Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Mikefarrington11/Archive

Suspected sockpuppets



 * Tools: Editor interaction utility • Interaction Timeline • User compare report Auto-generated every hour.

Obvious username similarities Mikefarrington11/Msfarrin and Joecheetah/Joe Cheetah.

All are SPAs for NuVasive and its CEO, Gregory Lucier. Msfarrin and Joecheetah edited Lucier bio in May/June 2016 then disappeared; then Mikefarrington11 and Joe Cheetah returned to same article on October 24, 2018 within less than 15 minutes of each other. The Mikefarrington11 account hadn't edited since 2012.

The article has been subject of undisclosed paid editing in the past (disclosed years after the fact); and now editors are uploading copyvio headshots which is telltale for more UPE. ☆ Bri (talk) 16:44, 12 November 2018 (UTC)


 * There is an open COIN case. ☆ Bri (talk) 20:14, 12 November 2018 (UTC)
 * RightCowLeftCoast has made a statement at COIN. ☆ Bri (talk) 00:45, 13 November 2018 (UTC)

Comments by other users
''Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.''
 * Reiterating what I said at the COIN thread. The behavioral evidence (which consists of one edit) linking RightCowLeftCoast to the other accounts does not make sense. In the edit summary, he said the article does not meet notability standards and tagged it with a notability template, which is exactly the opposite what the other editors wanted. Care. --Pudeo (talk) 14:57, 13 November 2018 (UTC)
 * There is a bunch more now disclosed at COIN. RCLC has also said :My employers are aware that I edit Wikipedia, but have not asked me to edit on their behalf..  RCLC has talked about "shared wifi" but that only covers IP; the tagging by RCLC could just as well be mundane cover for socking.   Given the technical indistinguishability here, it appears fairly clear that there is at least MEAT, if not SOCKing.  The throwing up of chaff in So, I find this attack upon me and my character to be wholly unwarranted. makes this all the more lacking in credibility. This bit from the deleted NuVasive page (kindly posted at COIN here by an admin who could see it) -- I would also like to invite to the conversation as the individual has recently made edits to the article appears especially deceptive.  It is not a bad thing to have a conflict of interest; it is a bad thing to obscure it, as RCLC actively has, and to MEAT or SOCK -- one of the two of which is very clearly going on. Jytdog (talk) 18:05, 13 November 2018 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * Joe Cheetah is ✅ to who tagged the article
 * Mikefarrington11 is on the same static IP as the above two but using a different device.

No one else is using that particular IP but those three accounts. No one else is using the /24 range at all. — Berean Hunter   (talk)  20:02, 12 November 2018 (UTC)


 * Nothing left to do here. Closing. --Deskana (talk) 21:50, 8 February 2019 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



 * Tools: Editor interaction utility • Interaction Timeline • User compare report Auto-generated every hour.

Adding this separately as CU was completed in the 12 November chapter. Another SPA was visible only to admins due to deleted contribs. Username obviously points to socking. ☆ Bri (talk) 15:17, 13 November 2018 (UTC)
 * Added another SPA suddenly created for Catalent, a Lucier related enterprise. "Advancd technologies", "world leader" point strongly towards promo or even paid advocacy editing as before. ☆ Bri (talk) 15:25, 13 November 2018 (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

 * These accounts haven't edited in nearly three months, so there's not much point wasting effort in chasing them down now. Closing. --Deskana (talk) 21:52, 8 February 2019 (UTC)