, but his disobedience to standing Wikipedia guidelines and consensus is worrisome. Also - given his odd/taunting comments mentioned by MrX, overall lack of knowing when to use capitalization, and editing demeanor all lead me to think this is a stubborn 12-year old. While anyone can edit Wikipedia, it takes competence, and User:Big Towel does not have enough of it yet. Jrcla2 (talk) 15:35, 5 April 2015 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * -  Vanjagenije   (talk)  15:36, 5 April 2015 (UTC)
 * . As for the comment above, these accounts are editing from a different continent than Mauricio80's socks are. ​—DoRD (talk)​ 16:43, 5 April 2015 (UTC)
 * I've blocked and tagged the confirmed accounts. I also issued a 1 week block to the IP based upon the behavioral evidence. Mike V • Talk 20:13, 5 April 2015 (UTC)
 * . As for the comment above, these accounts are editing from a different continent than Mauricio80's socks are. ​—DoRD (talk)​ 16:43, 5 April 2015 (UTC)
 * I've blocked and tagged the confirmed accounts. I also issued a 1 week block to the IP based upon the behavioral evidence. Mike V • Talk 20:13, 5 April 2015 (UTC)
 * . As for the comment above, these accounts are editing from a different continent than Mauricio80's socks are. ​—DoRD (talk)​ 16:43, 5 April 2015 (UTC)
 * I've blocked and tagged the confirmed accounts. I also issued a 1 week block to the IP based upon the behavioral evidence. Mike V • Talk 20:13, 5 April 2015 (UTC)
 * . As for the comment above, these accounts are editing from a different continent than Mauricio80's socks are. ​—DoRD (talk)​ 16:43, 5 April 2015 (UTC)
 * I've blocked and tagged the confirmed accounts. I also issued a 1 week block to the IP based upon the behavioral evidence. Mike V • Talk 20:13, 5 April 2015 (UTC)
 * . As for the comment above, these accounts are editing from a different continent than Mauricio80's socks are. ​—DoRD (talk)​ 16:43, 5 April 2015 (UTC)
 * I've blocked and tagged the confirmed accounts. I also issued a 1 week block to the IP based upon the behavioral evidence. <b style="color:#151B54">Mike V</b> • <b style="color:#C16C16">Talk</b> 20:13, 5 April 2015 (UTC)
 * I've blocked and tagged the confirmed accounts. I also issued a 1 week block to the IP based upon the behavioral evidence. <b style="color:#151B54">Mike V</b> • <b style="color:#C16C16">Talk</b> 20:13, 5 April 2015 (UTC)

11 November 2015

 * Suspected sockpuppets




 * User compare report Auto-generated every hour.
 * Editor interaction utility

Procedural report after blocking 68.102.61.195 as a WP:DUCK. Along with 68.103.78.83 (now stale) and 68.102.58.146 (blocked in previous SPI), has been edit warring over whether the future event 2017 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament should be an article yet or remain a redirect. Same behavior as before over creation of articles on future sports events. The latest IPs also had a habit of creating talk pages for non-existent pages of future events, presumably anticipating the creation of pages that could not create themselves as IPs. All IPs have been from Wichita, Kansas, using ISP Cox.—Bagumba (talk) 04:51, 11 November 2015 (UTC) —Bagumba (talk) 04:51, 11 November 2015 (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
Blocked 68.102.61.195 for evasion, the other is stale. Mark for close.—Bagumba (talk) 04:51, 11 November 2015 (UTC)
 * . 68.102.61.195 had also been frequently posted on WP:HD, asking when future X article will be created -- same as 68.102.58.146. And I noticed some of the same writing style/behavior in 68.102.61.195 as what I encountered with 68.102.58.146 on Talk:Super Bowl LII. Zzyzx11 (talk) 08:55, 11 November 2015 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets
I was looking at the contributions of the recently blocked IP 98.186.54.177, whose work I have seen/cleaned up recently. Well, one page history, talk page or IP led to another, and I eventually ended up here. Therefore I'm logging this as a procedural report, and opening it to possible comment as the blocking admin had posted a blocking review discussion on WP:AN.

This sockmaster continues to primarily use Cox Communications as their ISP out of Wichita, Kansas. And it appears that since the November 2015 report, this person has primarily used 68.102.39.189 (January 2017–June 2018), 68.103.78.155 (July 2018–March 2020), 68.102.42.216 (March 2020–February 2021), 70.179.216.206 (March 2021–June 2021), and now 98.186.54.177 (since June 2021). However between 2016 and 2018, Cox apparently also had periodically given him various dynamic IPv6 addresses out of the 2600:8803:7A00:0:0:0:0:0/48 range, which are re-routed through Cox's headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia (the specific IPv6 addresses I listed above are probably only a partial list of the ones that were actually used by this person).

The WP:CIR issues are basically the same as the other sockpuppets previously reported in 2015. This person loves to create of articles or templates on future sports events that are unsourced and do not pass WP:GNG, WP:CBALL or WP:Too soon. Therefore, he has had various AFC submission declined, as noted on most of these IPs user talk pages. Also, he has frequently posting on WP:HD or WP:AFCHD, asking about these articles. And has had trouble using proper capitalization of words, as well as the other WP:CIRRESP issues cited in the older 2015 reports.

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

 * 98.186.54.177 has already been blocked for three months by User:Star Mississippi. The other IPv4 addresses have not been used since the dates I indicated above. The specific IPv6 addresses I listed above have also not been used recently, but that 2600:8803:7A00:0:0:0:0:0/48 IP range as a whole appears to have been used by other people since then. WP:IPBLENGTH should still apply. Zzyzx11 (talk) 05:58, 13 May 2022 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the ping. @SportsGuy789 has some familiar with the editor so pinging them here as well. We were both smelling socks in the conversation on my Talk. Would love if there was a long term solution for this nuisance, as we know we'll be back here soon.  Star   Mississippi  13:07, 13 May 2022 (UTC)
 * Seems like everything has been dealt with, closing. Thanks, Spicy (talk) 10:01, 25 May 2022 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets
Already duck blocked, but in the even there's a useful underlying range to stop whack a mole and the abuse from this editor Star   Mississippi  16:51, 1 June 2022 (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

 * Here are a couple of options for you:
 * The two IPs that you've blocked recently - 98.186.54.177 and 98.186.55.18 - both fall within the range 98.186.54.0/23. I see no other anonymous editing within that range going back as far as February, so a block would likely have zero collateral.
 * Those IPs are also within with wider range 98.186.54.0/19, registered in Wichita to Cox Communications Inc. That wider range covers far more people, but again I see no other unregistered editing over the last few months - if the /23 doesn't stop them, the /19 might.
 * Hope that helps - I'm not going to take any further action here, but hopefully that gives you some options if they resume. Cheers Girth Summit <sub style="font-family:Segoe print;color:blue;"> (blether)  18:20, 1 June 2022 (UTC)
 * Thank you. Super helpful. Star   Mississippi  18:54, 1 June 2022 (UTC)