Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/RenRen070193/Archive

Suspected sockpuppets
There seems to be a sketchy interaction between RenRen and Einahr at 's talk page. RenRen and Primefac were talking about RenRen probably "signing off" the Wikipedia (see here). However, it was Einahr who said goodbye at the end of the section (this). Considering the context between the goodbye and the messages between RenRen and Primefac, I could say that Einahr's message is a response by RenRen to Primefac. I questioned Einahr in their talk page about this (see this). Shortly after, Einahr simply removed their message in Primefac's talk page, and proceeded to remove my message without answering it. Considering this dubious behavior by Einahr, I am highly suspicious that RenRen and Einahr are one.

RenRen is most likely the IP 136 as shown by the IP replying here, RenRen with the identical reply, and RenRen removing the reply by IP 136.) After RenRen's unsucessful TFD merge, they said that they would "sign off", but now seems to be on a rampage using the 136 ip by adding hatnotes, about patronymics/matronymics which they don't clearly understand the concept, on articles without providing sources.

112 ip has similar, or almost identical, editing pattern with 136 ip. Edits like this by 112 and this by 136 are just too similar of a pattern that I could ignore, not to mention they are unsourced and incorrect. These 2 IPs have also both contributed in some articles, such as James Younghusband and Phil Younghusband, with both IPs having the same type of contributions (i.e. adding hatnotes about surnames). With this, I suspect 112 ip being one with 136 ip, and from this, I also suspect 112 ip as being used by RenRen as well.

I have messaged RenRen and the 2 ips about editing while logged out; no replies were made and contributions were still made by the IPs, with no changes in editing patterns. Because of this, I decided to take this issue to SPI. '''Engr. Smitty  Werben''' 06:09, 19 August 2022 (UTC)


 * A new IP address has also been used to contribute after I made this SPI. Engr.  Smitty   Werben 18:59, 27 August 2022 (UTC)

Comments by other users

 * Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.


 * Im not sockpuppet. Einahr (talk) 06:48, 27 August 2022 (UTC)
 * I never engage in sockpuppeting RenRen070193 (talk) 09:28, 27 August 2022 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * The IPs are clear ducks to each other and to, whilst the edits by to that conversation are highly suspicious.  - Please compare the named accounts. --Jack Frost (talk) 09:39, 27 August 2022 (UTC)
 * Comments by moved from Wikipedia talk:Sockpuppet investigations/RenRen070193.  Thankyou for your excellent report! For future reference, unlike most noticeboards, notifying editors that an SPI has been filed is rarely necessary and often confuses matters rather than clarifying them. Indeed, I was very suspicious that both editors had found their way here until I realised they'd been notified of this SPI. Thanks, --Jack Frost (talk) 09:48, 27 August 2022 (UTC)
 * - -- RoySmith (talk) 16:27, 28 August 2022 (UTC)
 * From the CU data, I'd say it's equally likely that they are socks vs two different people in the same city with common interests. I will note that both accounts had a few edits rejected due to spam blacklist hits, although the particular URLs they were trying to add are unrelated.   -- RoySmith (talk) 16:52, 28 August 2022 (UTC)
 * I don't think the talk page comment by Einahr is a smoking gun - I interpreted it as Einahr saying goodbye to RenRen, rather than to Primefac. The two accounts actually have less overlap than I'd expect for two editors with 1000+ edits from the same geographic region, and the editing patterns are generally different (Einahr edits from a different platform and does not have the same interest in name hatnotes). Behaviourally, I'm quite confident that these accounts are different people.I do find it likely based on the diffs above that RenRen070193 has edited while logged out on the listed IPs. There is activity on these ranges as recently as today that is probably from RenRen . RenRen has stated that they are retiring from Wikipedia and has not edited from their account since early September. Under normal circumstances, a user deciding to retire their account and edit as an IP would not be considered sockpuppetry. However, it's concerning that RenRen070193 is continuing to make edits as an IP that are similar to those that led to sanctions on their user account. I would caution that this sort of activity can be considered evading scrutiny and may lead to blocks if continued. Closing without further action for now. Spicy (talk) 08:16, 20 October 2022 (UTC)