Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Jafarfrotan/Archive

Suspected sockpuppets
Same edits as on Second Unitarian Church (Brooklyn). Quacking. as an FYI since they took care of the last sock's housekeeping. Star  Mississippi  19:52, 10 September 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
It is premature to block the new user. The core similarity in these socks is the self-promotion of an Afghani musician named Jafar Frotan. Although some socks, most notably the last one, have done so-called "newcomer tasks" (which I personally hate), they have all eventually recreated the draft about Frotan. I also believe that in newcomer tasks, it would not be surprising for two editors to tackle the same article; thus, the fact that two did in this case does not necessarily mean anything. More important, this new user seems to have an agenda to promote David Bates (American artist), which seems completely out of line with the others. I'm not closing this, but I certainly wouldn't block the new user without something else, including a technical confirmation. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if there's enough to warrant a check. Still,, you could request it if you wish.--Bbb23 (talk) 22:10, 10 September 2022 (UTC)
 * After further thought, it is almost impossible for this user to be a sock of this master. They've even said in an edit summary that they are editing the Bates article with the permission of the subject, and they've uploaded images related to Bates at Commons. The idea that an Afghani musician would promote an article about an American artist stretches all credulity. Closing. Bbb23 (talk) 00:26, 11 September 2022 (UTC)
 * Happy to be wrong, and would be wonderful if we have a new, productive editor. Thanks for the background Star   Mississippi  02:42, 11 September 2022 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets
User Zeytoonwiki created Jafar Frotan which was deleted by User:Bbb23. The corresponding Persian article on fawiki was repeatedly created by sockpuppets of User:Jafarfrotan (Logs here if needed). User:Shamimfrotan (global account) and User:Zeytoonws (global account) are other socks created that article and locked for sockpuppetry. Zeytoonwiki's username is also identical to one of User:Jafarfrotan's socks, User:Zeytoonws, blocked globally like others. I can't see deleted revisions of the article here, but there should be more evidence at Jafarfrotan's, Zeytoonws's, and Shamimfrotan's deleted contributions. I've recently blocked Zeytoonwiki on fawiki. Thanks. Jeeputer Talk  11:49, 14 November 2022 (UTC)

Comments by other users

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Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * - -- RoySmith (talk) 17:50, 14 November 2022 (UTC)


 * These are all ✅ $aro.belle$ (from the archive) is ostensibly ❌ but they're proxying through a webhost, which is typically a red flag, so . -- RoySmith (talk) 17:54, 14 November 2022 (UTC)
 * Hmmm, is ✅ to  -- RoySmith (talk) 17:57, 14 November 2022 (UTC)
 * Digging into the thing further, it's entirely clear that they are indeed, both from the CU data and because aro edited David Bates (American artist) which lists "Talley Dunn Publications" under Publications.  I've consulted with some other CU's off-wiki, who have convinced me that my previous "webhost" assertion isn't quite right.  At this point, I'm going to assume that aro/tally are ❌ to Jafarfrotan.  I'll leave it to a clerk to figure out what to do about that pair of accounts. -- RoySmith (talk) 18:23, 14 November 2022 (UTC)
 * I forgot to actually address the account reported today, . On the raw CU data, I'd call it, but given the username similarity to Zeytoonws, I don't think there's any doubt.  I'll block them as proven. -- RoySmith (talk) 19:03, 14 November 2022 (UTC)
 * And a few more (confirmed) -- RoySmith (talk) 19:10, 14 November 2022 (UTC)
 * - please indef Wikiwritter2023 as a confirmed sock of Jafarfrotan, per the username similarity to Wikiwritter23. I don't think Rentehaee is a sock. They have made a substantial number of edits on Wikidata which do not appear to be related to the promotional activity that the other accounts are engaging in .Please also indef $aro.belle$ as a confirmed sock of Talley Dunn Gallery. I concur that these two accounts are unrelated to the master, but I don't think it's worth splitting the case at this point. Thanks. Spicy (talk) 18:07, 17 November 2022 (UTC)
 * Salvio 21:12, 17 November 2022 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets
Admits to socking  and names Zeytoonwiki as the master. Elizium23 (talk) 19:18, 18 November 2022 (UTC)

Comments by other users

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Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * . Also requested a global lock. NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 22:21, 18 November 2022 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets
All the same tags (visual, switched, newcomer, newcomer copyedit); all the same sometimes innocuous sometimes damaging edits. Elizium23 (talk) 09:00, 20 November 2022 (UTC)

Comments by other users

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Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * ✅., , closing. --Blablubbs (talk) 09:48, 20 November 2022 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets
I hope a CU for sleepers can be performed at this point, because this gem came across my watchlist and VB's edits all seem like the same sort of variety that the prior two have been perpetrating. Elizium23 (talk) 16:35, 22 November 2022 (UTC)


 * I apologize if CUs have been performed for the last two investigations because I didn't notice that they were, as @NinjaRobotPirate and @Blablubbs didn't mention they had.
 * Sure, so VB has been admonished no less than 3 times on their talk page, including "You are damaging Wikipedia". I am not sure many Good Faith newcomers would invoke such urgent messages. The reason I spotted VB is because Diffusionless transformation had been edited by Zeytoonwiki in the same newcomer task app, but I suppose that is how the automated system works. It is also remarkable that VB stopped editing after November 3, and picked up again on November 22. That would give the socks time to get busy in those 3 weeks.
 * I must admit that going over VB's responses on the UTP, I don't see a lot of trolling or being weird like our sock here. And so I may have jumped the gun on this. If a CU has already been done on the last two socks then I apologize for this spurious request. Elizium23 (talk) 17:18, 22 November 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

 * - VickyBenz has been editing since August, so if they share technical characteristics with Jafarfrotan, they would have been expected to show up in one of the previous checks in this case. Both VickyBenz and Jafarfrotan edit through the "newcomer tasks" system, which encourages editors to make minor edits such as adding links to articles. IIRC there is some kind of autocomplete "feature" that suggests links to add, which (like the example linked here) are often inappropriate. Is there any evidence that this account is related besides using the newcomer tasks system and editing one of the same pages (which is expected, because the system suggests pages based on the presence of maintenance tags)? If not, I am not comfortable endorsing CU because if this is a sock it would have in all likelihood been picked up already. Spicy (talk) 17:10, 22 November 2022 (UTC)
 * Thanks. I'm going to go ahead and close this. Spicy (talk) 18:42, 22 November 2022 (UTC)