Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Levine2112/Archive

Report date August 13 2009, 17:01 (UTC)

 * Suspected sockpuppets

Users active in current dispute:

Users suspected of being meatpuppets or sockpuppets of Levine2112:

Possibly involved accounts no longer active under these names:

Variety of IPs in range(166.128.0.0 - 166.255.255.255) for wireless cellphones were used to avoid violating 3RR; often perform exactly the same edits/reverts as Levine2112; example IPS:

AT&T Mobile; unfortunately a large block (32.0.0.0 - 32.255.255.255 ) may not be useful; example IPs:

IPs that seem to point directly to Levine2112's location. According to an IP check these IPs point to Los Angeles, CA or close by Los, Angeles, CA.
 * Previous IP edit Levine2112 has signed points directly to Los Angeles, CA.
 * http://www.ip-adress.com/ip_tracer/207.215.246.46
 * http://www.ip-adress.com/ip_tracer/69.234.129.52
 * http://www.ip-adress.com/ip_tracer/76.222.232.146
 * http://www.ip-adress.com/ip_tracer/166.191.166.100
 * http://www.ip-adress.com/ip_tracer/32.174.126.62
 * http://www.ip-adress.com/ip_tracer/32.173.111.155
 * http://www.ip-adress.com/ip_tracer/69.234.129.52
 * http://www.ip-adress.com/ip_tracer/76.222.232.146
 * http://www.ip-adress.com/ip_tracer/166.191.166.100
 * http://www.ip-adress.com/ip_tracer/32.174.126.62
 * http://www.ip-adress.com/ip_tracer/32.173.111.155

There are ongoing battles in Chiropractic and related articles which fall under the arbitration remedies given at Requests_for_arbitration/Pseudoscience. Some of the above mentioned editors have been previously warned or sanctioned under these remedies (see Requests_for_arbitration/Pseudoscience and Requests_for_arbitration/Martinphi-ScienceApologist) and there has been a history of using meatpuppets, sockpuppets or logging out to continue revert wars or influence consensus building discussions in this topic area. Several of the accounts listed as inactive stopped editing immediately or shortly after being warned of the Arbcom sanctions which brings up concerns that they are now avoiding scrutiny. This area had calmed down for a while, but now that there are content disagreements again, IPs are resurfacing with the same patterns: blind reverts, obvious understanding of Wikipedia terms and processes, chiming in to support one side or the other in consensus discussions - its disruptive and makes enforcing the arb sanctions very complicated and resolving the constant disputes nearly impossible. If any of the involved users are logging out to give the appearance of extra support or avoid scrutiny, it would likely mean sanctions which hopefully will allow editors who are handling these situations in good faith to resolve disputes more productively.
 * Evidence submitted by QuackGuru

I believe there is strong evidence that Levine2112 is either logging out to avoid scrutiny/continue edit wars or is, at best, enlisting meat puppets to revert during edit wars. Consider the following exchange from May on Chiropractic history:


 * May 8, QuackGuru adds a claim about mysticism being part of Chiro's history
 * Over the next 4 days, Levine2112 and many different IP addresses revert this same edit. They mention the same claims, never participate in the discussion and some IPs even mention agreeing with Levine2112. The IPs strangely understand terminology such as consensus, BRD, sourcing and bad faith., , , , , , , , ,
 * User:BullRangifer and User:2over0 both revert the IPs and were active in the discussion on talk where Levine2112 was the sole objector.

May 8 (and onwards at Chiropractic history) is very interesting to me, because at the time the air literally reeked of Levine2112. Here is the page's edit history from that time. It's quite a striking edit war. Notice the tag teaming between Levine2112 and the IPs.
 * (cur) (prev) 20:48, May 17, 2009 QuackGuru (talk | contribs) (36,482 bytes) (rmv extra spaces) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 05:32, May 15, 2009 Citation bot (talk | contribs) m (36,494 bytes) (Citation maintenance. [Pu]Formatted: doi. You can use this bot yourself! Please report any bugs.) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 05:47, May 14, 2009 BullRangifer (talk | contribs) (36,464 bytes) (Too many edits are being reverted at one time. The other matter should be proposed and it can be worked in. This one is properly sourced and it's vandalism to remove it.) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 02:46, May 14, 2009 76.222.232.146 (talk) (36,377 bytes) (Undid revision 289799721 by BullRangifer (talk) other matter should be addressed before reedit is made) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 02:17, May 14, 2009 BullRangifer (talk | contribs) (36,464 bytes) (Undid revision 289690250 by 166.135.62.157 (talk) It is very faithful to the source. The other part is another matter.) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 16:13, May 13, 2009 166.135.62.157 (talk) (36,377 bytes) (Levine is right. This is not what the fulltext says at all. Y'all should read it sometime.) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 15:41, May 13, 2009 QuackGuru (talk | contribs) (36,464 bytes) (faithfully sourced) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 15:38, May 13, 2009 Levine2112 (talk | contribs) (36,377 bytes) (I agree it has been discussed, but there is no consensus to include yet. The source has conflicting statements and we are leaving one of those statements out for some reason.) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 15:33, May 13, 2009 QuackGuru (talk | contribs) (36,464 bytes) (Per WP:BRD. This has been discussed on talk page. Talk:Chiropractic history#Mystical ideas sourced.) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 02:35, May 13, 2009 166.134.18.118 (talk) (36,377 bytes) (Bad faith edit) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 07:04, May 12, 2009 QuackGuru (talk | contribs) (36,464 bytes) (rmv extra space) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 03:11, May 12, 2009 2over0 (talk | contribs) (36,465 bytes) (Undid revision 289311442 by 166.191.225.235 please also note that the Manual of style stipulates that refs be unspaced) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 19:38, May 11, 2009 166.191.225.235 (talk) (36,377 bytes) (Cease this fighting & talk it out Quackguru) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 19:09, May 11, 2009 QuackGuru (talk | contribs) (36,465 bytes) (rmv extra space) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 19:01, May 11, 2009 QuackGuru (talk | contribs) (36,466 bytes) (No explanation given for edit. Please explain on talk page. See Talk:Chiropractic history#Mystical ideas sourced) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 18:59, May 11, 2009 Levine2112 (talk | contribs) (36,377 bytes) (I don't think anyone is arguing this wikilink) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 18:54, May 11, 2009 70.71.22.45 (talk) (36,373 bytes) (Undid revision 289204178 by QuackGuru (talk) no consensus) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 06:21, May 11, 2009 QuackGuru (talk | contribs) (36,466 bytes) (rmv extra space) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 06:20, May 11, 2009 QuackGuru (talk | contribs) (36,467 bytes) (Completely sourced. See Talk:Chiropractic history#Mystical ideas sourced) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 06:18, May 11, 2009 Levine2112 (talk | contribs) (36,374 bytes) (Reverted to revision 289201081 by Levine2112; no such consensus exists. read the full-text or at least the passage I quoted on the discussion and then let's talk.. using TW) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 06:13, May 11, 2009 QuackGuru (talk | contribs) (36,467 bytes) (rmv extra space) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 06:13, May 11, 2009 QuackGuru (talk | contribs) (36,468 bytes) (Consensus is that text is fully sourced. See Talk:Chiropractic history#Mystical ideas sourced) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 05:49, May 11, 2009 Levine2112 (talk | contribs) (36,374 bytes) (Reverted to revision 285324251 by Levine2112; Text sourced to abstract, doesn't match up with full-text.. using TW) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 22:02, May 10, 2009 QuackGuru (talk | contribs) (36,468 bytes) (rmv extra space) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 22:00, May 10, 2009 BullRangifer (talk | contribs) (36,469 bytes) (fix) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 21:59, May 10, 2009 BullRangifer (talk | contribs) (36,469 bytes) (wikilink) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 04:04, May 10, 2009 QuackGuru (talk | contribs) m (36,453 bytes) (→Straight versus mixer) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 04:02, May 10, 2009 BullRangifer (talk | contribs) (36,454 bytes) (→Straight versus mixer: faithful to source, and which is an evident fact) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 22:20, May 9, 2009 2over0 (talk | contribs) m (36,446 bytes) (Undid revision 288801803 by 32.133.106.62 (talk) Talk:Chiropractic history#Mystical ideas sourced) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 03:36, May 9, 2009 32.133.106.62 (talk) (36,374 bytes) (Undid revision 288786185 by QuackGuru (talk) concur w/ levine) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 01:39, May 9, 2009 QuackGuru (talk | contribs) (36,446 bytes) (The text is faithfully sourced. See Talk:Chiropractic history#Mystical ideas sourced.) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 01:34, May 9, 2009 Levine2112 (talk | contribs) (36,374 bytes) (Reverted to revision 288784842 by Levine2112; per WP:BRD please discuss.. using TW) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 01:30, May 9, 2009 QuackGuru (talk | contribs) (36,446 bytes) (text is referenced) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 01:29, May 9, 2009 Levine2112 (talk | contribs) (36,374 bytes) (Reverted to revision 288781918 by 166.191.166.100; actually I just read the source. It says nothing about Mysticism... see talk. using TW) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 01:27, May 9, 2009 QuackGuru (talk | contribs) (36,446 bytes) (documented claim) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 01:07, May 9, 2009 166.191.166.100 (talk) (36,374 bytes) (Undocumented claim) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 18:39, May 8, 2009 QuackGuru (talk | contribs) m (36,446 bytes) (→Straight versus mixer) (undo)


 * (cur) (prev) 18:34, May 8, 2009 QuackGuru (talk | contribs) (36,446 bytes) (→Straight versus mixer: mystical ideas tidbit) (undo)

There have been many suspicious IP edits over the past couple of months. Here are some examples of the IP sock/meat edits.


 * Chiropractic education




 * (cur) (prev) 02:58, 13 July 2009 166.205.131.94 (talk) (21,551 bytes) (This is misstated and is already in another article)


 * Levine2112 originally disputed the text.


 * Chiropractic history




 * (cur) (prev) 02:46, 14 May 2009 76.222.232.146 (talk) (36,377 bytes) (Undid revision 289799721 by BullRangifer (talk) other matter should be addressed before reedit is made)




 * (cur) (prev) 01:07, 9 May 2009 166.191.166.100 (talk) (36,374 bytes) (Undocumented claim)


 * (cur) (prev) 01:29, 9 May 2009 Levine2112 (talk | contribs) (36,374 bytes) (Reverted to revision 288781918 by 166.191.166.100; actually I just read the source. It says nothing about Mysticism... see talk. using TW)


 * The text is faithfully sourced but for no valid reason Levine2112 deleted it. These two edits can't be a coincidence.


 * Quackwatch




 * (cur) (prev) 15:59, 30 July 2009 166.205.131.73 (talk) (45,805 bytes) (I am going back to the ThuranX version.)


 * (cur) (prev) 21:05, 27 July 2009 166.205.131.73 (talk) (5,327 bytes) (No edit warring on this page pls.) Before the IP edited the Quackwatch page the IP made an edit to an unrelated page where I was editing. On the same page, Levine2112 commented on the talk page disagreeing with my edit.



The IP 69.234.129.52 was recently used in edit war that also seems to reside from Los Angeles, CA.


 * (cur) (prev) 02:23, 30 July 2009 69.234.129.52 (talk) (43,968 bytes) (I don't agree with these edits. I will reverse edit warring changes.)


 * Levine2112 is most concerned with a checkuser with the IP 76.222.232.146 residing in Los Angeles, CA or close by the Los Angeles area. A checkuser could help in this case. Some of the IPs have different numbers but point to Los Angeles, CA. This justifies a checkuser with Levine2112 and the other similar suspiciuos IP edits. The IPs are indeed suspect because some (1) locate to Los Angeles, (2) edit the same articles, with the (3) same POV as Levine2112, and (4) often back him up. I strongly believe that Levine2112 is involved in them. I think they can be handled without checkuser since stepping through their behavior shows pretty clearly that they are, at the very least, meatpuppets brought in solely to edit war. So I'm calling WP:DUCK into play here. Levine2112 agreed to a checkuser. He thinks it is a good idea.


 * In response to this comment evidence have been given that a number of IPs point directly to Los Angeles, CA. Some are a bit stale but since evidence has been presented that the IPs are connected a checkuser with all IPs is recommended. New evidence has been presented in this sock investigation that shows a pattern of IP socking by Levine2112. Levine2112 endorsed a checkuser. QuackGuru (talk) 21:21, 13 August 2009 (UTC)
 * QuackGuru, as I noted below, the one IP I listed below is the only non-stale IP in the bunch. The software won't allow CheckUsers to go back any further than specified. Everything else has to be determined via behavioral evidence; the same remark was already made at Sockpuppet investigations/Chiropractic about a week ago. MuZemike 21:26, 13 August 2009 (UTC)
 * http://www.ip-adress.com/ip_tracer/207.215.246.46
 * http://www.ip-adress.com/ip_tracer/69.234.129.52
 * http://www.ip-adress.com/ip_tracer/76.222.232.146
 * http://www.ip-adress.com/ip_tracer/166.191.166.100
 * http://www.ip-adress.com/ip_tracer/32.174.126.62
 * http://www.ip-adress.com/ip_tracer/32.173.111.155
 * According to an IP check software these IPs point to Los Angeles, CA where Levine2112 has previously edited from. QuackGuru (talk) 21:33, 13 August 2009 (UTC)
 * There was another IP as recent as July 30. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/166.205.131.73 I'm not sure why this IP was not checked since it was recent. QuackGuru (talk) 01:30, 15 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Levine2112 accused me of IP socking but he is putting welcome templates on the IP sock talk pages. QuackGuru (talk) 02:02, 15 August 2009 (UTC)


 * Comments by accused parties    See Defending yourself against claims.

I don't know quite where to begin. First off, all of this "evidence" and statements provided by QuackGuru are merely a copy-and-paste job from last week's Sockpuppet investigations/Chiropractic. Most of this isn't even the language of QuackGuru (the accuser) but rather BullRangifer's and Shell's from last weeks SPI. That SPI proved to be inconclusive yet here I am being accused again by a longtime opponent and general Wikipedia ne'r-do-well who himself has engaged in relentless edit warring on the articles he mentions above. It is likely that this SPI was opened in bad faith and is an effort to prevent his own misbehavior from being examined.

Of note from last week's SPI, another editor (TheDoctorIsIn) stepped forward to claim responsibility for all of the Los Angeles based IP edits. TheDoctorIsIn is a longtime ally of sorts but I've most certainly never asked him to edit war on my behalf. I don't have a way of contacting him directly off Wikipedia. To the best of my knowledge, his email address has never been enabled despite me and others asking him to do so several times. I have no control over the fact that TheDoctorIsIn follows my edits and lends his tag team support. I suppose I may have encouraged this behavior early on by supporting a number of his edits or asking him to come and support my efforts (all done transparently on his user talk page), but beyond that I have never asked him to act as a meat puppet on my behalf nor have I ever been in contact with him off Wikipedia since he joined. In fact, reviewing his archived talk pages, I see several instances of me advising him against edit warring. I also see several instances of QuackGuru and company accusing him of sockpuppeting or being a sockpuppet.

As for the Cutop and Wwinsor accounts, I don't remember ever having any direct contact with these editors, though I see that back when they were editing, there was some crossover with some of the articles on my watchlist. Perhaps I backed them up on an edit and added it to my watchlist or maybe it was the other way around. These edits were from four years so frankly I haven't the foggiest recollection of what transpired. All I know is that these accounts are not mine and I don't recall contacting these editors off-Wiki for any business whatsoever.

There seems to be a lot of talk about IPs editing from Los Angeles making revisions to the Chiropractic and related articles. Might I remind everyone what Stmrlbs pointed out in last week's SPI dramafest. Chiropractic is a very popular article in terms of traffic. There are over 60,000 chiropractors in the United States. There are about 1,000 chiropractors in Los Angeles alone. And there are two major chiropractic universities with what I imagine must be several hundred students a piece. The chance that at least one of these thousands of people are also active on Wikipedia seems rather high. So maybe all of the L.A. IPs are TheDoctorIsIn or maybe they are not. I really don't know for sure. But one thing I promise you is that they are absolutely not me. The one and only computer from which I edit Wikipedia is set to auto-login and has been for a very, very long time thus preventing me from accidentally editing to reveal my IP address again (a mistake I want not to ever duplicate).

Another possibility as to why I have so many admirers who follow me around and support my edits on chiropractic related articles could be due to this American Chiropractic Association delegate report which discusses how chiropractic is represented on Wikipedia and encourages more chiropractors to come edit Wikipedia by including advice I gave the author on her Wikipedia page about best editing practices (NPOV, CIVIL, etc.). Allow me to pulls some select quotes from this widely distributed report:


 * ACA's member listserv has been abuzz lately with members questioning the accuracy and integrity of the online encyclopedia's chiropractic entry. In addition, my colleagues and I have received many personal e-mails from chiropractors, wondering what can be done to change the biased tone of the article. While ACA staff does monitor and edit the site on a regular basis, my answer has been for chiropractors themselves to visit the site, post their own edits, and to "just keep trying."
 * After I posted my edits, one of the volunteer editors sent the following message to me to explain why he thought certain edits would be accepted and others would not. I'm sharing it with you below because I believe it contains some helpful information for anyone who would like to try their hand at Wikipedia in the future...
 * ...it now seems like the chiropractic profession is beginning to make some strides to rid the chiropractic article of bias.
 * ...it appears the profession’s monitoring of the site and stick-to-it-iveness editing might be making a dent in Wikipedia’s medically biased armor.
 * To register for the site and to begin editing, simply click here and provide the information indicated. Before you know it, you’ll have joined the ranks of Wikipedians worldwide and can begin working to portray chiropractic in an unbiased light.

Anyhow, if I am really going to be accused and "tried" twice for the same thing (double jeopardy anyone?) in the course of one week then I would absolutely welcome a CheckUser to finally clear myself (and - who knows? - perhaps these other editors). As I stated last week, if a CU wants to know my actual IP address or the actual city in which I live, I will be most happy to accommodate such a request via email. But let me be more clear this time, please don't provide any personal information about myself publicly. -- ǝʌlǝʍʇ ǝuo-ʎʇuǝʍʇ ssnɔsıp 19:17, 13 August 2009 (UTC)


 * Comments by other users

QuackGuru (talk) 17:01, 13 August 2009 (UTC)
 * CheckUser requests

. However, the only accounts that can possibly be checked for technical evidence are 69.234.129.52 (this is a new as well as the only non-stale IP that wasn't included in the previous SPI), Levine2112, and the last four edits of TheDoctorIsIn. All other listed accounts are completely for CheckUser purposes. Otherwise, socking via the other accounts will have to be determined via behavioral evidence only. MuZemike 20:16, 13 August 2009 (UTC)


 * Clerk, patrolling admin and checkuser comments

Everyone else is -- Avi (talk) 06:13, 14 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Conclusions
 * - If anyone can see anything conclusive in this, they are welcome to reopen the case. However, I don't see enough behavioral evidence to conclusively establish sockpuppetry, so I am marking it for closure. NW ( Talk ) 01:05, 15 August 2009 (UTC)