Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Php2000

Suspected sockpuppets
This is a possible case of block evasion as two weeks ago the editor Kodosbs made very similar comments to currently blocked account Analyticalreview. Here Kodosbs states that "...it is quite sad that someone subjectively implies that a country as beautiful and multiethnic as Mexico is whiter than the state of California in the US" While one month ago Analyticalreview said here that "...Even the most extreme cases (I.E Mennonites) are becoming Mestizos in recent decades. It is utter nonsense to believe Mexico is almost as European as the USA" Besides these similar comments both editors seem to hold identical opinions on everything and even ask eachother for support.

Another similarity I found is on this edit Kodosbs made to the article White Mexicans where he tags a source and uses a rather confusing edit summary that reads "The provided reference on "White Mexicans" does not support the premise because the text discusses mestizaje in Mexico from a historical and cultural perspective, without specifically addressing individuals identifying as white due to their physical appearance or European ancestry" This is an almost identical action to what sockmaster Php2000 did back in 2020, where he, various times sought to remove the same source in the article of Mexicans stating "Sources do not provide any specific definition for European Mexicans. False attribution" and "rv: the source discusses the origins of Mexico in 1808. It literally has nothing to do with the statement nor supports it." Which is why I open the investigation under Php2000 again.

Besides this evidence, In recent days I've noticed activity from an account that I've suspected to be another sockpuppet by this editor for some time now, the account Zaquezipe as it frequents articles that Analyticalreview also frequents such as Ethnic groups of Latin America (that article in turn, seems to have high sockpuppet activity with accounts such as Encyclopediaknowledge being a likely example). In the last days he insistently tried to remove a source and lower the number of White Colombians which is what Analyticalreview was trying to do in the article of White Mexicans before he got blocked, even in the talk page of administrator &#126; ToBeFree he acussed an opposing editor of "... trying to undercount the ethnic minorities of colombia as I have seen on the Colombia and Afro-Colombian pages and overestimate the european contribution to Colombia despite colombia being a genetically diverse nation" Which is a similar accusation to the one Kodosbs made to me two weeks ago when he said "...it is quite sad that someone subjectively implies that a country as beautiful and multiethnic as Mexico is whiter than the state of California in the US". Another likely sockpuppet of Zaquezipe that I've noticed recently is the account UntitledJuan as it begun to appear on articles frequented by Zaquezipe such as Indigenous peoples of Colombia after he got reported, other article which both accounts have edited is the article Race and ethnicity in Colombia. The account was created in 2019 which suggests that this editor has accounts sitting for years ready to be used as "third hands" in content disputes, in the meantime makes edits sporadically on articles related to this person's "country of interest" so with time they can "pass" as legitimate accounts from editors of those countries (in this case Colombia). Another account that I've had suspicions of being a sockpuppet for a while is the account WikiJuan as besides having a similar name to UntitledJuan the edits of both accounts follow the same trend: edits on articles about Indigenous peoples, race, ethnicity etc. with the difference that this time the "country of interest" is Argentina instead of Colombia, Mexico or Peru, this editor seems to make one or more accounts for each country he edits on.

I must remark that while I request Checkuser to find other accounts this editor may have created (or even maybe find his actual main account, as there surely is one) there is strong evidence that this editor uses multiple proxies as Kodosbs has been blocked for such thing before. There was even one case recently on which a sockpuppet by this person, the account Puggle, got blocked for doing the same edits that Analyticalreview made to article White Mexicans and immediately after that requested for Checkuser to be used on him to "clear him" which comes to prove how confident this person is about his proxies. So while I request Checkuser for the aforementioned reasons I think to evaluate the behavioral simmilarities is the main key to solve this case, so what do administrators think? Is Php2000/Analyticalreview using proxies to evade his blocks and continue edit warring? Pob3qu3 (talk) 01:37, 7 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your reply Vanamonde93, I have one important question though, what do you think about the similarities I reported between Kodosbs and the currently designated sockmaster Php2000 (the ones I detail on the second paragraph)?. Pob3qu3 (talk) 22:21, 1 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Thanks again for your reply Vanamonde93. Actually on my time opening SPIs I've got the opposite impression, this is, that race and ethnicity seem to be niche topics that atract only 2 or three editors per country at most, and that an editor persistent enough and with enough free time and resources could "take over" the totallity of those articles, I have another SPI on which I linked two open proxies that were evidently used by the same person with the purpose of "taking over" the articles of race and ethnicity of several countries. Pob3qu3 (talk) 01:42, 2 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Vanamonde93 I'm putting this here as you said you didn't had enough evidence to check the account Zaquezipe: so happens that both editors, Analyticalreview and Zaquezipe are using the same website as a source and claiming that its "new information from 2023" when the actual document published in 2023 by that organization does not feature such data. Pob3qu3 (talk) 04:43, 3 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Thank you for reconsidering and checking Zaquezipe Vanamonde93, the account Uruguayan989 was another one I suspected was a sockpuppet since months ago. In fact, I have previously reported it on another SPI, on which I made a connection between it and HipHopVisionary due similar editing patterns and usernames chosen, compelling connections are made among other accounts too.
 * Besides this I was checking the contributions of the discovered sockpuppets and found that Popayan1210 and Untitledjuan overlap in many articles related to Colombia, not sure if you checked Untitledjuan. There's also WikiJuan, who edits a similar array of articles (ethnic groups, Indigenous peoples, genetics etc.) but instead of doing it in articles related to Colombia or Mexico (as Uruguayan989 did) WikiJuan does so in articles related to Argentina.
 * Going back to Analyticalreview, behavioral connections can be made between him and the now blocked Uruguayan989, for example, on early April Uruguaya989 was altering a table on the articles of Demographics of Mexico and Mexicans using identical arguments to the ones Analyticalreview was using in the article of White Mexicans (note: while Analyticalreviw/Uruguayan989 arguments may seem compelling at first glance due the confidence and agressivity he conducts himself with, his arguments actually fall apart when they are carefully scrutized, in fact he has accepted various times that his interpretation of the source was wrong all along as I recently recalled here) in fact, a pair of days ago Analyticalreview altered that same table from the article White Mexicans. Pob3qu3 (talk) 23:54, 3 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Vanamonde93 it may interest you that I detected another probably sockuppet recently, the account ElMexicanotres, even though it does have a small number of edits, connections to Zaquezipe and UntitledJuan can be made already, as the account is editing the article Indigenous Peoples of Colombia in the same manner that UntitledJuan didthe username of the account is another source of suspicion, as I stated on this diff this sockpuppeter tends to create accounts whose names start with a nationality followed by numbers (the name of the account can be translated to English to "The-Mexican-Three"). Pob3qu3 (talk) 23:17, 7 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your constant attention to the case Vanamonde93, I do indeed think its very possible that ElMexicanoTres is yet another sockpuppet of this sockmaster, in fact I noticed more similarities, this time to the now blocked sockpuppet account Uruguayan989 (whose username is a nationality followed by numbers aswell), as can be seen on this diff here ElMexicanoTres changed the percentage of Indigenous Mexicans to 9% yesterday, which is something that Uruguayan989 did multiple times. Also comes to my attention that the edit of ElMaxicanoTres also comes after the edits of an IP that has been blocked multiple times for long term abuse, It also must be noted that the contributions of the IP suggest that it has only been used by one person since it first edited one year ago, which is a tendency commonly observed on proxy/VPN IPs. Pob3qu3 (talk) 05:02, 8 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Vanamonde93 Adding up to what EvergreenFir said days ago, on the behavioural side it should be taken into consideration that both, Elmexicanotres and Analyticalreview went out of control on June 10 as can be seen on their respective contribution's history( & ), they also "argued with each other" which is another behavior that has been observed on blocked sock puppets (much of it can be observed on the edit history of that article on particular) such as Uruguayan989 or Zaquezipe (likely with the purpose of creating the impression of both accounts not being controlled by the same person). Another thing I noticed is that in June 10 Analytical review removed the references that talk about how mestizaje was not as extensive as is commonly though from the article Mexicans which are references sockmaster Php2000 had a particular aversion to, in fact, Analyticalreview did the same thing in the article White Mexicans not long ago. Pob3qu3 (talk) 22:52, 12 June 2024 (UTC)
 * It's absolutely hilarious you think anyone that disagrees with you is a sockpuppet. Maybe a lot of people disagree with you because you post blatantly false information! Analyticalreview (talk) 03:49, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
 * @Analyticalreview there are a drawer full of sock puppets in this topic though.  Eve rgr een Fir  (talk) 04:17, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
 * While that is true, this user quickly assumes that anyone who doubts the completely invented claim that Mexico is basically half European is part of a conspiracy against his viewpoint. He's already posting absurd justifications like, "The absence of White Mexicans in the 2020 census doesn't mean they don't exist; ethnic groups like Afro-descendants were recognized in official documents for years before appearing in a decennial census." What does this even mean? We shouldn't be posting unofficial information in the "quick facts." It's not my fault the Mexican government doesn't publish this data; the proper approach is to wait and see if they ever do. As a research assistant at California State University, Long Beach, I'm extremely frustrated by how often people send me this completely fabricated figure. Analyticalreview (talk) 04:43, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Ok, so tell me what is going on because the second I start editing on Wikipedia again they say I am a puppet of another account? I literally started editing again recently because I noticed the contributions by analytical review when I was checking Mexicans God forbid anyone edit on this site or else people are gonna make up claims trying to get some random persons account banned for whatever reason ElMexicanotres (talk) 06:26, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

Thank you EvergreenFir, Ivanvector, Vanamonde93 for taking your time to follow and analyze this complicated case, as this may be one (or two?) of the most nocive and insidious vandals that there's been on Wikipedia, with its offenses going from simple IP and singñe purpose account vandalism to way more sophisticated deeds such as requesting to delete articles completely and everything in between, often with proxy usage. While on my opinion this is all the doing of a single person, if this case is to be split I think all the confirmed socks should go to the archive of sockmaster HipHopVisionary, there's currently an open case on it and there's much behavioral similarities on names chosen and topics of interest (specially pages related to Indigenous peoples), also I detailed many more similarities on this diff here months ago. Pob3qu3 (talk) 23:20, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Ivanvector Actually, I was thinking that all pages related to Latin American demographics may need a kind of "confirmed protection" by default. Pob3qu3 (talk) 23:50, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
 * EvergreenFir, Ivanvector, Vanamonde93 In recent time Analyticalreview has resorted to using sockpuppets again, yesterday a now blocked account called Twentysoil edited the article of Mexicans to re-add an edit originally made by Analyticalreview and today the editor Xuxo is restoring edits originally made by Analyticalreview to the article such as the removal of the percentage of White Mexicans from the infobox, the removal of sources that question the accuracy of the 1921 census and the removal of sources that talk about the prevalence of blond hair. This is not the first time that Xuxo's behavior suggests sockpuppetry as Xuxo's behavior also overlaps with that of already blocked sockpuppets such as Mexico91 (compare behavior/edit summaries of Xuxo and Mexico91), there's also similarites on Xuxo's edits with the edits of blocked sockmaster Php2000 himself. More recently, in April Xuxo reverted to an edit previously made by Analyticalreview for which he was warned. Pob3qu3 (talk) 05:17, 23 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Oshwah very persistent sockpuppeters it seems. I think Administrators/clerks have opted for leaving the investigation open in case more socks keep appearing. Pob3qu3 (talk) 04:52, 9 July 2024 (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

 * Kodosbs and Analyticalreview appear technically ❌, and I don't see enough evidence to check Zaquezipe. Closing. Vanamonde93 (talk) 17:14, 1 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I don't consider the behavioral similarity strong enough to action. Presumably a lot of people care about racial demographics in Mexico; I'm seeing a shared POV, but that does not immediately imply sockpuppetry. Vanamonde93 (talk) 01:26, 2 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Based on the newest evidence I checked Zaquezipe, and while they are ❌ to any other account in this report they are ✅ to Popayan1210, Uruguayan989, Campesinote, and VENEZUELARULESDUDE. I'm uncertain if this is a separate sockfarm, or whether it's related to the master reported here; that evaluation will need to look at behavior, and this may need to be split to a different SPI. Vanamonde93 (talk) 16:54, 3 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Based on technical evidence alone, is  to the blocked accounts above, but  is ❌. I think we need to wait for more behavioral data on ElMexicanotres; four edits isn't for me in this case, where it's clear that there are most certainly multiple individuals involved. Vanamonde93 (talk) 00:29, 8 June 2024 (UTC)
 * @Vanamonde93 we have quite a few more edits now from ElMexicanotres  Eve rgr een Fir  (talk) 04:44, 11 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Yeah I did a lot of work recently I don’t know why people are connecting me to random accounts can you explain why ElMexicanotres (talk) 06:29, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Not to further complicate things here: I have blocked Analyticalreview because they are still edit warring, and taking the dispute to other pages. They are not blocked for sockpuppetry, I have no evidence of that. this case is set to "clerk request" but there doesn't seem to be one, is that a mistake? I have checked Uruguayan989 previously and didn't think they were related to this case at that time, but I haven't checked this report. Ivanvector (Talk/Edits) 18:53, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I set that parameter after my second post above, because I wondered whether this needed to be split; I have no evidence that the accounts I blocked are related to Php2000. I haven't looked at ElMexicanotres again because I haven't had the time, but the behavior and CU data there are worth a second look. Vanamonde93 (talk) 19:52, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I rechecked some of the accounts, and I can't do better than for ElMexicanotres. They are on the same quite large network as the Popayan1210 group (a network known for inconsistent geolocation), and using the same very generic device. . Furthermore, Analyticalreview is ❌ to everyone.
 * I would suggest this report be split to a new case. We have no CU data on Php2000 and no definitively confirmed socks, as well as no definitive connections in this report, and it's just getting distracting at this point. Ivanvector (Talk/Edits) 20:53, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
 * based on 's comments on HHV and my own cross-check, I would say the Popayan1210 group is to HipHopVisionary. I suggest keeping them separate. When I spent time on this earlier today I discovered many more blocked accounts that have edited on the broad subject of Latin American demographics, which suggests to me that there are actually many people interested in the topic, and so we can't really use that as evidence of sockpuppetry. I've called this the "fish interested in water" phenomenon: when many people are interested in editing a topic, some of them will be disruptive just by the law of averages; it doesn't mean that all disruptive editors in the topic are related. I think this topic is headed for a contentious topics designation, except that in all of the documentation I can't find how we actually propose that. Ivanvector (Talk/Edits) 23:40, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Thanks for looking into this, RL has me swamped. re: CT designation, despite all the changes made during the DS -> CT change the process remains the same in my understanding; you file an ARBCOM request, or propose a community GS designation at AN. Vanamonde93 (talk) 15:07, 14 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I don't see a tagged clerk request? What am I missing here? I know it's likely me... :-)  ~Oshwah~  (talk) (contribs)   01:54, 9 July 2024 (UTC)