Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/TableSalt342/Archive

Suspected sockpuppets



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TableSalt342 focused on creating poor articles about villages around the world. He was finally blocked for a week on 03:03, 26 March 2021. On 20:12, 26 March 2021, LongWinterBranches158 was created. They focus on creating poorly sourced articles about villages around the world (many Chinese ones, but also e.g. Wamaza). Their editing betrays that they are not a new user, this is their very first edit, with unreliable sources like Mindat.org, Google Maps and Tripmondo (compare with TableSalt, e.g. this). Looking at a fair number of their articles gives a clear impression of being by the same editor (e.g. the focus on "news" trivia mentioning the town, like here).

Now, they suddenly veered away from villages to move an article from draft to mainspace; Thornton Butterworth, which was created by TableSalt. The chances of an unconnected editor, created the same day as TableSalt was blocked, who focuses on the same type of topics with the same type of sourcing, just happens to stumble across this article, far outside their scope, is nihil. Fram (talk) 07:42, 9 April 2021 (UTC)


 * TableSalt was blocked on 26 March for 1 week, and LongWinter is created and starts editing te same day? Seems pretty clear cut violation (if they are the same person).


 * If needed, I can provide additional damning evidence, but I'ld rather keep these tell-tale signs to myself to more easily spot later socks. Please let me know if the above evidence isn't sufficient and more is needed. Fram (talk) 11:39, 9 April 2021 (UTC)


 * , not only was the editor blocked when they started socking, they also have an editing restriction (last entry in Editing restrictions/Placed by the Wikipedia community) which they are avoiding if they are socking. Fram (talk) 15:42, 9 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Fram - Thanks for letting me know. I don't know how I missed that detail. Call it a derp on my part... :-)  ~Oshwah~  (talk) (contribs)   16:30, 9 April 2021 (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

 * I don't see a violation of sock puppetry here. TableSalt342's edits stop on March 25, and LongWinterBranches158's edits start on March 26. It looks like the user stopped editing their old account and created a new one. Where exactly do these two users violate Wikipedia's sock puppetry policy? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Oshwah (talk • contribs) 08:16, 9 April 2021 (UTC)
 * ✅.  ~Oshwah~  (talk) (contribs)   16:31, 9 April 2021 (UTC)
 * – From a socking perspective, this isn't the most egregious violation since the block being evaded was temporary, and I'd recommend an indef for the sock and a 1 month block for the master. However, given the general disruptiveness of this user, the reviewing admin might want to factor in issues other than the socking when determining the block duration. Thanks and best, Blablubbs&#124;talk 16:42, 9 April 2021 (UTC)
 * . Because of the deceptiveness and evasion of sanctions involved here (LongWinterBranches158 claimed here that TableSalt342 was a different user), I am blocking both accounts indefinitely. Closing. Mz7 (talk) 21:21, 11 April 2021 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets
Username + WP:CIR article creation. TableSalt342 created multiple unsourced stubs of obscure villages with bizarre content - multiple editors repeatedly explained the problems but TableSalt342 ignored it. This was discussed in this ANI thread. TableSalt43 also specialises in article creation - different subject (battles) but with blatant and repeated copyvios as discussed in this current recent ANI thread. has blocked them for a week for it. The failure to understand the issue and the lack of communication despite multiple editors pointing it out to them has the same CIR hallmarks. DeCausa (talk) 17:58, 14 March 2024 (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

 * The data for TableSalt342 is old but they seemed to have been on a different continent. Spicy (talk) 09:27, 15 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Behaviorally, there are the obvious similarities but also a number of important differences that would be unusual for a sockpuppet (especially one with CIR issues) to display. I'd call it a toss-up whether this is the same person, but there's enough reasonable doubt that I'm not going to block and tag. If they persist with copyright violations or other issues after the block expires, that can be handled the normal way. If they display more sock-like behavior, there's no prejudice against re-filing here. The Wordsmith Talk to me 01:34, 20 March 2024 (UTC)