Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Herbie rookie/Archive

18 August 2015

 * Suspected sockpuppets




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

Herbie rookie has been a contributor since 2011. His first significant activity on Wikipedia seems to have been the creation of an article on a 'Sam Pomerantz'. Not being an admin, I can't see the article, as it was speedy deleted as "A7: Article about a real person, which does not indicate the importance or significance of the subject", but he made a comment about the article creation on his user page:. He had since only made 100 or so edits, before creating another article on Sam Pomerantz, now describing the subject as an upcoming musician aged 16, and asserting notability on the basis that Pomerantz had a song played on radio, and on MTV. The article makes no suggestion that Pomerantz would have been notable in 2011, and accordingly, I think it is only reasonable to conclude that if Herbie isn't Pomerantz, he has a very close connection with him. I have since started an AfD (Articles for deletion/Sam Pomerantz) on the basis that no third-party sources were provided to confirm the claims to notability in the article, where two new accounts, Laurenpower and Whateverlovato have posted very similar arguments to Herbie's initial response in the AfD - asserting that Pomerantz meets the notability guidelines but failing to provide any verifiable evidence. Such behaviour suggests to me that the two new accounts are socks - not only are they making all the same arguments, but a minute after Herbie made yet another unsourced claim about Pomerantz, Whateverlovato posted a confirmation (needless to say, with no source). I find it extremely hard to believe that a new account would be watching an AfD so closely as to be able to respond in that time period. AndyTheGrump (talk) 14:28, 18 August 2015 (UTC)

I've added 3 more suspected socks to the list - Yololorenzo edited the article and AfD, and Whateverlovato was posting in the article and talk page within a few minutes. Sam is da coolest appears on the surface to be a vandal - but I think that the account may have been created to give that impression, and justify Herbie asking how he could protect the page on the help desk a few hours later. AndyTheGrump (talk) 00:25, 20 August 2015 (UTC)

To add to the confusion, I've now got someone claiming to be Pomerantz posting on my talk page: If it is him, he's claiming that he had nothing to do with it, and seems not to want the article. I've suggested that he post a message to that effect on his Twitter account. AndyTheGrump (talk) 02:24, 20 August 2015 (UTC)


 * SAm Pomerantz has now made a Twitter posting: "Talking with a Wikipedia moderator right now. There are people making this article about me, so if you see this, can you all stop? That confirms that User:Sampomerantz is him, and hopefully will get his fan(s) to back off. If it doesn't, I may request that the AfD be closed early, as the result seems fairly conclusive, and we shouldn't be putting a minor through all this nonsense. For what it's worth (I'm no musician) he seems to have some talent, and might possibly merit a Wikipedia article one day - but not before he's had the recognition elsewhere. AndyTheGrump (talk) 03:06, 20 August 2015 (UTC)

Comments by other users

 * The suspected socks have virtually identical 'communication' styles. User:Herbie rookie is rather more coherent and I'm less convinced that he's the master, but I can see where a check is warranted. Short Brigade Harvester Boris (talk) 02:15, 20 August 2015 (UTC)

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

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments
Bunches of socks here,, this includes the listed master. ✅ are:

Courcelles (talk) 22:36, 23 August 2015 (UTC)
 * All tagged. Closing the case.  Vanjagenije  (talk)  22:38, 24 August 2015 (UTC)