Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Calhounmuse/Archive

Suspected sockpuppets



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

The user account Garçon de chômage made its first edit on 22 April, which was to a Destiny's Child album (a topic that Calhounmuse was heavily interested in). He went on to upload YouTube thumbnails as song artworks (File:Kanye West - Follow God.jpg, File:Doja Cat - Like That.jpg), which is something Calhounmuse was heavily criticised for and being right before he got indef blocked two days ago. Now, the Garçon de chômage account was inactive for more than a month, and only came back two days after Calhounmuse was blocked, immediately defending files uploaded by the latter from deletion. Now, this FfD was not mentioned on any of the song articles, and Garçon de chômage had never edited Calhounmuse's talk page or had any interaction with him to have had his talk page on his watchlist. In other words, there's no way he found out about the FfD unless he is Calhounmuse. These are obvious sockpuppets. NØ 03:30, 9 July 2020 (UTC)

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

 * - Mz7 (talk) 00:52, 10 July 2020 (UTC)
 * ✅., closing. Mz7 (talk) 00:56, 10 July 2020 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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Sock account registered one day after Calhounmuse's unblock request was declined. It restored an image uploaded by Calhounmuse to an article it had never edited before. There are also some obvious behavioral similarities: Randomly introducing 28% title width and 51% writing width to tracklists in articles about pop albums, and uploading copyrighted images with unsuitable licenses. Those are too many similarities to write off as coincidence considering the new account has just 12 edits. NØ 10:19, 26 July 2020 (UTC)

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

 * M. Menteur is ✅ to Calhounmuse along with . Pictogram resolved.svg All sock blocked and tagged. Closing case. Callanecc (talk • contribs • logs) 11:59, 26 July 2020 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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Apologies for being 4 months too late with this report, but the evidence is clear as day. With one of only two edits made by this user being restoration of a deleted Calhounmuse upload, along with the username similarity with prior socks. WP:DUCK. NØ 14:25, 29 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Is this gonna happen? The behavioral evidence seems fairly obvious in this case. One of two edits made by the sock is a restoration of the sockmaster's deleted file, and the username clearly continues in the same vein as prior socks. I would've also preferred a check for sleepers but I take that's unlikely considering the clerk decline?--NØ 07:58, 3 January 2021 (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

 * Reported account is too for checkuser data. This will need a behavioral investigation...  ~Oshwah~  (talk)  (contribs)   14:50, 29 December 2020 (UTC)


 * Could be, but I can't really see blocking an account that hasn't been used in 5 months based on a single edit. If they come back, we can look again.  Until then, they're not doing any harm. -- RoySmith (talk) 23:35, 22 January 2021 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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


 * User account signed up the same month Calhounmuse's last confirmed sock was blocked.
 * Both users have several obscure pages in common, a lot of Kelly Rowland / Destiny's Child / old R&B albums:
 * This sock exposed itself the same way prior Calhounmuse socks did, by suddenly popping up and defending his creations from being deleted, never having edited said pages previously: ,
 * Both have used "No PA sticker" as an edit summary while reuploading artworks for old hip hop / R&B songs:, . This is not a common thing to do at all.
 * Readjusting tracklists in album articles to random percentages:, ,.
 * Similar "Songs written by / produced by" category page creations:, , , , ,
 * This is a WP:DUCK. Please check for sleeper accounts as well, which is what the CU has been requested for.--<b style="color:purple">N</b><b style="color:teal">Ø</b> 15:45, 7 March 2021 (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

 * Looks ducky to me, . Don't think CU is needed here, pretty obvious case and no evidence of sleepers in the archive. Closing. GeneralNotability (talk) 01:37, 9 March 2021 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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


 * Account created the same month Calhounmuse's last sock was blocked.
 * Made its first edit recreating a deleted Calhounmuse page. Note that Calhounmuse's last sock was notorious for making such "Song recordings produced by XYZ" pages.
 * This edit where random percentages are introduced into the album tracklist sealed the deal for me. See and.
 * This is a WP:DUCK. I request a check for sleepers as well, as this user has had them in the past. Thanks. <b style="color:purple">N</b><b style="color:teal">Ø</b> 13:51, 10 April 2021 (UTC)

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

 * Found and ✅:
 * This sock will be bagged and tagged.  ~Oshwah~  (talk) (contribs)   02:46, 11 April 2021 (UTC)
 * This sock will be bagged and tagged.  ~Oshwah~  (talk) (contribs)   02:46, 11 April 2021 (UTC)
 * This sock will be bagged and tagged.  ~Oshwah~  (talk) (contribs)   02:46, 11 April 2021 (UTC)


 * I'm persuaded by the similarities between edits and the timeline - blocked and tagged.  Girth Summit <sub style="font-family:Segoe print;color:blue;"> (blether)  13:23, 25 April 2021 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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


 * Created in October 2020, the account "IAmAnIndividual" only really became active in June 2021, two months after Calhounmuse's last known sockpuppet UnlabeledPunk was blocked.
 * Primary edits of the sock comprise useless reuploads of musical artworks: . This was a habit of Calhounmuse and subsequent socks:.
 * Notably, both users have reuploaded Nicki Minaj artworks. This looks like too much of a coincidence to me. Calhounmuse: File:Rich Sex Cover.jpeg, File:Nickiminajromanreloaded.png, File:Nicki Minaj - Roman in Moscow.jpeg, File:Roman's Revenge (feat. Lil Wayne) - Single.jpg, File:Regret In Your Tear.jpg, File:No Frauds cover.jpg, File:Changeditsong.jpg, File:High School Nicki Minaj.png; IAmAnIndividual: File:Nicki Minaj Pink Friday Roman Reloaded cover.jpg, File:Nicki Minaj - Pink Friday Roman Reloaded - The Re-Up.jpg
 * They have created "[Insert artist] albums"/"[Insert artist] songs" pages that look identical to those by prior socks: ,
 * Both Calhounmuse and the sock have used their user pages to write shady essays that have little to do with Wikipedia: Calhounmuse, IAmAnIndividual. While the latter spewed some drivel about video games, they used the term "Touch grass" which is stan lingo. Calhounmuse was known to use language like this.
 * The sock has a section called "Music cover art uploads" on its user page, where it maintains a list of artworks it has uploaded, and almost defensively points out that it has only reuploaded them to make them 300x300px in size, which is unusual behaviour. (This, to me, looks like an obvious paranoid reaction to me replacing some of their uploads the last time they got blocked. See: Beat'n Down Yo Block.JPG→2, Sunrise (album).jpg→4) Various obscure R&B/Hip hop albums appear on this list which is consistent with the artworks previous socks reuploaded.
 * I can hear the quacks. Socks are all stale so behavioral evidence will have to be examined. <b style="color:purple">N</b><b style="color:teal">Ø</b> 16:49, 4 December 2021 (UTC)

Additional:
 * The sock recently tried to add a music video screenshot as the artwork on a song article. Calhounmuse repeatedly did this and was criticised for it. (Also, in the latter link, note the barrage of Nicki Minaj artworks that were deleted.)
 * The sock has pointed to a history of posting on the Esperanto wiki below, note that Calhounmuse has a documented history of naming socks after French, Portuguese, etc. words, which seems noteworthy.
 * Calhounmuse and the sock have used similar language;, . Both capitalize G in "God", and the expression itself is not that common either.
 * A simple look at both their contributions confirms neither is fond of using edit summaries.
 * There is overuse of quotations to be shady both below as well as in the unblock requests on User talk:Calhounmuse.
 * I am not convinced by the non-arguments provided below, which only depict that the user changed their ways slightly to avoid being caught for sockpuppetry. However, at this point, I will leave this investigation up to the delegates. Thanks.--<b style="color:purple">N</b><b style="color:teal">Ø</b> 18:27, 6 December 2021 (UTC)

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

This evidence seems to be full of confirmation bias. Here are my counter-arguments:
 * I actually made my account in January 2018 prior to a name change as seen on my talk page and made edits on the Esperanto Wikipedia from April to August 2020. Those were my first edits on the site and I haven't edited eo wiki since as my interest in the language has faded.
 * The fact that we have both replaced music art is not conclusive evidence at all.
 * The Nicki Minaj artworks are exactly that—a coincidence. We just happened to replace art from the same artist. May I point out that Calmhounmuse's uploads are of a different size and quality than mine?
 * Again, a coincidence. I was expanding Gummibär coverage on Wikipedia at that time as can be seen from my edits of related pages. The category is also not identical—see the portal link in the top right corner that is absent from those made by Calhounmuse. Regardless, song categories will naturally look similar to each other as they all serve the same purpose.
 * My user page's description is a copypasta. Copy-paste it into Google to find many sites containing the paragraph. The common usage of "stan lingo" (I hadn't even seen that term used prior to this) between us is also not at all conclusive of sockpuppetry.
 * My description of my cover art uploads is for others to know the common routine I use when uploading. I don't know how you have twisted that into a "paranoid reaction" about anything. The obscure R&B/Hip hop albums have obviously been cherry-picked from the list as I feel it covers a fairly wide range of genres. Also for the love of God, regardless of context, please don't call me "it". IAmAnIndividual (talk) 17:37, 6 December 2021 (UTC)

Comments to additional notes:
 * If Calhounmuse was criticised for the uploads, why would they do it again with a sockpuppet? That doesn't make sense.
 * My account is not named after an Esperanto word and I do not know French or Portuguese.
 * Capitalising the G in God is common practice. "For the love of God" is quite a common expression in Essex.
 * I often accidentally post an edit before writing a summary, though I do use them when I feel they are necessary.
 * We both used quotation marks. That doesn't prove anything. I believe this fails WP:DBQ, specifically WP:COPYCAT. IAmAnIndividual (talk) 19:53, 6 December 2021 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * The filer has expressed a wish to withdraw this investigation, so I am closing it without action. FWIW, I looked at this case before (though not in-depth) and didn't see anything that strongly convinced me that they were the same person. There are some similarities, but also some differences, and much of the evidence above is vague. No prejudice towards re-filing if more convincing evidence comes to light. Thanks, Spicy (talk) 21:30, 19 December 2021 (UTC)