Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Young caligraphy/Archive

17 October 2014

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I came across the following accounts via an AfD for the article The Young Sensei. The page was atrocious and all of them seem to have the same goal: to create an article for this character and write it as if it was a real person rather than a fictional being. That several of them have very similar names is somewhat telling as well. The edits seem to be fairly organized, so I can't tell if this is a case of 1-2 people sockpuppeting or a case of WP:MEAT. Regardless, it's fairly clear that they're here with one purpose. I wasn't initially going to open an SPI, but there's just so many of them that I don't think that it'd be a good idea to turn my eye to it. I'm not entirely sure who the earliest poster is, so I'm going with the first person who created the article, Young caligraphy. Tokyogirl79 (｡◕‿◕｡)   05:48, 17 October 2014 (UTC) Tokyogirl79  (｡◕‿◕｡)   05:48, 17 October 2014 (UTC)
 * Given the amount of accounts editing solely or predominantly on this page, a check for sleepers or other accounts might be good. I've only included a few of the IPs editing the page, as there were just so many of them. Tokyogirl79 (｡◕‿◕｡)   05:52, 17 October 2014 (UTC)




 * I'm adding some more, as there seems to be some that tried to add the character to the calligraphy page as if he was a real person. (sighs) See this edit, this one, this, and this one. There are a few others done by SPAs, but I'm not sure if they're part of the same group or just random vandals. The timing suggests that they are part of the same group, though, so I'm listing them. Tokyogirl79 (｡◕‿◕｡)   06:26, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

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

I don't think this is a case of sock-puppetry. 'Young Sensei' was a passage from the 2014 Preliminary SATs. Due to the ridiculous nature of the passages, the assessment became an Internet meme, most prominently on Tumblr. Due to the millions of people posting content under that tag, it is likely that some users swept up in its popularity created an article as an instance of the meme. Can't find them at the moment, but screenshots of vandalized articles were posted there, perhaps prompting the flood of single-purpose accounts. -- DozenalBased, 11:22 PM PST
 * Ah... gotcha. That would make sense, then. Probably be a good idea to semi protect the article for The Fourth Treasure, I suppose? I may wait to see if it gets vandalized first. Tokyogirl79 (｡◕‿◕｡)   06:30, 17 October 2014 (UTC)
 * Although if this gets some coverage then we could incorporate that it became a meme into the book article. But yeah, that makes sense that they'd come here to make an uncyclopedia-esque article for that to blow off steam. I'm so freaking glad I don't have to take SAT or PSATS anymore. (Unless I wanted to, which I don't.) Tokyogirl79 (｡◕‿◕｡)   06:33, 17 October 2014 (UTC)


 * It seems that other pages with a relationship to the test have been locked, including: The Grand Canyon, its Spanish discoverer. -- DozenalBased, 11:38 PST — Preceding undated comment added 06:38, 17 October 2014 (UTC)
 * So much of what has been going on is making sense now. (Or at least there is an apparent reason for it.) ... disco spinster   talk  12:00, 17 October 2014 (UTC)
 * Dophin has been locked as well. I should make a list of topics turned into memes, but it appears to be dying, so I don't know if that's necessary.. -- Doz, 5:08 UTC — Preceding undated comment added 17:08, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * Even though 2 accounts of the 6 I checked showed a remotely possible connection, I think this is one hell of a coordinated job, or something besides socking. Edit locations vary quite significantly. If you would like me to investigate a certain connection more specifically, i'd be happy to do so. -- DQ   (ʞlɐʇ)  04:35, 20 October 2014 (UTC)
 * Eh, no need unless you want to do this. This likely was coordinated by a bunch of bored students, but the vandalism as a whole seems to be settling down for the most part if the Fourth Treasure article is any indication. Tokyogirl79 (｡◕‿◕｡)   07:14, 20 October 2014 (UTC)
 * There have now been no edits from any of the listed accounts and IP addresses for three days. Apparently this was a very ephemeral piece of nonsense, which we can probably just forget, unless it starts up again, in which case some NOTHERE blocks will be in order. The editor who uses the pseudonym "JamesBWatson" (talk) 07:37, 20 October 2014 (UTC)