Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Pbhandal/Archive

Suspected sockpuppets



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Mutliple WP:SPA accounts editing Perry Bhandal and Interview with a Hitman which might be connected in some way. I've listed the accounts in the order they were created and have named what appears to be the oldest as the master. Even though some of the accounts haven't edited in quite some time and may be too stale for a CU to make any connection with some of the more recent ones, I'm adding them anyone for reference purposes since I believe they show a pattern of behavior that goes back quite some time. There might also be a number of other accounts (including IP accounts) that have also been used over the years for similar edits. I'm not sure what's really going on here, but it does seem that either Bhandal or someone representing him has been editing articles related to him and his films over the years without properly declaring any WP:COI/WP:PAID connection to either, possibly even using multiple accounts to create the impression of being unconnected. The file uploaded to Commons might be a WP:COPYVIO, but that would need to be sorted out on Commons. The file is currently being used in articles on Wikipedias other than English as well but doesn't seem to have been removed from them by the latest IPs. As stated above, bPhandal and Eurosuper haven't edited in quite some time so the accounts may be too stale for a CU. The recent edits by Tomkinpop and the IPs might be connected to one another, and there might also have been other accounts recently editing the two articles which also can be connected. -- Marchjuly (talk) 06:34, 16 August 2020 (UTC)
 * 1)  is the oldest of the accounts. It has made only two edits and they were back in 2011. One of the edits was to create the article "Perry Bhandal" and the other was to add an external link to the newly created article. Account of the same name also upload File:Feature Film Director Perry Bhandal.jpg to Commons under a claim of "own work" back in 2012. No edits to Wikipedia since 2011 and to Commons since 2012, but the similarity between the username and the subject of the article might indicate this is Bhandal himself.
 * 2)  was created in August 2012. First bunch of edits were to Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Perry Bhandal and then edited on and off until March 2014 but has not edited since. A number of edits to Interview with a Hitman (a movie made by Bhandal) including a pretty contentious talk page discussion about the NPOV of article.
 * 3)  account created in January 2014 so a bit of an overlap with Eurosuper. Early edits primarily made to Talk:Interview with a Hitman and the account stopped editing in March 2014 around the same time as Eurosuper stopped. This account, however, resurfaced about a week ago and started editing "Perry Bhandhal", including the uploading the non-free image File:Perry Bhandal Feature Film Director.png for use in the main infobox. This non-free image, however, fails WP:NFCC (WP:FREER) because Bhandal is still living and because a free equivalent image apparently was uploaded to Commons back in 2012 by Pbhandal. The non-free image has been tagged for speedy deletion per WP:F7 as "replaceable non-free use".
 * 4) IP 2A00:23C7:B28E:2800:3899:F29E:888C:1C32 created about a week ago and the account's only two edits were to "Perry Bhandhal". This account was created a two days before Tomkinpop resurfaced to edit.
 * 5) IP 2A00:23C7:B28E:2800:5DB3:422C:1137:27CF was created  earlier today to edit "Perry Bhandhal" and post on the article's talk page. Account seems to be claiming copyright ownership over File:Feature Film Director Perry Bhandal.jpg uploaded by Pbhandahl to Commons back in 2012, implying that it was done without their permission. This could indicate that the IP is actually Bhandhal himself and believes that he owns the copyright over any photos taken of him (which in not usually the case unless there is an copyright transfer agreement involved).
 * 6) IP 2A00:23C7:B28E:2800:446B:B8F5:CBED:F808 was created a few hours after IP 2A00:23C7:B28E:2800:5DB3:422C:1137:27CF. Similar posts to "Perry Bhandhal" and its talk page where once again the IP is claiming copyright ownership over images of Bhandal (including the non-free one uploaded by Tomkinpop referred to above). The IP is also asking that anyone who has questions about the image's provenance to email Kirlian Pictures, which seems to be a film production company set up by Bhandhal in 2009.

Comments by other users
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 * The IPs are just, see User:ST47/Having a dynamic IP address is not sockpuppetry. All but one named account is stale (no CheckUser data is left after 90 days), and CheckUsers will not connect IPs with accounts. —Mdaniels5757 (talk &bull;&#32;contribs) 15:42, 16 August 2020 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * - The first two accounts are stale. CheckUser cannot be used to publicly connect an IP address to an account. I see your request to check for additional accounts using the same IP range as Tomkinpop, but since we have no reason to believe that Tomkinpop is socking, that would be fishing. Further, reviewing the recent history of the two articles in question, I don't think it's likely to turn anything up. ST47 (talk) 07:27, 17 August 2020 (UTC)
 * The stale accounts havn't edited in 8 or 8 years. Looking at the IP edits, they don't sound like the same person as Pbhandal.  Closing with no action taken.   -- RoySmith (talk) 22:38, 20 August 2020 (UTC)