Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Mjgm84/Archive

Report date June 25 2009, 09:37 (UTC)

 * Suspected sockpuppets



was a persistent copyright violator and indefinitely blocked. After being blocked it returned again as another user:, which was also indefinitely blocked. Two IPs common to these usernames were also blocked: and. The puppeteer's main interest was articles concerning Clan Munro. This case puts forward evidence that shows that the puppeteer has returned and evaded the block, mainly as, but also a few IPs. These 'new' users edit mainly Clan Munro related articles and use similar IPs as the puppeteer. The editing patterns, the editing of the same obscure 'Munro' articles, and the similar IPs of all these users show that QuintusPetillius is a sock account. There is at-least one case of recent 'sock type behaviour' that seems to show the puppeteer trying to 'win' a merge discussion. (Note to admins: i'm unsure if this should have been titled to 'Sockpuppet investigations/Mjgm84' or 'Sockpuppet investigations/QuintusPetillius', or if a checkuser is necessary).
 * Evidence submitted by Celtus

Chronology of the blocks so far:
 * User:Mjgm84: first blocked 21 August 2006
 * User:Psycotics1454: first blocked on 10 October 2007
 * User:195.137.109.177: first indefinitely blocked on 12 October 2007.
 * User:83.67.100.248: blocked on 12 October 2007

On 27 Jan 2008, QuintusPetillius's very first edit was to add "Hi, I am new." to his userpage. The user then takes over where the puppeteer had left off 3 months before, editing exclusively Clan Munro type articles. Many of these articles are sort of obscure and have only ever been edited by the puppeteer. Here are links to the revision-histories of a few such articles: Munro of Milntown, George Munro of Auchinbowie, Alexander Munro of Bearcrofts, Sir Robert Munro, 5th Baronet, Battle of Drumchatt. If you scroll through QuintusPetillius contribs, you'll see that the user edits anything Clan Munro related, as well as clan articles in general. But the Munro stuff is key here. Note that the top 4 editors of Clan Munro are: 195.137.109.177, Mjgm84, Psycotics1454, QuintusPetillius, 83.67.100.248, and that 4 of the 5 have already been blocked as being the puppeteer.

User:QuintusPetillius clearly uses similar IPs to the puppeteer. The following examples show a couple IPs that are used by User:QuintusPetillius.
 * On 30 January 2008, QuintusPetillius edited Sir Robert Munro, 5th Baronet 7x in 13 mins ; 1 min later edited and within 3 mins edited 4x ; QuintusPetillius then re-appeared 2 mins later and edited 10x in 8 mins . This IP and username can be definitely connected again on 21 February 2008, in the article Donald Munro of Foulis, when User:195.137.40.252 edited 5x in 5 mins ; then 2 mins later QuintusPetillius edited.
 * On 28 July 2008, QuintusPetillius edited Clan Munro 8x in a span of 35 mins ; minutes later adds 3 more edits . Another instance clearly linking the two occurs on 19 October 2008, in the article Clan Mackintosh ; here User:195.137.38.102 edited and 1 min later QuintusPetillius edited.

Another clue. The revision-history of George Munro, 1st of Newmore shows that it was created by Psycotics1454; and that the two main editors are Psycotics1454 and QuintusPetillius. It also shows that in October and December 2008 the article was edited 3x by and once by. User:193.195.194.170's only other edits occured on the same day, and were to Heart-Shaped Box (a Nirvana song). Note that Mjgm84/Psycotics1454 socks User:83.67.100.248 and User:195.137.109.177 also heavily edited Nirvana articles. So, IMO all this seems to show that the two October and December 2008 IPs are the same person and these IPs are clearly similar to one of those connected to the puppeteer; also this happens to be a 'obscure Munro article' and note the IP's connection to a 'Nirvana article'. Also note that the only edits these IPs make are after the time the puppeteer was blocked; showing that the puppeteer is still about editing the same articles; and that the revision-history of George Munro, 1st of Newmore shows the edits are bookshelved between edits by QuintusPetillius.

Another 'Nirvana/Clan' clue. has only edited a couple times, and on one day (17 April 2009). But the articles are in the same vein as those noted in the paragraph above: Clan Donald, Talk:Nirvana discography, Battle of Logiebride, and Battle of Bloody Bay. The Nirvana discography and Clan Donald articles get good amounts of traffic, but the two battle articles only get a couple hits a day and are pretty obscure in the scheme of things. I would suspect a checkuser would confirm a connection between this IP and QuintusPetillius. Consider the 'Nirvana/Clan' thing that we know about the puppeteer. And also note that these IPs, are also similar to those of the puppeteer (and those suspected). Also note that the revision-histories of these particular articles show both the puppeteer and QuintusPetillius have edited these particular articles. IMO it shows that these users are one-and-the-same

Here is a recent and suspicious event. In May, User:Le Deluge overhauled the Battle of Harlaw article and made a suggestion on the talkpage to merge Battle of Dingwall into re-vamped Battle of Harlaw article. Note that the revision-history of the Battle of Dingwall article reveals that it was created by Psycotics1454 and the main editor has been QuintusPetillius. On Talk:Battle of Harlaw, QuintusPetillius stated that he did not agree to the merge proposal. 4 days later, stated that he also disagreed with the merge. (Note that User:193.195.192.77's only other edit was to wiki-link the article Battle of Bealach nam Broig in a list . Also note that the main editors of the Battle of Bealach nam Broig article are Psycotics1454 and QuintusPetillius ) I then asked if the IP was infact QuintusPetillius. Days later another IP turned up,, and stated that he disagrees with the merge (note that this is this user's only edit to date). Le Deluge then made some comments, and also noted that the comments by QuintusPetillius and User:193.195.192.77 contained the same spelling mistakes. A couple edits later, turned up and replied to my query over the identity of User:193.195.192.77, stating that he himself (User:83.67.74.227) was QuintusPetillius.

So the whole thing looks like this. The puppeteer had it's accounts blocked and two IPs blocked. However, the evidence shows that the puppeteer re-appeared 3 months later, editing the exact same articles and using very similar IPs to the two originally blocked. Recently the puppeteer tried to 'sock' it's way to 'winning' a merge proposal; and at the same time one of the puppeteer's suspected socks personally admited to using another IP which is again almost identical to one of the two originally blocked. --Celtus (talk) 09:37, 25 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Comments by accused parties    See Defending yourself against claims.

I want to make it quite clear that I am not a "sock puppet" of Mjgm84 !. I have edited some of the same articles but there are are loads of articles I have contributed to. I do not use copyright material. The work I write always has a proper source quoted for it, most of the time a book which I have gone to the effort of reading and making notes from. I contribute mainly to Scottish related articles including Mormaer of Moray and recently Clan Robertson to mention just two. Always quoting references. I am not the same user as Mjgm84. QuintusPetillius (talk) 18:45, 25 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Further, after reading the comments above I must tell you that I have been falsley implicated as Mjgm84. I make edits to Clan Munro, but also to a whole list of other clans such as Clan Sutherland, Clan Mackay, Clan Robertson, Clan Grant etc... It should be made quite clear that I do not and have not ever made edits to any Nirvana article which is enough to prove I am not a sock puppet of Mjgm84. I have shown my IP on a discussion page prevously to prove that it was not me making edits from a suspected IP address. This is completly unfair and there is no proof that I am a sock puppet just because I have edited some of the same articles as someone else. QuintusPetillius (talk) 18:29, 26 June 2009 (UTC)
 * I only have one IP which I can show you if you want. Those other IP's arn't mine. What on earth makes you think they are me ? Just because they have edited the same articles ? Those other IP's are not me.QuintusPetillius (talk) 15:05, 27 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Comments by other users

Requested by Icestorm815  •  Talk  21:14, 25 June 2009 (UTC)
 * CheckUser requests

Icestorm815 •  Talk  21:14, 25 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Clerk, patrolling admin and checkuser comments
 * Beside the fact that all 3 IPs come from London, I see no technical evidence of foul play on QuintusPetillius's behalf. -- Luk  talk 08:55, 27 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Conclusions


 * The requester disagrees with my findings. As I said on my page, I did a technical investigation and the Checkuser tool can be gamed. -- Luk  talk 15:10, 28 June 2009 (UTC)