Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Hotroddude/Archive

25 July 2011

 * Suspected sockpuppets




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Hotroddude has self-identified as the son of Boyd Coddington, as he used to have the user name Boydcoddingtonjr but because he did not want to use his real name as his username. There are COI concerns with his editing of the Boyd Coddington article, not merely because he is the subject's son, but because he has repeatedly the external links of the article to point away from his father's sites to his own (which I'd like to point out are commercial sites). I try to be courteous to editors who have a COI, and tried to to ask whether he has used multiple accounts and to explain why he shouldn't change the links to his own sites, but after 4 days I have still received no acknowledgement of my request.

As to the purpose of this sockpuppet inquiry, there are a number of suspiciously similar editors making the same edits at the article. For the most part, they would be blockable per WP:DUCK and one of the accounts listed above (Boydcoddinggton) is already blocked for possible impersonation per WP:REALNAME. But the majority of that behavior occurred before Hotroddude received any warnings and I won't take action against someone who wasn't even warned at the time. My main concern is whether or not Boydcoddingtonjr, the second sock who happens to have the same name as Hotroddude's previous account, is indeed the same person as Hotroddude (and despite the editing similarity I have doubts, otherwise why would he bother to change his name in the first place). I also suspect that the three IPs above are also the same person, they all geolocate to Kansas City, MO and made the same edits. But it's possible that other people are trying to promote Coddington, Jr. and before I sanction him for continuing to promote himself after warnings, I want to make sure I'm acting on accurate assumptions.

I'd also like to note that two other accounts, Boydjr and Boydsbestfriend are suspiciously named but since their contributions were a long time ago, they are probably too stale for checkuser.

Just a note, that boydcoddington.com and billetwheel.com were Boyd's sites, while boydcoddingtonsgarage.com (which is the same site as boydcoddingtonusa.com and boydcoddingtons.com) is Boyd Jr.'s site. Falsely claiming that the latter is the father's site misleads people to the wrong site, while drumming up the son's business, which is why I'd like to stop all of this.

The similar edits from the accounts and IPs above can be seen below:
 * Hotroddude:
 * Boydcoddinggton:
 * Boydcoddingtonjr:
 * 69.76.200.209:
 * 98.156.96.166:
 * 67.52.251.210:

I just want to be sure before I take action against Hotroddude and/or block suspeced sockpuppets. --  At am a  頭 17:12, 25 July 2011 (UTC)


 * I just wanted to point out that this behavior is still occurring, today 98.156.96.166 to insert the promotional links for Boyd Jr. --  At am a  頭  17:19, 26 July 2011 (UTC)

Comments by other users
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Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments
User:Hotroddude, User:Boydcoddinggton, and User:Boydcoddingtonjr are ✅ as the same user. There is deception going on here but they are connected. No comment on IPs, of course. Frank &#124;  talk  01:44, 27 July 2011 (UTC)
 * - Both suspected socks were hardblocked, but let's see if they're connected. I trust Atama to handle this accordingly. —  Hello Annyong  (say whaaat?!) 01:13, 26 July 2011 (UTC)
 * The article in question has been protected, and the two accounts here are blocked. I think we're good for now. —  Hello Annyong  (say whaaat?!) 01:50, 27 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Yes, thank you for your help. :) --  At am a  頭 01:52, 27 July 2011 (UTC)