Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Entuziazm/Archive

Suspected sockpuppets
To the best of my knowledge Man of Kvass has been blocked as a sock already, and claimed that Entuziazm was actually the account of his little brother, who in turn had claimed the contentious edits that got him blocked had been made by someone else (see comment by admin jpgordon on Man of Kvass's talk page). IP1, in turn, posted unban requests on Man of Kvass's talk page saying that he actually goes to school with Man of Kvass and that it was indeed someone else who was using the account, and IP3 complained to Drmies of being unfairly treated because of the wrongdoings of his brother, and so on and so forth. You get the point. IP2 was added on the basis of a single edit, but that shared the same characteristics with all the other edits, and could be geolocated to the same general region as the other IP (Ontario, Canada). It is not blocked. IP3 is already blocked and shares the same characteristics with the others.

All of the accounts and IPs edit the same pages pertaining to the military history of the USSR, using the same sources (which are no sources at all - they usually links to main pages of places, or to websites that do not contain the info they claim is there, probably shielding themselves behind the fact that whoever checks that doesn't read Russian or Ukrainian), and all highlight the Ukrainian character of successful people (particularly Alexander Morozov, Andrey Yeryomenko, Semyon Timoshenko and Rodion Malinovsky), while denying it for some of the more vilified characters of the conflict (like Grigory Kulik). At the same time, they attempt to stress the ethnic character of their "Ukrainianness", and in some cases even suggest that these ethnic qualities were actually what led to success. In some cases, when asked by other users, they toned down the "ethnic" bit, but when not challenged they've kept stressing it. I will also say, in the interest of fairness, that some of these people are indeed Ukrainian and their origin was already stated in the article, even if this user multiplied, altered or otherwise stressed the references to it. In fact, in some (few) cases the rewording resulted in improved readability, however it was usually a rewording from a previous stage in which they themselves had clogged the text up with their edits. One feature of their edits is this state of "permanent editing". Sometimes they'll put "final edit" in their edit summary several times in a row.

Examples of them making very similar edits: On the Alexander Alexandrovich Morozov article: Entuziazm: IP2: IP1: Man of Kvass (picking up where he left off with IP2):

On the T-64 article: IP3: IP1: Man of Kvass:

On the Grigory Kulik article: Entuziazm removes "Ukrainian" and introduces "of disputed origin": IP3 introduces "most likely Russian": IP1 takes the final step, stating categorically that they were "of Russian ethnicity": Note: the "source" he links makes no mention of Kulik's ethnicity.

I have already mentioned above some other pages where they have been involved, but I would like to highlight their edits on the T-34 article as well, the end product of which I found quite disturbing (especially after the edits on Kulik):

The T-34 was manufactured in the city of Kharkiv and although the tank was originally designed by Mikhail Koshkin, he only made the Russian Model 1940, which was weak and inferior compared to the Ukrainian model(s) created by Ukrainian tank designer, Alexander Alexandrovich Morozov. 

The suggestion that the tank designed by Russians is weak, while the tank made by Ukrainians is strong (assuming that they're right about Morozov, which is not a given, since they provide no sources to corroborate his ethnicity), is not only silly in itself but in present times has some grim overtones.

Anyway, there are tons of other edits you can take a look at, but I think this should be enough to state my case, at least initially. Ostalgia (talk) 21:55, 2 October 2022 (UTC)

/Edit: added a new account, created today, which is editing the same articles, reverting my edits, and defending the other accounts. The name itself suggests they're WP:NOTHERE, and I heavily suspect them of being the exact same guy. I reverted their edits on Kulik once before realising it was most likely the sock. Will not engage, and will not edit the pages, until this case is wrapped up, unless he goes ham with the edits.

/Edit2: I failed, user came to my talk page after that single revert to insult me. I pretty sternly warned him (on my own talk page) not to come back or I'd report him and he replied with another attack.

Other than that, the account is editing the same pages as the previous ones and the IP, in the same direction, and sometimes "collabs" with the IP, using it to edit over other users. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ostalgia (talk • contribs) 18:38, 3 October 2022 (UTC)

/Edit3: On reverting the effects of their latest rampage, I found that they admit to being the first IP mentioned here. Ostalgia (talk) 23:00, 3 October 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

 * - -- RoySmith (talk) 21:45, 3 October 2022 (UTC)
 * All three accounts are ✅    -- RoySmith (talk) 21:49, 3 October 2022 (UTC)
 * - please block ‎ for one month (anon-only, account creation blocked). This is a school IP but all of the recent activity is clearly from this editor. The remaining unblocked IP has not been active recently. Thanks, Spicy (talk) 23:51, 3 October 2022 (UTC)
 * . Closing. --  Tamzin  [ cetacean needed ] (she&#124;they&#124;xe) 06:30, 4 October 2022 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets
This user adopts the same behaviour as the previously confirmed sockmaster. They mostly edit on subjects related to Ukraine, in POV-pushing ways. To quote from the previous SPI case, they glorify and "highlight the Ukrainian character of successful people (particularly Alexander Morozov, Andrey Yeryomenko , Semyon Timoshenko and Rodion Malinovsky (no edits yet for this one; my note)), while denying it for some of the more vilified characters of the conflict". Once again from the previous SPI case: "In some cases, when asked by other users, they toned down the "ethnic" bit, but when not challenged they've kept stressing it." This is now also visible at their talk page, where they have flatly provided excuses, only to put back some weird POV editing on the related articles (see for example). "Sometimes they'll put "final edit" in their edit summary several times in a row." All of this is happening two weeks after the previous SPI case, on an account created 11 days after the previous ones were banned. Looks quite sussy to me.  Billets Mauves €500 19:49, 18 October 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

 * - . Please, indef Cicada44321. Thank you. MarioGom (talk) 22:11, 18 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Ran a quick check to see if there were others, but didn't see any. --Blablubbs (talk) 11:04, 19 October 2022 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets
Single edit from mid Feb, but once again IP from Toronto labelling Kulik a Jew (despite the sources) instead of Ukrainian because of his less-than-stellar performance in WW2. If I have time later today I'm gonna check the other articles he usually edits to see if he's been at it on any of those as well. Ostalgia (talk) 13:28, 11 April 2023 (UTC) Ok so after checking a bit further, he's been really active recently. Keeps trying to underscore the Ukrainian character of things he perceives as successful and de-Ukrainianise those that are not, as well as remove criticism of historical figures prominent in Ukrainian historical memory (for instance, second IP editing Mazepa and the Hetmanate in the same fashion as before and still trying to replace Mazepa's picture). Subsequent IPs pov-pushing (adding/removing content on ideological grounds without sources) on the same pages as before, + occasional personal attacks in edit summaries. He has also impersonated Wikipedia admins and has threatened that If you revert this edit without my permission, you will be traced and will be charged for edit earring by the Wikipedia administration team. Some of the edits, from several IPs, that are consistent with the edits of the original SPI:, , , , , , , , ,.

I don't think it is be possible to ban every IP this person uses. Maybe it would be more beneficial to add some sort of basic protection to the pages (which, after all, fall under the EE umbrella).

Some of these IPs had edited the topics in question in late March, that is <2 weeks before this report, but apparently they have also "not edited recently". Fascinating.Ostalgia (talk) 22:15, 15 April 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

 * None of these IPs has edited recently. Closing. Bbb23 (talk) 18:07, 15 April 2023 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets
And here the "not recently active" editor is back to adding this bogus claim to keep pushing his PoV. Ostalgia (talk) 20:57, 21 April 2023 (UTC) Ostalgia (talk) 20:57, 21 April 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

 * , this user is editing from extremely busy mobile IP ranges. There is no way to effectively block them without also blocking half of the mobile editors in the Greater Toronto Area. As frustrating as it is, the best thing to do here is probably to revert, move on and request page protection for articles they edit frequently. Spicy (talk) 16:26, 22 April 2023 (UTC)
 * I am aware of that, which is why I suggested protection for pages instead of blocks in my previous report. I would've appreciated feedback/a constructive comment like yours rather than the borderline snarky, not to mention inaccurate, one-liner I got from your colleague. Ostalgia (talk) 19:31, 22 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Semi-protected Grigory Kulik. Closing. Spicy (talk) 19:13, 22 April 2023 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets
Continued edit-warring on T-64 article, as this user has habitually done with IPs in the past:

    Loafiewa (talk) 19:17, 18 July 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

 * Sure as hell looks like them. Blocked for two weeks, ask at RfPP if they come back under another IP.  Girth Summit  (blether)  11:00, 19 July 2023 (UTC)