Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Traineek/Archive

Suspected sockpuppets



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

New user's was to emphasize the Koreanness of Buyeo, exactly as the now-blocked Traineek did earlier this year  (as well as ). — MarkH21talk 05:52, 29 June 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

 * . Traineek is too to be checked. Mz7 (talk) 23:34, 1 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Given that Zessede has only made a single edit, there's not enough evidence to call them a sock. Closing with no action taken.  We can revisit if future activities warrant it. -- RoySmith (talk) 01:42, 2 July 2021 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets



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

MarcofuUSA was created two days after Traineek was blocked while GoldenTaurus is a new user created today. The two are making identical edits, e.g..

They are both pushing the same set of ideas (ultranationalist Korean theories on Manchurian history) as Traineek did and interestingly, much of the content added by these two users came straight out of Traineek's lengthy debate with others at the Great Wall of China talk page, including files uploaded by Traineek (for example, the file File:大明輿地圖 Liaodong .jpg added in this edit). The topics where these users are active – the Great Wall in Liaodong, Qin and Han commanderies in NE Asia – also overlapped completely with Traineek's edits. Esiymbro (talk) 14:57, 3 August 2021 (UTC)

Comments by other users
There is nothing ultralnationalistic about my contribution. I have presented fair and balance view from all sides. Under revisionism section, paragraph 2. --GoldenTaurus (talk) 08:56, 5 August 2021 (UTC)

I support what Esiymbro says, there is no doubt that GoldenTaurus is the second account of "MarcofuUSA" aka "Traineek" He spends his time trying to legitimize revisionist theses.--HanKim20 (talk) 12:36, 7 August 2021 (UTC)

I am not sure if this is relevant, but the user reported here has been engaging in an ongoing talk page debate based on MarcofUSA's material while MarcofUSA is nowhere to be found. Qiushufang (talk) 07:16, 8 August 2021 (UTC)

MarcofuUSA and GoldenTaurus are the same person. He says he forgot his password and that's why he made a new account. He says so here. No idea if it's true. Qiushufang (talk) 10:24, 8 August 2021 (UTC)

I am beginning to suspect that GoldenTaurus is not debating in good faith in Talk:Four_Commanderies_of_Han. He admitted here that he and MarcofuUSA are the same person after I called him out on it, but oddly he makes no mention it here despite having a sockpuppet investigation made about him. In the discussion I asked for a secondary source and non-English source to support his own additions, but he continuously refused and avoided doing so, doubling down on his personal claims about a non-English primary source which he claims is "historical fact." Qiushufang (talk) 12:02, 8 August 2021 (UTC)

Upon browsing MarcofuUSA's contributions, I am also fairly certain that he is traineek now. MarcofuUSA made several additions to Hushan Great Wall, including an image uploaded and used by traineek in an intense discussion on Talk:Great_Wall_of_China started by traineek before his ban. Qiushufang (talk) 20:05, 8 August 2021 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * I'm taking it as a given that MarcofuUSA and GoldenTaurus are the same person, if for no other reason than they admit it. But, whether you believe their "I lost the password" story or not, there's no overlapping edits, so per our standard practice, we can't call them socks.


 * After digging through much of what Traineek and Marco/Golden have written in article space, I'm reasonably sure they're not the same person. There's too many differences in the way they write.  Traineek has made a number of minor grammar and diction mistakes which make me think they're not a native speaker of English.  Marco/Golden's English is more fluent and idiomatic.  And their timecards are different enough to make me think they're not the same person.  The shared use of the commons image File:大明輿地圖 Liaodong .jpg is certainly suspicious, as is the fact that Marco created their account two days after Traineek stopped protesting their block.  And all of these accounts have used both Visual and Mobile Web editors.  But on balance, I don't see enough here to justify a block. -- RoySmith (talk) 14:35, 22 August 2021 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets
MarcofuUSA was created on 22 March 2021 two days after Traineek was indef blocked on 20 March. Marco's first major contrib occurred on 5 July 2021, pushing the same views as Traineek on the historical nature of the Hushan Great Wall using material taken from the last discussion topic Traineek engaged in in the two days prior to his block. This includes an uploaded by Traineek, now deleated. After it was reverted for lack of sources, Marco re-added with sources, one of which was a youtube vid mentioned in the talk discussion: 고구려성, 만리장성으로 둔갑하다. At Gojoseon, both Traineek and Marco pushed for its recognition as the first Korean state: /. They share similar concerns about the ethnicity of Wiman of Gojoseon and removed direct mentions of him as a Chinese ethnic: /. Similar interest in the state of Yan: /.

GoldenTaurus was created on 3 August and made the same edits as Marco at Four Commanderies of Han and later Lelang Commandery. Same content as Traineek on the Pei River: /. Marco and Golden were reported by User:Esiymbro as socks of Traineek. In the one comment Golden made on the investigation, it was not mentioned that Marco and Golden are the same person, which they later admitted to in a talk discussion. Traineek does not have any edits on Four Commanderies of Han, but back in 2013 they edited a map of it on media commons, apparently trying to add a map of Goguryeo:,. In 2014 they deleted content from the Chinese wiki version:. Both uploaded maps of Chinese historical polities: /. Golden used their uploaded map to justify Qin territorial boundaries:, , completing the three changes Traineek wanted to make on Great Wall of China. Both share a concern about the inclusion of Chinese polities as successors of Goguryeo and made identical statements on them:, / , ,. Both accused others of vandalism over incidents at Goguryeo:, , , , / , , ,. Both share an interest in Xianbei:, / ,.

BNParibasguy was created on 19 March 2021, the same day Traineek was reported by Esiymbro. Their first edit was on 10 July 2021 reverting an IP edit in a talk discussion involving Marco at Four Commanderies of Han. Similar interest in Goguryeo and Gojoseon (again first kingdom push):, , , ,. Added same content as Traineek: /. Both Traineek and BNP edited Yemaek-related articles: /. Reverted me in tandem with Golden:,. Did not respond to the talk discussion and requested full page protection citing vandalism and edit war.

All four accounts have edited on Chinese wiki:, , ,. Traineek, Marco, and BNP all share the same interest in historical Korean languages on the Chinese wiki.

Summary: BNP and Marco were created at the same time Traineek was reported and blocked. Golden was created later and confirmed to be Marco. Marco's first major edit propagated Traineek's take on the Hushan Great Wall using the same map uploaded by Traineek. Marco and Golden were reported by Esiymbro as socks of Traineek. Golden's response to the report did not mention that the two accounts are the same person until they were called out in a later discussion. BNP's first edit, several months after creation, was to delete an IP edit involved in a talk discussion with Marco. All accounts share the same interests and views regarding Gojoseon, Gogouryeo, Korea, China, and made edits similar or identical to Traineek's early in their history. Qiushufang (talk) 21:11, 29 June 2022 (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

 * ✅ User:GoldenTaurus to User:BNParibasguy. I recommend an indef SPI block of GoldenTaurus and another sanction for BNParibasguy, possibly indef. These guys have all engaged in warlike POV editing regarding the history of Korea and the encyclopedia can use a break from their activities. I haven't personally noticed anything that would rule out Traineek (who is stale) as the original master account, so I'd favor keeping that as the case title. MarcofuUSA and GoldenTaurus can probably be considered the same person, per some notes above. User:MarcofuUSA and User:BNParibasguy both created their accounts in March 2021 just after User:Traineek was blocked at ANI by User:Beeblebrox. EdJohnston (talk) 17:54, 5 July 2022 (UTC)
 * I've indeffed GoldenTaurus and BNParibasguy without tags. I'll leave whether to block MarcfuUSA to a clerk as they have not edited in a year. I'll leave the tagging to a clerk as well, but my recommendation is double-tagging (confirmed to each other and suspected to the master). Bbb23 (talk) 18:00, 5 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Double-tagged the confirmed accounts. I don't think a block of an account that has been inactive for a year would comply with WP:PREVENTATIVE in this case - feel free to re-report if they start editing again. Closing. Thanks, Spicy (talk) 22:31, 5 July 2022 (UTC)

Suspected sockpuppets
Same nationalistic editing and interests as Traineek including activity on Buyeo, Four Commanderies of Han, Goguryeo, Hanpu and Korean languages. Most recently removed successor item in list on Goguryeo with the same variation of the succession argument as Traineek:. Similar behavior by Traineek's socks:, / , , /. Engaged in WP:NPA with same group of users Traineek was in conflict with. See ANI for context:. Zessede had no previous history on the talk page of Goguryeo, but after a spout of edit warring and finally being told to go to talk at 20:58, Zessede was able to immediately respond with a lengthy paragraph three minutes later to the section about Traineek's socks as well as picking up on the Russian analogy used by the sock. Qiushufang (talk) 21:13, 15 September 2022 (UTC)

Added User:Sassak1004, created today after Zessede was indefed and first edit was POVPUSH on Balhae controversies. Qiushufang (talk) 03:35, 17 September 2022 (UTC)

Comments by other users

 * Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.


 * I am not sure how Zessede escaped a block by User:Nosebagbear and the others during the consensus here. Regardless, I now have Twitter evidence that Traineek and Zessede are the same person. Should I show it on this page? MGetudiant (talk) 21:08, 15 September 2022 (UTC)
 * It was given to me on my user talk page a few months ago. MGetudiant (talk) 21:09, 15 September 2022 (UTC)
 * No, posting the off-wiki identities of individuals goes against our outing policy. Primefac (talk) 05:59, 17 September 2022 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * Zessede has been indeffed. Sassak1004 has made a single edit, to an article that Traineek and their socks have never edited. I don't consider that to be sufficient to endorse a check at this time. Feel free to re-report if they continue to edit in a suspicious manner. Thanks, Spicy (talk) 05:09, 22 September 2022 (UTC)