Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/SheriWysong/Archive

11 April 2015

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According to an admin here I'm about to be blocked for a being a sock, so I'm turning myself in. This is all the evidence I have. I am a sock of RationalObserver because we both post from the Western United States. Please, Please, Please do a checkuser, so this nonsense will stop. Lynn Wysong (talk) 19:41, 11 April 2015 (UTC)

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


 * Comment by Montanabw: First off, I don't think a CU can be used for a fishing expedition, even one's self.  Even if it can, a CU won't work with this user, as the diffs at the ANI filed today demonstrate: At that ANI, I listed five diffs when SheriWysong has edited while logged out, three from completely different geographic locations - one last fall in Colorado, two in different parts of Utah, one in Nevada and the fifth from a location close enough to the other three to just be a different ISP in the same general area.  I thought one or the three was also User:Rationalobserver, but that editor edited while logged out from a different location, but still in the American west.  I doubt CU can even prove that SheriWysong is SheriWysong, as she may move around a bit, and frankly, we all know that a coffeeshop 10 miles down the road can route through an ISP in another state.  Do I think this user could be a sockpuppet account of Rationalobserver? Yes.  Was I ready to file the SPI yet?  Not quite, and my page where I am accumulating diffs is being put up for deletion at the moment.   Montanabw (talk)  20:46, 11 April 2015 (UTC)


 * Yes, I travel a lot for my job, but I should have pretty consistent IPs, except for some unusual travel in October, November and March (which will turn up, not surprisingly, in Colorado and Nevada). I also sometimes post on a network, so my IP will pop up in geolocation remote from actual location, which will explain why I might have IP locations several hundred miles apart in a very short time span.   Please, please do this. Lynn Wysong (talk) 20:54, 11 April 2015 (UTC)


 * And thus CU won't necessarily show anything conclusive. It is your behavior that is at issue here. You and Rationalobserver both work on articles related to the Great Basin and the American Southwest in general; you both are writers who tend to make mass numbers of edits in a single day (as many as 500 in a week on one article in the case of Rationalobserver), have a penchant for using very outdated source material, for close paraphrasing, for inserting improperly cited material, and tendentiously arguing with other editors, resorting to personal attacks when you are thwarted.  That's not quite enough for me to file an SPI yet, given the current climate here at SPI which requires tremendous amounts of difficult to accumulate evidence, but it's getting closer by the day.    Montanabw (talk)  21:41, 11 April 2015 (UTC)


 * Ummmmm. The SPI is filed.  You've been making accusations for weeks, maybe you ought to put up or shut up.  Lynn Wysong (talk) 21:45, 11 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Please do not bait other users.  Montanabw (talk)  23:19, 11 April 2015 (UTC)
 * That ain't evidence. I have all kinds that you've been accusing, now provide it.  Lynn Wysong (talk) 23:23, 11 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Due to the ANI situation and posts to my talk page from people I respect, I have been advised to let the other issues play out before proceeding further here.  Montanabw (talk)  23:56, 11 April 2015 (UTC)

My thoughts on this are at User:Ekips39/sandbox/2 (turned out to be a very long page, I'm afraid); the short story is that I don't believe SheriWysong and Rationalobserver are the same. I welcome others' opinions of my evidence. ekips39 (talk)  05:59, 12 April 2015 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * checkuser per the relevant policy on self-requested checks. No comment on any behavioural evidence. -- Euryalus (talk) 07:26, 12 April 2015 (UTC)
 * I don't see enough evidence of sockpuppetry. 's analysis shows that the possibility of a link between SheriWysong and Rationalobserver is low. The only real evidence here (which initiated all of this) is a post by SheriWysong that is obviously sarcastic. Closing this case with no action.  Vanjagenije  (talk)  22:13, 12 April 2015 (UTC)