Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Ernio48/Archive

Suspected sockpuppets



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

The possible connection between these two account did not come to my attention until today, when Ernio48 made a series of edits extremely reminiscent of those previously made by Emiya1980.To begin with, the Editor Interaction report on these two accounts shows a 30 article overlap. The subjects are primarily on German modern and historical political and military figures. This kind of overlap is not unusual for two editors whose interests just happen to coincide, but notice that there is a second area of overlap, which is not related to the first: contemporary American presidents: Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. Another outlier is Catherine the Great. The combination of these three subject areas makes the overlaps between these two account much more indicative of sockpuppetry or meatpuppetry.Then there is the matter of the type of edits being made. Emiya1980 first came to my attention when they added flagcruft to the infobox of the article Otto von Bismarck. , When I went to their talk page to warn them against doing so, I found other warnings from other editors about different kinds of disruptive editing. Emiya's response to my complaint indicated an awareness of Wikipedia's policies somewhat beyond what would be expected from an editor who had only been around for about 3 months. Despite my complaints, Emiya1980 continued to add flags to infoboxes of other articles, and didn't stop until another editor joined in the complaint about their editing. Today, the editor Ernio48, of which I had not been previously aware, added flagcruft to the Bismarck article infobox, and to a number of other articles on historical German political subjects. The edits were so similar to those added months earlier by Emiya1980, that it occurred to me that there might be a connection, so I ran the Editor Interaction tool on them, with the results I reported above. I have inquired to both editors if there is a connection between the two accounts.As far as I am aware, the two accounts have not been used to create a false consensus. The most that can be said at this point is that if they are connected, Ernio48 is taking advantage of being a separate account to make edits that Emiya1980 has been strongly discouraged from making. For this reason, if it turns out these two accounts are related, I would not suggest that both be blocked, but instead that the editor should be given the choice of which account to use, and the other account should then be indeffed.It is not outside the realm of the possible that the apparent connection between the two accounts is totally coincidental, but I think we should hear from both accounts their explanation for the similarity of their editing. For that reason I have notified both accounts of the existence of this report. Beyond My Ken (talk) 20:11, 27 September 2017 (UTC)
 * @Ernio48: It's certainly possible. You may simply be guilty of the same poor judgment as Emiya1980. Beyond My Ken (talk) 20:40, 27 September 2017 (UTC)
 * In light of the CU result, my apologies to both editors. Beyond My Ken (talk) 23:31, 27 September 2017 (UTC)

Comments by other users
''Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.''
 * That's false. All I can say.Ernio48 (talk) 20:29, 27 September 2017 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * - To compare the two accounts. I think there's enough here to support a check. It's a bit too coincidental that Ernio48 is reinstating a dozen+ of the same kinds of edits Emiya1980 made around August 10. See, e.g., ;  . Thanks, Kevin ( aka L235 ·&#32; t ·&#32; c) 20:24, 27 September 2017 (UTC)
 * Both accounts are ❌. Geographically impossible. - Mailer Diablo 23:22, 27 September 2017 (UTC)
 * Closing. Kevin ( aka L235 ·&#32; t ·&#32; c) 02:50, 28 September 2017 (UTC)