Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/GermanManFromFrankfurt/Archive

Suspected sockpuppets
Clear naming convention similarities. All editing articles on Albanian conflicts with particular interest in result and casualty parameters and claiming victories for Albania. Often editing in very close time proximity * https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battles_for_Plav_and_Gusinje&diff=prev&oldid=1122628564 https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battles_for_Plav_and_Gusinje&diff=prev&oldid=1122628363

*https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Radu%C5%A1a_ambush&oldid=1135927626 https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Radu%C5%A1a_ambush&oldid=1135927346

Including on drafts: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Draft:War_in_Gollak&action=history Gugrak (talk) 10:19, 7 March 2023 (UTC) Blocked sock. Horse Eye&#39;s Back (talk) 18:45, 7 June 2023 (UTC)

Comments by other users

 * Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.

They're tag teaming the same results box edits again here https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kosovo_Raid_(1448)&action=history — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gugrak (talk • contribs) 05:15, 11 March 2023 (UTC)   Blocked sock. Horse Eye&#39;s Back (talk) 18:44, 7 June 2023 (UTC)

And another example of these accounts working on the same drafts https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Draft:Air_Force_of_the_Albanian_People%27s_Army&action=history Gugrak (talk) 09:07, 12 March 2023 (UTC) Blocked sock. Horse Eye&#39;s Back (talk) 18:44, 7 June 2023 (UTC)

Horse Eye&#39;s Back (talk) 18:44, 7 June 2023 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * From a technical perspective, they're all somewhere between (very) and ❌ to each other. Between the naming scheme, large amount of overlap and timing, off-wiki coordination does seem like a very real possibility though, so I'll set this to checked.  --Blablubbs (talk) 16:28, 7 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Nothing more to do here. Case closed.  Vanjagenije  (talk)  07:38, 24 June 2023 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets
Hello. The accounts above are focused on editing articles related to battles/wars/conflicts involving ethnic Albanians. In particular, I began noticing these accounts targeting 2001 Macedonia insurgency articles around the same time in January/February of this year, whereas these article generally don't see heavy activity.

The editing behavior of multiple of these accounts has been problematic. NormalguyfromUK was blocked for edit warring once (30 Jan 2023) and is indefinitley blocked editing Battle of Košare. Based.shqiptar.frompirok was blocked once for edit warring (11 Dec 2022). Edison18273 was blocked once for edit warring (4 Feb 2023). The account AcEagle12's creation aligns with the block of NormalguyfromUK.

Note that there have been some username changes. Sockmaster was "Kardakli320" until 4 March 2023. NormalguyfromUK was "Albanian 7" until early February 2023.

Most of these accounts follow a [X individual] + "from" + [location] username formula. This includes: Based.shqiptar.frompirok, NormalguyfromUK, and GermanManFromFrankfurt.

The accounts with userpages also provide a bio using this formula:
 * Sockmaster: "Albanian from Karadaku" (deleted 3 March 2023)
 * Based.shqiptar.frompirok: "Hi I'm an albanian from Pirok"
 * Edison18273: "Albanian from Germany"

Suspicious edits and edit timing:
 * Draft:Aračinovo ambush was created by Edison18273 at 18:55, 27 February 2023‎; the sockmaster edited the page two minutes later‎
 * Draft:Battle of Slupčane (now Battle of Slupčane) was created by the sockmaster at 22:37, 28 January 2023; Based.shqiptar.frompirok edited the page 10 minutes later
 * NormalguyfromUK was blocked for 24 hours for edit warring on 2001 insurgency in Macedonia; AcEagle12 was created the next day and posted a message on the talkpage on the topic for which NormalguyfromUK had been blocked (diff)
 * Edison18273 posted also posted a message on this talkpage with the same concern
 * This is also the only talkpage on which Based.shqiptar.frompirok has ever edited
 * Battle of Košare, from which NormalguyfromUK is banned, has been edited by Edison18273, the sockmaster, and Based.shqiptar.frompirok in the past several months
 * Draft:War in Gollak was edited by NormalguyfromUK and the sockmaster within minutes of each other on 28 February 2023
 * Draft:Air Force of the Albanian People's Army is being edited by Based.shqiptar.frompirok and NormalguyfromUK
 * Sockmaster and Based.shqiptar.frompirok both targeted Battle of Llapushnik in the same hour on 25 Feb 2023, each being reverted in that span (diff, diff)
 * Draft:Battle of Matejče was created by the sockmaster at 21:53, 22 January 2023‎; NormalguyfromUK edited it 18 minutes later and the accounts each edited it within minutes of each other over the next few days
 * Both the sockmaster (Karadakli230 at the time) and NormalguyfromUK (Albanian 7 at the time) posted similar messages to Raduša ambush (the only users to start threads on that talkpage)
 * There are other such examples of one user creating a draft article and one of the others editing it soon after

The above shows intertwined editing behavior, along with a common username/userpage bio format. If any one of these accounts is not a sock, then there is some highly coordinated editing going on, but I find sockpuppetry to be more likely for each one. -- Local hero talk 04:57, 13 March 2023 (UTC)


 * Apologies, I did not know there was already an open SPI for this user until I submitted my piece, though I hope the additional info here helps. -- Local hero talk 05:00, 13 March 2023 (UTC)

Comments by other users

 * Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.

Also adding, again - naming similarities, significant overlap [|overlap] and interest in fiddling with results and casualty figures in infoboxes, including restoration of edit but other bits of the sockfarm https://sigma.toolforge.org/timeline.py?page=2001_insurgency_in_Macedonia&users=NormalguyfromUK&users=Based.shqiptar.frompirok&users=GermanManFromFrankfurt&users=QaifarShqiptari&server=enwiki


 * Adding . This one is very straight forward - the sockmaster forgets which account  he's logged in with and refers in his edit summary https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Skanderbeg%27s_rebellion&action=history  to an edit by  as his own https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Skanderbeg%27s_rebellion&diff=prev&oldid=1140971260 As with many of this sock's contribs its an edit to the result parameter in the infobox that provides a more positive result for the Albanian side.Gugrak (talk) 05:16, 15 March 2023 (UTC)

Adding, another account making the same pro-Albanian infobox edits and fiddles to resultsGugrak (talk) 02:39, 19 March 2023 (UTC)
 * But what about the edit from Gertice4 where he admitted he's edited both as Gertice4 andas Based.shqiptar.frompirok? https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Skanderbeg%27s_rebellion&action=history Gugrak (talk) 01:40, 23 March 2023 (UTC)

I think it's obvious there's some sort of socking going on, or canvassing. Another possible IP related to this case could be 88.152.185.223 (contribs). Kluche (talk) 16:57, 28 March 2023 (UTC) Sockmaster GermanmanfromFankfurt appears editing a new article created by NormalguyfromUK within a couple of hours. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_Tirana_and_Kruja_(1943)&action=history Quack quack quack.Gugrak (talk) 17:42, 1 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Adding who magically pops up contesting an AFD https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3AArticles_for_deletion%2FKosovo_Raid_%281448%29&curid=73522978&diff=1149365798&oldid=1149364466&diffmode=source  for a GermanManFromFrankfurt article, while also making the same undiscussed page move as GermanManFromFrankfurt here https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Insurgency_in_Karadag-Gollak&diff=prev&oldid=1149323296&diffmode=source

According yet another account fiddling with flags in infobox and suddenly editing the same obscure Albanian cold war articles — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gugrak (talk • contribs) 17:40, 18 April 2023 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments
OK--I was asked to have a look, and I did. I looked at Based.shqiptar.frompirok, AcEagle12, and Gertice4--but found no technical evidence of socking. Geolocation is roughly the same but that's not surprising, and I checked a few ranges as well, but no evidence of socking. There's logged out editing, sure, and there's accounts that appear to come out of nowhere (and do the somewhat sus things listed above), but I can find no technical evidence. I know, I did not check everything, but I checked the four that seemed likely candidates. As said above, off-wiki coordination may be a thing, and it may be that checking everything might show something more--but I don't see it. Sorry, Drmies (talk) 23:17, 22 March 2023 (UTC)
 * I saw that (I just said I checked those accounts) and that's one of the reasons I ran the check. I found no technical connection. Drmies (talk) 14:25, 23 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Marking as checked by me w/o action. I personally would have declined the check per Blablubbs, but even more with Drmies looking, there is nothing CU can do to help here. Checkuser is not something that can definitively prove socking. -- Amanda (she/her)  20:44, 26 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Nothing more to do. Case closed.  Vanjagenije  (talk)  07:42, 24 June 2023 (UTC)