Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Fallywaky/Archive

Suspected sockpuppets



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First caught my attention at Talk:Mainland_Southeast_Asia. Both the suspected sock puppets had their votes struck by, who struck them as possible sockpuppet votes. I looked into this further and have discovered that:
 * IP has only edited twice (contribs). Once in Jan of this year, which was adding a spelling mistake to an article (but this seems unrelated, as IPs change). The second edit (diff) was to "Strongly support" (styled like Strongly support: ) that the page be moved to Indochina.
 * Account is a SPA. Their two edits, both to the RM discussion (1 and 2), used the same wikicode to vote (but with tags wrapping it). First edit was to place their vote and their second edit was to add their signature (replacing SineBot's edit to add their sig). Also the account was created at 02:59 (Special:Log/Sksiike,sos) and the first edit was around 13 mins later at 3:12 diff, so the account holder didn't spend much time between creating the account and placing their vote.

Also the IP and SPA edited less than 3 hours between (IP edit at 00:14 and first edit at 3:12) and it seems strange that these two accounts would edit so closely together each other on only such a specific thing. I think that the SPA being from mobile web and the IP being from the web is a bit of red herring. From the points above, I can connect the IP and SPA.

Now to connect the alleged sockmaster:
 * The SPA account writes in their vote Mainland SE Asia (diff). The only other editor on that talk page to use that phrase (or even the phrase SE Asia) is Fallywaky (checked by using the Find feature (Control and F) and searching for either phrase on Talk:Mainland Southeast Asia). I have not used diffs, as it allows anyone who is checking to also check that no other user used the phrases. It seems strange and un-coincidental that both editors would use the same phrase.
 * Fallywaky moved the page to their preferred title(s) (once to Indo-china (diff), then to Indochina (Indo-China) (diff)). This in itself suggests that the editor Fallywaky‎ really wanted to move to that title, despite editors telling him the best way was to discuss with other editors first (and how these discussions take time). Fallywaky then got into a move war with : after Galobtter reverted their two moves, Fallywaky‎ just moved the page back to Indochina (Indo-China) (diff). After their last move (about 20 mins later), they then decided to try to initiate a move discussion (diff). This meant that when they tried to open the move discussion, the title of the article was Indochina (Indo-China), as Galobtter only moved the page back at 06:38 the next day (diff). All this shows that the editor was prepared to do pretty bold things, including getting into move wars just to get their own preferred title, and leaving the page at a title which is similar to the requested title with then requesting a move to move the page to Indochina (perhaps trying to lead a page mover/admin to move the page without reading the discussion above the RM discussion (but I can't say that for sure)).
 * The RM discussion was not going Fallywaky's way. In 2 days, nobody had supported their move proposal and they had been pretty vocal in the thread above the RM discussion about where they wanted the page to be moved. Then suddenly two strong supports within 3 hours of each other, citing the same arguments as presented by Fallywaky, are added to the discussion. This is even more likley to have been Fallywaky, as of the points discussed in the bullet point above.
 * The two accounts and IP supported merging Mainland Southeast Asia and Indochina both in the RM discussion and in the thread above the RM discussion. The IP says I also support merging the pages or deleting or retitling the page now called "Indochina" as it doesn't have much to offer about Indochina. (diff), the SPA says I would also support a merge with the current Indochina page. (diff), and Fallywaky says More merging would also help. (diff). This, however, is a bit of a weak point to connect SPA and IP to Fallywaky, as other editors wanted to merge the articles. It mostly further links the IP and SPA.
 * The IP likes to use double quotes in situations outside of quoting someone else (even when nobody else has used double quotes with the phrase or even the phrase at all on the talk page), and so does Fallywaky. For example the IP writes is attempting to force "a new phrase" onto viewers (nobody else had written a new phrase on that page) (diff) and Fallywaky writes Thanks for the consideration, and hope we can solve this "issue." (Fallywaky is the only person to write issue. on that page and when they first use it, it is in quotes) (diff)
 * The IP WHOIS shows it is from the US and Fallywaky says on the talk page Hello everyone, I am a high school student in the USA (diff).
 * The IP, SPA and (nearly always) Fallywaky doesn't place a space between their signature and the end of the comment. See diff for SPA, diff for IP, and for Fallywaky diffs: 1, 2, 3, 4 - one with space and two without, 5 - on their talk page, 6 - on their talk page and 7 - on their talk page. Fallywaky has only used a signature with a space once (diff) (as far as I can tell). The SPA and IP each only made 1 edit where they signed
 * The IP and Fallywaky don't link the page when they are talking about it, but instead place the page name in double quotes. The IP writes in their vote ... the page now called "Indochina" ... (diff) and Fallywaky writes I'm not saying we have to title this page just "Indochina" (diff) and Why don't we title this page "Modern Indochina" or just "Indochina" and add disambiguation on the top for "French Indochina." (diff). Separately, the SPA never linked the pages (but did not place double quotes).
 * Fallywaky likes to switch between using and not using double quotes (except, when they are quoting the title of the page it seems pretty constant in the use of double quotes). The use in the thread above the RM discussion seems pretty irregular, but seems to be used when they first mention a phrase. Take (diff) where he writes "mainland SE Asia" isn't a term used nearly as commonly as Indochina or the Indochinese peninsular, and Indochina is used much more in modern speech than Mainland S.E Asia. I was doing assignment in geography about the geographical location of "Indochina." Im requesting the change because Indochina or the Indochinese peninsula is its common name, hence why I had an assignment about it. I am aware that the Term 'Mainland SE Asia" is used, but not in commonplace. The term "mainland SE Asia" is usually used to describe the region of Indochina, but not in replace of it. In the extract above, the editor switches between double quotes and not using double quotes. We can compare this to the use of double quotes when mentioning the potential titles of the articles in the SPA and IP vote. IP uses double quotes and it is the first to vote, then SPA does not use double quotes (being the second to vote). From this I could say that, if Fallywaky is the sockmaster, they were still thinking about the previous vote and then may have been more inclined not to use double quotes.

Just to be clear the reason the IP and SPA are being used abusively, is that it was meant to try to garner more support for the proposed move, by making it seem that three editors strongly supported the move (nom and sockpuppets) rather than just the nom.

I'm sure I could find more that connects the IP, SPA and Fallywaky, but I've spent a bit of time on this now. If more is needed, give me a ping and I'll find more. I am certian that these accounts must be linked. I would be tempted to say Quack!, but I don't think it is that clear cut. Dreamy Jazz 🎷 talk to me &#124; my contributions 21:47, 12 April 2019 (UTC)
 * I have placed a notice on Fallywaky's talk page about this SPI. Dreamy Jazz 🎷 talk to me &#124; my contributions 12:26, 15 April 2019 (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
— Berean Hunter   (talk)  14:17, 19 April 2019 (UTC)
 * This case hasn't received much attention. I'm inclined to agree that all three do correspond to the same person, but with so few edits it's hard to be sure. I'm tagging to request CU with respect to the named accounts only. ST47 (talk) 00:38, 18 April 2019 (UTC)
 * ✅, master blocked 72 hours and sock indeffed,.