Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Pikavoom/Archive

Suspected sockpuppets
The Samuelshraga account was created on 20 July 2021. They made 27 edits between 20 July 2021 and 18 July 2022. Two days later, Barkeep49 blocked the Pikavoom account for sockpuppetry. The Samuelshraga account then lies low for a few months, remaining inactive until November 2022. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Minu Siddiqi (talk • contribs) 05:23, 12 January 2023 (UTC)

On 10 November 2022, the Samuelshraga account resurfaces. They update their User page here, claiming to be a 'relatively new editor' and imploring us to 'be gentle' before jumping into the Priyamvada Gopal talk page with this post.

Here, they show advanced knowledge of Wikipedia policy and the articles talk page and editing history, including knowledge that the page had protected status earlier last year, evidenced in the talk page section here, here and here. This is not typical new user behaviour. The accounts claim that they are a 'relatively new editor' feels like an obfuscation at this point, and their deep knowledge of the Gopal article talk page and editing history suggests they have contributed to the article under a different account. 42 of the next 56 user contributions from the Samuelshraga account are about the Gopal article, with an emphasis on preserving negative content, evidenced here and here. This behaviour indicates a connection to the Pikavoom account. The Pikavoom account made 35 user contributions to the Gopal account before they got blocked. Most of those contributions were in favour of keeping negative content in the Gopal article, evidenced here.

Now the smoking gun: The Pikavoom account actively used SPI cases to keep negative content in the Gopal article. Until this point, Pikavoom was the only user to have filed sockpuppet investigations against the PostcolonialLitNerd account for operating multiple accounts which framed the article more favourably for Gopal. On 8 January 2023, the Samuelshraga account launches a Sockpuppet investigation against the PostcolonialLitNerd account, implicating the LumumbaX account here for framing the article in Gopal's favour.

Here, the Samuelshraga account shows historical knowledge of the Gopal articles editing and sockpuppet history. Apart from Pikavoom, I doubt anyone has this level of knowledge about sockpuppet investigations involving the PostcolonialLitNerd account. Additionally, Samuelshraga's presentation and formatting choices are almost identical to Pikavoom, as evidenced in their SPI case here. Samuelshraga even uses the same language as Pikavoom to prosecute their case against the LumumbaX sock. For example, both users accuse socks of using "verbose edit summaries". Minu Siddiqi (talk) 05:11, 12 January 2023 (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

 * - Pikavoom was blocked as an arbcom action. I'll ask some currents arbs to consider this.  Girth Summit  (blether)  14:07, 12 January 2023 (UTC)
 * - an arb has told me by e-mail that they are happy for us to process this case normally. I'll start by noting the the OP is a sock of, which I have blocked along with . I wouldn't normally act on a report from the sock of a blocked users, but I will look at this case and see if anything jumps out.  Girth Summit  (blether)  16:52, 14 January 2023 (UTC)
 * I'm not seeing anything technical that would like this account to Pikavoom, and I don't see sufficient behavioural evidence to make the connection. Closing.  Girth Summit  (blether)  17:09, 14 January 2023 (UTC)