Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Tarunq/Archive

Suspected sockpuppets



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

Thanks, Cyphoidbomb (talk) 17:39, 11 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Rakesh Mish was created on 11 December 2020, yet they have an astounding number of intersections with Tarunq.
 * Of those intersections, there are weird intersections, like editing the same draft and templates, and odd interest in content forks of film award articles. Like, who wouldn't be interested in the 1st SIIMA Short Film Awards?
 * They both appear to be engaging in UPE. Please see Tarunq's article creation history and Rakesh Mish's article creation history. On 10 February, Rakesh created three articles. Tarunq also has a history of cranking out articles on a semi-daily basis, and on some days creating multiple articles. This looks to me like they're dumping pre-written content.
 * Tarunq created an article on the Dada Saheb Film Festival award mill, so that they could later add these promotional awards to actor articles. That stinks of promotional editing. Similarly, Rakesh created an article on Santosham (magazine), likely in an effort to bolster the creation of 13th Santosham Film Awards and then to propagate the wins to various articles.
 * They both have meaningless user pages. Tarun's: "Hello folks". Rakesh's: "Welcome".
 * They are both heavily reliant on Visual Editor (odd for power-users to go with VE)
 * They are both consistent about creating talk pages with WikiProjects.
 * They both appear to be Telugu-centric.
 * Addendum: They also seem to be editing in about the same six-hour time range, and both have the same #1 favourite article, List of Telugu films of 2021, with Rakesh making 42 edits, and Tarunq making 39. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 23:35, 11 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Addendum: I first blocked Tarunq for vandalism at 16:02, 10 December 2020. Rakesh Mish was created 12 hours later, at 04:02, 11 December 2020.

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

 * - definitely seems suspicious. Interactions is definitely interesting and long. Endorsing for a check to see if they are connected. Dreamy Jazz talk to me &#124; my contributions 23:04, 11 February 2021 (UTC)
 * . Same /64 range, same common user agent.  ~Oshwah~  (talk) (contribs)   01:46, 12 February 2021 (UTC)
 * I have blocked both Tarunq and Rakesh Mish.
 * Deleted the following, which were created while Tarunq was being sanctioned the second time.
 * Matinee Entertainment
 * Deleted the following, which were created while Tarunq was being sanctioned the third time.
 * 13th Santosham Film Awards
 * Bhakta Markandeya (1938 film)
 * Paagal (film)
 * Thellavarithe Guruvaram
 * FCUK: Father Chitti Umaa Kaarthik
 * 2nd SIIMA Short Film Awards
 * A few Rakesh stragglers remained alive because others had made some significant changes. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 18:19, 12 February 2021 (UTC)


 * Fixing tags, as master was not confirmed but was likely to the sock. Dreamy Jazz talk to me &#124; my contributions 23:27, 12 February 2021 (UTC)
 * My bad. In my mind I was thinking proven, but wrote confirmed. Thanks for the fix. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 00:16, 13 February 2021 (UTC)
 * no worries. Happy editing and mopping, Dreamy Jazz talk to me &#124; my contributions 00:17, 13 February 2021 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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

Over 100 articles in common with the blocked sock Rakesh_Mish. MrsSnoozyTurtle (talk) 09:37, 13 February 2021 (UTC) MrsSnoozyTurtle (talk) 09:37, 13 February 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

 * Hi there. I certainly appreciate that you're looking out for the community, but this is a long-shot. I probably have more intersections with Tarunq than Ab207. Ab207 interacts with the community, advising and warning other editors, asks for advice, has participated in numerous discussions with WikiProjects and the wider community etc. whereas people of the paid-editing species like Tarunq are typically lone wolfs largely interested in flying under the radar and doing whatever they get paid to do. So barring any compelling behavioural evidence, I'm closing the report. Regards, Cyphoidbomb (talk) 13:00, 13 February 2021 (UTC)
 * , I'll add that just looking at the timecards, Ab207 doesn't look anything like either Tarunq or the sock Rakesh Mish. -- RoySmith (talk) 20:07, 13 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Hello Cyphoidbomb and Roy. Sorry for the false alarm. Yes it is pretty clear that Ab207 is unrelated. Regards, MrsSnoozyTurtle (talk) 06:25, 14 February 2021 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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

Has heavy overlap/editor interaction with the Tarunq and Rakesh Mish accounts, and is recreating Rakesh Mish articles that were deleted under G5 such as Paagal. Vaticidalprophet (talk) 23:07, 18 February 2021 (UTC)

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

Tarunq does not write an edit summary and uses visual editing to account, Jayanthkumar123 also does not write an editing summary and uses visual editing tags, so it can be sockpuppet. You will not see it in Hyderabadi account because you get to see advanced mobile edit tag in Hyderabadi account and it writes edit summary. Dam222 🌋 (talk) 17:10, 8 March 2021 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * This user attracted my attention, but for a different reason: Their original name was Hyderabadi Wikipedian, and it reminded me of who was blocked by  as a sock of ArthurCurry70. I brought it up to Roy, and afterward the editor changed their name, which I thought was coincidental. I'll have to look more closely, but wouldn't mind more eyes on the job if anyone could spare them; I'm busy IRL at the moment. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 23:14, 18 February 2021 (UTC)
 * - My first take is that is that Tarunq and Rakesh Mish (from the archives) are one person, while Ab207 and Hyderabadi are a distinct sock pair. It's hard to sort out, because Indian cinema.  Nobody's gone stale yet, so asking for CU to sort it out seems like a reasonable plan. -- RoySmith (talk) 23:37, 18 February 2021 (UTC)
 * All are in the same country and geolocation (which may not be the most reliable). and  are in the same /64 range and are  to one another.  and  are each in two different ranges, and a different range from the other two and using many different user agents. My overall assessment and experience in these ranges is that I've seen users cross over between them before, and that they're all . I would gather that it's likely that RoySmith is likely correct about the  and, and possibly correct about the other two.  ~Oshwah~  (talk)  (contribs)   01:47, 19 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Hey, thanks for your super-fast CU work lately. Really out-of-the-park work. May I please trouble you for some clarification? When you say Roy is "possibly correct about the other two", are we talking an intersection between Hyderabadi and Ab207? And where does TeluguWikieditor factor in here? Thanks, Cyphoidbomb (talk) 02:02, 19 February 2021 (UTC):
 * Hi Cyphoidbomb! It's good to talk to you again! Sure, so the and  are in the same /64 range and are  to one another. The  is in a different range, and  is also in a different range, but all four accounts are in the same country and relative geolocation. To put is simply, think of  and  being in range "A",  in range "B", and  in range "C". I've seem people in range "B" and "C" cross over from one to another before. Let me know if I can clarify anything else. :-)  ~Oshwah~  (talk)  (contribs)   02:23, 19 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Sorry, but can you specify where TeluguWikieditor fits in here, if possible? There was an identity similarity between Hyderabadi (previously named Hyderabadi Wikipedian) and TeluguWikieditor, where Hyderabad is a city where the Telugu language is centred. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 02:42, 19 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Cyphoidbomb - Sorry, I didn't answer your question last time about this. and  do cross the same wide range, but at different time periods (I'm talking at least a month). Different user agents, too., but ...  ~Oshwah~  (talk)  (contribs)   04:15, 19 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Did come up during the search? I'm getting a Tarunq vibe from them. They intersect with Tarunq at Disha Encounter and Palasa 1978 (the latter of which is like a local hangout for UPE accounts). Also, like some of the pros, this new editor not only created a draft, but added WikiProjects to the talk page of that draft, which is what Tarun did. I know there is a good deal of uncertainty on who is who, but I thought I'd bring it up. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 01:34, 20 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Cyphoidbomb - I don't believe that came up in my search, no. However, I went ahead and ran the user. The country and geolocation comes back as the same, but the range is different. It's a /21, which is small, but A LOT of users come back as on that range, meaning it's likely shared throughout the country.  ~Oshwah~  (talk)  (contribs)   03:16, 20 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Adding Jayanthkumar123 to the list as reported to me by, oddly enough, Ab207. Can we all be pawns in a massive Mamet-esque grift? We're all going to log-in tomorrow and discover that Wikipedia never existed, it was an Indian cineplex the entire time. Anyhow, significant overlap. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 17:04, 6 March 2021 (UTC)
 * All of the accounts are to one another. Over time, they have crossed the same /64 range, but with different IPs, same very common user agents, and over the time of a week, which could be common for the originating country and geolocation. Beyond that, there isn't much more than I can give...  ~Oshwah~  (talk)  (contribs)   03:18, 12 March 2021 (UTC)
 * My read of the behavioral evidence is that Jayanthkumar123 could be Tarunq, but I'm not certain enough to block - they could just be a fan of Telugu cinema. Also, Tarunq had an occasional POV that showed up with regards to South Asian language/cultural groups that I'm not seeing from Jayanthkumar. I'm not convinced that Hyderabadi is the same person. Closing without action. GeneralNotability (talk) 03:54, 13 March 2021 (UTC)