Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/JohnPaos/Archive

Suspected sockpuppets
In July 2021, JohnPaos was indefinitely, partially blocked from Palmer Report and Talk:Palmer Report. The username Persesus was registered in February 2022, and within a few days posted at the Palmer Report talk page.

Checkuser is impossible for JohnPaos because too much time has passed, however, the Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, IP range Special:Contributions/2601:193:4103:FA40:0:0:0:0/64 spans from May 2021 to the present, tying the case together. Persesus and JohnPaos share several characteristics. They both have the same diurnal rhythm, with no edits made from 08:00 to 12:00 UTC. They both post bare URLs on talk pages, and they often fail to add a full stop at the end of sentences.

The Pittsburg IPs performed the same kinds of edits as JohnPaos and Persesus. In mid-May 2021, JohnPaos continued the serious BLP violations of the IP at Ken Penders—all of these edits are revdeled, but it is obvious that JohnPaos was created to continue the BLP violations of Special:Contributions/2601:193:4103:FA40:19CC:6E33:C8E2:5A77, registering the username a few minutes after the IP's final edit. More recently, at MeidasTouch, the same edits were made by Persesus and the IP about a racial slur. Binksternet (talk) 13:11, 22 March 2022 (UTC)

Comments by other users
I was going to start an SPI myself but I didn't have the time. JohnPaos was blocked from Talk:Palmer Report for their disruptive behavior. It's clear JohnPaos and Persesus are the same person. They both are super anti-Palmer Report and are against the owner of the website, Bill Palmer. Here are some diffs:


 * Both calling Palmer Report "fascist-baiters" (Special:Diff/1032391508, Special:Diff/1075469777)
 * Both are obsessed with adding a "business insider" article to the page (Special:Diff/1031681844, )
 * Both are eager to add a photo of Bill Palmer to the article (Special:Diff/1031723099. ).Dr. Swag Lord (talk) 21:39, 22 March 2022 (UTC)

''Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.''

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * Let's start with a finding that JohnPaos was clearly a continuation of 2601:193:4103:FA40:19CC:6E33:C8E2:5A77, as basically admitted to in this edit summary ("Reborn"), picking up that IP's edit war where they'd left off. Interestingly, they technically never violated the block on that /64, although I suspect that may have only been by coincidence. Everything else about that /64's contribs suggests that Paos is still using it, although not to make any edits that would violate their pblock. The /64 stopped editing on 23 February, two days before Persesus was registered. Their very first edit was to continue an edit war that an IP from that /64 had been in.That on its own is solid circumstantial evidence for Persesus. Swag Lord's "fascist-baiters" and Business Insider diffs are enough to seal the deal, both for what they say and because they show a similarly immature writing style with similar grammatical mistakes. The other diffs presented by Binksternet and Swag Lord are also persuasive, but I highlight those two pairs as the most striking.Both Persesus and the IPs need to be blocked, then, but a procedural question arises with Paos. Their final edit was to ask whether their pblock would be removed (in such a manner that implies they perhaps didn't understand what "indefinite" means), and there's no way to know whether they saw Chetsford's explanation and then abandoned the account, or just abandoned the account there and then and never looked back. Even if the former, we don't assume that new users know our policies on block evasion. I could picture someone taking the course of action Paos did without thinking they were doing anything wrong... if I AGF real hard., at least However, I question whether, based on all this, Paos/Persesus can be said to be here to build an encyclopedia. Thus, :
 * as a suspected sock of JohnPaos
 * For JohnPaos, my recommended block length for socking would be 1 month due to the evasion not just of scrutiny but of a p-block, even if I AGF. However, I would ask the reviewing administrator to consider whether a lengthier or indefinite block and/or AP2 sanctions are in order based on the combined behavior of this person across both accounts and their IP range.
 * The IP range should be hardblocked in line with Paos: if that's how long they get;  if they're indeffed.
 *  --  Tamzin  [ cetacean needed ] (she/they) 04:04, 26 March 2022 (UTC)
 * . I went with one month for JohnPaos and the IP range; if their contributions are problematic after the block expires, that can be handled at the time. WP:ROPE applies here to a certain extent.  Ks0stm  (T•C•G•E) 04:51, 26 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Thanks, Ks0stm. Persesus tagged, JohnPaos not. Closing. --  Tamzin  [ cetacean needed ] (she/they) 05:17, 26 March 2022 (UTC)