Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/HurricaneParrot/Archive

Suspected sockpuppets



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I was first alerted to Cyclonicationly almost a week after warned HurricaneParrot of existing copyright violations. After checking the account and seeing that it was a "relative" of HP, I was already skeptical of the relationship between the two. I continued to trail this user for a few months, and I now have enough evidence to be reasonably suspicious that they are operated by the same user, counting as an invalid CLEANSTART in order to evade a contributor copyright investigation case. I have a longer version of this with more data I've gathered, however it is a bit lengthy since it contains all the information I've picked up after 2 months of investigating.

Destroyeraa issued a copyright warning for HurricaneParrot (formerly BrownieKing, LowercaseGuy) on October 26, 2021 at 19:50 UTC. The next day at 06:50 UTC, Cyclonicationly was registered. HurricaneParrot then creates Cyclonicationly's userpage 19 minutes later, and then retires (makes their final edit) a minute later. Cyclonicationly would then make their first edit a minute afterwards.

These users claim to be different people, with both of them stating that they are relatives (and as insinuated by edit summaries (1, 2), brothers). I'll keep the evidence succinct to avoid boring everyone, however I've found the following similarities between the two:

As of December 14, 2021, 73% (2,331) of HurricaneParrot's and 52% (182) of Cyclonicationly's edits are mobile edits
 * Mobile edits

Both users have an inclination towards Thai TV series. However only one page has been edited by both users: Bad Buddy. Edit summaries pertaining to Thai TV series contain Stan Twitter-like speech and terminology (HP1, HP2, CO3, CO2).
 * Thai TV series

Both users display a large interest in tropical cyclones, with most of their created articles (both for HP and CO) being composed of tropical cyclone articles, particularly ones in the Western Pacific basin. HurricaneParrot and Cyclonicationly use a similar sandbox organization convention, one that isn't followed by most WPTC users, even those who interact frequently with either editor. The following list contains pages created in their sandbox spaces according to Special:Log. Both editors use the words "oop" (HP1, HP2, CO1, CO2) and "hehe" (HP1, HP2, HP3, CO1, CO2, CO3) in many of their edit summaries, albeit this sample size is still relatively small as, at the time of gathering data, Cyclonicationly only had 316 edits. Both users also have a habit of editing tropical cyclone articles in steps, with the edit summary following the format  (HP1, HP2, HP3, CO1, CO2, CO3).
 * Tropical cyclones
 * Draft names
 * Edit summaries

Cyclonicationly presents an uncanny proficiency early on in their editing experience, although this may be attributed to guidance from HurricaneParrot. Both prematurely use InternetArchiveBot even without the presence of dead URLs and links. Both also have similar common.js files (HP, CO).
 * Proficiency

Cyclonicationly performed an article assessment as their 49th edit with Evad37's Rater. Cyclonicationly also notes the usage of Earwig's Copyvio Detector early on in their tenure, even if they have not been warned for any copyright violation with their articles.

Both users have severe and persistent issues with close paraphrasing, especially with sources which cannot be scanned with Earwig's Copyvio Detector (particularly Newspaperarchive.com). I have so far found close paraphrasing in the HP articles Typhoon Olga (1976) and Typhoon Trix (1952), with Cyclonicationly having even more traces of close paraphrasing, particularly on Baker Boys (Thai TV series) , 55:15 Never Too Late (from MTL), Typhoon Grace (1954), Typhoon June (1954), and an in-progress draft, Typhoon Lorna (1954).
 * Copyright problems

The account used by HurricaneParrot to create clippings for their past articles (e.g. "East Philippine Coast is Flooded by Typhoon Olga", May 20, 1976) is the same account used to create clippings for Cyclonicationly's current articles (e.g. "Weakened Lorna Hits Yokohama", September 19, 1954). As a NewspaperArchive.com account carries a hefty monthly subscription fee, I can only assume that HP has access through the Wikipedia Library. Assuming that these are the same person, the same account being used for articles from both users count as evidence towards sockpuppetry. If they are not the same person, this would be a violation of the Wikipedia Library terms of use.
 * Shared use of a NewspaperArchive.com account

CheckUser is being requested for this case in order to compare the user agents of HurricaneParrot and Cyclonicationly to see if they are using matching devices, which may prove towards the two accounts being run by the same person.
 * Conclusion

I will not be providing Cyclonicationly with an SPI notice, since if HurricaneParrot disappeared and made a covert clean start without addressing their copyright violations, I don't see why they wouldn't do it again assuming these are the same user. If a clerk does however find this needed, then please feel free to provide a notice. Chlod (say hi!) 02:24, 7 January 2022 (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

 * GeneralNotability (talk) 02:27, 7 January 2022 (UTC)
 * I'm going to call this ✅. There is some plausibility to their story - lots of IP overlap, easily enough to call technically indistinguishable (which could either be "same person" or "brother", doesn't answer the main question), but I've also got both of them logging in within a minute of each other on the same device. I believe that pair of logins, coupled with the filer's evidence, is enough to prove "same person". The deliberate evasion of scrutiny + dishonesty is enough for me to block. . GeneralNotability (talk) 02:40, 7 January 2022 (UTC)