Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Quotient group/Archive

Evidence submitted by Mathsci
was found to have been wikistalking me during the summer by multiple administrators on WP:ANI here. He had made a few edits related to elementary group theory, but disappeared after the charges of wikistalking. appeared later, made some edits concerning elementary group theory, and made some edits about youtube as himself and using the IP. Here are two almost identical sample postings to my talk page, where he tracked my edits to articles on the organ music of Bach and Handel (Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes, Handel organ concertos Op.4, Handel organ concertos Op.7). 

Since then using Bristol IPs starting with 213.48.162.*** he has continued to wikistalk me, tracking my edits and making unhelpful and naive remarks in a style very similar to those of A.K.Nole. Whereas A.K.Nole edited from a Cheltenham IP, these edits now come from nearby Bristol, possibly because a new academic year has started and the editor has moved elsewhere in real life. (I'm on wikibreak at the moment while visiting California.)

The Bristol IPs and User:Quotient group had already appeared in a previous investigation Sockpuppet_investigations/Mathsci/Archive but at that stage the duplicated edits on my talk page and the organ music articles had not yet been made. The latest case of wikstalking occurred recently on the talk page of, later referred to on WP:FTN. by. He duplicates comments left by  on Varoon Arya's talkpage.

Another WP editor with more editing experience than me has looked at these edits and agrees that something fishy is going on. It's seems very similar to A.K.Nole's wikistalking. Mathsci (talk) 20:08, 7 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Regarding Captain Occam's unhelpful remarks, please read WP:DUCK. User:Quotient group made the mistake of duplicating edits made by the small range of IPs, which have been wikistalking me since with this range of IPs. The wikistalking (following me to AfD's, talk pages, etc) is indisputable. Captain Occam is stirring the pot here and seems to have very little idea what he's talking about. Certainly A.K.Nole edited when logged out from a Cheltenham IP: since A.K.Nole has not edited with his main account for some time, the link with him might have gone stale. Mathsci (talk) 23:32, 7 November 2009 (UTC)

←Quotient group's repetition of the incorrect claim that A.K.Nole was "outed" (he merely edited WP while logged out from a Cheltenham IP - outing is something quite different) does not aid his defence. It is quite hard to see why he should repeat A.K.Nole's faulty point of view so closely and with such conviction. In addition he has given no reasonable explanation why he posted almost identical talk page notices followed by almost identical edits to articles on organ music as the Bristol IP. This coincidence does not seem in any way random. Checkuser can easily reveal whether he uses the same range of IPs or is geographically close. Only checkuser can verify if Quotient group is being truthful: certainly the stalking of my edits (this has never happened before to me on wikipedia until A.K.Nole) by the IPs is clear and is not dissimilar to Quotient group's first edits.


 * Quotient group: 3 very brief and superficial edits (at 1st year undergraduate level) to articles on group theory before participating in Articles_for_deletion/Franco_Selleri with a bizarre remark about the Abd&WMC arbcom case which had just finished here. This confused input, unrelated to the AfD, seems related to the later rather silly claims that I had started the AfD through a sockpuppet, a claim that was dismissed in the subsequent sockpuppet enquiry. However, the edits are consistent with that of A.K.Nole, as is the starter level in university mathematics. This edit and these edits, ,  followed by this edit  are wikistalking. (Long-term editors on  WikProject Music usually just check whether external links work in these long articles, almost all writte.)
 * 213.48.162.2: this start edit on Myron Evans material followed by this edit to a topic I started on wP:FTN, essentially trolling (the subject had arisen several times already on the noticeboard).
 * 213.48.162.4: same edits as Quotient group but a week earlier ,,, , , , ,.
 * 213.48.162.5/213.48.162.12/213.48.16.17 These apparently separate comments are by the same user, , . These misleading contributions with different IPs, while not using a registered account, seem to be contrary to core wikpedia policy. 17 also started a WP:FTN subject on Race and intelligence , which was dismissed as irrelevant. 5 later participated in this thread ..

Although I'm on wikibreak, I was called back to comment on Race and intelligence by User:Slrubenstein and have for a few years been keeping tabs on the fringe science articles around Myron Evans, Ruggero Santilli and Francesco Fucilla and their associates. These users have followed me to this relatively unknown corner of WP and have been editing in a similar way. Mathsci (talk) 00:00, 9 November 2009 (UTC)
 * If Quotient group now admits that all these edits were by him, then he was being less than honest here. The primary purpose of his account, given his admission, was wikihounding me. He has never accidentally edited mathematics articles when logged off. All his mathematical contributions have been on the same trivial level (like those of A.K.Nole). Since his style of argumentation is very similar to that of A.K.Nole, as well as his very knowledgeable claims to know why A.K.Nole left WP (from what I remember he was found guilty of wikistalking me by various admins, he was never outed except as being "Elonka" backwards), I think it would still be useful to check whether A.K.Nole edited using an IP 213.48.162.***. Once that has been decided, it will be easier to review the problematic status of the user Quotient group, an account that, with all the anonymous edits, has up until now been primarily been devoted to following my edits, i.e. a primarily disruptive attack account. There is no dispute of any kind here, just a wish to stop this kind of wikistalking.  Mathsci (talk) 02:11, 9 November 2009 (UTC)

Comments by accused parties
See Defending yourself against claims.

A ridiculous and questionable accusation which even on the face of it discloses no allegations of sockpuppetry whatever.

It is completely obvious that the varying IP addresses are the same user and of course those were me not logged in, which I usually don't bother to do. It's a dialup, shared by many people and you can get different numbers. (Not everything in the range is by me of course!) Mathsci obviously realised it immediately and could have confirmed that by a simple polite question. This is not sock puppetry.

Mathsci drags an old adversary of his to blacken my reputation and use false logic based on false premises -- if AKN hounds him and QG hounds him, they must be the same. Not true and nonsense. AKN edits the same articles as me -- not true. AKN lives in a different town but might have moved -- ridiculous. This is not sock puppetry.

AKN left his account for good after he was outed by Mathsci at ANI. Even if he were to return, as me or anyone else, per WP:CLEANSTART this is not sockpuppetry.

Mathsci uses this bogus SPI as an excuse to justify his previous assertions on multiple pages eg about my location: this is a personal attack rising to borderline WP:OUTING, as in the AKN case.

Mathsci should either take this to a proper forum for dispute resolution or stop this harassment by abuse of wiki-procedures. Quotient group (talk) 20:29, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

Comments by other users
Although I haven't paid close enough attention to this issue to have a strong opinion about the Wikistalking / sockpuppet question, something I've noticed consistently is Mathsci's repeated personal attacks against this user, such as and. This aspect of the issue appears to have a history stretching back several months, as evident from this AN/I thread about Mathsci outing personal information against A.K.Nole. According to that thread, attempts at dispute resolution for this issue have failed. If A.K.Nole is using sockpuppets or otherwise violating Wikipedia policy, I don't think either editor can be considered blameless here; I would recommend taking action against them both. --Captain Occam (talk) 22:25, 7 November 2009 (UTC)

Looking at the evidences provided, I suggest that he should be banned. Especially the part about leaving one account with another. Boeing7107isdelicious 11:49, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

CheckUser requests
Requested by Mathsci (talk) 20:08, 7 November 2009 (UTC)

Clerk, patrolling admin and checkuser comments

 * A.K.Nole is stale and he admits to being the IPs. Brandon (talk) 03:21, 9 November 2009 (UTC)

Conclusions
I'm going to mark this as closed, but noting that this isn't yet resolved. If a ban discussion is needed, we got WP:RFC/U as well as WP:AN for that; if that fails, then there's ArbCom. Otherwise, this is starting to fall outside the normal scope of SPI, and more community attention may be needed to resolve this. MuZemike 18:50, 16 November 2009 (UTC)