Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Wikitout/Archive

06 May 2016

 * Suspected sockpuppets


 * - already blocked, likely stale
 * - already blocked, likely stale
 * - already blocked, likely stale
 * - already blocked, likely stale
 * - likely stale
 * - likely stale


 * User compare report Auto-generated every hour.
 * Editor interaction utility

Two years ago, Wikitout started editing disruptively at Stockton Beach and other articles and was subsequently indef-blocked. The edits relevant to this SPI involved the addition of contentious claims sourced to a self acknowledged fansite that obviously does not qualify as a reliable source. Shortly after he was blocked, he complained about his treatment at Wikipedia to an editor at The Newcastle Herald, resulting in this opinion piece, sourced to the blocked editor and the same fansite. After he was blocked, Wikitout created Wikitouts, Wikitoutnow and Theaussielegend to evade his block, edit the article, and attack me. All were quickly blocked. Wikitout also used 125.168.34.148 for disruptive editing, and was subsequently chastised by one of the blocking admins for resorting to serial sockpuppetry. Madmaxmuseum was also likely Wikitout based on similarity of edits and the fact that he only edited Wikipedia at the time of Wikitout was avoiding his block with socks. In recent days some similar edits have started, with IPs using the same fansite as Wikitout and the opinion piece that resulted from Wikitout's complaint to support the same claims. When one of the IPs stated a clear intention to edit-war, I requested page protection. This forced the IPs to start discussing on the talk page. WHOIS revealed links between the IPs - similar company names, people with the same first names but different last names and different addresses but the same phone numbers and so on. I mentioned this on the talk page of, the admin who protected the page. I also pointed out two posts on the article's talk page using the same IP address, one by "Blake" and the other by "Jim". "Jim" replied with a WP:SOMEONEDIDIT type explanation, claiming "Blake" is his boyfriend and that they use a privacy service that causes their IP to "change all over the place". However, while most of the IPs lasted only a few minutes, 104.37.5.190 lasted 45 minutes. Jim did not explain "John Page", who posted using 172.111.155.199. Even if there are 3 people involved, they are editing with the same objectives and this is meatpuppetry, specifically addressed at WP:SHARE. Even worse, Jim (as an IP) has claimed to have created "some accounts", then indicated there are 20 accounts. Accordingly, I have requested CheckUser to identify sleepers that are intended for edit-warring purposes.  Aussie Legend  ( ✉ ) 12:02, 6 May 2016 (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 master and all the puppets except one are . I've declined the CU request.--Bbb23 (talk) 13:42, 6 May 2016 (UTC)


 * All of these are ducks. The account Madmaxmuseum was long ago given a softerblock, which is not what I would have done, but since its editing was more than two years ago, there's no point in doing anything now. JimMarlor is close to being as blatant a sockpuppet as any I have seen: if you check the account's editing carefully enough, you will see that the owner of the account actually stated the intention of using multiple sockpuppets to evade blocks, so I have blocked that account. I have blocked the IP addresses which have edited recently. In some cases, it has been possible to use range blocks covering IP addresses used by this editor, but unfortunately in other cases there are edits from this editor from just one or two IP addresses among addresses used by other editors, so range blocks are not possible. The editor who uses the pseudonym "JamesBWatson" (talk) 10:16, 9 May 2016 (UTC)


 * I see that the article Stockton Beach has been semi-protected by Widr. The editor who uses the pseudonym "JamesBWatson" (talk) 10:18, 9 May 2016 (UTC)