Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Hopeful2014/Archive

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This looks like a continuation of Administrators'_noticeboard/IncidentArchive1000, with User:185.49.74.145 mentioned there now working alongside User:Romanbow135 and User:Taytay95 on articles such as https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bow_Common&action=history. All of these accounts are making large numbers of the same kind of edits as the original Hopeful2014: changing the described regional location of East London articles, often doing so by moving large sections of text to other articles without attribution (and ignoring many talk page requests to leave edit summaries).

A look at https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lakeview_Estate&action=history shows all three of them (plus similar accounts User:Laytar1, who was blocked last year, and User:86.157.156.219) changing only the region in the first sentence of this single-paragraph article, as follows:


 * May 2017: Laytar changes "Bow" to "Old Ford"
 * October 2018: Hopeful2014 changes "Old Ford" to "South Hackney"
 * March 2019: 86.157.156.219 changes "South Hackney" to "Bow"
 * April 2019: Romanbow135 changes "Bow" to "Hackney"
 * May 2019: Romanbow135 changes "Hackney" to "Bow"
 * June 2019: Taytay95 changes "Bow" to "Old Ford"
 * June 2019: Romanbow135 changes "Old Ford" to "Bow"

Superficially this might read as multiple people quarrelling, but Romanbow has second thoughts within his own edits a month later, and Taytay95 shows a similar wobble on other articles (/). Lord Belbury (talk) 16:49, 27 July 2019 (UTC)

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✅, blocked, tagged, closing.--Bbb23 (talk) 18:24, 27 July 2019 (UTC)

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Resuming the confusing and often self-contradictory east London location changes made by User:Romanbow135 and User:Taytay95, all of Globetownrevival's edits being to articles recently edited in the same way by those users (who were blocked two days ago). Lord Belbury (talk) 08:29, 30 July 2019 (UTC)


 * Globetownrevival has said on their talk page that they are in "no way involved with the said individuals (s)", and that they joined Wikipedia yesterday to correct the errors made by those sockpuppet accounts. But this is no different to the behaviour of the socks themselves, who have been changing their minds on such details for months (eg ) and edits like this from Globetownrevival are the same as earlier edits like this from Romanbow135. The username here is a clear reference to Globe Town, London, an article which was written entirely by accounts which have been banned as sockpuppets. I request a checkuser. --Lord Belbury (talk) 10:52, 31 July 2019 (UTC)

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✅ . — Berean Hunter   (talk)  19:57, 31 July 2019 (UTC)
 * Closing. Sir Sputnik (talk) 23:54, 31 July 2019 (UTC)

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Continuing past accounts' unexplained geographic alterations to east London articles, and moving text between articles with no edit summary. Lord Belbury (talk) 13:22, 6 August 2019 (UTC)

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 * this was closed without any comments, I presume because the IP is stale. Ivanvector (Talk/Edits) 14:53, 30 August 2019 (UTC)

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Same as above IP: changing the district/area/locale status of east London articles back and forth almost at random, and moving articles between different areas, all without any kind of edit summary or discussion. Currently working on Aldgate, Tower Hamlets and Globe Town, London, two articles created wholesale by past, blocked sockpuppet accounts (and almost entirely ignored by other Wikipedia users). Lord Belbury (talk) 08:07, 19 August 2019 (UTC)

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 * for two and a half days. IPs on this ISP switch very frequently. Ivanvector (Talk/Edits) 14:55, 30 August 2019 (UTC)

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Two new accounts editing in the same manner as previous Hopeful2014 sockpuppets. All edits are on articles already edited by previous socks, all edits are to change the areas of East London in which particular landmarks or areas are described as being located.

User:Saramiah96 reapplied most of an edit by Taytay95.

User:Saramiah1996 reapplied a reverted edit by User:86.161.106.117 and then started a new article at Draft:Victoria Park (area) about an area of east London. This sockpuppet user has a history of creating problematic new articles defining regions of east London, with past articles like Globe Town, London and Aldgate, Tower Hamlets being cleaned up and deleted by WikiProject London users as we speak. The draft also includes content copied almost word-for-word from sources, a practice that Romanbow135 and Taytay95 were both cautioned about. Lord Belbury (talk) 13:55, 30 August 2019 (UTC)

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— Berean Hunter   (talk)  16:31, 30 August 2019 (UTC)
 * Both accounts . for sleepers. Ivanvector (Talk/Edits) 14:57, 30 August 2019 (UTC)
 * Both accounts are ✅ plus ..
 * Nothing more to do here. Closing. Ivanvector (Talk/Edits) 17:17, 30 August 2019 (UTC)

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Changing the "is a place in" opening sentence of east London articles to put them in more specific and possibly incorrect subregions, with no edit summary or discussion, same as previous sockpuppets. Example: from IP editor,  from sock Taytay95, both changing the described location of the Cranbrook Estate away from the broad "Bethnal Green". Lord Belbury (talk) 09:55, 6 September 2019 (UTC)

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 * IP blocked for one week. I'm not an expert on the geography of that London, but feel free to revert any edit the IP has made this month if it is unsourced or obviously not correct. This person seems to have a vendetta against Bethnal Green. Ivanvector (Talk/Edits) 12:44, 6 September 2019 (UTC)

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Exactly the same unexplained changes to "is an district/area in" of east London articles as earlier sockpuppets, pushing the idea of Victoria Park being an "area" of London as well as a park, to multiple articles again ( from this IP, from an earlier one), despite earlier disagreement from other editors. Lord Belbury (talk) 08:19, 12 September 2019 (UTC)

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 * Already blocked by . Thanks Ponyo! Closing. Ivanvector (Talk/Edits) 15:25, 19 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Thanks, but this IP resumed the same editing as soon as that week-long block expired, a few hours after that comment. Pinging to request a re-block. --Lord Belbury (talk) 08:00, 20 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Ah, I did not note the expiry. Now blocked for a month. Ivanvector (Talk/Edits) 14:01, 20 September 2019 (UTC)

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Exact same edit style as past socks (eg. / ), changing the described location of east London articles with no edit summary. All three articles edited today have been moved back and forth by Hopeful2014 sockpuppets in the past few months. Lord Belbury (talk) 17:16, 25 September 2019 (UTC)

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 * Now blocked, closing. GABgab 01:15, 26 September 2019 (UTC)

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Resuming same unexplained edits on same East London articles as past sockpuppets, eg. reclassifying Stepney from a "district" to something else. Lord Belbury (talk) 08:11, 30 September 2019 (UTC)

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 * - The IP has persisted for >4 days and made directed attacks in edit summaries - please block for a week. Cabayi (talk) 09:20, 30 September 2019 (UTC)

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Block evasion through an IP, returning to all the same East London articles, restoring old edits with no summary (eg., ). Lord Belbury (talk) 18:21, 9 October 2019 (UTC)

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 * 86.144.43.7 for 72 hours (3 days) per the DUCK test. Closing. The SandDoctor  Talk 19:15, 9 October 2019 (UTC)

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Per WP:DUCK, see contributions since last 72h block of this IP, as well as London has been changing other stuff as well and needs a rollbacker to sort Djm-leighpark (talk) 15:25, 16 October 2019 (UTC)

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Noting that the WW2 edits are also the same user, who prefers to think of battles being won by "the United Kingdom" than "the British Empire": see /. --Lord Belbury (talk) 15:35, 16 October 2019 (UTC)

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 * Blocking for 2 weeks ST47 (talk) 15:48, 16 October 2019 (UTC)

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Same ISP and approx geolocation as previous (and still blocked) IP, restoring the same postcode edit to Bromley-by-Bow. Other two edits about international response to a news event are very reminiscent of eg.. Lord Belbury (talk) 18:16, 23 October 2019 (UTC)

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 * 48 hours Mz7 (talk) 05:57, 24 October 2019 (UTC)

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Resuming same edits after the previous 48 hour IP block expired today. Main sock account User:Hopeful2014 is still blocked, this IP is still evading that block. Lord Belbury (talk) 18:18, 26 October 2019 (UTC)

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 * 2 weeks Mz7 (talk) 18:30, 26 October 2019 (UTC)

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Same unexplained and inconsistent location edits to East London articles as past sock accounts, eg. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frank_Dobson_Square&type=revision&diff=904313234&oldid=904300585 https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frank_Dobson_Square&type=revision&diff=926193895&oldid=923566270 Lord Belbury (talk) 08:18, 15 November 2019 (UTC)

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 * I'm not seeing the socking, per-se, but clearly non-useful edits from the IP, so blocked for 72 hours. -- RoySmith (talk) 15:35, 15 November 2019 (UTC)

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Same disruptive behaviour as past sockpuppets: changing the location of east London articles (currently Poplar/Blackwall) and redefining whether these places are "areas" or "suburbs", etc, all without edit summaries, and often restoring edits that have been reverted in the past.

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jamestown_Harbour&action=history is an article whose only edits in the past year have been these IPs downplaying Blackwall in favour of Poplar and being reverted. This edit reclassifying Woodford from an "area" to a "town" restores the same disputed edit from Romanbow135 last year. Lord Belbury (talk) 20:22, 1 January 2020 (UTC)

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Looks like the above IP is also editing from a new account, Kayton336 being registered yesterday with their first edit being to restore a Blackwall/Poplar move from the above IP, which had been reverted by User:Darren-M.

Another early edit was to relocate the George Tavern from Stepney to Shadwell, restoring an old edit from past sock User:Romanbow135. All subsequent edits are relocations of London articles, reclassifying whether somewhere is an area/district/town/etc and the creation and population of new location categories, all made without any edit summaries at all, three recurring hallmarks of this sockpuppeteer's problem behaviour. Lord Belbury (talk) 20:50, 1 January 2020 (UTC)

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 * Also, and  (sic) were created as blank pages with no categories, which is another pattern that we've seen in the past.Le Deluge (talk) 16:57, 2 January 2020 (UTC)

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✅ to the master:

— Berean Hunter   (talk)  17:03, 2 January 2020 (UTC)
 * Nothing left to do here. Sro23 (talk) 02:44, 3 January 2020 (UTC)

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Looks as if Hopeful2014 is back, editing the same East London articles as past sockpuppetss: of the ten articles they have edited, only one has not been edited by earlier sockpuppets. The most obvious evidence to present:
 * An older blocked sockpuppet of Hopeful2014 and Saxon Top both removing the E5, N1 and N16 postcodes from the Hackney, London infobox
 * Saxon Top deleting a section from one London article to move to another without any edit summary, which past sock accounts did a lot of and received and ignored warnings for (1, 2)
 * The IP removes "residential" from the Canonbury article, which a confirmed sock IP did in the past.

User:86.133.92.154 had two edits at Hackney, London reverted at 18:02 today and quite plainly created the account Saxon Top to re-type the same two edits in the same order, as their first two contributions, at 18:03. Lord Belbury (talk) 23:08, 17 January 2020 (UTC)

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 * - Probably another account will be caught (with the intention to disparage the reporter), Saxon.top can be behaviourally indeffed. Some history of sleepers as well. qedk (t 桜 c) 14:41, 18 January 2020 (UTC)
 * ✅, along with . . NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 15:21, 18 January 2020 (UTC)

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Restoring edits from a past sockpuppet account and a checkuser-proven IP:
 * is restoring by User:Laytar1
 * is restoring by User:86.153.157.200 Lord Belbury (talk) 14:11, 24 January 2020 (UTC)

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 * IP edits old. Closing. Bbb23 (talk) 16:14, 27 January 2020 (UTC)

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IP reported (but not blocked?) at Sockpuppet_investigations/Hopeful2014/Archive is now editing again, resuming the same pattern of edits to east London articles. Lord Belbury (talk) 19:10, 29 January 2020 (UTC)

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New account relocating east London articles in categories and first sentences of articles, including directly restoring an old edit from old sock RomanBow135, and also another one from recent sock Lord Belburyisdead. They've also recreated Category:Globe Town, a category originally added by Hopeful2014 and deleted last year.

Requesting a checkuser sweep for sleepers, as they often exist and recent sockpuppets User:Dusty.netington and User:Newton.sg1 weren't linked to Hopeful2014 when blocked yesterday. Lord Belbury (talk) 18:38, 31 January 2020 (UTC)

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Same as before, relocating east London article categories. IP is specifically restoring many old edits from previous sockpuppet account User:Lordrenthefirst, such as / and /. Lord Belbury (talk) 15:46, 28 March 2020 (UTC)

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I hadn't pinned down whether it's sockpuppetry, but the harassment by the IP was unacceptable. —C.Fred (talk) 15:59, 28 March 2020 (UTC)

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185.49.74.145 has already been blocked twice in the past year for being a sock IP of Hopeful2014, they're now back restoring old sock edits again (such as /).

User:Ocean95 made an unusual modification to South Hackney a couple of minutes after 185.49.74.145. The IP changed "is an area" to "used to refer to a portion", and Ocean95 changed that to "is a portion of an area". Such unusual area redefinitions were a pursuit of older sockpuppets. The same username has also been active on simple.wikipedia.org creating a stub Globe Town article, the equivalent article on en.wikipedia having been created by Hopeful2014 socks and deleted last year.

Requesting checkuser as Hopeful2014 has a history of sleeper accounts. Lord Belbury (talk) 14:38, 20 May 2020 (UTC)

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  — Berean Hunter   (talk)  14:09, 23 May 2020 (UTC)
 * there certainly seems like enough here to endorse for CU. As for the IP, it is still listed as an open proxy so I'd reblock that for another 6 months.  -- RoySmith (talk) 23:12, 20 May 2020 (UTC)
 * - Endorsing per Roy (obviously just for the account). The SandDoctor  Talk 03:48, 23 May 2020 (UTC)
 * 185.49.74.0/24 has already been blocked, nothing left to do here, closing. -- RoySmith (talk) 15:30, 23 May 2020 (UTC)

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Two IPs resuming disruptive edits on behalf of banned user Hopeful2014, some of it already reverted with warnings.
 * User:185.49.75.145 was blocked as a disruptive proxy last year; adjacent IP User:185.49.74.145 was cited in past Hopeful2014 sockpuppetry.
 * User:86.156.195.226 has been working on the same sections of West India Quay article as the previous IP, in the past 24 hours. IP's other edits have been of a similar style to every past sockpuppet, editing east London article locations to match the banned user's personal and inconsistent takes on geography (including, by way of example, restoring an edit from User:86.133.92.154, checkuser blocked last year, that relocated a DLR station from Milwall to Canary Wharf: ). Lord Belbury (talk) 09:26, 15 June 2020 (UTC)
 * , What do you mean by, "adjacent IP"? -- RoySmith (talk) 14:03, 15 June 2020 (UTC)
 * Oh, never mind. I see what you mean: 74 vs 75 in the third octet. -- RoySmith (talk) 14:06, 15 June 2020 (UTC)
 * Yeah, that was all. Both IPs have a lot of overlap and make the same edits as every past sock: changing categories and geographical descriptions of east London articles, with no edit summary. --Lord Belbury (talk) 14:18, 15 June 2020 (UTC)
 * User:Berean Hunter you range-blocked 185.49.74.0/24. Maybe that ranged needs to be a little wider?  My proxy-fu isn't that strong, so bouncing this back to you. -- RoySmith (talk) 14:56, 15 June 2020 (UTC)

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— Berean Hunter   (talk)  16:40, 15 June 2020 (UTC)
 * I've short-term blocked the other IP. That should get the immediate damage under control.  If need be, we can look at semi-protecting some of the more common target pages. -- RoySmith (talk) 17:08, 15 June 2020 (UTC)
 * Just for the record, the IP interaction -- RoySmith (talk) 17:09, 15 June 2020 (UTC)
 * RoySmith, I've widened the proxy block to the /23 range.

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It's a days-old account altering the postcodes of East London articles without edit summary, as most past sockpuppets have also done (see, , , ...).

The 86.156.195.226 IP blocked above edited the E postcode area article and changed the postcodes on an east London article at 14:10 on Sunday, Queens395 was editing the NW postcode area half an hour later, changing postcodes a couple of hours either side, and edited the E postcode area article this morning. Lord Belbury (talk) 10:12, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

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 * Adding, which was created by Queens395 before they even made their first edit. -- RoySmith (talk) 13:59, 16 June 2020 (UTC)
 * blocked and tagged both queens. Closing.  -- RoySmith (talk) 14:05, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

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Restoring old sock opinions of categories and lead sentences on a few East London articles, like moving Aberfeldy Village out of Poplar, moving Mile End New Town to Whitechapel. The seven articles edited so far by this IP (East London areas, Statue of Robert Milligan and Museum of London Docklands) were all edited by recent IPs banned as socks of this user. Lord Belbury (talk) 15:04, 27 June 2020 (UTC)
 * I got a weird threat about visiting my house and a short-lived attack username in response to reverting them, which has also happened before. --Lord Belbury (talk) 17:31, 27 June 2020 (UTC)

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 * IP stale. Please re-report should they edit again from there. The SandDoctor  Talk 04:44, 1 July 2020 (UTC)
 * , IP has returned. Ed 6767   talk!  16:02, 1 July 2020 (UTC)

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per above. IP has returned. Ed 6767   talk!  16:03, 1 July 2020 (UTC)

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 * Edits look superficially unrelated, but changing flag templates on military articles has been an interest of past sockpuppets (compare ). --Lord Belbury (talk) 17:12, 1 July 2020 (UTC)

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Nothing else to do. Closing. — Berean Hunter   (talk)  22:05, 22 July 2020 (UTC)

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Restoring old sock edits like moving East India DLR station from Leamouth to Blackwall and removing a mention of Poplar from the Blackwall DLR station article. All edits made so far have been to past targets of Hopeful2014 socks. They're also moving content between articles without saying that this is what they're doing (a paragraph from this article to that, the deletion already reverted by someone else), which has always been a serious problem from this user. Lord Belbury (talk) 12:35, 9 August 2020 (UTC)


 * New IP is restoring more edits from past sockpuppets this morning, such as on Jamestown Harbour . --Lord Belbury (talk) 08:37, 10 August 2020 (UTC)

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 * Both IPs blocked for a week. Closing.  Vanjagenije  (talk)  22:48, 10 August 2020 (UTC)

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Same style of indecision over which part of East London something might be in as all past Hopeful2014 socks. Direct restoration of past sock/checkuser edits include putting South Quay DLR station into Cubitt Town as well as Milwall (/), putting Glengall Grove into Cubitt Town (/) and removing the statement that the DLR is a light metro service in the Crossharbour DLR station article (/). Lord Belbury (talk) 15:47, 17 September 2020 (UTC)

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 * Agreed that this looks similar to past socks. Large IP range here, rangeblock infeasible, I've blocked the IP for two weeks. GeneralNotability (talk) 19:46, 17 September 2020 (UTC)
 * , What we need is something like partial blocks, except that instead of listing specific articles you can give a category. Something like 86.128.0.0/10 blocked for anything in Category:London would be exactly what we need here. -- RoySmith (talk) 01:53, 18 September 2020 (UTC)
 * I would recommend filing a phab task for that. The SandDoctor  Talk 04:24, 24 September 2020 (UTC)

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It's a fresh IP starting with 86.15something, making the same old area-description changes to old targets of this sockpuppeteer (such as removing the Lansbury Estate from Bromley-by-Bow:, ). Lord Belbury (talk) 18:16, 6 October 2020 (UTC)

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 * Sadly, there's not much SPI can do here. The IP was in use for 42 minutes, a week ago, so an IP block would be pointless.  As noted earlier in the archives, these ranges are too large to rangeblock.  Getting more aggressive with semi-protection may be the answer, but there may be too many target pages to be feasible. -- RoySmith (talk) 14:49, 14 October 2020 (UTC)
 * The IP stopping their edits shortly after being reported was good enough for me, but if there's a better way to handle this (undoing their edits without raising an SPI? WP:AIV when it's extremely obvious?), let me know. --Lord Belbury (talk) 15:11, 14 October 2020 (UTC)
 * , I wish I had a better answer, but see this VPI thread -- RoySmith (talk) 15:26, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

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Same old edits changing postcodes and areas of Bow/Poplar articles, eg. / Lord Belbury (talk) 13:26, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

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 * Two week whack-a-mole block. -- RoySmith (talk) 14:52, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

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New user focusing entirely on changing the described/categorised areas of east London articles, as past socks have done. Mostly directly restoring old sock edits like moving Stepney Town Hall from Stepney to Shadwell (/), taking the Lansbury Estate out of Bromley-by-Bow (/), moving Jamestown Harbour out of Poplar (/). Creating and populating new categories for areas of London (here Category:St Katharine Docks) is also something past sock accounts have done (Category:Wanstead, Category:Leamouth, Category:Globe Town, etc). Lord Belbury (talk) 16:31, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

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 * no need to bother with CU -- RoySmith (talk) 17:00, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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Another 86.161.* IP address relocating east London articles by changing their lead sentence and/or categories, without edit summary, as all past sockpuppets have done. Example overlap in removing Trinity Buoy Wharf from Poplar: / Lord Belbury (talk) 14:33, 8 November 2020 (UTC)

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Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * It's a dynamic IP that hasn't edited in over a week. Blocking would be pointless now, so closing.  Unless we're willing to enact something like WP:GS/PAGEANT, continuing to play whack-a-mole is pointless. -- RoySmith (talk) 21:37, 17 November 2020 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



 * Tools: Editor interaction utility • Interaction Timeline • User compare report Auto-generated every hour.

Same narrow focus as past socks: removing the E14 postcode from the Mile End infobox, changing "British Empire" to "United Kingdom" on WW1/2 articles (/). Lord Belbury (talk) 12:03, 23 February 2021 (UTC)

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Not going to run CU to connect IP to something. Drmies (talk) 03:15, 26 February 2021 (UTC)


 * Closing per the above and age. Nothing further to do here. The SandDoctor  Talk 18:35, 11 March 2021 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



 * Tools: Editor interaction utility • Interaction Timeline • User compare report Auto-generated every hour.

Same target articles as past socks, same kind of edits to regions/postcodes, with at least one direct restoration of an old confirmed sock edit:  Lord Belbury (talk) 22:10, 26 March 2021 (UTC)


 * Looks like I also got an "I know where you live" threat overnight, in response to raising this SPI and reverting a few of their edits. I've now reverted all of their edits. --Lord Belbury (talk) 10:31, 29 March 2021 (UTC)

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 * IP blocked for a month for personal attacks. Please keep an eye on this and ping me if further action is required. -- RoySmith (talk) 14:01, 29 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Thanks Roy, will do. --Lord Belbury (talk) 14:13, 29 March 2021 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



 * Tools: Editor interaction utility • Interaction Timeline • User compare report Auto-generated every hour.

Looks like a return of this banned user, focusing mostly on editing east London articles to change which area or infobox postcode they're described as being part of, or to change something from a "town" to a "district" (and sometimes back again a few days later, which past socks were also indecisive about). Some of it's already been reverted as inaccurate. I can't see any direct restoring of old sock content, although this IP's first edit was to say that Cubitt Town actually isn't in Poplar, a change which a past sock also tried to introduce. Lord Belbury (talk) 15:06, 10 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Having given no reaction to the SPI message they're now restoring old sock edits verbatim:, . --Lord Belbury (talk) 12:13, 11 July 2021 (UTC)

Adding 86.156.195.209, which has continued the previous IP's work on the Milwall infobox and restored an old sockpuppet take on how best to describe where Morpeth School is. --Lord Belbury (talk) 09:53, 15 July 2021 (UTC)

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 * Blocked 86.156 for a week, 86.161 stale. Closing. GeneralNotability (talk) 00:34, 21 July 2021 (UTC)
 * @GeneralNotability, you blocked for a week as well – was that intentional? Blablubbs (talk) 14:11, 24 July 2021 (UTC)
 * I am having a bad week, it seems. Block wasn't necessary but it's not hurting anything. GeneralNotability (talk) 14:12, 24 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Alrighty, just wanted to let you know. Archiving. Blablubbs (talk) 14:55, 24 July 2021 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



 * Tools: Editor interaction utility • Interaction Timeline • User compare report Auto-generated every hour.

Same behaviour as all socks in the past two years: editing first sentences of London articles to move them in and out of boroughs, or to change "is a district" to "is an area" or vice versa, and also changing postcodes. One edit attempts to expand the lead sentence definition of Newington Green to an "area", which the blocked 185.49.74.145 also tried in 2018: vs. Lord Belbury (talk) 10:24, 27 September 2021 (UTC)

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Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments
'''This case is being reviewed by Tamzin as part of their training as a clerk. Please allow them to process the entire case without interference. You may pose any questions or concerns either on their talk page or on this page.'''
 * Comparing this to Special:Contributions/86.161.106.16, looks likely, especially noting the focus on adding the word "area". There's an outside chance of this being two different vandals with the same M.O., but nothing of value is being lost either way. Looks like they've been on this IP since the start of August, but also have only edited once since September 29th, so let's call it a month for now and see where that gets us. : . --  Tamzin  [ cetacean needed ] (she/they) 04:44, 8 October 2021 (UTC)
 * clpo13(talk) 16:18, 8 October 2021 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



 * Tools: Editor interaction utility • Interaction Timeline • User compare report Auto-generated every hour.

IP shows the same focus and idiosyncracies as past Hopeful2014 sockpuppets, with jumbled edits to "is an X in Y, London" lead sentences and category locations of a few east London articles and rephrasing the infobox combatants of military articles.

The IP's relocation of Royal Mint Court, King Edward Memorial Park and the very obscure (only a few dozen edits since 2013) Mission of Somaliland, London also show similar relocation edits in the past by other Hopeful2014 socks User:Laytar1, User:Romanbow135 and User:185.49.74.145. (The IP's edits contradict some of the sock edits, but that is a noted idiosyncracy of the banned user, who would change their mind every few hours or days about which borough and category to place an article in.)

IP began editing the day after the previous sock IP was blocked. Lord Belbury (talk) 13:05, 9 October 2021 (UTC)

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'''This case is being reviewed by Tamzin as part of her training as a clerk. Please allow her to process the entire case without interference. You may pose any questions or concerns either on her talk page or on this page.'''
 * This IP seems to also have a strong interest in separatist movements, something that can be seen in a past Hopeful sock here . I notice similar disruption from to separatism-related articles, including an "area" insertion. Thankfully doesn't seem to go wider than this /64, so :  to match the length of time they've been on this IP.  --  Tamzin  [ cetacean needed ] (she/they) 17:26, 9 October 2021 (UTC)
 * So blocked. I'm not sure if there was anything else you wanted to do here, so I'll just leave this in open state. -- RoySmith (talk) 17:35, 9 October 2021 (UTC)
 * I swear, Roy, you read my mind. I'd noticed a bit of outstanding business then completely forgotten about it. Tagging master as 3X-banned (since July of 2019, at that). Closing. --  Tamzin  [ cetacean needed ] (she/they) 17:43, 9 October 2021 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



 * Tools: Editor interaction utility • Interaction Timeline • User compare report Auto-generated every hour.

Edits are in West London rather than the user's usual East London, but otherwise quite familiar, for example: Lord Belbury (talk) 09:27, 9 November 2021 (UTC)
 * many edits having a tight focus of redefining the "is an X in Y" first sentence of London articles and what "area" they are in
 * more generally: focusing on a particular region of London and nudging "is an X in Y" definitions in and out of it as they see fit, this IP having moved articles around between North Kensington, Kensal Green and Latimer Road
 * changing whether something is an area or a locality or a small locality or etc, often having second thoughts, common to most past socks
 * changing the infobox locale field and "is a station in Y" lead of tube station articles (compare old sock), again often having second thoughts
 * ignoring user talk page comments when these edits are reverted as factually incorrect

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'''This case is being reviewed by Tamzin as part of their training as a clerk. Please allow them to process the entire case without interference. You may pose any questions or concerns either on their talk page or on this page.'''
 * Factual finding that this is likely the same person. I would have to look a bit closer to be sure, though, which I'm declining to do at this time since there have been no edits in the past 11 days. Closing for now. Feel free to re-file and ping me if they resume editing.  --  Tamzin  [ cetacean needed ] (she/they) 21:45, 19 November 2021 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



 * Tools: Editor interaction utility • Interaction Timeline • User compare report Auto-generated every hour.

Pinging User:Tamzin per the previous report ("Feel free to re-file and ping me if they resume editing"). IP began editing the same articles in the same kind of way, late last night. Lord Belbury (talk) 12:22, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

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 * IP hasn't edited in several weeks, so closing. -- RoySmith (talk) 18:54, 19 December 2021 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



 * Tools: Editor interaction utility • Interaction Timeline • User compare report Auto-generated every hour.

Same undiscussed London category/lead relocation focus as past socks, including some edits which directly restore changes made by blocked sock IPs and disputed in the past. One edit to Linford Christie Stadium is identical:,. Lord Belbury (talk) 15:09, 5 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Since they made one more edit and then stopped editing, after this SPI was raised, I'm going to revert the edits which look indistinguishable from block evasion. --Lord Belbury (talk) 15:10, 15 December 2021 (UTC)

In response to RoySmith's "If there's some smallish set of pages that are being disrupted, semi-protection might be a better tool" below, sadly it's a very large and drifting set of articles. Without overanalysing it where the problem user can read along, raising an SPI does seem to work. --Lord Belbury (talk) 19:10, 19 December 2021 (UTC)

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 * IP hasn't edited in a couple of weeks, so nothing really to do here. If there's some smallish set of pages that are being disrupted, semi-protection might be a better tool. -- RoySmith (talk) 18:56, 19 December 2021 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets

 * Tools: Editor interaction utility • Interaction Timeline • User compare report Auto-generated every hour.
 * Tools: Editor interaction utility • Interaction Timeline • User compare report Auto-generated every hour.

Restoring old sock edits ( vs ), same focus on Blackwall/Poplar/Stratford, bus routes and "is an area of" as past socks. Lord Belbury (talk) 17:08, 24 January 2022 (UTC)
 * The account was blocked for making personal attacks shortly after this report was raised. --Lord Belbury (talk) 17:38, 25 January 2022 (UTC)

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 * /64 has been blocked for a month, closing. Thanks, Spicy (talk) 18:17, 27 January 2022 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets
Familiar-looking edits to many of the east London articles that this user has focused on in the past, again just changing definitions of which areas places are in and altering the first "is an area in" sentences. Examples of direct restorations of old sock edits include relocating St Casimir's Lithuanian Church from Bethnal Green to Cambridge Heath (/) and moving Prince Regent DLR station to Custom House (/). Lord Belbury (talk) 18:12, 16 April 2022 (UTC)

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 * Significant overlap, both with the master and previous socks, and behaviourally they're identical. Blocking as suspected, closing.  Girth Summit  (blether)  11:50, 21 April 2022 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets
Relocating obscure east London articles in the same manner as past socks, eg. moving St Casimir's Lithuanian Church (/) and Vyner Street (/) from Bethnal Green to Cambridge Heath. Also the same focus on changing the "is an area of" parts of opening sentences, and postcode articles. Lord Belbury (talk) 11:44, 29 July 2022 (UTC)

Also adding a second :D0D6:3213 IP which was editing some of the same articles a couple of days ago. --Lord Belbury (talk) 11:49, 29 July 2022 (UTC)

And both have now been blocked for personal attacks, that was quick. --Lord Belbury (talk) 11:55, 29 July 2022 (UTC)

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 * 2A00:23C5:ED8F:5701:0:0:0:0/64 looks to be them and has been blocked for 3 months by . Closing. --Jack Frost (talk) 12:00, 29 July 2022 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets
Per the archived investigation opened on 11/09/21, requested a re-filing and ping upon resumption of editing. Much of the behavior exhibited now is the same as Hopeful2014, as well as their socks. In other words, quack quack. BlueNoise (talk) 23:26, 14 October 2022 (UTC)

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 * Thanks for the ping. What throws me a bit here is that 82 doesn't overlap much with article-wise, despite being active at the same time. But if this isn't Hopeful2014, it's someone engaged in a similar method of subtle vandalism, so, either way,  18 months.  --  Tamzin  [ cetacean needed ] (she&#124;they&#124;xe) 23:49, 14 October 2022 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets
IP was blocked as a sockpuppet a year ago, and has been making the same manner of postcode and area-relocation edits this month. Belbury (talk) 07:22, 27 October 2022 (UTC)

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 * Looks like the same person, and it looks fairly static. Blocked for one year. Closing.  Girth Summit  (blether)  10:52, 27 October 2022 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets
Making the same kind of Poplar/Blackwall and Globe Town/Bethnal Green location-altering edits to the same East London articles that previous socks have altered the locations of.

Two of the IP's edits are direct restores of edits by sock account : on Cambridge Heath railway station and List of public art in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

User is also in the same IP range as earlier sock IP. Belbury (talk) 10:28, 1 November 2022 (UTC)

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 * It's the same /64 range they were blocked on in July. Last time it was for three months; I've gone for two years this time. Closing.  Girth Summit  (blether)  12:26, 1 November 2022 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets
A couple of adjacent IPs restoring old sock edits:

80.194.45.226
 * ≈
 * =

80.194.45.227
 * ≈
 * =

80.194.45.227 had already been blocked for a week as a Hopeful2014 sockpuppet in August 2020. Both edited the London Fields article today. Belbury (talk) 14:56, 24 May 2023 (UTC)


 * 80.194.45.227 took a break for a few weeks but is back to the same East London targets as previous socks . Belbury (talk) 13:51, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

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 * Both blocked for six months.  Girth Summit  (blether)  18:00, 21 July 2023 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets
New user making a lot of rapid, focused edits to location categories in East London, same as most past Hopeful2014 socks. Examples of reapplied edits: defining Coldharbour, Tower Hamlets as being in Poplar rather than Blackwall, moving Trinity Buoy Wharf from Blackwall to Leamouth. Belbury (talk) 14:01, 12 September 2023 (UTC)

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 * The edits aren't exactly the same but there's a considerable overlap with the same style. Blocked and tagged as suspected, closing. DatGuyTalkContribs 09:00, 25 September 2023 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets
Two IPs making the same kind of often-ungrammatical "is an area/district" edits across East London articles, in the manner of past socks, both working on the Poplar and Bow articles. 86.144.43.18 is making some of the same edits as currently-checkuser-blocked User:92.40.215.121 ( and echoing ) and is numerically close to past sock IP User:86.144.43.7. Belbury (talk) 19:08, 21 May 2024 (UTC)

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 * The IPs are too old at this point to be actionable. The Wordsmith Talk to me 04:29, 12 July 2024 (UTC)