Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Posen607/Archive

Suspected sockpuppets

 * ( original case name)


 * Tools: Editor interaction utility • Interaction Timeline • User compare report Auto-generated every hour.

This case is about David William Parry and David Parry (poet), two articles about the same person. I suspect socking because the accounts I have listed have either participated extensively in the AfDs for these two articles or edited heavily on David William Parry. Tunes666 is somewhat of an exception to the rule. Here are the AfDs:
 * first AfD for David William Parry ("DWP 1")
 * second AfD for David William Parry ("DWP 2") [currently in progress]; and
 * first and only AfD for David Parry (poet) ("DPP")

86.5.208.162 is the oldest "account" in this series, but the main current offenders are Posen607 and CambridgeGraduate. I suspect these accounts of sockpuppetry because:


 * 86.5.208.162 participated extensively in DWP1 and identified itself as David William Parry (identifying itself; participation example 1; participation example 2). Its few other contribs concern David William Parry (example 1; example 2).
 * 91.125.96.54 (only 1 contribution so far) participated in DWP1 and made specious arguments like those of 86.5.208.162 (only instance).
 * Posen607, the main account by number of contributions in this series, has primarily edited on DPP, DWP2, and the article David William Parry. Its other mainspace contribs are also related to David William Parry.
 * DPP: example 1 (combining several revisions); example 2 (also combining several revisions)
 * DWP2: large primary comment
 * David William Parry: representative examples include Special:Diff/970616095 and Special:Diff/970276003
 * Other mainspace contribs: examples include Special:Diff/968014766 and Special:Diff/599290505
 * CambridgeGraduate's first contribution was at 17:58, 14 August 2020. DWP2 was created 22:18, 13 August 2020. Since CambridgeGraduate's creation today (UTC), it has edited—in a similar style to Posen607—primarily on DWP2. Other edits seem to be filler arguments at other AfDs to "reduce suspicion".
 * Edits on DWP2: Special:Diff/972988296; Special:Diff/972997090
 * Specious commentary elsewhere: Special:Diff/972979747; Special:Diff/972979515
 * In addition to the above, the user pages for Posen607 and CambridgeGraduate are remarkably similar in style. They both refer primarily to the prestigious British universities that their owners supposedly graduated from. ("CambridgeGraduate" took it one step further, obviously.) Posen607 and CambridgeGraduate also both voted "Strong keep" in DWP2, which is not a vote that AfD regulars use.
 * Tunes666 is a harder case; I didn't notice it until after submitting this. Its first contribution was related to Wicca, which David William Parry is associated with; its second contribution, months later, was to accuse the nom on DWP1 of "trolling". It's a minor thing, but I also would note the British English spelling of "criticise" in the second contribution.

This is my first SPI request, so I apologise for any mistakes. The main offenders for the moment are the two named accounts; the IP users have not edited since DWP1. AleatoryPonderings (talk) 23:10, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

Comments by other users
''Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.''

I've noticed they both have a keen interest in removing swathes of info (rightly or wrongly) from the article of John Farndon, using very similar edit summary langauge. Might be nothing, but I'll throw it into the mix anyway.... Posen607 CambridgeGraduate --DSQ (talk) 09:22, 17 August 2020 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * Renamed to the oldest registered account. IPs are long, long stale, so not much value in taking action against them. GeneralNotability (talk) 14:25, 15 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Agreed; there's no justification for blocking the IP users listed at all, though I'll keep them listed in case evidence exists from their contributions that are relevant to this investigation.  ~Oshwah~  (talk) (contribs)   22:28, 15 August 2020 (UTC)


 * What makes me the most suspicious with and  are a few things. Both of them talk about being graduates from universities on their user pages. They both voted "strong keep" on the AFD, and they both used the terms "international" and "notability" in the same sentence. Apart from this, I don't see much that I can use to tie them both together definitively. I have suspicions, but I don't think that they're enough to justify action... If more evidence is found, please ping me here and let me know what you find.  ~Oshwah~  (talk)  (contribs)   00:04, 16 August 2020 (UTC)
 * (Assume this is directed to me; sincere apologies if not). Will do. The AfD has gone quiet for the moment. It will have gone a week by 22:18, 20 August 2020 (UTC). I expect any further activity to occur at the AfD, so will watch and ping with any updates. AleatoryPonderings (talk) 00:19, 16 August 2020 (UTC)
 * - I'm inclined to agree with here. I feel like their writing styles are slightly different, though I do note that they also have a shared interest in TEDxLambeth, The "strong keep" isn't damning IMO since one voted after the other - sometimes we see one new editor use an odd turn of phrase or vote style in an AfD and then other new editors pick that up; it isn't enough to prove a relationship. I'm going to move this to "on hold" and if we haven't seen further suspicious activity by the close of the AfD I'd be inclined to close. GeneralNotability (talk) 00:41, 17 August 2020 (UTC)
 * The AfD was just relisted and CambridgeGraduate and Posen607 continue to spam it with edits that look very similar to me. Unclear if these provide additional evidence or are just extremely annoying, but thought I'd ping you. Posen607 also blanked its page two days after I started this investigation (not damning, but is interesting). AleatoryPonderings (talk) 17:00, 21 August 2020 (UTC)


 * - after another look through the evidence and the latest comments at AfD (including both of their habit of copying someone's signature, including talk link, as a ping), I'm feeling suspicious enough to request CU (if CU doesn't come back, there might be enough for me to block as suspected meat anyway). Please compare Posen607 and CambridgeGraduate. GeneralNotability (talk) 17:10, 21 August 2020 (UTC)
 * ❌, they're consistently using different devices.  Maxim (talk)  20:14, 28 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Closing per the above. The SandDoctor  Talk 16:09, 6 September 2020 (UTC)