Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Novonium/Archive

Suspected sockpuppets



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On 2 January 2017, Novonium was blocked as a sock puppeteer. On 10 January 2017, Envale began creating accounts as their first edit, see here. The articles are all in the same areas of interest as Novonium, and all are similarly formatted, see Stefan Radt and Richard Godbeer as examples.  Onel 5969  TT me 17:52, 27 February 2017 (UTC)

Comments by other users
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Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * - There is indeed lot of similarity. Please, check those accounts.  Vanjagenije  (talk)  17:13, 28 February 2017 (UTC)
 * . Range is a total mess so that's best I can do. NativeForeigner Talk 21:50, 1 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Already blocked. Case closed.  Vanjagenije  (talk)  10:34, 19 March 2017 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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Odensalt started editing just after Envale was indef blocked for BLP issues on 17 March. (Envale has since been blocked as a sockpupet of Novonium) The pattern of Odensalt's edits is identical to Envale's: poorly sourced biographies on marginally notable people with persistently poor referencing style (URL inside square brackets as ref, so it isn't visible in the reflist; often multiple references to a single source, looking like multiple sources), and many short sections. Pam D  15:08, 19 March 2017 (UTC)

Comments by other users
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 * Cheers, Friy Man  talk 20:56, 19 March 2017 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * - In order to facilitate and expedite your request, please provide diffs to support your case. Please give two or more diffs meeting the following format:
 * 1) At least one diff is from the sockmaster (or an account already blocked as a confirmed sockpuppet of the sockmaster), showing the behaviour characteristic of the sockmaster.
 * 2) At least one diff per suspected sockpuppet, showing the suspected sockpuppet emulating the behaviour of the sockmaster given in the first diff.
 * 3) In situations where it is not immediately obvious from the diffs what the characteristic behaviour is, a short explanation must be provided. Around one sentence is enough for this.  Vanjagenije   (talk)  21:13, 19 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Hello, I found the diffs. - | and | The style of referencing is what caught my eye. Both of the users are putting the urls into singular square brackets. This can be a piece of evidence. Cheers, Friy Man  talk 05:25, 20 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Sorry, I thought that the contributions lists would suffice. Odensalt's article creations are, , , and . Typical article creations from Envale are: , , , . In each case the link is to the version of the article where the creating editor had stopped editing the article - ie the last of one or more versions they had created before any other editor or bot came in to help.  Pam  D  09:29, 20 March 2017 (UTC)


 * - Please, compare to previous socks.  Vanjagenije  (talk)  14:31, 20 March 2017 (UTC)
 * - Katietalk 15:51, 20 March 2017 (UTC)
 * ✅ from Novonium and his socks. Blocked, tagged, closed. Katietalk 15:58, 20 March 2017 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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Newly registered editor creating large number of poorly formatted biographies of persons of doubtful notability, including characteristic bad referencing style which hides bare URLs within single square brackets, and lists of authors' works lacking any date, publisher or ISBN info. As seen in the work of recent sock Envale. Pam D  15:07, 30 March 2017 (UTC) expanded 16:20, 30 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Examples of Vinelet's creations:, , , (in each case showing the article after their initial edits and before any other editor had improved it).  Typical article creations from Envale are: , , , .  Pam  D  16:18, 30 March 2017 (UTC)

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Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * - Please, compare to previous socks.  Vanjagenije  (talk)  14:07, 5 April 2017 (UTC)
 * ✅ to plus:
 * (see report below)
 * Blocked, tagged, closing.--Bbb23 (talk) 19:22, 5 April 2017 (UTC)
 * Blocked, tagged, closing.--Bbb23 (talk) 19:22, 5 April 2017 (UTC)
 * Blocked, tagged, closing.--Bbb23 (talk) 19:22, 5 April 2017 (UTC)
 * Blocked, tagged, closing.--Bbb23 (talk) 19:22, 5 April 2017 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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Characteristic creation of many biographical articles on persons of questionable notability, with references presented as bare URLs in square brackets (producing useless list of references, with sources hidden), and lists of author's works without publisher, date, or ISBN, and no wikilinks to other articles. As seen in work of sockpuppet Envale. Examples include, , ; Typical article creations from Envale are: , , ,. Pam D  18:50, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

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Suspected sockpuppets



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User:Kasslert: Mass Creating sub standard stubs sometimes as fast as one a minute. Was warned several times to slow down, Has not responded and continued to create despite a threat of blocking. Was finally given a very short block (23:27, June 4, 2017) to stop the disruptive editing and to stimulate some response. Contributions

User:Briana Tang created an account within several minutes (23:42, June 4, 2017) of Kassiert being blocked and continued to create exactly the same kind of articles at the same speed Contributions.

Bloc evasion: Ducks quack loudly but as some of the articles might have some potential, I'm asking for CU because I don't want to block Briana Tang if I'm wrong. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 00:22, 5 June 2017 (UTC)

Comments by other users
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Articles by this group of editors have the same characteristics as those by sockpuppets of Novonium - see Sockpuppet investigations/Novonium/Archive: many unlinked biog stubs, with multiple short sections, reference to Goodreads, and unhelpful reference style (bare URLs within square brackets). Pam D  06:59, 5 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Compare article created by Envale and article created by Kasslert. (Envale being a sockpuppet of Novonium) Pam  D  07:05, 5 June 2017 (UTC)


 * If Kasslert and co are confirmed as sockpuppets of Novonium, then all the articles they have created should be deleted G5 (unless anyone else has edited substantially), so that this blocked editor does not have the satisfaction of seeing their creations in the encyclopedia.  Pam  D  07:08, 5 June 2017 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * Some notable, some not. Personally, I see no reason why people should not create stubs likethese as rapidly as they can--if they are careful about copyvio and notability . The problem here seems to be carelessness about notability --just making a page on an author because they have published 4 books is not acceptable especially when no check is made for sourcing. (A few do have very good sourcing, such as a NYT obit, but most do not)   This leaves too much of the screening to others.  I  have not yet detected copyvio, but I have not checked them all, and it will be necessary to check them all for WP:AUTHOR, etc.   It is necessary that this be stopped until they understand why more care is needed.    DGG ( talk ) 02:15, 5 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Kasslert and Briana Tang are ❌.
 * The following accounts are ✅ to each other:
 * Blocked all the confirmed accounts without tags. Please determine the oldest account, move the case, and tag.
 * , if you're surprised at the results, take a look at all the articles created by Briana. You'll see an obvious commonality between the articles, whereas the articles created by the socks, although they do have some themes, are far more diverse and, as far as I know (I didn't look at every one), do not share the same characteristic as Briana's.--Bbb23 (talk) 02:37, 5 June 2017 (UTC)
 * I am very surprised about Kasslert and Briana Tang considering the timeline. Maybe Briana was using a proxy. Anyway, we can close this now. Thanks for taking the time to investigate so quickly, . Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 03:27, 5 June 2017 (UTC)
 * , before closing, please see the new comments by above, and Sockpuppet investigations/Novonium/Archive. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 08:16, 5 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Good catch! The cases are a behavioral and technical match. Tagging and closing.--Bbb23 (talk) 14:16, 5 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Blocked all the confirmed accounts without tags. Please determine the oldest account, move the case, and tag.
 * , if you're surprised at the results, take a look at all the articles created by Briana. You'll see an obvious commonality between the articles, whereas the articles created by the socks, although they do have some themes, are far more diverse and, as far as I know (I didn't look at every one), do not share the same characteristic as Briana's.--Bbb23 (talk) 02:37, 5 June 2017 (UTC)
 * I am very surprised about Kasslert and Briana Tang considering the timeline. Maybe Briana was using a proxy. Anyway, we can close this now. Thanks for taking the time to investigate so quickly, . Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 03:27, 5 June 2017 (UTC)
 * , before closing, please see the new comments by above, and Sockpuppet investigations/Novonium/Archive. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 08:16, 5 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Good catch! The cases are a behavioral and technical match. Tagging and closing.--Bbb23 (talk) 14:16, 5 June 2017 (UTC)
 * , before closing, please see the new comments by above, and Sockpuppet investigations/Novonium/Archive. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 08:16, 5 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Good catch! The cases are a behavioral and technical match. Tagging and closing.--Bbb23 (talk) 14:16, 5 June 2017 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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Characteristic behaviour of Novonium sockpuppet: creation of biographical stubs on marginally notable people; consisting of multiple short sentences; using Goodreads as source of publications list; citing refs using bare URLs in square brackets to produce totally unhelpful listing in Reflist. See example here and here Pam  D  07:12, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

Characteristic behaviour of Novonium sockpuppet: creation of biographical stubs on marginally notable people; consisting of multiple short sentences; using Goodreads as source of publications list; citing refs using bare URLs in square brackets to produce totally unhelpful listing in Reflist. See examples here and here. Pam D  07:14, 27 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Compare article created by confirmed sockpuppet User:Flenther. Pam  D  07:19, 27 June 2017 (UTC)


 * Anveshon: Same pattern as previous socks of Novonium - see this example. Pam  D  22:24, 27 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Atnaslev: Same article creation behavious as previous socks of Novonium - see this example Pam  D  22:35, 27 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Enkadel: Same article creation pattern as confirmed socks of Novonium - example Pam  D  23:03, 27 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Enlitenn: Same article creation style as previoius sockpuppets of Novonium - see this example. Pam  D  22:32, 27 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Estellov: Same article creation behaviour as confirmed socks of Novonium - example Pam  D  22:52, 27 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Invernels: Same article creation behaviour as confirmed sockpuppets of Novonium: see example here Pam  D  22:43, 27 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Ostenenbe: Same article creation behaviour as confirmed sockpuppets of Novonium: see example Pam  D  22:49, 27 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Tenvise: Same article creation behaviour as confirmed socks of Novonium - example Pam  D  22:59, 27 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Toscanel: Same pattern of article creation as previous socks of Novonium - see this example  Pam  D  22:26, 27 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Vehomen: Same article creation behavious as confirmed socks of Novonium - see this example Pam  D  22:38, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

Comments by other users
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I agree that editing styles of the confirmed sock & editor in this case appear oddly similar: In addition each article upon construction had identical layout with slightly nonstandard section titles: Life, Career, Bibliography, References, External links. The bibliography section of each article contains identical leading phrase "His notable books are:..." - Bri (talk) 22:20, 27 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Holger Hoock, German-American historian (created Onsoele): bare goodreads author URLs in citations (repeated) & bare author website URL in ELs
 * Kiran Klaus Patel, German historian (created Flenther): bare goodreads author URL & bare author website URL in ELs
 * I'm puzzled by this. In addition to goodreads, which is a notoriously unacceptable source, the ed. is using dictionary.com, but what the dictionary.com reprints is Gale, which is a very reliable source, and sometimes WorldCat, which is of course reliable also.     The books are documented, the people are documented, and I could defend without any great problems the notability  of most of the professors, even though most of them are not yet full professors.  This could just as well be done legitimately with a single account.  .   I really can not understand the incredible persistence at doing this wrong, when it could so easily have been done right.  If they were all from one university, I'd assume an incompetent PR staff member--I've seen that many times.If the latest books were all from one publisher, I'd assume an incompetent PR agent a the publisher--I've seen that even more frequently.  If they were all in one field, I'd assume an incompetent PR staff member at a professional association--I've seen that before a few times also. It doesn't seem likely to be paid editing--most of these people would be very unlike to pay for an article in the enWP, and even an incompetent paid editor should have learned to it it adequately by now, in such a formulaic type of article. Sockpuppettry usually has some motivation or purpose.  Even when the purpose is vandalism, these modest articles are not what vandals go in for. Does anyone have an idea?     DGG ( talk ) 06:26, 28 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Yes, puzzling - and infuriating, that despite much advice (eg at User talk:Envale), they don't change their poor editing habits. "(Born: 1952)"; dependence on Goodreads; no publisher or ISBN for any of the published books; unhelpful citation style with square brackets making the bare URLs invisible in reflist; no attempt to combine re-used references; bullet-point-type single-sentence paragraphs. But the content they add is thoroughly sourced. I can't see a pattern in their choice of topics. I wonder how many other editor names they've used, for how long. Presumably they enjoy seeing their creations in the encyclopedia, and/or think they are being genuinely constructive, despite the experience of seeing their past creations deleted G5 when we trace them. Very strange. Such a lot of their time being wasted, when they could become a useful editor if they would only read and take the advice offered. Though I suppose they'd have to get unblocked (as Novonium) first. Pam  D  08:14, 28 June 2017 (UTC)
 * If there is a mass deletion of the articles created by these sockpuppets (excluding those where other editors have added substantial content, rather than just copyediting), it should include the works of User:Envale, the first(?) sockpuppet, many of which are still in existence in their original form eg Richard Etulain. Pam  D  08:54, 28 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Novonium tells us a little about himself here. Pam  D  08:56, 28 June 2017 (UTC)
 * And there's an interesting insight into his philosophy here: when invited to discuss his obscure reference formatting, he replies Regarding Formatting of Citations: I guess it's best to leave that work to the bots. For me, the researching and creation of articles has a higher priority than the fixing of citations. Since I get very little free time (I have a full time job you see), I realize that it's better to spend that time on the creation of articles. The correct formatting of citations is obvious and anyone can do it. The Real Challenge is in being able to FIND the most relevant citations in the first place, that is precisely what drew me to Wikipedia. A version of WP:IDHT Pam  D  09:14, 28 June 2017 (UTC)
 * I'm going to make one more attempt at communicating. I am also undecided about putting in the effort to do the rewriting--at least the minimum rewriting to establish the notability more clearly.  DGG ( talk ) 19:38, 28 June 2017 (UTC)


 * ✅, blocked, tagged, closing.--Bbb23 (talk) 16:58, 29 June 2017 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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Characteristic article creation behaviour of established Novonium sockpuppets -example Pam  D  08:05, 28 June 2017 (UTC)

Comments by other users
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Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments
✅, blocked, tagged, closing.--Bbb23 (talk) 16:58, 29 June 2017 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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Characteristic editing style: short sentences in separate paragraphs, references formatted in distinctively unhelpful style with square brackets round bare URLs. Example Pam  D  07:26, 27 July 2017 (UTC)


 * Also: User:Kjeverlne - same characteristic article creation style, see example. Pam  D  07:30, 27 July 2017 (UTC)

Comments by other users
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Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments
(all). I'll leave it to to decide whether to tag articles G5. Probably a non native English user. Perhaps a CU should be done for sleepers? Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 08:27, 27 July 2017 (UTC) — Berean Hunter   (talk)  11:03, 27 July 2017 (UTC)
 * to flush other accounts. The last check only yielded one account but the previous two yielded many accounts.


 * - Katietalk 12:09, 27 July 2017 (UTC)
 * ✅ plus:


 * Blocked, tagged, closed. Katietalk 12:20, 27 July 2017 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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Has created several biographies which had earlier been deleted G5 in June/July 2017. Has identical editing style (many single-sentence paragraphs; references all presented as bare URLs inside square brackets so that they are invisible in reference list): compare this creation by Novonium and this by Oskosst. Does not reply to comments on talk page: I note that this was also a characteristic of Novonium. Pam D  18:44, 24 May 2020 (UTC)
 * On looking further, having refreshed my memory of the Novonium sock puppet archive:
 * Oskosst has created a large number of biographies since July 2017, all in the characteristic style of Novonium's sockpuppets. Examples from July 2017, Nov 2018, May 2020. Poor reference format, multiple citation of same ref, lists of publications with no date or publisher, reliance on "Good reads" for the publications of academics, multiple single-sentence paragraphs. Pam  D  19:03, 24 May 2020 (UTC)

Comments by other users
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 * It appears that the user Oskosst's edits are almost all relating to American and British people, and this is similar with Novonium. On the other hand, Novonium tends to edit about people from more nations than Oskosst, although they have an extremely similar way of writing, and considering that Novonium has been around for quite a few years, he probably knows that editing about exactly the same thing is going to make people realise what's going on (if it even is!), so IMO, he is a sockpuppet. Thanks, XLK123 (talk) 05:59, 25 May 2020 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * Having a look. Dreamy Jazz talk to me &#124; my contributions 16:50, 14 June 2020 (UTC)
 * Based on behavioural evidence, I am saying . . Close. Dreamy Jazz talk to me &#124; my contributions 17:09, 14 June 2020 (UTC)