Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/H114532/Archive

20 May 2016

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At Symphony for Organ No. 5 (Widor), editors have wearied from repeated unexplained deletion of content and/or addition of his own https://youtube.com/watch?v=5xmHT6ovroM WP:LINKSPAM and WP:PROMOTION apparently from British teenager J.V.Clegg, making disruptive edits from at least 9 single-purpose WP:SOCK accounts over 4 years with missing or false edit summaries. See these diffs from H114532, Sr4498302, SusanaB2008, Nigelorgans, Caseyrosshampton7, MusicProff1963, London Organist, PipesUK, and now (3 times today) OrganMasterFrance and OrganMasterFrance and OrganMasterFrance. The sockdrawer behavior seems obvious enough from the edit histories of the 9 accounts, so CheckUser probably isn't necessary. — Patrug (talk) 03:43, 20 May 2016 (UTC)

Sorry, I should have been clearer. In addition to those specific diffs, I'm also referring to the full edit histories of the single-purpose accounts. They show that all nine are "throwaway accounts" that the editor uses for ~24 hours or less, with an obsessive focus on this one particular musical composition, and then the editor abandons the accounts, often in rapid succession. (In January 2013: H114532 → Sr4498302 → SusanaB2008 → Nigelorgans → Caseyrosshampton7. In March 2015: London Organist → PipesUK.) And these accounts have all tried to promote the video linkspam from non-notable teenager Clegg. For example, London Organist started by deleting the professional performance of organist Ben Van Oosten, without explanation, despite his international notability. A few days later, PipesUK started by making the video heading improperly prominent, contrary to MoS. Then OrganMasterFrance started by re-adding the Clegg linkspam after removals and policy warnings from multiple previous editors, and by restoring the inappropriate video heading, and by trying to conceal his actions with a false edit summary: "Correcting grammer and spelling errors". And similarly for the other six sock accounts, which all focused on disrupting the article's video links and improperly promoting Clegg, and which generally refused to provide any edit summaries during their 24hr bursts of activity.

Here's another way of summarizing some of the similar disruptive diffs —

Promoting performance by non-notable Clegg, without explanation:
 * from OrganMasterFrance
 * from Nigelorgans
 * from SusanaB2008
 * from H114532

Deleting performances by other organists while retaining non-notable Clegg, without explanation:
 * from London Organist
 * from MusicProff1963
 * from Nigelorgans
 * from Sr4498302
 * from H114532

Improperly prominent "Video Recordings" heading, contrary to MoS, without explanation:
 * from OrganMasterFrance
 * from PipesUK

I hope this helps to make the patterns easier for a non-specialist to see, and I'll be glad to explain further if necessary. Thanks very much for your help & consideration. —Patrug (talk) 03:05, 26 May 2016 (UTC)

It's disappointing that WP:SPI didn't take any actions to deter the Clegg sockpuppetry problem, but thanks anyway for investigating. This Archive page should be helpful for other adminstrators to consider protecting the article from repeated disruption, by an editor who abuses & abandons multiple "throwaway" accounts. —Patrug (talk) 01:54, 27 May 2016 (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

 * - Let's concentrate on the last three accounts that have edited in the last few months. The diffs you provided (for those accounts) show very little similarity, almost none. Can you elaborate further? Why you thinks those accounts belong to the same person?  Vanjagenije   (talk)  20:19, 25 May 2016 (UTC)
 * - Please, check those three:, , .  Vanjagenije  (talk)  08:11, 26 May 2016 (UTC)
 * I think you misread the year. Only OrganMasterFrance is not stale. I've put case back into open status.--Bbb23 (talk) 12:52, 26 May 2016 (UTC)


 * You are right. In that case, I think we can close this. Every one of those accounts was used for a day or two and than abandoned. There is nothing we can do here. Blocking can't help because he creates new accounts.  Vanjagenije  (talk)  18:37, 26 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Autoblock the master or non-stale account? -- QEDK ( T  &#9749;  C ) 18:58, 26 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Autoblock lasts for 24 hours (see WP:ABK). This user has not edited for 6 days, so I doubt that 24 hours block would help.  Vanjagenije  (talk)  19:03, 26 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Uh yeah. Closing.  QEDK ( T  &#9749;  C ) 19:04, 26 May 2016 (UTC)