Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/WilliamJohnCox/Archive

Suspected sockpuppets



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The article William John Cox appears to have been fully written by its subject through a number of sockpuppet accounts (some similarly named - e.g. Historian2010, Vote2015, and Librarian2016). All have exclusively worked on this article (or information about this article in other pages, e.g. inserting information about William John Cox onto the articles of Leonard Nimoy, Dead Sea Scrolls and Dabney Coleman, and adding him to lists). The subject himself publicized on Twitter the creation of a related article (since deleted). The article's main photograph was uploaded by User:WilliamJohnCox along with a number of other pictures related to the article. Moreover the entire article reads as a self-written advertisement, complete with personal anecdotes and general pseudo-scientific / -mathematical crankery. Kyuko (talk) 19:48, 7 February 2019 (UTC)

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

Mea culpa. Embarrassed, I would like to explain. When I retired in 2007, my book on the George W. Bush administration had recently been published by Progressive Press. I resolved to continue the work of my public service career and to write on policy, political, and philosophical matters. I have found Wikipedia to be a powerful resource. I use it every day, and I have supported it financially.

Having engaged in reported activities over the years, my efforts were occasionally the subject of writing which was not without errors. Growing older, I considered how best to ensure the accuracy of my work history. Wikipedia was very enticing. It provided a marvelous platform to easily organize my work and to document sources. Aware of Wikipedia's policy, but intending no harm, I began to assemble the article as a diversion. Everything included was factual and supported by available references. My efforts were quite open, and the use of multiple accounts primarily resulted from forgotten usernames and passwords. There was no intention to mislead, either the editors or the readers.

My memoir about the Holocaust Case was published in 2015 by Electo Publishing, shortly before I suffered a near death experience with full-body sepsis. Recovering, and aware I might not have the time left to bring all of my written work to press, I quickly published a series of books on policy, political, and philosophical matters. In addition, since my retirement, I have also published almost a hundred articles on a variety of subjects on multiple Internet platforms. As time went on, the article was updated to include these activities. There is no commercial motive in my writing, all of which, along with my misguided contribution to Wikipedia, were intended to serve the public good and all is freely available.

Recently, upon learning of Wiki concerns about self promotion, I immediately deleted all references to my writings from the article. Regarding questions of notability, I also deleted almost everything in the questioned article, except for those events that exist independently in the historical record, and in which I played a primary role. The article was substantially improved by the editing, and it factually and truthfully represents the core of my significant work of 60 years.

I have no objection to the article being deleted, and, if that is your verdict, I ask only that it be done as quickly and completely as possible. If, however, there is some independent value for your readers in the reduced article, and it is allowed to remain, I pledge to be more respectful of Wiki policies in the future and to abstain from editing. Irrespective of your decision, I will continue my efforts to do what is right and to support Wikipedia.

Finally, I apologize to each of you, personally, for the time my failure to abide by Wiki policies has cost you. I sincerely appreciate what you are doing, and you have my best wishes.

wjc — Preceding unsigned comment added by 205.154.246.89 (talk) 20:47, 20 February 2019 (UTC)
 * You were using your accounts interchangeably, which makes your explanation about "forgotten passwords" implausible.  Vanjagenije  (talk)  15:14, 21 February 2019 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * All accounts blocked, the IPs are inactive. Closing,  Vanjagenije  (talk)  18:22, 17 February 2019 (UTC)