Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Kspellskarthik/Archive

13 December 2015

 * Suspected sockpuppets


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Sagarissweet made several routine, grammatical edits to Kvya vajjhala's userpage hist, both editors started out with the Wikipedia Adventure, and both wrote their userpages in the same idiosyncratic way ("Sincerely Me(Sagar)" and "Sincerely Me(wikiwoman)"). This could be a good faith misunderstanding about socks, but I'm concerned this may be part of a larger farm. First we has Sagarissweet adding refspam: Additionally, Sagarissweet has created a substantial number of fully-formed, flattering articles on obscure recent topics, mostly BLPs (Anamika Mishra(Author), Ralph Michael Brekan, Elliot Cohen (psychologist), Draft:Cornucopia(Children’s Book), Admit One, etc.) Many of these articles have been flagged for their serious notability problems, but Sagarissweet hasn't slowed down much at all, which is a huge red flag that something more sinister is going on, such as undisclosed paid editing.

It was Sagarissweet's edits to Alex Elena which first attract my attention, since that article has a clear COI and promotional history, which circumstantially supports paid editing. Grayfell (talk) 05:40, 13 December 2015 (UTC)


 * Anamika Mishra(Author) was a recreation of Anamika Mishra, which was previously deleted 4 times with maybe some shenanigans (log) to get around having been salted. Still not a smoking gun, but very fishy. Grayfell (talk) 22:33, 13 December 2015 (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

 * - Yes, although there are no obvious WP:ILLEGIT edits, something is suspicious here. Maybe a case of paid editing.  Vanjagenije  (talk)  09:50, 13 December 2015 (UTC)
 * A preliminary check leads me to believe this is a paid editing sock farm. I'll dig deeper to confirm.-- Jezebel's Ponyo bons mots 22:08, 15 December 2015 (UTC)
 * The following accounts are all creating promotional articles from the same IP:


 * In addition to the crossover above there is crossover between, and  with the following accounts on another IP:


 * This appears to be blatant paid editing. -- Jezebel's Ponyo bons mots 22:31, 15 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Indeffing and tagging all. I moved the case to the name of the oldest account. Closing.  Vanjagenije  (talk)  22:47, 15 December 2015 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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Username is similar, and has overlapping edits with 124.123.78.192, which removed tags from both Growmobile (created by sock) and Agile CRM (created by Thikkarthik). Only one edit on July 1, but since last checkuser found a relatively large farm, I'm hoping this hasn't gone stale. Grayfell (talk) 23:36, 16 July 2016 (UTC)


 * The username similarity and overlapping edits seem crystal clear to me, and I think this user is obviously a sock based on that alone. Since this farm had 16 known socks all editing promotionally, I'm hoping there's some way to check for more. Is that not possible?
 * There's additional recent activity, also, which maybe makes this simpler. The IP's limited activity overlaps with Edy Sulistyo. I'm adding NormaBates123, as that account's only edits have been to create Edy Sulistyo, and also removed a bunch of tags from Ben Foster (director). That page was created in 2012, but it has obvious COI and promotional problems. Grayfell (talk) 20:41, 24 July 2016 (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

 * Could you clarify your note that "since last checkuser found a relatively large farm, I'm hoping this hasn't gone stale"? Every sock in the archive is . Kevin ( aka L235 ·&#32; t ·&#32; c) 15:26, 24 July 2016 (UTC)
 * - Fine, let's run a CheckUser, though it might be hard for the CU to look for sleepers with limited edits to look at. Kevin ( aka L235 ·&#32; t ·&#32; c) 12:36, 25 July 2016 (UTC)
 * The accounts in the archives and the accounts listed below often use servers that hide their true locations.
 * Group 1 – the following accounts are ✅ to each other and to Kspellskarthik based on the CU log:
 * Group 2 – the following accounts are ✅ to each other and to Group 1:
 * Thikkarthik is but nonetheless  to Group 1.
 * I've blocked without tags the accounts in Group 1 and Coolgama.
 * Note re master: Beth Holmes 1 is much older than Kspellskarthik and the oldest of all the accounts. Coolgama, although not as old as Beth Holmes 1, is older than Kspellskarthik.--Bbb23 (talk) 15:41, 25 July 2016 (UTC)
 * Now that Agile CRM is deleted, an admin should evaluate behavioral evidence wrt Thikkarthik and for tagging purposes. Kevin ( aka L235 ·&#32; t ·&#32; c) 04:12, 28 July 2016 (UTC)
 * See 2016080210011467. Could you consider checking in relation to this? ~ Rob 13 Talk 05:46, 3 August 2016 (UTC)
 * I don't have access to OTRS.--Bbb23 (talk) 11:33, 3 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Thikkarthik is but nonetheless  to Group 1.
 * I've blocked without tags the accounts in Group 1 and Coolgama.
 * Note re master: Beth Holmes 1 is much older than Kspellskarthik and the oldest of all the accounts. Coolgama, although not as old as Beth Holmes 1, is older than Kspellskarthik.--Bbb23 (talk) 15:41, 25 July 2016 (UTC)
 * Now that Agile CRM is deleted, an admin should evaluate behavioral evidence wrt Thikkarthik and for tagging purposes. Kevin ( aka L235 ·&#32; t ·&#32; c) 04:12, 28 July 2016 (UTC)
 * See 2016080210011467. Could you consider checking in relation to this? ~ Rob 13 Talk 05:46, 3 August 2016 (UTC)
 * I don't have access to OTRS.--Bbb23 (talk) 11:33, 3 August 2016 (UTC)


 * My apologies,, somehow I missed your request. NihartouJason is ❌ to any of the accounts listed here. However, the following accounts are ✅ from each other:
 * I've blocked the three accounts without tags.--Bbb23 (talk) 22:03, 13 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Given the length of time since the article in question was deleted (several weeks), and that all the accounts have been blocked (save for Thikkarthik who has made no further edits), I'm closing this case without further action. If a clerk wants to try to sort out the tagging so be it, but at this point the disruption has ended.-- Jezebel's Ponyo bons mots 21:21, 7 September 2016 (UTC)
 * I've blocked the three accounts without tags.--Bbb23 (talk) 22:03, 13 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Given the length of time since the article in question was deleted (several weeks), and that all the accounts have been blocked (save for Thikkarthik who has made no further edits), I'm closing this case without further action. If a clerk wants to try to sort out the tagging so be it, but at this point the disruption has ended.-- Jezebel's Ponyo bons mots 21:21, 7 September 2016 (UTC)
 * Given the length of time since the article in question was deleted (several weeks), and that all the accounts have been blocked (save for Thikkarthik who has made no further edits), I'm closing this case without further action. If a clerk wants to try to sort out the tagging so be it, but at this point the disruption has ended.-- Jezebel's Ponyo bons mots 21:21, 7 September 2016 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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Two SPA created purely to recreate articles previously created by this sock farm. Jason Snyder created by Sillicatop previously created by SravaniChalla (blocked sock of Kspellskarthik). Matthew William Knowles, now at Draft:Matthew William Knowles, created by Voleares195 (first diff gone due to copyvio) previously created by SravaniChalla at Matthew Knowles (Actor). duffbeerforme (talk) 13:14, 2 December 2016 (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

 * - Can we compare these accounts to one another (and to previous socks, if possible)? Thanks very much, GABgab 16:15, 29 December 2016 (UTC)
 * Voleares195 is to.
 * The following accounts are ✅ to each other and to, a behaviorally blocked sock of Sockpuppet investigations/Niaguru1968. They are ❌ to Kspellskarthik.
 * I've blocked and tagged the Niaguru1968 socks. I've blocked Voleares195 without a tag.--Bbb23 (talk) 18:29, 29 December 2016 (UTC)
 * Tagging Voleares195 as suspected sock and closing.  Vanjagenije  (talk)  21:30, 2 January 2017 (UTC)
 * I've blocked and tagged the Niaguru1968 socks. I've blocked Voleares195 without a tag.--Bbb23 (talk) 18:29, 29 December 2016 (UTC)
 * Tagging Voleares195 as suspected sock and closing.  Vanjagenije  (talk)  21:30, 2 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Tagging Voleares195 as suspected sock and closing.  Vanjagenije  (talk)  21:30, 2 January 2017 (UTC)