Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/IMZahidIqbal/Archive

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Editing of related articles involving startups in Pakistan. In the most notable case, IMZahidIqbal removed an AfD template on an article created by Hello.Zahid. It is worth noting that a Mohammed Zahid Iqbal is listed on this Behance poster as having created Navcane: that poster also mentions Plan 9 Startup Incubator, whose article he created, and he also created Techhub Connect, which like Plan 9 was set up by the Punjab Information Technology Board. Raymie (t • c) 05:20, 6 February 2017 (UTC)

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 * - Please compare those accounts - there's definitely some interesting overlap and a username similarity. Thanks, GABgab 16:28, 10 February 2017 (UTC)
 * -  Ks0stm  (T•C•G•E) 17:14, 10 February 2017 (UTC)
 * I'm going to say and  on this one, but I would not mind one bit if another CU double checked me.  Ks0stm  (T•C•G•E) 17:28, 10 February 2017 (UTC)
 * Sock indeffed and master blocked for 3 days. Case closed.  Vanjagenije  (talk)  23:51, 16 February 2017 (UTC)

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Recreation of master's work Rubina Ratnakar using new title RUBINA RATNAKAR and user IMZahidIqbal playing a important role there. GSS (talk |c|em ) 11:48, 4 March 2017 (UTC)

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 * IMZahidIqbal and LARZZE are ✅., who was blocked during the first SPI, is now ✅. Rubinaratnakar is very . I’ve blocked and tagged the master and LARZZE. I’ve adjusted the tag at Hello.Zahid.--Bbb23 (talk) 19:00, 4 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Case closed.  Vanjagenije  (talk)  23:12, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

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Another promotional account, here and at Commons. Refspamming and creation of doubtful blps. Overlaps with at Jackie Ibanez, right after LARZZE was blocked as a sock. Andy Dingley (talk) 08:46, 7 April 2017 (UTC)


 * User:Macrolancer has a selfie on their userpage, File:Cannon at Fort Siloso, Sentosa, Singapore - 20160630.jpg with the caption " Muhammad Zahid Iqbal in front of a cannon at Fort Siloso, Sentosa, Singapore." Andy Dingley (talk) 08:56, 7 April 2017 (UTC)
 * Also the first deletion request here: Commons:User talk:Macrolancer was for Commons:Commons:Deletion requests/File:Muhammad Zahid Iqbal.png Andy Dingley (talk) 09:09, 7 April 2017 (UTC)
 * Also see https://www.facebook.com/macrolancer/ "We offer online work at home and provide outstanding services to your business." and numerous shares of content from iMZahidIqbal Andy Dingley (talk) 11:22, 10 April 2017 (UTC)
 * "Criminal behave" Compare:
 * https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Vanjagenije&diff=prev&oldid=766471954
 * User talk:Andy Dingley
 * Andy Dingley (talk) 12:15, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

(Smn90) More overlaps with the promo biogs Andy Dingley (talk) 08:48, 7 April 2017 (UTC)

(Hardol922) More overlaps with the other accounts and the promo biogs Andy Dingley (talk) 08:49, 7 April 2017 (UTC)

(E.Zahid) Already blocked, but also active at Commons. Looks as if this could have been one of the original accounts. See Commons:File:Cannon at Fort Siloso, Sentosa, Singapore - 20160630.jpg and User:Macrolancer Andy Dingley (talk) 08:58, 7 April 2017 (UTC)

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Hi Andy Dingley This Macrolancer is the first time when I joined Wikipedia working. Macrolancer is my company name which I used to create my username here. How you have tagged me as WP:SOCKPUPPET? I participate at Wikipedia about my related topics. If these Topics are being discussed by someone else that what is my fault. You can check the notability of the articles which I posted. It looks Andy Dingley is my personal enemy. Macrolancer (talk) 11:20, 10 April 2017 (UTC)

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 * I notice that your three 7 April reports were made within minutes of each other. Rather than using Twinkle on each account that you find, please use Twinkle against the master account, where the form will accept multiple sock accounts, or simply add additional * lines to the existing case. Thank you. ​—DoRD (talk)​ 14:43, 25 April 2017 (UTC)
 * If you don't like how Twinkle works, then tell the Twinkle developers. As nothing has been done with this pile of ongoing paid editing, other than to criticise those doing the legwork of identifying them, then I (yet again) wonder what the point is in having SPI at all? Andy Dingley (talk) 14:47, 25 April 2017 (UTC)
 * Believe me, I have raised this point with the twinkle folk before. However, using the tool on the master account does allow multiple socks to be reported at once rather than having it make separate reports for each sock. Anyway, checks are, but are taking some time to sort out. ​—DoRD (talk)​ 15:24, 25 April 2017 (UTC)
 * Also, I spent ~10 minutes cleaning up the report before deciding to run checks because cases are tedious to work with when they're needlessly spread over multiple reports. If you want action here, it helps to not make our job more difficult than it needs to be. ​—DoRD (talk)​ 15:44, 25 April 2017 (UTC)


 * CU results at . ​—DoRD (talk)​ 15:38, 25 April 2017 (UTC)

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Only edits are to Umar Saif, over nearly a year. This is part of the same likely paid-editing pool, through Idea Croron Ka, where all of the linked BLPs Nabeel A. Qadeer Salim Ghauri, Umar Saif are from the same editor(s). Andy Dingley (talk) 08:37, 10 April 2017 (UTC)

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 * CU results at . ​—DoRD (talk)​ 15:38, 25 April 2017 (UTC)

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Same writing style and grammar, quickly back to Jackie Ibanez / AfD and removing CSDs at RentSeeker, previously AfDed and also at RentSeeker.ca.

The editing pattern is the classic sock run of trivial edits on the 8th April to get the edit count up, then a run from the 21st article to start creating pages like Valcon Design (see ) and Six Theta Design, now AfDed. Andy Dingley (talk) 09:53, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

(AsmzaSherazi) Another potential sock, recreating RentSeeker Andy Dingley (talk) 09:58, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

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 * E.Zahid is . Smn90, Hardol922, and Stephen547 appear to be ❌ to the master or one another.
 * These additional promotional accounts are ✅, but :
 * ​—DoRD (talk)​ 15:38, 25 April 2017 (UTC)
 * These additional promotional accounts are ✅, but :
 * ​—DoRD (talk)​ 15:38, 25 April 2017 (UTC)
 * These additional promotional accounts are ✅, but :
 * ​—DoRD (talk)​ 15:38, 25 April 2017 (UTC)
 * ​—DoRD (talk)​ 15:38, 25 April 2017 (UTC)
 * ​—DoRD (talk)​ 15:38, 25 April 2017 (UTC)
 * ​—DoRD (talk)​ 15:38, 25 April 2017 (UTC)
 * ​—DoRD (talk)​ 15:38, 25 April 2017 (UTC)


 * AsmzaSherazi and Lubna.Iram have been Primefac (talk) 22:07, 25 April 2017 (UTC)
 * Axtalent and Macrolancer re-blocked and tagged. Primefac (talk) 22:10, 25 April 2017 (UTC)

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It chimed in at the Afd Articles for deletion/Six Theta Design just before the speedy delete and close. Same sort of syntax. Glowing praise for the thing. I see the IP also has a final warning for vandalism. Worth a look/block? Shawn in Montreal (talk) 23:41, 25 April 2017 (UTC)

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 * See . ​—DoRD (talk)​ 16:08, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

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This is quite funny.

Retaliatory AfD at Tox (Python testing wrapper), see User talk:103.255.4.2, then AfD stacking at Articles for deletion/Stephanie Braganza, an article that (a sock here) had been working on.
 * 103.255.4.2

This is trivial, but it warrants recording here Andy Dingley (talk) 08:36, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

Another IP today, going back to Jackie Ibanez and the AfD. Andy Dingley (talk) 08:51, 26 April 2017 (UTC)
 * 103.255.4.1

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 * It is safe to block individual IP addresses in this range (103.255.4.0/24) for a short time, but a rangeblock will probably cause some collateral damage. ​—DoRD (talk)​ 16:08, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

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Newly registered user, whose first ever Wikipedia contribution was jumping straight into Articles for deletion/Stephanie Braganza — a discussion where all of the other keep rationales to date have come from confirmed socks of this user — with the provision of weak, GNG-failing new sources. Bearcat (talk) 16:14, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

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— Berean Hunter   (talk)  17:26, 16 May 2017 (UTC)
 * Already blocked. Closing.

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Alerted to activity at Kris Degioia, an article that has historically been repeatedly recreated by promotional socks. The article shared enough similarities to previous versions that I ran a CU. Behavioral evidence was nearly identical to the two accounts listed below. I had another CU provide me with a second opinion and we came to the same conclusion. Mkdw  talk 23:44, 28 May 2017 (UTC)

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 * JohnsonClark ✅ to:
 * and marking as closed. Mostly filed here for record. Mkdw  talk 23:49, 28 May 2017 (UTC)
 * and marking as closed. Mostly filed here for record. Mkdw  talk 23:49, 28 May 2017 (UTC)
 * and marking as closed. Mostly filed here for record. Mkdw  talk 23:49, 28 May 2017 (UTC)

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Same behaviour as. Account created 1 day after Liza blocked.

Diff of identical edits:
 * 
 * 

Stickee (talk) 08:08, 7 June 2017 (UTC)

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 * Not sure who this is, but it looks a lot like trivial edit-bulking to warm up a new sock. Also does psychologydictionary.org need blacklisting? Andy Dingley (talk) 08:40, 7 June 2017 (UTC)

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 * . Mz7 (talk) 02:45, 8 June 2017 (UTC)

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This account's first edit was June 10, a couple of days after the last sock was blocked. Their edits have all been: 1) making minor corrections/wikilinks to build up the edit count; 2) spamming Psychologydictionary.org; 3) 2 new obviously paid-editing articles about musicians, Artist KcK and Charlie Ungry. Just like the prior socks of this master. Jytdog (talk) 02:30, 18 June 2017 (UTC)

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 * Pardon, but I speedy-tagged the 2 articles created by this sock per CSD G5 and these tags were immediately removed by a very recent account that has done nothing about tweak a few articles and add COPYVIO to an article about another band. Likely additional sock.  Not sure where to put this, so put it here.  Sorry, I do understand that this was closed.
 * -- Jytdog (talk) 00:25, 19 June 2017 (UTC)
 * -- Jytdog (talk) 00:25, 19 June 2017 (UTC)

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— Berean Hunter   (talk)  12:11, 18 June 2017 (UTC) — Berean Hunter   (talk)  14:40, 18 June 2017 (UTC) — Berean Hunter   (talk)  20:40, 19 June 2017 (UTC)
 * - to confirm and flush for sleepers.
 * ✅, but no clear sleepers. ​—DoRD (talk)​ 14:23, 18 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Indeffed and closing.
 * , you're fine with posting that here. :) That's him, for more than one reason that's him. Indeffing and tagging.

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EShami - an account created in October 2017 - creating several poorly sourced and promotional pages on non-notable entities, just like the socks of IMZahidIqbal would used to do. If we compare the language skills of EShami with socks of IMZahidIqbal, there is not a big difference. EShami like the socks of IMZahidIqbal would edit articles using the visual editor and properly write edit summaries. Interestingly, EShami and recently blocked socks of IMZahidIqbal would create their userpages with an image. ,, and.

EShami created articles relates to Pakistan, but his initial edits were not on Pakistan related pages. Like the socks of IMZahidIqbal, EShami used to made minor corrections and wikilinks to build up the edit count and reputation as a newbie. and then slowly move to create obviously paid-editing BLPs like Oliver Ripley, Malaika Faisal, Jessica Wang and Alessio Jim Della Valle. Elshami also created several pages related to Punjab government which master account used to do. --Saqib (talk) 13:49, 13 January 2018 (UTC)

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 * I am not familiar with the work of IMZahidIqbal, so cannot comment on any stylistic similarity. However, the editing activity of Eshami seems to be that of a COI/paid editor - creating new articles on subjects that are not notable or with marginal notability, and with a promotional tone. Another giveaway is that the BLPs are of people from widely disparate locations and/or working in different fields - an over-enthusiastic fanboy/girl would not be so scattergun in their approach. Looking at Talk:Jessica Wang, they do attempt to make a somewhat vague denial of COI, and misleadingly and incorrectly blame another editor. Edwardx (talk) 14:17, 13 January 2018 (UTC)
 * There is a high chance that they are doing paid edits here. I second what said above.  Störm   (talk)  15:49, 13 January 2018 (UTC)

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 * - . Note near identical edit summaries to previous sockpuppets ("Linked to other page")  ("Reason to keep")  . Please block. Sro23 (talk) 23:51, 13 January 2018 (UTC)
 * Sro23 - ✅.  ~Oshwah~  (talk) (contribs)   23:52, 13 January 2018 (UTC)

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Vandalism of pages realting to the listed sockmaster. deleted contribs here. Already blocked but a sweep might be handy to check if any other accounts are loitering. Amortias (T)(C) 21:13, 15 January 2018 (UTC)

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 * No need for CU. Closing. Sro23 (talk) 00:54, 16 January 2018 (UTC)

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started NK Forster Guitars and was blocked as a sock of.

Special:Contributions/James_Lawrie then took up where they left off. James removed the COI tag placed by Bilby and left this on Bilby's user page with the edit summary "(DO NOT MESS WITH ME BILBY)". Bilby had earlier left a message on Alic.Mat23's talk page about undisclosed paid editing, so I conjecture that was why James got a bit het up with Bilby and the COI tag. Further inability to interact in a collegial manner led to James being blocked.

Anyway, I don't know if we need a checkuser, but the overall tenor to me is one of a UPE sockfarm that's tired of us getting in their way. --Dloh cier ekim  (talk) 22:06, 11 April 2018 (UTC)

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Please move to Sockpuppet investigations/IMZahidIqbal.--Bbb23 (talk) 23:32, 11 April 2018 (UTC)
 * ✅. Sir Sputnik (talk) 15:30, 12 April 2018 (UTC)
 * Tagged and closing. GABgab 20:11, 14 April 2018 (UTC)

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Procedural filing: the following report was filed at Sockpuppet investigations/Sanghvi6722 and has been re-filed here. Ivanvector (Talk/Edits) 21:04, 3 July 2018 (UTC)

All three users were registered within last 14 days and working in the same area. Jekyl84's third edit on 28 April was to create Draft:Daniel Darling in one go and the next day it was posted in the main space by BrainJones84 where Captamerica76 added infobox and including an image, he claimed own work. Jekyl84 also recreated Kanishk Sajnani earlier created by the master including two socks. Smells like UPE. GSS (talk |c|em ) 09:17, 1 May 2018 (UTC)


 * A month after Draft:Daniel Darling was deleted Cclose18 recreated it in one go and his first edit before creating the draft was to use Teahouse where he added a comment that ' and his next comment (a reply to a question) was ' and to me this sounds like his organization look for people and pay them to create an article on Wikipedia for someone else without taking money from the main subject? is that possible? – GSS (talk |c|em ) 07:36, 27 June 2018 (UTC)

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BrainJones84 and Jekyl84 are confirmed with: Based on results for James Lawrie, those would belong with Sockpuppet investigations/IMZahidIqbal. Proxy usage then starts to blur things up a bit, but more than likely confirmed: More than likely related:

Captamerica76 is technically unrelated to the others but confirmed with: -- zzuuzz (talk) 20:06, 5 June 2018 (UTC)
 * based on questions at Sockpuppet investigations/BrainJones84. Ivanvector (Talk/Edits) 13:34, 12 June 2018 (UTC)
 * What questions are you waiting to be resolved in the other case before proceeding on this one? I'm planning on closing the other case – they're all blocked, behavior isn't gonna get us much farther in that case. Kevin ( aka L235 ·&#32; t ·&#32; c) 19:50, 23 June 2018 (UTC)
 * Un-holding and setting status back to "checked". A behavioral investigation should be conducted by an admin (including a look through deleted contributions), and then we can close this. Best, Kevin ( aka L235 ·&#32; t ·&#32; c) 23:36, 26 June 2018 (UTC)
 * thanks for moving this along in my absence. I did review behaviour here and in relation to the other case, but I've been travelling for a couple weeks and need to re-orient myself. Some of the conclusions in the other case contradict conclusions here, and neither case should be closed until that is resolved, so I'm ticking this back on hold. I will review and close both "today" (likely early tomorrow in UTC). Courtesy ping . Ivanvector (Talk/Edits) 20:29, 3 July 2018 (UTC)


 * behaviourally, I agree that the confirmed accounts are more likely IMZahidIqbal than Sanghvi6722, though the distinction is not terribly clear and Sanghvi also has a possible overlap with Sockpuppet investigations/Adityaaggarwal1994. Relying on the available technical info, I am treating this report as IMZahidIqbal and will move the report there. Ivanvector (Talk/Edits) 20:58, 3 July 2018 (UTC)
 * ✅. To prevent unnecessary double archiving I am also blanking the original report. This case is closed. Ivanvector (Talk/Edits) 21:05, 3 July 2018 (UTC)

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Self-admitted sock (see here) of IMZahidIqbal/Sanghvi6722. Requesting checkuser for possible sleepers. F ASTILY  01:30, 23 August 2019 (UTC)

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Note, the latter account is technically indistinguishable, possibly a different person, but in the same place and related (see filter log). It was previously autoblocked by one of the other accounts - contrary to what's said on its talk page, I do not believe any of these accounts were editing from a colo/vpn/webhost. As for some further clues of what's going on, the deleted version of User:Kalkine is of relevance. And I also note an attempted password reset for, but I can't be sure that this account is actually related. As for the 'master', I currently can't go back any further than. -- zzuuzz (talk) 08:49, 23 August 2019 (UTC)
 * Shouldn't this be listed under Sockpuppet investigations/Sanghvi6722? Or, did block  with the wrong tags? I see that the block log points to the former, but the sockpuppet tag points here. Primefac (talk) 06:07, 23 August 2019 (UTC)
 * I blocked the account where I found it, which is the former. It was since merged here - I have a certain level of doubt about where it belongs, probably due to proxy usage. I might even consider it now unlikely. However, here are some accounts which are currently confirmed to each other:
 * (blocked by others, tagged in Kunalsa1's case by others - rest I tagged myself). Closing. The SandDoctor  Talk 16:23, 24 August 2019 (UTC)