Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Pjc747/Archive

30 May 2013

 * Suspected sockpuppets




 * User compare report Auto-generated every hour.
 * Editor interaction utility

Signature of Spartan7W is of the the indefinitely blocked editor Pjc747:. No checkuser required, self evident admission. The editor should appeal the block on the main account if they wish, not create multiple accounts, IRWolfie- (talk) 09:24, 30 May 2013 (UTC)

Comments by other users
''Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.''
 * (copied by from the talk page here by Dennis Brown)

Greetings,

I would like to deliver my defense on this accusation here.

The account, Pjc747 was created, at earliest, on 13 September 2009, by looking at the earliest edit. This account was, admittedly, created by my own doing, so I could make contributions to Wikipedia, with the resources I have access to, something I was enthusiastic about, however not entirely. At the same time in history, some of my personal information was compromised by a minor case of identity theft. At that time, I had stored all of my internet account information, such as usernames, passwords, security codes, on a Microsoft Word document, and stored them on a USB flash drive, which I kept in a drawer. That flash drive went missing around this same time, I suspected it was nabbed by a perhaps housekeeper, or some other worker, as some window cleaning and carpeting had been done. I had used the pjc747 name originally for a bank account, and appointment scheduling, and used it here as well; I still use the same name on those accounts. In the immediate time following the theft, I began receiving a lot of spam, including a trojan onto my computer, and erroneous emails were being received by people in by address book. I changed all my passwords to sites I thought would be of interest to a thief. I continued to use this account for Wikipedia work, however, as a novice at Wikipedia, I did not know to much extent how it all worked, and was either oblivious or dismissing of the vandalism being done by that same account. In December 2010, when that account was blocked, I did not understand why, I likely saw the vandalism notices, but did not know what to make of them. I decided rather than continue using an account with history of vandalism, I would rather create a new account, with which to start clean, because at that time, I had no idea a wikiproject was a thing, so I had no idea of the true inner workings of the system here. I forgot about my interest in Wikipedia, largely due to the frantic holiday season ensuing, and never picked up the idea again, until over a year later. At that time, I created this account, Spartan7W, which I use to this date. Due to the fact that pjc747 is still my username for other accounts, and when I sought to open discussion on the topic I did several days ago, I inadvertently put my signature in as pjc747 as opposed to Spartan7W, and until yesterday, I had forgotten of that old account.

I can't explain as to why somebody would choose to use a Wikipedia account from a source stolen information, for vandalism, however I assume stolen information may be passed along, but that is open to speculation. In conclusion, the above is my story, the whole truth - I value the truth over even a white lie. As you can conclude with just some basic research into both accounts, no vandalism has been done from Spartan7W, this account. I have done things in full, good faith, with a positive approach to the truth, and making everything I can better, and in some cases, introduce a controversial thought or discussion thereof to produce a better product for the reader. I apologize for this unfortunate occurrence, and the trouble caused for all of you pursuing this investigation.

Emphatically, --Spartan7W (talk) 13:12, 30 May 2013 (UTC)


 * That sounds like a good solution Dennis. To be honest I'm surprised Spartan7W managed to turn up considering that we never interacted at all, IRWolfie- (talk) 20:46, 30 May 2013 (UTC)


 * First, I would like to thank you for your generosity, Dennis, and the understanding. However, I would prefer to continue using the Spartan7W account, if possible.  See, in the one and a half years of using this account (Spartan7W), I have made so many more contributions with this account on Wikipedia, not including work done for wiki projects, as well as a fair amount of file donations to the Commons.  Because most of my work has been done on this account, and my achievements and contributions are associated with this account, I would much rather prefer this account.  It's like my new witness-protection-program identity, I've done more things with this account, and its what is consistent.  Those are my two cents, so hopefully I can continue with this one. --Spartan7W (talk) 21:47, 30 May 2013 (UTC)
 * If you prefer this account, why are you signing the old name? Likely, this would need to go to a discussion, as I'm not likely to grant this unilaterally and would prefer more eyes on it.  My opinion isn't fixed either way, to be honest, I'm just trying to be open at this stage.  Dennis Brown / 2¢ / © / @ / Join WER 22:02, 30 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Per my explanation in the letter written above, this was the only time this happened, and I was used to pjc747, as it is still my username on other online service sites I visit. --Spartan7W (talk) 22:12, 30 May 2013 (UTC)
 * You can't have it both ways. Normally, it is required that you go back to the original account and then formally abandon it or use it, assuming it is allowed at all.  Normally, it is required that you wait 6 months without any edits, under the WP:STANDARDOFFER.  If I think this is the best thing, then all I can do is suggest to others and see if there is a consensus to allow you back to edit, and complying with at least the name is required: either use the old name, or use the new name, but not both.  And I can suggest this and still get voted down, so none of it is guaranteed.  Before I go out on a limb and even recommend to other admin, it has to be with this understanding that you don't use but one account and have a matching signature, as you are doing here.  What I'm suggesting is highly unusual to begin with, so everything else needs to be clean as a whistle. Dennis Brown / 2¢ / © / @ / Join WER 22:33, 30 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Good suggestion. I never intended to use Pjc747 again, it was, as I explained, an honest accident (if you look at the instance that brought up this problem, I signed lowercase p, when my account name was uppercase P). Anyways, please suggest this.  I never intended to use Pjc747 again, only Spartan7W, and that instance, under Talk:Global warming, was the only time I have ever signed as Pjc747 on this account, Spartan7W. Thanks again for being understanding.  Also, what do you mean by 'formally abandoning' the old account? I just want what would be the simplest route to dispose of Pjc747 completely, and remain using Spartan7W as I have been for a year and a half.--Spartan7W (talk) 23:20, 30 May 2013 (UTC)
 * By formally abandoning it, I mean not using that in your signature, and I would reblock the account linking it to you, and you would never use it. I assume that was your intention anyway, just a formality.  Technically, I could just close this and you could edit, but I think it would be more appropriate if I got input from others and their approval, since what I would be endorsing is a bit outside of the normal process here.  It is always good to be very up front when doing something unusual like this.  I suggest staying away from editing articles until then, which shouldn't take more than a day.  I may just drop it off at WP:AN as a proposal and allow the community to determine if this is wise or not.  You aren't required to participate, although if someone asks a question of you there, it would be good to answer them.  Dennis Brown / 2¢ / © / @ / Join WER 01:59, 31 May 2013 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * IRWolfie is correct that you should instead seek to get the original account unblocked. Because the story seems plausible, I'm inclined to give a little bit of rope and allow you to do just that, log in using the old account, change the password if you like, then request an unblock from there, pointing to this SPI.  I am a firm believer of 2nd chances and being open minded when it comes to issues like this, and spot checking your contribs with this new accounts didn't show anything that is vandalism.  Of course, if anyone has any evidence of vandalism, it would be good to know. I would ask another admin review the unblock at that time.  For the record, assuming the current contribs are clean, I would lean towards unblocking that original account, as it seems your intent with this account wasn't to deceive anyone, but to just contribute.  Still, there is a bit of process and review that is required.  You can read WP:GAB for unblock details, and see how to use the  template.  If you are unblocked, I would prefer to have you use the old account and block this account (without prejudice) as a matter of procedure.  I'm open to other solutions as well, but I think this is probably the best course to take.   Dennis Brown / 2¢ / © / @ / Join WER 15:52, 30 May 2013 (UTC)


 * I have filed a formal proposal here. I expect it to take 12 to 48 hours, although you never know.  Again, I suggest not editing articles until the discussion is closed, and watching the discussion in case any questions come up.  Dennis Brown / 2¢ / © / @ / Join WER 02:22, 31 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Closing per unanimous decision at WP:AN to allow editor to return with this new account. Dennis Brown / 2¢ / © / @ / Join WER 16:20, 1 June 2013 (UTC)