Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Critical Reader/Archive

Report date February 14 2009, 23:13 (UTC)

 * Suspected sockpuppets


 * Evidence submitted by IsraelXKV8R

unfortunately, a prior meat/sockpuppetry case (ticket # 2007112710018004) from nyu promoting the views of a particular scholar are arising again. this time (as last), the user has again used an ip address: 216.165.95.64 traced to nyu to attempt to post materials promoting the views of Norman Golb on wiki articles concerning Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls. just as last time, the subject then employed a single purpose account utilizing 'first last' alias tracing back to nyu.

this is not new. around oct-nov of 2007, this same issue arose surrounding a wiki alias named User_talk:Critical_Reader. the case was submitted to wiki admins who investigated and found this to be a series of sock puppets utilizing aliases to promote controversy surrounding a single scholar.

some of the alias used are as follows:


 * 1) “Critical Reader” User_talk:Critical_Reader (created Oct. 5, 2006)
 * 2) “Ethical concern” User_talk:Ethical_Concern (created 10:30, Aug. 1, 2007)
 * 3) “Harold Milton” User_talk:Harold_Milton (created 21:32, Nov. 16, 2007)
 * 4) “Philip Kirby” User_talk:Phillip_Kirby (created 14:12, Nov. 19, 2007)
 * 5) “David Saunderfeld” User_talk:David_Saunderfeld (created 19:02, Nov. 21, 2007)
 * 6) “Jacob Stein” User_talk:Jacob_Stein (created 10:10, Nov. 24, 2007)
 * 7) “Myriamyst” User_talk:Myriamyst (created 20:39, Nov. 29, 2007)
 * 8) “Extratheologian” User_talk:Extratheologian (created 12:48, November 29, 2007)

(many of these aliases have been since deleted/purged, but the archives and histories are, of course, present to you on the admin end. or see: here.)

the above matter was referred to dispute resolution and adjudicated (ticket # 2007112710018004), resulting in the sockpuppets being banished.

the anonymous, single purpose account that is the first_last name combo of rachel.greenberg, hailing from an nyu ip address, has inserted material critical of exhibitions of the dead sea scrolls, which cite as sources and link to criticisms of a scholar named norman golb. he denies being affiliated with other banned sock puppets, and accuses me of a conflict of interest. does that about sum it up? please keep that argument in mind.

please review the case surrounding ticket # 2007112710018004. then compare details. compare language. compare knowledge of other links, such as the recently mentioned la times article by mike boehm, which rachel.greenberg coincidentally mentioned above. compare that to posts made by critical reader made on this very page above and on other wiki pages involving qumran and ancient qumran. compare them to the posts made by charles gadda. note the focus of the criticisms, the language, and the timing of the posts, which all target exhibitions of the dead sea scrolls and those that participate in them. note also some of the discussions in the comments. check the alias list against the 40+ aliases listed for 'charles gadda', including 'j. friedman' and 'jessica friedman,' who happen to appear in comments on several of 'charles gadda's' now public articles. then perhaps view the article at biblical archaeology review website. pay attention to the comments in the talkback box where one user asserts that 'j. friedman' is, in fact, norman golb's son, raphael golb (rg).

concerning the evidence presented in the case surrounding ticket # 2007112710018004, a team of objective wikipedia mediators and editors determined that this was all nothing more than a campaign by a sock puppet for norman golb to promote his views and publicly criticize all other scholars studying the dead sea scrolls. keep in mind that another dead sea scrolls exhibition is gearing up in toronto. why does a series of reoccurring aliases and anonymous sock puppets continually return to criticize wiki articles involving qumran, the dead sea scrolls, and promote norman golb every time a new exhibition is about to open? sheer coincidence?

there is a reason 'charles gadda' aka 'critical reader' aka 'rachel greenberg' is doing what he is doing. this article, which shows how misinformation in wikipedia can actually become false fact, explains why the aliases are so bent on manufacturing this whole norman golb/dead sea scroll exhibition controversy into the dead sea scrolls wikipedia article. some newspaper might come here for background information. it's actually quite a clever racket. first, attempt to insert info about the conspiracy/controversy into the wiki page. then send an email from a fictitious name (he prefers gmail) touting the conspiracy/controversy. (european writers and intellectual historians work well given his education.) make sure you mail the mass anonymous emails to the news outlets and museums months before the exhibition gets there. hopefully you can dupe some aspiring journalist to seize on the 'conspiracy' aspect of the story and print something like mike boehm or poor adam mcdowell did. lol. i remember when poor brian howe at indyweek.com actually got duped into quoting one of the aliases. poor brian howe quoted 'robert dworkin', who in turn duped vox populi into printing one of his dead sea scrolls/golb conspiracy articles on their site (go ahead, click on vox populi and click on 'read the full article' and see what happens. they pulled it). indy.com was so embarrassed, they amended the article by putting a line through the part of the article that quoted 'robert dworkin.' the national review actually pulled the original article (that rachel greenberg keeps citing above) but it had already gotten picked up elsewhere. but that's how this works. he needs a home base like | now public where he can write anonymously, but still get picked up by google news alerts. now public has yet to shut his account down, even though every single article deals with the dead sea scrolls controversy and norman golb (including the sarah palin and bernie madoff articles lol). (now public did shut one of his other accounts, peter kaufman, down.) and so on and so on. when the next dead sea scroll announcement is made, start all over again. blog on now public, send letters to media outlets pointing to now public, and try to get a national press story. in the mean time, write anonymous letters to scholars involved with the exhibitions and try to get them to respond. then ask them for a response to the 'controversy.' when they finally tell you to bugger off, publish the entire ordeal on an anonymous wordpress blog. don't believe me? read the word press blog about unsuspecting bart ehrman. 'jerome cooper' stars as the anonymous emailer, and by the time bart ehrman caught on (or was made aware of the scam), the entire exchange is published on yet another wordpress blog. when the scrolls were in charlotte, the aliases wrote letters and attacked. when the scrolls were in kansas city, they got a pass, because they invited dr. golb to be a 'distinguished lecturer'. but when the scrolls came to seattle, and they did not invite dr. golb to speak, the aliases wrote their letters and attacked. when the scrolls were in san diego, and dr. golb was not invited to speak, the aliases came after those of us who study the scrolls in so cal. in raleigh, it was jodi magness and bart ehrman's turn. in new york, it was larry schiffman. and now he's gearing up for toronto again.

that's why this is important. do i like checking wiki every second and tracking this guy, no. but i can help stop it, or at least temper it. and make no mistake, the aliases will argue and complain and appeal and cry conflict of interest. if he follows suit, next comes claims of antisemitism and conspiracy. but then again, that's all he can do. he doesn't want truth, he only wants the fight. and wikipedia must see this, and when possible, stop it.

thank you IsraelXKV8R (talk) 23:13, 14 February 2009 (UTC)


 * update - just in case you need more proof, here's more from today:

if you needed any further evidence that rachel.greenberg is a sock puppet of critical reader, who in turn is a sock puppet for 'charles gadda' and his pro-golb/scorched earth/manufacture and stir controversy/smear all scholars that disagree with golb campaign, look no further. just above, rachel.greenberg said he was quoting an article from the jewish museum. just above, rachel.greenberg quotes the article as such (i cut-and-pasted it as he wrote it):

Scholars have two basic theories about who used the scrolls. The first posits that the scrolls all belonged to a single religious sect [living] at the settlement of Qumran. Most scholars identify this group as the Essenes ... although other groups such as the Sadducees and even proto-Christians have been proposed.

when we actually follow the link and go to the jewish museum page that rachel.greenberg offers above, we find that very paragraph. it reads as follows (again, i cut-and-pasted it):

Scholars have two basic theories about who used the scrolls. The first posits that the scrolls all belonged to a single religious sect that probably lived at the settlement of Qumran. Most scholars identify this group as the Essenes described in the writings of ancient historians, although other groups such as the Sadducees and even proto-Christians have been proposed.

when we compare the two quotes, we notice three distinct differences.


 * first, the text from the jewish museum article does not put any of the text in bold, but rachel.greenberg's blockquote does have the words 'two basic theories' in bold.


 * second, in rachel.greenberg's quote, the word 'living' is in brackets ( [living] ). yet, in the jewish museum page, we see find the words 'that probably lived'. thus, we see that rachel.greenberg inserted the bracketed word 'living' in place of the words 'that probably lived', which were found in the original jewish museum page.


 * third, in rachel.greenberg's blockquote, a portion of the text is eliminated, and an ellipsis is put in it's place between the words 'essenes' and 'although'. however, the actual quote from the jewish museum page has the words, 'described in the writings of ancient historians' included in the text, which rachel.greenberg replaced with an ellipsis.

therefore, rachel.greenberg put the words 'two basic theories' in bold, replaced the words 'that probably lived' with the bracked word 'living', and replaced the words 'described in the writings of ancient historians' with an ellipsis. this is quite interesting, given the fact that i've seen this exact same edit before. but it is not on the jewish museum page, it's on 'charles gadda's' article on the new york exhibit. there you will notice the exact same edits: the same words are put in bold, the same word 'living' replaces the words 'that probably lived,' and the same phrase 'described in the writings of ancient historians' is replaced by an ellipsis. 'charles gadda's' article reads as follows (again, i have cut-and-pasted it):

Scholars have two basic theories about who used the scrolls. The first posits that the scrolls all belonged to a single religious sect [living] at the settlement of Qumran. Most scholars identify this group as the Essenes ... although other groups such as the Sadducees and even proto-Christians have been proposed.

thus, this is pretty basic literary-critical evidence that rachel.greenberg is not just some random nyu student with an amateur interest in the dead sea scrolls, but is being directly informed by the work of 'charles gadda', who has already been confirmed as the puppet master behind confirmed sock puppet critical reader.

thanx. IsraelXKV8R (talk) 00:25, 16 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Comments by accused parties    See Defending yourself against claims.


 * Comments by other users

Requested by IsraelXKV8R (talk) 23:13, 14 February 2009 (UTC)
 * CheckUser requests


 * Please provide a code letter. Thank you, Tiptoety  talk 01:39, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * assuming that was to me. added letters. if not intended for me, apologies. IsraelXKV8R (talk) 01:45, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * It was, thank you. Tiptoety  talk 01:46, 15 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Clerk, patrolling admin and checkuser comments

✅ Currently available technical evidence indicates the NYU connection seen in both Suspected sock puppets/Critical Reader and. Behavioral evidence indicates the same pattern of editing. -- Avi (talk) 02:16, 16 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Conclusions