Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Maimenuhot/Archive

Evidence submitted by Boing! said Zebedee
There is edit war and sockpuppetry going on, and I wasn't sure which was the best to file under, so went for this - hope that's ok.

An editor (I'll use the name Afalpi as that is the one I have engaged with) appears to have been engaging in sockpuppetry and edit warring with a number of other editors on Yehuda Amichai since at least May 2009, serially using a number of different usernames (User:Afalpi, User:Itlula, User:חכמביום, User:Maimenuhot and User:דניאל חי) and three IPs (132.64.43.151, 132.64.34.173 and 132.64.32.163). The editor has repeatedly broken WP:NPOV, WP:OR, WP:PRIMARY, WP:VERIFY, and WP:CIVIL while doing so, in an apparent attempt to remove any material that shows Mr Amichai in a less-than-saintly light (particularly, but not limited to, a controversial biography written by Nili Scharf Gold). Afalpi has also been alleging conspiracies amongst other editors and accusing us of sockpuppetry.

I initially assumed the serial username usage was in good faith (as per comment in User:Itlula), but in the course of attempts to discuss this and reach consensus, there has been very little good faith shown. In any case, this use of multiple usernames for edit-warring violates WP:SOCK, which states "That is, you should not turn up on a page you edited as User:A to continue the same editing pattern, this time as User:B—particularly while denying any connection to User:A, or if the edits or subject matter are contentious".

You can see from the Talk page that this has been going on for some time.

I started an RfC to discuss the contested material, and that is still open, here. In that I openly asked Afalpi about the multiple usernames and made it clear that I had assumed good faith, but he/she was unwilling to discuss them - had they been used in good faith, he/she should have been open about them. In that RfC, Afalpi accused me and two others of sockpuppetry, and repeated the insinuation even after an admin had told us not to do so unless we could prove it. The same admin also warned us that continued edit-warring could lead to blocks.

And before the RfC is closed, this editor has resumed editing the article, this time from IP 132.64.34.173, re-inserting one of Afalpi's edits containing exactly the same grammatical error -

Diffs showing evidence of sockpuppetry and disruption...

Removing properly-sourced and referenced material: As Afalpi -         As Itlula (repeatedly removing the same content) -      As חכמביום (repeatedly removing the same content) -     As Maimenuhot - , ,  As IP 132.64.43.151 - 

Adding OR, and/or pursuing own POV (as Afalpi):     ,    (as IP 132.64.32.163): 

Breaking the format of the article (general text, layout, bad grammar, etc) (as Afalpi):   

Changing meaning and manipulation of quote to suit POV (as Afalpi): , 

Allegation of conspiracies and sockpuppetry - , , , , 

(There are many more diffs I could provide, but hopefully these, together with a look at the contrib history of all the above, will suffice)

Comments by accused parties
See Defending yourself against claims.

Clerk, patrolling admin and checkuser comments
Clear deception which goes against the legitimate usage of multiple accounts. All registered accounts indefinitely blocked and tagged. No action on the IPs as a rangeblock would cause collateral damage. –MuZemike 02:21, 3 March 2010 (UTC)