Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Thesouthernhistorian45/Archive

24 February 2012

 * Suspected sockpuppets




 * User compare report Auto-generated every hour.

These are WP:SPA's who consistently misrepresent sources to alter topics which describe people from the UK who have Scotts-Irish ancestry to remove or lessen that in favor of English. Occasionally they coordinate edits, though usually no more than one is active at a given time. Favorite sources include citing US Census (for more detailed statistics than can be found in the source, e.g,. [/index.php?title=Ware_County,_Georgia&diff=prev&oldid=478267415 this]). Occasionally sources are offered which appear to have no support whatsoever. The editor declines offering a direct quote from the source for discussion purposes. For instance [/index.php?title=John_S._Pillsbury&diff=prev&oldid=478318085 Pillsbury], [/index.php?title=Walter_H._Taylor&diff=prev&oldid=465587106 Taylor] (no apparent source to discuss). The editor has made hundreds of similar edits. [/index.php?title=Fremont_County,_Idaho&diff=prev&oldid=478267594 This edit] references "Sharing the Dream", which (like the US Census) does not appear to support the detailed and expansive claims made by the editor in numerous edits. TEDickey (talk) 21:55, 24 February 2012 (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
Tedickey, can you list evidence that those accounts are related, and that they are using multiple accounts inappropriately? Nationalities of people from the UK are contentious (see WP:UKNATIONALS), but not all editors who make changes in that area are socking. Amalthea 12:21, 26 February 2012 (UTC)
 * I gave brief examples above. I can list several instances for each, if that helps.  My reason for commenting here is that the edits are (a) using/misusing the same sources (b) making the same statements in each case (c) edit-summaries are similar (d) apparently made in the same timezone, looking at when edits are made.  Let me know how best to show examples of this TEDickey (talk) 13:57, 26 February 2012 (UTC)
 * For instance, Thelastgopher ties to 67.6.108.205 here: [/index.php?title=Ware_County,_Georgia&diff=prev&oldid=478267415], [/index.php?title=Fremont_County,_Idaho&diff=prev&oldid=478267594], [/index.php?title=Roscommon_County,_Michigan&diff=prev&oldid=478267620], [/index.php?title=Livingston_County,_Illinois&diff=prev&oldid=478267703], [/index.php?title=Alcona_County,_Michigan&diff=prev&oldid=478267817], a WP:SPA created to support the anon-IP. TEDickey (talk) 14:46, 26 February 2012 (UTC)
 * 67.6.108.205 ties to Thesouthernhistorian45 via [/index.php?title=Pretty_Saro&action=historysubmit&diff=478208452&oldid=471751317 Pretty Saro]. On investigation, I noticed the other like-Thesouthernhistorian45 edits, of course TEDickey (talk) 14:50, 26 February 2012 (UTC)
 * Thelastgopher and Thesouthernhistorian45 coordinate edits and make the same comments in [/index.php?title=John_S._Pillsbury&action=history John S. Pillsbury]. TEDickey (talk) 14:54, 26 February 2012 (UTC)
 * 69.233.246.254's edits match Thesouthernhistorian45, e.g., [/index.php?title=Oklahoma&diff=prev&oldid=380121390], [/index.php?title=Montana&diff=prev&oldid=380205815], [/index.php?title=Montana&diff=prev&oldid=380386763], [/index.php?title=Modoc_County,_California&diff=prev&oldid=380390907] TEDickey (talk) 15:03, 26 February 2012 (UTC)
 * 67.6.101.14 is relatively minor - perhaps inconclusive. TEDickey (talk) 15:03, 26 February 2012 (UTC)
 * 67.6.109.10 ties for instance [/index.php?title=Joseph_Glidden&action=historysubmit&diff=476276840&oldid=476098680] TEDickey (talk) 15:07, 26 February 2012 (UTC)
 * I have noticed the IP's for some time. It is the introduction of Thelastgopher to the mix which makes Thesouthernhistorian45's edits an issue.  (When I first noticed Thesouthernhistorian45, I recall another editor with the same profile, who has not appeared for some time - it's possible that is relevant, though digging it out of the history would take some effort) TEDickey (talk) 15:41, 26 February 2012 (UTC)

Your evidence convinced me of the connection between Thelastgopher and 67.6.96.0/19. I still wasn't convinced that Thesouthernhistorian45 was related to anything and had to do quite a bit of digging to accept him as connected; maybe I did two articles where both named accounts have diffs containing English American is not enough in my book. I found some more examples like [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Josh_Turner&offset=20120225045614&limit=3&action=history at Josh Turner] where that tied the IP range to Thesouthernhistorian45 so in the end I did run a check.

It is ✅ that Thesouthernhistorian45 is the same as Thelastgopher based on technical evidence.

I'm unsure about the consequences for the accounts. On John S. Pillsbury at least Thesouthernhistorian45 was edit warring, but so was TEDickey. I believe Thesouthernhistorian45 is usually inserting sources to support a claim, but TEDickey says the sources are often being misrepresented and the clear intent is POV-pushing. This should be looked at in more detail before deciding on sanctions. Amalthea 17:47, 27 February 2012 (UTC)


 * thanks (yes, I did stray out of bounds, more by reflex than intention before I realized that no progress could be made in that way). TEDickey (talk) 21:45, 27 February 2012 (UTC)


 * Sock is blocked and tagged. -- DQ  (ʞlɐʇ)  18:46, 29 February 2012 (UTC)