Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Smellytap/Archive

Suspected sockpuppets



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UnicornLoz is new user, whose only major edits are to 3 different articles: Dvir Abramovich, Sexual abuse incidents at Adass Israel School, Melbourne, and Jewish Care (Australia). The first two are articles on which Smellytap has been a major contributor, and the last has been AfDed and Smellytap was the first to respond with Keep.

AndyTheLevite also has an unusually high number of articles edited in common with Smellytap and UnicornLoz despite also being a new user with few articles edited. Kb.au (talk) 07:27, 8 March 2018 (UTC)

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

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * Between and ✅ plus:
 * . Closing.--Bbb23 (talk) 18:12, 8 March 2018 (UTC)
 * . Closing.--Bbb23 (talk) 18:12, 8 March 2018 (UTC)
 * . Closing.--Bbb23 (talk) 18:12, 8 March 2018 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets
I have been contacted off-wiki with very convincing evidence that this user is a sock of Smellytap - please email me and I will pass it on. In terms of on-wiki evidence, there is crossover between them on > 20 articles. Given that Playlet was created almost exactly 6 months after Smellytap was blocked, there may be a perceived justification under WP:CLEANSTART but that cannot apply a) because Smellytap was blocked and b) because they have continued to edit the same articles. SmartSE (talk) 10:28, 23 June 2022 (UTC)

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

There are two main issues at play here. There is the nature of my account, and the vexatious slander of the Australian newspaper and Tim Wilson that has been ongoing. I will deal with each separately
 * I do not deny that I was Smellytap. At the time my IP was blocked because I failed to understand the ban on sockpuppets. I attempted to create different accounts for each interest area that I had.
 * 6 months after being blocked my IP became unblocked. I do not know the circumstances of this. I checked my account which was still blocked, and unsure why this had happened I created a new account, and abandoned Smellytap. Since that time I have exclusively use this account.
 * Since then I have attempted to uphold the standards of Wikipedia and have been a editor of many pages. While I edit a number of pages that deal with contentious issues and have my own personal biases (as we all do) I have always tried to be fair and compromise whenever issues arise.
 * I ask that you view this account as a new account, as it essentially is, and not to conflate it with any errors that I engaged with under the Smellytap name. I believe I have demonstrated that I am a very different editor than I was then.

Now to the other issue
 * I am not, nor have I ever been a paid employee of Zoe Daniel
 * I was and am a supporter of Zoe Daniel, although being a supporter of a candidate does not preclude me from editing
 * I worked on Zoe Daniel's campaign as a volunteer for the last few weeks before the election, and at the time I did not engage in any substantial edits to her page.
 * The same is true of my edits of Tim Wilson's page. They were done while I was not working on the campaign, and always done in good faith.
 * The article that was written about me is almost completely untrue, and is the subject of ongoing legal and other proceedings for the falsehoods that were claimed. If you check some of the exaggerations claimed it is hardly credible as a source.

I am happy to engage further on either of these areas if you want to follow up. Playlet (talk) 12:03, 23 June 2022 (UTC)

Comment by Podestsedop
I will leave it to others to consider the sock-puppet issue.

I am conviced that Playlet has a serious a conflict of interest WP:COI with his admitted close connection with various 'progessive' politicians and his history of Wikipedia editing. I do not accept he edits articles from a Wikipedia NPOV.

This is evidenced by the content of his 'supportive' edits for those aligned with his obvious political views. And vice-versa.

This type of aggressive editing is the reason other editors give up editing Wikipedia. Similarly many Wikipedia readers recognise that articles are untrustworthy and biased.

Wikipedia is being degraded by this type of editing.

Recommend Playlet be blocked from editing all BLP articles.

Podestsedop (talk) 07:47, 24 June 2022 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * I've blocked and tagged Playlet. Although I'm not changing the status of the case, I recommend a check of . If they are not a sock of Smellytap playing games, they are a sock of someone. No newly registered account would act the way they have. Bbb23 (talk) 21:26, 24 June 2022 (UTC)
 * , I share your concerns, and have taken a look. is ✅ to, but if they are connected to an older account, it's not obvious to me. I can't fault your block of Playlet, who has (fairly graciously) admitted to having an older blocked account, but FWIW I don't see any evidence of recent socking from them. If their recent editing has been unproblematic (I haven't looked in detail), I'd suggest that they be offered some guidance on how to come back from here - it's not a valid FRESHSTART, but if they have truly changed their tune it might be worth telling them about WP:SO.  Girth Summit  (blether)  21:45, 24 June 2022 (UTC)
 * regarding Podestsedop, the history of Draft:Martyn Iles, Martyn Iles, and by extension Sockpuppet investigations/Sam56mas/Archive, may be of interest. Spicy (talk) 22:02, 24 June 2022 (UTC)
 * Hmm. You're thorough, ! The deleted article and the new draft have certain similarities, but the wording is different, the new draft is substantially shorter, and they are using some different sources. As such, it's not exactly a smoking gun, and I'd decline a G4. However, I do note that the deleted article was authored by the sock, who also made a lot of edits to Zali Steggall - the only mainspace article that Podestsedop has edited since creating their account. I don't have any more to add from a CU perspective. Girth Summit  (blether)  22:49, 24 June 2022 (UTC)
 * I think we should block Podestsedop and Washington370. The only question is whether we should behaviorally connect them to the Sam56mas case and tag them accordingly. BTW, Spicy, you are a treasure! --Bbb23 (talk) 22:57, 24 June 2022 (UTC)
 * and : looking at the odd formatting in comments like and, and the similar POV in the same topic area, I am fairly confident they are a sock of Sam56mas (although I agree that it would be valid to block them regardless). And I appreciate the compliment, Bbb23... but I'm just doing my job. :) Spicy (talk) 23:29, 24 June 2022 (UTC)
 * I've blocked Podestsedop and Washington370 without tags; I'll leave that part to . Bbb23 (talk) 23:57, 24 June 2022 (UTC)
 * Thanks. I filed a pro-forma report on Podestsedop & co. at Sockpuppet investigations/Sam56mas. There doesn't seem to be anything left to do here, so closing. Spicy (talk) 00:11, 25 June 2022 (UTC)