Wikipedia:Suspected sock puppets/Billrobo

User:Billrobo

 * Suspected sock puppeteer


 * Suspected sock puppets


 * Report submission by
 * ~Amatulić (talk) 18:24, 11 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Evidence
 * Billrobo and Beckycakes have similar edit patterns, and substantially similar edit histories.
 * Both omit edit summaries at about the same rate, and their edit summaries are substantially similar in style.
 * Both concentrate on creating/editing a slew of articles related to . Several of their article/image contributions have already been speedily deleted ( pending) or are under AfD (such as ).
 * Several biographies related to De Bortoli Wines have also been created, but any that haven't been deleted squeak by on notability.


 * Comments
 * Edit patterns suggest a conflict of interest, and some have been clearly spammy. Beckycakes appears to be the editor recently responsible for creating articles, which then get "cleaned up" by Billrobo. This may be more of a meatpuppet than sockpuppet situation, or two employees of the same company with a conflict of interest. Checkuser would resolve that uncertainty but I felt it more appropriate to report the case here first.
 * I suspect that this is a case of meatpuppetry and that both editors have a conflict of interest as both editors have a very narrow field that they have worked on. I've already wiped one image for a poor fair-use statement, but will leave the articles for others to decide. I don't see vandalism from either account, or extensive abuse of sockpuppetry, which would be required for a checkuser. seicer  &#x007C;  talk  &#x007C;  contribs  18:38, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Unsure. There's no doubt that many of these users' activities have been out of bounds. Certainly, adding the same link three times to one disambiguation page, including in a new section created just for that purpose, is spamming. But it could just be two people collaborating on a project, and the use of dual accounts may not itself be intended as a means of evading the rules. If it's one person using two accounts, then the charge is more convincing. —Largo Plazo (talk) 18:53, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
 * I agree. I was hesitant about creating this report in the first place, because the allegation is uncertain. However, in the end I felt that the activities of these two accounts warranted attention, especially with the flurry of recent articles and images created to promote the ventures of De Bortoli Wines. ~Amatulić (talk) 19:17, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Update: Billrobo left a comment on my talk page indicating that Billrobo is a mentor of sorts for Beckycakes. If true, then there's no sockpuppetry going on here, but perhaps some meatpuppetry. ~Amatulić (talk) 01:08, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

I understand the concerns, and feel quite chastened by what has unfortunately felt like a fairly unpleasant and semi-public denigration. My bruised pride aside, I obviously will be exceeding reticent towards any future mentoring, but also, you the trustees of Wikipedia's future must be careful that you don't also alienate the very young who will be your next generation of editors - I expect that we have all managed to create a jaundiced view of Wikipedia with one. Oh Well. Regards. Billrobo (talk) 06:31, 12 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Response

Assuming good faith and accepting Billrobo's statement that there is no socking going on. If substantial meatpuppetry concerns arise later, a fresh report will need to be filed. (Both users seem to currently be inactive, as well, though this could just be due to the holidays.) Hermione1980 14:10, 28 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Conclusions