Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Mr. Curious Man/Archive

29 November 2011

 * Suspected sockpuppets




 * User compare report Auto-generated every hour.

Also more IP addresses: 192.148.117.99, 175.38.165.50, 58.163.175.193 and 58.163.175.192. CuriousWikian590 and all the IPs are complete ducks, and I am initiating this SPI just for Tomo94, but I have listed the others for information. Mr. Curious Man and CuriousWikian590 are both indefinitely blocked.

Both the accounts and many of the IPs have been subject to blocks for various kinds of disruption, including harassing other users and impersonating other users, and continual block evasion. Articles have been protected to stop this user causing disruption. The user has sometimes returned to harass a user over a long period, as for example Brainiac Adam, who was subjected to user page vandalism in November 2011 by CuriousWikian590 after previosuly being targeted by the user's IPs in January and April 2011. The person has edited mainly on certain topics, including Blinky Bill, Tinga Tinga Tales, The WotWots, Zoo Tycoon, but recently their editing has largely been on articles relating to zoos, e.g. Singapore Zoo, Taronga Zoo, Wellington Zoo. This person has a habit of making totally unsourced edits to zoo related articles, frequently adding the claim that a zoo has a particular animal on such grounds as "I know the zoo has this animal" and even reasons along the lines of "surely they would have this animal", and "I would think any zoo would have these". To illustrate, one example is this edit, with the edit summary "Every zoo has ring tailedvlemurs, oriental small clawed otters and meerkats and surely ther's north american animals." Other examples of adding animals without any sources or reasonable justification are this edit, this one, this one, and this one. There are many more. They have frequently IP-hopped to edit war to keep these dubious edits in the articles.

The account CuriousWikian590 was blocked on 17:27, 26 November 2011. The user announced the intention of creating another sockpuppet account, and about an hour and three quarters later the account Tomo94 was created. That account's only edits have been to zoo-related articles, including adding unsourced animals:,. It looks close to being a WP:DUCK, but the edits do not have any of the most distinctive tell-tale features of this person's editing, so I would prefer a checkuser, so as to be certain. JamesBWatson (talk) 11:40, 29 November 2011 (UTC) JamesBWatson (talk) 11:40, 29 November 2011 (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

 * - At a minimum, there needs to be a sleeper check. T. Canens (talk) 12:45, 29 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Checking AGK  [&bull; ] 20:48, 29 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Technical data for Mr. Curious Man is . Tomo94 is ❌ to CuriousWikian590. Given the extent of the abuse, I am satisfied that there are grounds to link the suspected IP addresses with a named account. It is technically that the anonymous edits are by the same individual who used CuriousWikian590. My guidance to the patrolling administrators is to whack the anonymous edits as they occur, with short-term, anonymous-only blocks: some of these addresses have collateral.  AGK  [&bull; ] 21:49, 29 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Alright, so. I've blocked 192.148.117.64/26, 58.110.240.0/21 and 58.163.175.160/27 for a week each. These are very specific ranges that don't have collateral damage, so I'm okay with this. Relist as necessary. —  Hello Annyong  (say whaaat?!) 02:18, 2 December 2011 (UTC)
 * The user has now come back with 122.109.247.234 and 122.109.237.114, so I've blocked 122.109.224.0/19 for a week. All recent editing from this range has been from this user, so risk of collateral damage is minimal. JamesBWatson (talk) 14:30, 2 December 2011 (UTC)

21 January 2012

 * Suspected sockpuppets




 * User compare report Auto-generated every hour.

The issue is User:Wikipeditist, as the others have already been demonstrated and block previously. This sockmaster has many puppets, which have worked on similar articles. In particular, Wikipeditist started a page that was userfied to User:CuriousWikian590 (another sockpuppet of his). The relatively new User:Wikipeditist (1st edit Dec 19) looks much like User:CuriousWikian590 (1st edit Oct 28th, blocked Nov 26) who is one of many socks of User:Mr. Curious Man(blocked Dec 1). At least Wiki* and Curious* worked on List of Tinga Tinga Tales episodes, Tinga Tinga Tales (as well as User:Super Curious Dude]], another sock),  as well as several article relating to Farthing Wood (another toon)  vs, and all the socks work on 'toon article. As to style and content comparisons, I have already advised the admin User:JamesBWatson who has been involved with previous cases, and I would defer to his judgement since he is familiar with the style of the editor. I haven't seen the editor do anything "bad" yet (although I didn't really look: I accidentally ran across the similarity via CSD issue with DGG), excepting violating the policy by creating an account after he was banned, but he seem to have had a string of issues, and we would be better to nip it in the bud. Dennis Brown (talk) 02:10, 21 January 2012 (UTC) Dennis Brown (talk) 02:10, 21 January 2012 (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

 * Yeah, there's a lot of overlap here with the other accounts. I'm endorsing for confirmation and sleepers. —  Hello Annyong  (say whaaat?!) 03:54, 21 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Compliments for the succinct report. Wikipeditist is technically very and for all extents and purposes, a ✅ match to previous socks. WilliamH (talk) 10:57, 21 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Blocked and tagged Wikipeditist -- DQ  (ʞlɐʇ)  11:23, 21 January 2012 (UTC)

31 January 2012

 * Suspected sockpuppets


 * User compare report Auto-generated every hour.

Editing behavior, including recreation of List of Tinga Tinga Tales episodes, which previous socks created. Calabe1992 01:47, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Comments by other users
''Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.''
 * I'm a regular editor that had noticed this and brought it to others attention. The types of edits, style and areas of interest are consistent, as is the puppetmaster's prior forethought to create overlapping user accounts, which would be consistent in this case.  Dennis Brown (talk) 02:07, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * - We've had other accounts before, so I think a sleeper check would be good. —  Hello Annyong  (say whaaat?!) 03:02, 31 January 2012 (UTC)
 * A match, didn't see anything else. WilliamH (talk) 11:55, 31 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Blocked and tagged already. -- DQ  (ʞlɐʇ)  14:22, 31 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Tag updated. —  Hello Annyong  (say whaaat?!) 04:36, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

01 February 2012

 * Suspected sockpuppets


 * User compare report Auto-generated every hour.

Again, edit behavior, mentioning of puppetry: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk%3ADonlammers&action=historysubmit&diff=474339224&oldid=474219145 Calabe1992 04:22, 1 February 2012 (UTC)
 * I should be more specific. The IP is obvious, and it's probably worth a sleeper check already. Calabe1992 04:52, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

I have added Brainiac Adam's Mammy. This is a WP:DUCK, indef-blocked, but I am including it here as it may help any checkuser to look for sleepers. JamesBWatson (talk) 11:44, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Comments by other users
''Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.''
 * Uninvolved comment: CU ordinarily can't be used for IPs, right?Jasper Deng (talk) 04:36, 1 February 2012 (UTC)
 * See new comment above. Calabe1992 04:52, 1 February 2012 (UTC)
 * I loathe it, but CU still can't be used to out users' IPs except when it gets to the level of WP:LTA.Jasper Deng (talk) 04:53, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments
There is no doubt whatsoever about this IP, or about Brainiac Adam's Mammy. However, considering the history of this person's persistent sockpuppetry, both via IPs and via accounts, a sleeper check would be worth while. Some sockpuppet accounts have been created while a previous account has been in use, and left sleeping until that previous account has been blocked. The accounts used in the past include Blinkybillfan95, CuriousE, and Curious Ultra Person, in addition to the six listed on this page and in its archive. All the accounts except Mr. Curious Man last edited within the last 2 months and a few days, which, if my understanding is correct, means they are not too stale for a checkuser. So far I have 52 IPs I know this person has used, 3 probable IPs, 2 improbable but possible IPs, nine definite accounts, and one doubtful but possible account. There may well be more. Most of the IPs are Australian, but the user has also edited during trips to England, and in July 2011 edited from England, and then from the Gulf states on the way back to Australia. JamesBWatson (talk) 11:56, 1 February 2012 (UTC)
 * There are no sleepers that I see and a large-ish rangeblock is already in place. TN X Man  15:01, 1 February 2012 (UTC)
 * Request: Could someone change the block reason on the latest account to reflect that it's a sock, rather than just a bad username? Calabe1992 17:07, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

24 February 2012

 * Suspected sockpuppets


 * User compare report Auto-generated every hour.

see contribs. edited tinga tinga tales talk, blaming JamesBWatson (admin who blocked him), then requested unblock for one of his puppets. Rather obvious Dennis Brown (talk) 01:32, 24 February 2012 (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
This IP is already subject to a range block, so there is nothing more to do. (122.109.224.0/19 blocked by Fastily, 09:15, 18 February 2012 for 6 months.) JamesBWatson (talk) 09:39, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

14 March 2012

 * Suspected sockpuppets




 * User compare report Auto-generated every hour.

Contributions bear unmistakable hallmarks of edits by previous socks. JamesBWatson (talk) 17:20, 14 March 2012 (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
A complete WP:DUCK, indef blocked. However, I would appreciate a checkuser, as past experience suggests that sleepers are likely. JamesBWatson (talk) 17:21, 14 March 2012 (UTC)
 * No other accounts seen. TN X Man  18:00, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

1 April 2012

 * Suspected sockpuppets


 * User compare report Auto-generated every hour.

WP:Duck with Blinky Bill (TV series) and related-pages, and with User:Blinkybillfan95. Tb hotch .™ Grammatically incorrect? Correct it! See terms and conditions.  04:10, 1 April 2012 (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
A complete WP:DUCK, indef blocked. However, I would appreciate a checkuser, as past experience suggests that sleepers are likely. Tb hotch .™ Grammatically incorrect? Correct it! See terms and conditions.  04:10, 1 April 2012 (UTC)
 * I ducked him, and doesn't look like there have been sleepers per the archive. -- DQ  (ʞlɐʇ)  09:29, 1 April 2012 (UTC)

02 July 2012

 * Suspected sockpuppets




 * User compare report Auto-generated every hour.

This is as obvious a duck as they come, but requesting CU to check for sleepers. Contribs are a dead match for the last known sock. Dennis Brown - 2&cent;    &copy;  23:43, 2 July 2012 (UTC)

Comments by other users
''Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.''
 * Should be in CU range for The Zooligical Editier, the previous last sockpuppet I know of, as well as Farthing Man, but others are, I think, stale. Since he is known to have used over 60 different IPs, checkuser may not be very effective. Nevertheless, I think it should be tried. JamesBWatson (talk) 11:59, 3 July 2012 (UTC)
 * Even if we can't match old accounts, which isn't needed to prove this case, I want to see if he registered other accounts at the same time from the same IP as this duck. The persistence here is remarkable, as you have documented.  Dennis Brown -  2&cent;    &copy;  12:36, 3 July 2012 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments
— Berean Hunter   (talk)  17:27, 3 July 2012 (UTC)
 * - to check for sleepers.

Already blocked. Nothing else of importance. --MuZemike 17:36, 3 July 2012 (UTC)