Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Shamimanm/Archive

Suspected sockpuppets



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This is to do with a theatre group called Abhivyakti Natya Manch. There are a few more accounts involved that I know of but they are mostly stale so I'm not listing here. They have been spamming multiple biographies and plays of their group on here. All edits are linked to that, except Chitransh25 who was kind enough to invite me to take a look at the hinky stuff going on in this area, albeit unintentionally. has been trying to deal with this mess longer than I have and may likely want to add more to it.

Some of the currently undeleted articles that are part of this are Krishna Kumar Srivastava, Shamim Azad (actor).

While the account names indicate that they are different people within the group, the behavior suggests that it's one person operating accounts under the different names. I'm sure there are other group member names that haven't been unearthed yet, and a CU will be helpful. &mdash; Spaceman  Spiff  18:09, 20 June 2016 (UTC)


 * Post CU note: There's commons:Commons:Deletion_requests/File:Hira_Thind.JPG from Commons where he claims a Hira Thind pic as one of himself, and this upload log for images immediately used by the other accounts over here. As over the past two weeks I've sort of involved myself editorially in cleaning up this mess, I'll leave it to someone else to interpret the behavior. &mdash; Spaceman  Spiff  02:17, 21 June 2016 (UTC)

Comments by other users
''Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.'' Thanks to SS for slugging through this pile of crap. Although we've already resolved most of the issues, here are my notes:
 * Editor created an article on Hira Thind in August 2015. Another account, Shamimanm (surely the same guy) tried to do the same thing around February 5 2016, then Shamim Azad ANM tried again circa March 6, 2016, then twice on March 23, account Nihal Thind tried to get the article going.
 * I'm not sure if we're talking about sock/meatpuppetry, or some kind of mentor/protege relationship, but Shamimanm is closely related to Hira Thind based on this edit where he credits the article creation to Hira Thind. Not coincidentally, there was also a user named Hira Thind, who added this self-aggrandizing content, article creation credits *IN* an article.
 * Shamimanm also tried to publicize Hira Thind in this edit at the Thind disambiguation page.
 * IP 106.219.58.237 edited Shamimanm's user page here
 * Shamimanm created the problematic article Aron Mitr, which was also edited by Nihal Thind.
 * IP 106.219.10.191 removed a PROD from Shamim Azad (actor), an article created by Shamimanm and edited by sock operator WordSeventeen and Hira Thind.
 * Shamimanm - account created 4 October 2014
 * Shamim Azad ANM - account created 20 May 2015
 * Hira Thind - account created 7 March 2016
 * Nihal Thind - account created 20 March 2016
 * Here, IP 106.219.25.174 removes an AfD template from Ek Prayas. Geolocates to Delhi, India; ISP: Bharti Airtel Limited

The above is mostly just stuff I've logged in my private notes. I think Bbb23 has found all the main problem accounts, at least the ones I was aware of. Thanks all.

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments
Shamim Azad ANM Hira Thind
 * The following accounts are :
 * Group 1 – the following accounts are ✅:
 * Group 2 – the following accounts are to each other and ❌ to Group 1:
 * , which is a much older account than the master, is a technical match to Group 1 but . I personally see no behavioral connection.
 * I've blocked and tagged the Group 1 accounts.--Bbb23 (talk) 19:42, 20 June 2016 (UTC)
 * I don't see anything glaringly obvious about these other socks' behavior that would suggest collusion. Mohdsalman.air tends to edit geographical articles related to Kanpur. Shivamsrivastava.spn only has two edits, with nothing overtly promotional. His crime seems to have been to edit the Shamim Azad article. Chitransh25's behavior is a bit suspicious, as he asked on Spaceman Spiff's talk page why Siddharth Slathia was deleted. That'd certainly get my curiosity going as it did Spaceman's, since that article was most recently created by Shamimanm, but with only two other edits to an article that has not been touched by Shamimanm, I don't see any glaring connection. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 19:58, 20 June 2016 (UTC)
 * , which is a much older account than the master, is a technical match to Group 1 but . I personally see no behavioral connection.
 * I've blocked and tagged the Group 1 accounts.--Bbb23 (talk) 19:42, 20 June 2016 (UTC)
 * I don't see anything glaringly obvious about these other socks' behavior that would suggest collusion. Mohdsalman.air tends to edit geographical articles related to Kanpur. Shivamsrivastava.spn only has two edits, with nothing overtly promotional. His crime seems to have been to edit the Shamim Azad article. Chitransh25's behavior is a bit suspicious, as he asked on Spaceman Spiff's talk page why Siddharth Slathia was deleted. That'd certainly get my curiosity going as it did Spaceman's, since that article was most recently created by Shamimanm, but with only two other edits to an article that has not been touched by Shamimanm, I don't see any glaring connection. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 19:58, 20 June 2016 (UTC)
 * I don't see anything glaringly obvious about these other socks' behavior that would suggest collusion. Mohdsalman.air tends to edit geographical articles related to Kanpur. Shivamsrivastava.spn only has two edits, with nothing overtly promotional. His crime seems to have been to edit the Shamim Azad article. Chitransh25's behavior is a bit suspicious, as he asked on Spaceman Spiff's talk page why Siddharth Slathia was deleted. That'd certainly get my curiosity going as it did Spaceman's, since that article was most recently created by Shamimanm, but with only two other edits to an article that has not been touched by Shamimanm, I don't see any glaring connection. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 19:58, 20 June 2016 (UTC)


 * I want to revise my statement above because I didn't notice something that I should have. In addition to editing at the Shamim Azad article, Shivamsrivastava.spn has edited at Krishna Kumar Srivastava, an article created by Shamimanm, here, which seems like an obvious COI, and considering that we know Shamimanm is here to engage in conflicted editing, it's not out of the question that this account is related. What bolsters this possibility, is that outside of our regular trustworthy editors and bots, the only unknown editors to have changed the Krishna Kumar Srivastava article are Shamimanm, IP 223.184.203.160 (Geo: Uttar Pradesh, India; ISP: Bharti Airtel) and Shivamsrivastava.spn. If we look at this edit history for Shamim Azad (actor), we see that it is peppered with edits from IPs in the 106.* range all of which resolve to Bharti Airtel . We know that this Bharti Airtel IP user will stoop to removing AfD templates, and Shamimanm has also stooped to disrupting an AfD, so it's pretty clear to me, behaviorally anyway, that the IP user is probably Shamimanm or one of his cronies. Thus, if an obscure article like Krishna Kumar Srivastava is being edited by a sock operator (Shamimanm), a squirrely ISP editor that follows Shamimanm around, and an SPA who has edited two of Shamimanm's articles, it's almost certain that Shivamsrivastava.spn is part of the team. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 15:59, 21 June 2016 (UTC)


 * I was inclined to come to the opposite conclusion regarding Chitransh25. I know you've analyzed this extensively, so I was wondering if you would reconsider. I'm putting great weight on when Chitransh25 says that "my brother [who is siddharth slathia"], which seemed to be a huge red flag to me. I'm not able to evaluate the remainder of the evidence as it's deleted, and I wouldn't purport to overrule an admin's decision, but please give this another look. (If you disagree, feel free to simply close the case w/out action.) Kevin ( aka L235 ·&#32; t ·&#32; c) 02:55, 29 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Hi, well, that's an interesting point, so I thank you for raising it. In the deleted edits at Siddharth Slathia I see changes from (c. Dec 2014) and  (c. August 2015), which would suggest that Siddharth Slathia created/edited the article himself at some point. ("Jammu" is noted as Slathia's hometown according to deleted content here, which you will not be able to see, so Slathia has had two accounts.) What is possible, is that this Slathia guy is an aspiring performer, maybe he's part of Shamimanm's theatre group or something, I do not know. Or maybe Shamimanm moonlights as a promoter and Slathia hired him. I don't know. Chitransh25 very well could be Siddharth's brother, but I still don't think there's sufficient evidence to definitively link him to the Shamimanm socks. It would be meatpuppetry at best. Did I address everything? Regards, Cyphoidbomb (talk) 04:05, 29 June 2016 (UTC)


 * Thank you . Closed without action. Kevin ( aka L235 ·&#32; t ·&#32; c) 04:28, 29 June 2016 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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Duck: sole edits have been to re-create Shahjahanpur Rang Mahotsav (created by puppeteer) at new spelling Shahjahanpur Rang Mahotsava after the former was redirected twice: Same refs were used as recently blocked sock User:Piku pk:. Note that admin User:Anthony Appleyard has just history-merged the new fork to old:, and I've just moved the article back to Shahjahanpur Rang Mahotsav. Wikishovel (talk) 17:00, 29 November 2016 (UTC)

Comments by other users
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Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * - Thanks for the report, . It also looks like Akhil brought Shahjahanpur Rang Mahotsav out of a redirect here. I've asked the Indian Noticeboard to see if any of the references help to establish notability. If not, I'll bring the article to AfD. I wish there were a speedy deletion criterion A0 for "up yours, sock operator". (A0? Get it? A + hole. Sorry, I'm twelve again. Maybe I'll pitch this at the Village Pump this next April Fool's Day...) Cyphoidbomb (talk) 23:39, 29 November 2016 (UTC)
 * Heh, being twelve for a few minutes is usually OK. :) Thanks for asking at WT:IN about this. I'll keep it watched, and will support deletion at an AFD, because I can find nothing about in English WP:RS. Wikishovel (talk) 06:17, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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This is a huge sock and meat farm that involves promotion of a local drama troupe. This one is no different as the only edits are adding an image to their main article Shahjahanpur Rang Mahotsav. As it's been a while, I'm bringing here to see if there are any more (there usually are). &mdash; Spaceman  Spiff  10:50, 29 December 2016 (UTC)

Comments by other users
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 * - Please compare to past socks and check for sleepers. Thanks, GABgab 16:03, 29 December 2016 (UTC)
 * ✅ + . Blocked, tagged, closing.--Bbb23 (talk) 16:30, 29 December 2016 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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Recreation of previously blocked user 's article Ishteyak Khan and definitely not a new user. Pront Pine was registered in April this year and created his first article Shamim Azaad in May which included some templates which are not possible to use for a brand new user e.g. DEFAULTSORT, Use Indian English, the sources are very well formatted, sections are on their places per MOS, the use of categories and infobox. Pront Pine also recreated deleted article Alok Pandey earlier created by Abhyudaya bharat as Alok pandey. Smells like undisclosed paid editing. Thank you – GSS (talk |c|em ) 16:24, 24 July 2017 (UTC)

I'm not familiar with the history of this farm so pinging who blocked  and deleted Ishteyak Khan to take a look at this if he can find any similarities. Thank you – GSS (talk |c|em ) 16:48, 24 July 2017 (UTC)

Comments by other users
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 * Blocked, tagged as proven, closing. &mdash; Spaceman  Spiff  23:57, 1 August 2017 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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

Very similar username to and, editing in the same area (Indian film and theatre actors mostly Punjabi) and creating the same kind of promotional articles. The account was registered in 2019 and their first creation was Alok Pandey previously created by one of Shamimanm socks and then linked it at Shahjahanpur district and Shahjahanpur  exactly like their previous sock  at the same place under actor Rajpal Yadav. A week after creating "Alok Pandey" they uploaded File:Alok Pandey in 2018.jpg using a sock account. SpacemanSpiff is inactive since last month so pinging. GSS &#x202F;&#128172; 07:54, 18 July 2020 (UTC)


 * This is a bit tricky, Virenderthind2019 first created Alok Pandey under Alok Pandey (film actor) on October 7 to get rid of the detection and then they moved it back to the original title a few days after with a comment that At first I thought that an article by the name of "Alok Pandey" already exists, so I created a page with the name of "Alok Pandey (film actor)".But I have now searched that there is no page with this name, so I think that this page should be moved to the name of "Alok Pandey", he repeated the same trick with The Game of Votes (book) which they created just three days after The Game of Votes was draftified by user u|The Mirror Cracked and then a week after they moved it back to the original title with the same comment which is not possible because they were notified that their page was moved to draftspace. GSS &#x202F;&#128172; 05:45, 19 July 2020 (UTC)


 * Thank you for your comment, I'm looking for more to prove obvious socking, but creating their deleted article under a different title and then linking it on same pages at the same location as their previous sock is out of just a coincident. They are obviously engaged in undisclosed paid editing and were asked to disclose on their talk page, but they denied and removed those comments before applying for the autopetrol rights ( and ). GSS &#x202F;&#128172; 07:00, 19 July 2020 (UTC)


 * Okay so these two tickets 2019101710007783 and 2019101710007998 establish a connection between, and Virenderthind2019. I can't disclose much so pinging  to review. Cabayi please note the name and the email id of the sender and I'm sending some more off-wiki details to both of you. GSS &#x202F;&#128172; 08:29, 19 July 2020 (UTC)

Comments by other users
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Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * I got your pings, and I spent several hours today looking at this guy's edits compared to the master's edits. I didn't want to leave you hanging, but I haven't found any clear indication that this specific suspect is "socking", although it looks very much to me that they are engaging in UPE, and I also think it's likely that that they are biologically related to previous Thinds. If you can find specific instances of socking rather than just being an elder brother of some other problematic editors who were trying to get their theatre recognised, or their teacher recognised, then I'd love to see that. I've logged my thoughts offline, but I have them ready should we proceed. Regards, Cyphoidbomb (talk) 06:25, 19 July 2020 (UTC)
 * I blocked Virenderthind2019 for UPE. Closing. please take care of the quarantining. MER-C 15:10, 19 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Just so we don't lose them, here are my (far too lengthy) notes:
 * Based on some off-site information, I think there's a possibility that the various Thinds are meatpuppetry vs. sockpuppetry. Obviously, hard to tell, and anyone could have created the accounts. I do find it odd that there's an intersection with the recreation of Alok Pandey, although the version Pront Pine created was rather sloppy compared to what Virender Thind created. That said, per GSS's notes, I find it very strange that Pront Pine added Shamim Azaad directly under Rajpal Yadav here, and two years later, Virenderthind2019 adds Alok Pandey in the same place here. That would be an insane coincidence.
 * One thing I'd be interested in seeing, is if any of the article subjects added by Virenderthind2019 have ties to the Abhivyakti Natya Manch theatre group, as detailed in the SPI archive or Shahjahanpur Rang Mahotsav, a dance competition, but also an article created by Shamimanm. The "Rising Artists" user name (as detailed here), would seem to be consistent with a member of a theatre group. 's deleted user page indicates that they are a theatre actor. 's deleted user page indicates that they are a theatre actor.
 * There are six overlaps between Shamimanm and Virenderthind2019 and Virenderthind2019 also intersects with Shamim Azad ANM once and once with Hira Thind.
 * I also note that in this version of The Game of Votes, an article created by Virenderthind2019, we find language that seems far beyond his English skills. What's also weird, is that he included a vague template flagged at the end of one of the challenging sentences. So that makes me wonder if we're talking about plagiarism/copyright violations, undisclosed paid editing, if he recreated a previously deleted article, or if it was part of a copy/paste from some other article.
 * Looking at deleted articles like Amit Nagpal, I'd say that the tone of that was highly promotional, and reeks of undisclosed paid editing. "He has more than two decades of work experience in training/coaching, and varied industries in corporate sector including publishing, media and digital marketing."
 * Writing an article about a regular ol' tattoo artist, Kamz Inkzone would be a very strange choice. I see phrasing: "Kamz Inkzone is an Indian Tattoo artist, who grow up in Jalandhar, Punjab.[1][2] He have inked populer singers and actors like Garry Sandhu". At Billian Billian, another article created by Virender, I see "The song sung and written by Guri and music was composed by Sukhe." At Himansh Verma I see "He establish his first independent venture". At Beat Minister, "He has received Punjabi Music Best Sound Recording Award for song wapari sung by Navjeet Kahlon." The language styles don't match the stuff at Amit Nagpal or Game of Votes, so it feels very strongly that there's UPE going on. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 16:29, 19 July 2020 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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Draft:Rahul Jain (singer) exists with a large UPE notice at the top of it thanks to edits from Shamimanm sock. Index Crin created Rahul Jain (singer). I think they tried to be surreptitious by not exactly doing a copy-paste move (see this first edit, but when you look at the totality of the current version of the article vs. the current version of the draft, it's pretty obvious they copied all the discography content and references, down to the bad grammar and erroneous formatting. I only see one other area of intersection at Sunanda Sharma, so that's not particularly helpful. I also note that the two editors' edit summaries are not exactly formatted the same, so there is *some* room for question as to whether these are related, hence my CU. The style of this new user's (Index Crin's) edits though, feel like undisclosed paid editing to me, especially when you read some of the content at another article this newbie created, Sudhanshu Mani.
 * "His leadership as the General Manager of Indian Railways’ Integral Coach Factory ... resulted in Indian railways breaking the barrier of import of rolling stocks and a modern train set was developed indigenously from concept to design to engineering to manufacture and delivery all in a short period of eighteen months." I mean, that's straight off of someone's CV intro letter, right?
 * "His experience in the field of Rolling stock engineering and technology is exceptional and unmatched."
 * "This train caught the imagination of the country..."

Etc. Thanks, Cyphoidbomb (talk) 18:23, 4 September 2020 (UTC)

Comments by other users
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Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * It's technically to the previous account. ST47 (talk) 05:34, 5 September 2020 (UTC)


 * Looks like meaty UPE to me, Cabayi (talk) 08:49, 10 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Also blocking for 1 week, having apprently hired Index Crin to improve his autobiography Draft:Ashish R. Shukla & promote to Ashish R. Shukla. Cabayi (talk) 09:21, 10 September 2020 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets

 * ( original case name)

was blocked on July 19, 2020 after a sockpuppet investigation led by. The pattern is uncanningly similar, especially in the creation of pages of not so notable actors, film-makers and what not - Sudhanshu Rai (the director), Detective Boomrah (the fictional character/web-series by the same director), Aakanksha Sareen, Kruti Mahesh (choreographer) (this one is similar to Alok Pandey page, created to bypass the block at Kruti Mahesh and to get rid of the detection), Pushpdeep Bhardwaj, Ranjish He Sahi (this one is created to challenge the AfD of its director; Pushpdeep Bhardwaj - admitted by IndaneLove), etc. Besides that, to outsmart us, as soon as the ID was created, as a first thing first, they intentionally nominated a number of pages created by Virenderthind2019 for AfD discussions... just to make sure, in case, in future if there is any SPI investigation happens - they can easily counter us. But, if we look at the Editor Interaction Tool - we can easily see a trail which reveals a number of common interest shared by these IDs at certain pages such as Jass Manak (& more). This is a classic well-coordinated sockpuppetry at two different timelines.- Hatchens (talk) 02:38, 5 April 2022 (UTC)

Comments by other users
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 * Checkuser will likely be of no use. Both socks are stale i.e they have not edited in less that 3 months. NW1223 &lt; Howl at me &bull; My hunts &gt; 22:37, 5 April 2022 (UTC)
 * I've seen this pattern before where India film editors who are sockpuppets nominate for deletion articles they created under their old account in order to disassociate themselves.Atlantic306 (talk) 22:52, 9 April 2022 (UTC)
 * And they're overly invested in one or two articles and only create/improve these articles. I tihnk that's the case here, but I can't prove it. Oaktree b (talk) 16:55, 5 May 2022 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * - -- RoySmith (talk) 12:49, 6 April 2022 (UTC)
 * There is some old CU log data available, which says IndaneLove is to Virenderthind2019.  But I'd be cautious not to read too much into that.  -- RoySmith (talk) 13:08, 6 April 2022 (UTC)
 * I see added a comment, then apparently changed their mind.  In any case, everybody's blocked, so I don't see how it's worth any more effort at this point to worry about who's a sock of who, so I'll just close this. -- RoySmith (talk) 00:51, 27 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Clarification: the suspected socks are blocked, but not IndaneLove. In any case, it still makes sense to close this. -- RoySmith (talk) 01:05, 27 April 2022 (UTC)
 * - seems like this should be merged to WP:Sockpuppet investigations/Shamimanm before archiving. Thanks, Spicy (talk) 16:38, 29 April 2022 (UTC)