Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Phoenix0316/Archive

Suspected sockpuppets



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The accounts are SPA or have a clear focus on Providence (religious movement) topics. Jonniesdough started here by creating article on Wolmyeongdong, a retreat center of that movement. Avataron's first edits were to that article in Oct 2016 to that article which including removing an advert tag and adding two ELs to non-korean-language blogs. They added links to that article to 2 other articles here and here. They then created a bunch of alt-spelling redirects. Jonniesdough came back and month later and added more pictures, and the next day (!), Avataron came back and did more, including adding another EL. About a week later Jonniesdough came back and added a bunch of social media links, here. Avataron then came back in mid February and did a bunch more content (really confessional content, especially in the quotes)

Avataron went on to do some very sophisticated editing (will discuss in a minute). CubeRoulet's only contribs have only been to Avataron's sandboxes. The fourth account here, 어거스틴, edits some other topics along with Providence ones (~50% SPA put of 16 edits), but am mentioning them here because, the account was created on Feb 27 just after Avataron made their sweeping changes detailed below, one of their first stops was the Wolmyeongdong ‎ article, and on Feb 28 they edit warred on behalf of Avataron.

After working on the Wolmyeongdong, Avataron then did the WP adventure after about 40 edits, and then did a whole bunch of stuff in sandboxes. Then in a flurry they:
 * at 17:17, 26 February 2017 -- copy/paste created a whitewashed version of the article about the religion at "Christian Gospel Mission (Providence)". This had been previously created in their Sandbox 3.
 * at 17:18, 26 February 2017 - copy/paste created a puff piece bio of the founder. (this was their drafted in their Sandbox, and also their Sandbox1, which was created in 1 diff)
 * somewhere in time very close to that I assume (can't see b/c article has been deleted), they created a POV Fork for all the negative stuff about the founder in the now deleted Media Allegations, Criminal Charges, and Conviction of Jung Myung Seok ) (which has been drafted in their Sandbox 2)


 * at 00:13, 27 February 2017 here Avatron posted a request for peer review for "Christian Gospel Mission (Providence)" article.


 * at 02:44, 27 February 2017 here Sawol tagged the article with a request to merge the history (of ... I think it was  "Christian Gospel Mission (Providence)"... with "Providence (religious movement)"  (I have not been able to find a prior communication that led to Sawol placing that tag)
 * at 03:01, 27 February 2017 here Avataron posted on the talk page here, asking Sawol divide up the current Providence article into the three articles that Avataron had created, bulleted above.
 * at 09:07, 27 February 2017 here an admin, Anthony Appleyard, apparently responding to Sawol's tag "moved page Providence (religious movement) to Christian Gospel Mission (Providence): histmerge" (that edit overwrites Avataron's version with the old version
 * at 09:08, 27 February 2017 here Anthony Appleyard did "rv histmerge junk" and this is the diff where you can see Avataron's content overwriting the old Providence article, which is how it was left.
 * at 09:38, 27 February 2017 here Sawol posted a page move request asking that Christian Gospel Mission (Providence) → Christian Gospel Mission.
 * at 09:45, 27 February 2017‎ here Jenks24 "moved page Christian Gospel Mission (Providence) to Christian Gospel Mission: Requested by Sawol at WP:RM/TR"


 * at 16:55, 27 February 2017 here Sam Sailor reverted the content back to consensus version


 * ending at 00:35, 28 February 2017 here Avataron continued trying to rewrite in several sequential edits.
 * ending at 00:37, 28 February 2017 here I reverted back to consensus version
 * ending at 01:09, 28 February 2017 here 어거스틴 reverted back to the Avataron version
 * at 01:21, 28 February 2017 here Ravensfire reverted back to consensus version


 * at 02:16, 28 February 2017 here 어거스틴 placed an edit request in the article, then quickly reverted it.
 * at 10:17, 28 February 2017 here Sam Sailor moved the article back to "Providence (religious movement)" which is where it is now.

That was pretty darn sophisticated (not to mention aggressive) for Avataron to do that moving splitting business, and I don't know what the channel of communication with Sawol was. I would not be surprised if Avataron is a sock of some previously blocked user. This article has a long history of disruption by advocates. See ANI threads here and here.

There was a prior SPI filed related to this movement, see Sockpuppet investigations/GIOSCali/Archive. Jytdog (talk) 06:01, 20 March 2017 (UTC)

Comments by other users
''Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.''
 * Hi admins, I would like to make my defense here. I am a third party researcher on the group. My interest in the group started after visiting their retreat center (Wolmyeongdong) as an outsider. The place is open to visitors from the public. I later checked about Wolmyeongdong on wikipedia and found the article there. I was interested in providing encyclopedic information on wikipedia, thus my involvement in wikipedia started off from that page. I have also taken and posted pictures of the place on wikicommons. I am not related to Jonniesdough, the creator of the page on Wolmyeongdong.  Avataron  talk 14:53, 20 March 2017 (UTC)
 * I have also searched for materials online and requested from the group for materials and articles concerning the group, in order to improve the encyclopedic nature of the article Providence (religious movement), which in my opinion resembled a WP:ATTACK on its founder and the group. To my surprise, I found numerous other news articles that provide a different perspective from what is written on wikipedia's Providence (religious movement). (I am native in English, Chinese, and Korean level 3) Thus, began my project to write on my sandbox about the group, to ensure that all reported articles are reflected fairly (in my opinion). I read through the long talk history of Providence (religious movement) and Jung Myung Seok, and felt that the best way to handle it was to write the articles independently and post them as new pages for other neutral editors to look at. Based on my lack of experience on wikipedia, I admit that this was not the right way to do it based on wikipedia, and I should have worked on the article with the existing editors. Avataron  talk 14:53, 20 March 2017 (UTC)
 * As for my responses which appeared aggressive, I apologized on numerous occasions for being too proactive and quick. I have tried to work more progressively with the editors example here, and could not understand why the editors did not allow various things that are compliant with the wikipedia policies. In my opinion, users Jytdog, Sam Sailor and Bishonen were very aggressive towards my edits and appeared to have biases against the group. There was also some behavior that appeared to me as canvassing here. Thus, I questioned whether they were affiliated to groups or individuals against the group. I did not have any intentions to offend. Avataron  talk 14:53, 20 March 2017 (UTC)
 * I do not operate sockpuppets nor meatpuppets. As a third party researcher, I did inform Christian Gospel Mission (official name of Providence) that I was working on wikipedia to contribute to a more objective encyclopedia entry on CGM, its founder and the media allegations on my sandboxes.
 * I have a general interest in religion (in particular christianity) and am also part of the wikiproject on new religious movements, having edited a number of articles on it. I have also been contributing as a recent changes patroller. Thanks for hearing me out. Avataron  talk 14:53, 20 March 2017 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * I have difficulty making a definitive call wrt the sock issue, but I do believe there is at least meatpuppetry here. I hope a CU looks into it, as Avataron and Jonniesdough are both highly tendentious accounts, whose sole purpose on Wikipedia seems to be to promote the Providence movement and whitewash Jung Myung-seok. I previously blocked Avataron for 48 hours over the disruptive move-rename merry-go-round that Jytdog details above, and I have just given them a topic ban warning. (The articles they edit are under BLP discretionary sanctions.) Bishonen &#124; talk 12:47, 20 March 2017 (UTC).
 * The following accounts are ✅:
 * Phonexis0316 was the listed puppet at Sockpuppet investigations/GIOSCali, which was raised by the ever-astute . The master in that case is, and the CheckUser found the two accounts ❌.
 * Blocked and tagged the confirmed accounts.
 * The remaining accounts are ❌ to the above group and to each other. This case can probably be closed, but I'll leave it unclosed in case there are further comments.--Bbb23 (talk) 18:32, 20 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Case closed.  Vanjagenije  (talk)  19:49, 20 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Phonexis0316 was the listed puppet at Sockpuppet investigations/GIOSCali, which was raised by the ever-astute . The master in that case is, and the CheckUser found the two accounts ❌.
 * Blocked and tagged the confirmed accounts.
 * The remaining accounts are ❌ to the above group and to each other. This case can probably be closed, but I'll leave it unclosed in case there are further comments.--Bbb23 (talk) 18:32, 20 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Case closed.  Vanjagenije  (talk)  19:49, 20 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Case closed.  Vanjagenije  (talk)  19:49, 20 March 2017 (UTC)