Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Tdv123/Archive

Suspected sockpuppets



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

Originally I thought that Offey123 was a sockpuppet of Apollo The Logician, however after a bit of research I believe that they are a sockpuppet of the also indef. blocked Tdv123. Both editors share similar topic areas such as the Irish socialist terrorism, i.e. INLA and looking at the editor interaction tool both have quite a fondness of editing Template:Campaignbox Northern Ireland Troubles as well as adding attack articles to others as well as sharing quite obscure articles in the Troubles topic area several of which were created by Tdv123. Indeed their very names are similar with the "123" suffix, which kind of makes it pretty obvious in my view.

Tdv123 also was blocked from editing on 1 April, and ignoring two deleted edits to their talk page their last flurry of talk page activity was on 20 April. No surprise that Offey123 starts editing on 20 April. Mabuska (talk) 23:46, 21 August 2018 (UTC)
 * Any further action or enquiry? Editor is still editing as normal and unlike most new editors, hasn't responded to this SPI to make a case of innocence. Mabuska (talk) 10:10, 24 August 2018 (UTC)
 * Hi. Sorry for not having elaborated with diffs was very busy and short on time. Give me a few days and I'll provide diffs to go with the above circumstantial. Mabuska (talk) 21:06, 29 August 2018 (UTC)
 * I don't have the time at present to spend compiling diffs and they have gone inactive for the past week, so you may as well and close this SPI. I can always file one at a later date if they return and continue in the same vein as before. Mabuska (talk) 15:43, 3 September 2018 (UTC)

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Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments
The suspected master is. CU declined.--Bbb23 (talk) 11:20, 22 August 2018 (UTC)
 * , you've presented no evidence of sockpuppetr (we need diffs). I'll be closing this soon if there aren't any additional diffs. TonyBallioni (talk) 13:58, 28 August 2018 (UTC)
 * Closing. TonyBallioni (talk) 15:47, 3 September 2018 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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

Balcombe Street Gang is the top edited article for both accounts, 57 edits for TommySocialist and 80 for Tdv123. TommySocialist said here Look at what he did to the Balcombe Street Gang page I created, when it was actually created by Tdv123. When Tdv123 last edited the article it looked like this, at the time of TommySocialist's last edit it looked like this. Obviously there's been some additions and changes from one version to the other, but you couldn't reasonably consider the changes so significant to possibly merit using the word "created".

Both accounts have a highly unusual tendency to add events out of chronological order. For example


 * Tdv123 on 1994 Dublin-Belfast train bombing. Adds 1974 bombings to "Aftermath" section
 * Tdv123 on 1978 Crossmaglen ambush. Adds 1975 bombing to "Aftermath" section"
 * Tdv123 on Central Bar bombing (31 December 1975). Adds 2 December shooting to "Aftermath" section
 * TommySocialist on Caterham Arms pub bombing (27 August 1975). Adds "Aftermath" section for events of June and 13 August 1975
 * TommySocialist on Bleary Darts Club shooting (1975). Adds multiple 1993 incidents to "Previous attacks in Bleary" section

CAIN have two distinct databases on their website. The first is the chronology, for example the 1976 chronology of events. There is also the 1976 index of deaths, which can be searched to find deaths for a specific day, for example 31 January 1976. Both accounts use these databases to create "Background" or "Aftermath" (or similar) sections by selecting entries about random events and deaths they feel are part of the background.


 * Tdv123 on Strand Bar bombing. The "Aftermath" section is created entirely from entries from the CAIN Sutton database
 * Tdv123 on 1991 Drumbeg killings. The "Background" section is created entirely from entries from the CAIN Sutton database and the CAIN chronologies
 * Tdv123 on Castleblayney bombing. The "Background into bombing" section is created entirely from entries from the CAIN Sutton database and the CAIN chronologies
 * Tdv123 on Donnelly's Bar and Kay's Tavern attacks. The "Aftermath attacks" section is created entirely from entries from the CAIN Sutton database and the CAIN chronologies
 * TommySocialist on Charlemont pub attacks. The "Background" section is created entirely from entries from the CAIN Sutton database and the CAIN chronologies
 * TommySocialist on Strabane ambush. The "Aftermath" section is created almost entirely from CAIN chronology pages. The only sentence not referenced to CAIN is This ambush was the first in a number of high profile SAS & undercover soldier ambush, a year later Fermanagh commander Seamus McElwaine was killed during a shoot out, where he's copied the completely incorrect references from the Séamus McElwaine article, where the same references appear at the end of the sentence While on remand in Crumlin Road Gaol McElwaine stood in the February 1982 Irish general election as an independent candidate for Cavan–Monaghan and received 3,974 votes (6.84% of the vote)

At Provisional IRA Derry Brigade Tdv123 adds the claim that the Derry Brigade was also known as the South Derry Brigade. They also add various events to the infobox, 1973 Coleraine bombings, 1978 Lisnamuck shoot-out and Kesh ambush. In typical use of the term "South Derry" does not refer to the southern part of the city of Derry, it refers to the southern part of County Londonderry (also called County Derry). See Redirects for discussion/Log/2020 June 15 regarding this also. After I removed the "South Derry Brigade" claims from the article, six months later TommySocialist restored several incidents to the infobox, including the three originally added by Tdv123, and argued they were Derry Brigade attacks. This claim has previously been disputed by another editor at Talk:Provisional IRA Derry Brigade, and I have never seen a single reference that says the Derry Brigade and South Derry Brigade were the same entity, the only people that believe this to be the case are Tdv123 and TommySocialist.

Both accounts tend to do book references the exact same way, author name, a hyphen, then page number after "p.". Never any publisher details, publication year, ISBN, no italics for book title. They also use constructions like "p.260, 261" and "p.158,159" instead of using "pp.".

Tdv123
 * Peter Taylor - Behind The Mask : The IRA and Sinn Fein p.181
 * Peter Taylor - Behind The Mask: The IRA & Sinn Fein p.106
 * Henry McDonald & Jack Holland INLA: Deadly Divisions p.260, 261
 * Aaron Edwards - UVF: Behind The Mask p.203
 * Ed Moloney - A Secret History of the IRA: The Big Lad p.125
 * Peter Taylor - Behind The Mask: The IRA & Sinn Fein p.160,161
 * Jack Holland & Henry McDonald - INLA: Deadly Divisions p.320,368

TommySocialist
 * Peter Taylor - Behind The Mask: The IRA & Sinn Fein pp.265
 * Steven P. Moysey - The Road To Balcombe Street: The IRA Reign of Terror in London: Second Edition p.158,159
 * Steven P. Moysey - The Road To Balcombe Street: The IRA Reign of Terror in London: Second Edition p.133,134
 * Jim Cusack & Henry McDonald - UVF: The Endgame (Fully Revised & Updated) p.278

I believe these traits are sufficiently unusual that it is highly unlikely two different editors who happen to exclusively edit articles relating to the Troubles would both exhibit all of them. FDW777 (talk) 21:44, 18 August 2020 (UTC)
 * , Thanks for the detailed summary. One thing that was kind of confusing was the diff you cited for "Look at what he did to the Balcombe Street Gang page I created" was from .  I think the diff you meant was this one -- RoySmith (talk) 01:13, 21 August 2020 (UTC)

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Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * The extensive interaction overalap, highly correlated timecards, and especially the specific and unusual way of formatting references, and the timing of when the various accounts started and stopped editing, add up to these being the same people. If any more evidence is needed, the diff where Tommy says they created an article actually created by Tdv is plenty.  Indef and tag.  Closing. -- RoySmith (talk) 01:19, 21 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Update Tdv123 block and tag. -- RoySmith (talk) 01:21, 21 August 2020 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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

Quite straightforward case of block evading sockpuppetry. In response to edits such as this TommySocialist (previous sockpuppet) was asked if that Youtube channel (the channel is called Shane Gallagher, I won't be linking to it for WP:LINKVIO reasons but it's in the diff) belonged to them, they responded by saying "Yes, thank you, that is my Youtube channel". Even though the IP gets the uploader wrong (instead thanking a bot operator), they say "It came from a video I uploaded, I have other videos that you can put images screenshots into" while linking to another video on the Shane Gallagher channel. FDW777 (talk) 21:53, 26 February 2021 (UTC)

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 * Obvious. Blocked for a week, copyvios deleted. Drmies (talk) 22:53, 26 February 2021 (UTC)


 * Closing per the above. Nothing further to do here. The SandDoctor  Talk 18:36, 11 March 2021 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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

Established at above that this editor openly admits to running the "Shane Gallagher" channel on Youtube. Shane Gallagher123 has only edited Irish National Liberation Army Belfast Brigade, an article created and frequently edited by previous sockpuppet TommySocialist. Similarly with ShaneGallagher12, edits to that article, Dublin Airport bombing (created by Tdv123) and Pub bombing (created by TommySocialist). FDW777 (talk) 21:07, 11 March 2021 (UTC)

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 * WP:DUCK The SandDoctor  Talk 07:23, 13 March 2021 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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

Self-admitted sockpuppet, and the "forgotten password" claim is revisionist history at its finest. Tdv123 was blocked for copyright violations, then and subsequent sockpuppets listed at Sockpuppet investigations/Tdv123/Archive were blocked for evading that block. FDW777 (talk) 13:41, 25 March 2021 (UTC)

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 * , . GABgab 04:53, 28 March 2021 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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

I'll start this report with the admission that they've started formatting their references properly, since their unique reference formatting was one way to spot their sockpuppets. But that doesn't change the fact that everything else they do is like a duck quacking into a megaphone. The Troubles covers quite a lot of articles and incidents we have articles on, yet like a moth to the flame the latest sockpuppet just happens to return to articles created by Tdv123 or their TommySocialist sockpuppet.


 * - article created by Tdv123
 * article created by Tdv123, and edited extensively with that account and TommySocialist sockpuppet, top edited article for both accounts
 * - article created by Tdv123
 * - article created by TommySocialist
 * - article created by TommySocialist
 * - article created by TommySocialist
 * - article created by Tdv123
 * - article created by Tdv123

Only Chronology of Provisional Irish Republican Army actions (1970–1979), List of guerrilla movements, Revolutions of 1917–1923 out of the articles they have edited weren't created by Tdv123/TommySocialist.

They have also created, which is significantly similar in numerous respects to the initial versions of similar articles created by TommySocialist.


 * Dungiven Land mine attack (subsequently referred to as Dungiven for brevity)
 * Forkhill land mine attack (as above, only Forkhill) - current version at Forkhill land mine attack
 * Dungannon land mine attack (as above, only Dungannon) - current version at Dungannon land mine attack

Both the Forkhill and Dungiven articles contain sections titled "The Attack", and all three have sections titled "See Also" with incorrect capitalisation, note in the current versions of the TommySocialist articles the section headings use lower case for the second word.

Both the Dungaggon and Dungiven articles contain sections title "Background", and both extensively create those sections using the CAIN databases, both the chronology of deaths and the chronology of events. For example this reference from Dungiven and this reference from Dungaggon, where both simply select deaths apparently at random to construct their sections. Similarly this reference from Dungiven and this reference from Dungannon, where events from the chronology are selected equally at random. Similarly in the "Aftermath" section on all three articles the CAIN databases are picked from at random to select supposedly related events or deaths to include.

In all three articles the section called "The Attack" or simply "Attack" is written in exactly the same way. All of them use the incorrect date constructions by including "the" prior to the date, On the 16 December 1979 for Dungannon, of the 24 June 1972 for Dungiven and On the 17 July 1975 for Forkhill, as well as other similarities such as the common format of Edward Garside (34) for the mention of the soldiers that died.

The articles use different infoboxes, but both Dungiven and the initial version of 1994 Shankill Road killings uses a similar infobox, and the similarities between Successful IRA operation & getaway and Successful INLA ambush and getaway are obvious.

You could also compare Dungiven to the initial versions of Bessbrook landmine attack and Ballygawley land mine attack, the similarities between the article formatting and writing are obvious.

Footnote 9 of the Dungiven article includes a citation to Shane Gallagher's Youtube channel, which is covered at Sockpuppet investigations/Tdv123/Archive. That they happen to cite a (copyright violating) video hosted on Tdv123's own Youtube channel is suspicious enoughh on its own. FDW777 (talk) 16:35, 6 August 2021 (UTC)

Now edting as BalearicSunrise after their account was blocked for a username violation. FDW777 (talk) 07:37, 13 August 2021 (UTC)

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 * was soft blocked, requested a username change to, then gave up waiting & registered BalearicSunrise. There's no fault between these two accounts.I've interacted enough that I feel I should recuse myself from clerking this case. Cabayi (talk) 08:08, 15 August 2021 (UTC)


 * I'm not suggesting creating the BalearicSunrise account due to Irish RepublicanMedia being blocked for a username violaton was a sockpuppetry violation, other than the continued evasion of the block on the Tdv123 account. FDW777 (talk) 08:34, 15 August 2021 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * - I find the evidence presented above reasonably convincing, but I would appreciate a double-check from the CU log if possible; tags indicate that and  are confirmed to this sockmaster. Recommend blocking unless the CU comes back as totally unrelated. GeneralNotability (talk) 23:04, 18 September 2021 (UTC)
 * Irish RepublicanMedia and BalearicSunrise are ✅ to each other as is . They're to Tdv123 as I couldn't find an account that had been checked (the two ShaneGallagher accounts are marked as proven). Callanecc (talk • contribs • logs) 09:13, 21 September 2021 (UTC)
 * Thanks. Blocking as suspected. GeneralNotability (talk) 12:37, 21 September 2021 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets
Same use of 123 in the username as master and User:Shane Gallagher123, while obviously not entirely unique that combined with the narrow emphasis on editing Troubles related articles is a good match. The initial chose of articles edited narrows it even further, despite the Troubles covering a lot of articles the ones edited were (created by Tdv123),  (created by Tdv123),  (created by known sockpuppet TommySocialist), so three out of the four articles they edited in February were Tdv123 creations. Also compare the reference formatting at User:Davidbray123/sandbox with Sockpuppet investigations/Tdv123/Archive. Which not 100% identical they obviously have many similar traits, including the inability to use spacing. FDW777 (talk) 19:22, 17 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Jack Holland & Henry McDonald - INLA: Deadly Divisions p.320,368
 * Jack Holland & Henry McDonald - INLA: Deadly Divisions (1994) pg.80,121

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Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * - the behavioural evidence is suggestive, but considering the short editing history, I think CU corroboration could be useful. Please compare to who is not stale. Thanks, Spicy (talk) 04:50, 18 March 2022 (UTC)
 * is definitely to : they overlap on two (wide, busy) IP ranges, and have the same (very common) user agent. Behavioural evaluation would be needed to be confident however.  Girth Summit  (blether)  06:47, 18 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Thanks. The CU results in combination with the behaviour are enough to convince me. - please indef the sock. Thanks, Spicy (talk) 07:30, 18 March 2022 (UTC)
 * firefly ( t · c ) 10:05, 18 March 2022 (UTC)