Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Yaf/Archive

19 February 2015

 * Suspected sockpuppets




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

Yaf Miguel Escopeta
 * Edit warring
 * 18:34, 18 February 2015
 * 18:13, 18 February 2015
 * 17:59, 18 February 2015
 * 16:27, 18 February 2015
 * 23:45, 17 February 2015

Miguel Escopeta
 * Talk page collusion
 * 18:17, 18 February 2015 A misleading picture is worse than none at all. Showing a picture of dealers, with large quantities of firearms, is intentionally misleading.  It should not be used.

Yaf
 * 18:30, 18 February 2015 The image is simply wrong for this article, unless one wishes to mislead readers. 

Some of the shared pages are obscure (many under 100 editors, a few under 50). Some have nothing to do with guns. Some edits they've made are alike (probably more but I don't have time to find them). This ain't everything. Some big topics, like Second Amendment to the United States Constitution and Right to keep and bear arms, don't pin things down much but they're still about common interests. Another common interest is shootings.
 * Evidence
 * Overlapping articles
 * Incomplete user comparison tool


 * 1) .410 bore
 * 2) 4 bore
 * 3) 7mm Remington Magnum
 * 4) Black powder substitute
 * 5) Brady Campaign
 * 6) Brazing (not guns)
 * 7) Brinell scale (not guns)
 * 8) Bushmaster M4 Type Carbine
 * 9) Colt 1851 Navy Revolver
 * 10) Colt Walker
 * 11) Concealed carry in the United States
 * 12) District of Columbia v. Heller
 * 13) Firearm (tool)
 * 14) Flying W Ranch (not guns)
 * 15) Gun culture in the United States
 * 16) Gun Owners of America
 * 17) Gun safe
 * 18) Gun safety
 * 19) Gun shows in the United States -"jerky"
 * 20) Gun violence in the United States [Note: That last edit made on February 23, 2015]
 * 21) Handloading
 * 22) Hoplophobia
 * 23) Iron sights
 * 24) Joyce Foundation
 * 25) Kenneth W. Royce
 * 26) Larry Pratt
 * 27) League of Women Voters -Gun control
 * 28) Lee-Enfield
 * 29) Long rifle
 * 30) Louie B. Nunn (not guns)
 * 31) Lupara
 * 32) Microstamping -"the goal of"
 * 33) Militia (United States)
 * 34) Molon labe
 * 35) Mosin–Nagant
 * 36) Muzzle brake
 * 37) Nambu pistol
 * 38) Overview of gun laws by nation
 * 39) Paper cartridge
 * 40) Phosphate conversion coating
 * 41) Pocket pistol
 * 42) Potassium nitrate
 * 43) Primary aldosteronism (not guns)
 * 44) Project Appleseed -deleting "self-styled"
 * 45) Rat-shot
 * 46) Ruby Ridge
 * 47) Samuel Hamilton Walker
 * 48) Saturday night special
 * 49) Škorpion vz. 61
 * 50) SKS
 * 51) Sodium silicate "paper cartridges"
 * 52) Suppressor
 * 53) Ted Nugent
 * 54) Template:Gun politics interest groups in the United States -Certain groups
 * 55) Template:USgunlegalbox
 * 56) Thompson Center Arms
 * 57) Unintended Consequences (novel)
 * 58) Vin Suprynowicz
 * 59) Wadcutter
 * 60) Wayne LaPierre

The accounts share many typical edit summaries, but those don't tell us much. These are some odd ones, a few used once or twice and others used often.
 * Edit summaries
 * 1) Clarification
 * 2) clean-up
 * 3) Cruft
 * 4) Extreme POV
 * 5) Nonsense
 * 6) Oh well...
 * 7) POV push
 * 8) smoothing text
 * 9) tagline
 * 10) WP is not censored

From what I can tell based on this quick look, Yaf is the first account from 2005. Earlier edits were made by a few IPs. Miguel Escopeta registered in 2009. The editor used both accounts for years without detection. In 2013 the Yaf account went dormant. It came back two years later for a current edit war.
 * Discussion

There's no way in hell these two accounts are different people. The accounts share common articles, common edits, and common summaries. Check-user ain't even necessary. WP:DUCK. Anyways, he could've covered his IP tracks and made CU worthless. There could be more socks but I'm tired of looking.

Yaf was blocked four times for edit warring. Miguel Escopeta has a clean block record though he's been in edit wars that never got reported. The current edit warring is about a topic under ArbCom sanctions. Felsic (talk) 15:30, 19 February 2015 (UTC)
 * The Miguel Escopeta account was created while the Yaf account was blocked. Felsic (talk) 15:51, 23 February 2015 (UTC)
 * Miguel Escopeta continues to revert articles to include material added by Yaf. See today's editing on Gun violence in the United States, linked above. Felsic (talk) 20:03, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

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


 * I agree with Felsic that Yaf looks and quacks very much like a duck. Lightbreather (talk) 23:49, 22 February 2015 (UTC)
 * This is interesting:
 * 16:07, 25 February 2013 on Second Amendment article, Miguel Escopeta moved a sentence from the lead with this edit summary: we shouldn't mislead readers on incorporation (personally this whole paragraph should be struck, or at least moved to the historical portion of the article.
 * 18:15, 25 February 2013 two hours later, Yaf moves the paragraph ME referred to, with the edit summary: Move out of lede. Historical viewpoint now.
 * --Lightbreather (talk) 00:20, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * I disagree, I think a check would be helpful here. The topic is a fairly contentious one that has a number of users who have similar viewpoints. Sometimes we have users who take part in the same edit war (as shown above in the first few diffs). The edit summaries are common Wikipedia lingo used by a number of users, yet the two accounts show some similarities in the tone and mannerisms. I looked through the overlapping edits you've provided and I do think there's some merit. I just think a check would help nail this down. Mike V • Talk 23:23, 22 February 2015 (UTC)


 * Both accounts are editing from a similar geographic area, but the data is otherwise . ​—DoRD (talk)​ 23:55, 22 February 2015 (UTC)
 * I've looked over the evidence and I think it's conclusive enough for a block. Given the length and extent of the sockpuppetry, I've issued a 1 month block to the master account. Mike V • Talk 21:21, 23 February 2015 (UTC)