Wikipedia:Suspected sock puppets/Edwardsville

User:Edwardsville

 * Suspected sockpuppeteer


 * Suspected sockpuppets


 * Report submission by

Jakew 14:34, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

Avi 18:12, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

User:Edwardsville has, for some time, been focused upon making a particular change to the circumcision article (eg.    ). Recently, User:74.230.142.124 has made the same reverts (see ), including on his first edit (an extraordinary coincidence). The talk page contributions are likewise remarkably similar in language and style of argument, both referring to 'truth' and 'censorship' (eg  and ), and neither acknowledging the 3-4 other editors other than myself who object to the changes.
 * Evidence

If 74.230.142.124 is indeed a sockpuppet, there is a 3RR violation (Edwardsville has been warned on two occasions about 3RR). Edwardsville denies that he made 74.230.142.124's edits, so I am unable to assume that he accidentally logged out.

I believe this is a match. Checking the contrib log, the IP edited at 20:00 on Aug. 7 and at 1:00 on Aug. 8, sandwiched around edits at 23:00 on Aug. 7 by the logged-in user. Since this is a case of 3RR violation, you might consider taking it to WP:AN3RR. Shalom Hello 19:49, 8 August 2007 (UTC)
 * Comments


 * 146.163.162.184 resolves to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. -- Avi 17:58, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
 * If this comment is correct, 146.163.162.184 may be a meatpuppet. But the style of writing, signing, and arguing is very similar to that of Edwardsville himself. Jakew 18:43, 9 August 2007 (UTC)


 * has just been created and is continuing exactly the discussions of -- Avi 18:12, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

I do hope that this case is pursued to its conclusion and exposed for the false charge that it is and when my innocence is proved, I would like a public apology from the people who accused me. I happen to know now who made that revision and it is a man in Florida. The ISP address for my posts will be from Illinois and his will be from Florida, demonstrating that we are different people. If that is not enough, I am more than happy to identify myself by whatever means are acceptable to Wikipedia. I suggest you ask the other guy to do the same thing.

If a lot of our points are in agreement, that will be because I have been emailing poeple with my concerns and encouraging them to get involved with the Wikipedia article. I only hope that more people respond by posting on the article, instead of writing back to tell me that it is hopeless to try to get truth into Wikipedia.

Edwardsville 17:40, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

And yeah, I do know Just David who is local to me. I am happy to ask the two people in question if I can publish their identities and email addresses, and/or to ask them if they can be telephoned to establish their identity. If I can get any more people, local or distant, to contribute the article, I assure you that I will do so.

Edwardsville 17:41, 10 August 2007 (UTC)
 * I left a note regarding WP:MEAT on Edwardsville's talk page, assuming that he was simply unaware of the relevant policy. I quoted the relevant part of the policy, including that "It is considered highly inappropriate to advertise Wikipedia articles to your friends, family members, or communities of people who agree with you, so that they come to Wikipedia and support your side of a debate." Unfortunately, he has since stated that he intends to continue to do so. Jakew 12:41, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

Edwardsville and Just David  both use the same misspelling of "definately". --Coppertwig 17:42, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

Both Edwardsville  and Just David  have expressed clear opinions that a letter should not be cited, and both of them have failed to specify (Edw J.D.) what letter they're talking about when asked for bibiographic details of the letter. --Coppertwig 22:10, 21 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Conclusions
 * All of these accounts make similar edits in a similar style, so there's good reason to believe they're all being operated by the same person. However, even if separate people are behind these accounts, Edwardsville's repeated statements that he's recruiting as many people as he can to support his side points to a violation of Wikipedia's policy on meatpuppets. Just David is indef blocked; Edwardsville is blocked for 48 hours. The IPs will be left untouched, as blocking them may cause collateral damage, but any further use of IP sockpuppets should lead to a substantial block. --Akhilleus (talk) 16:35, 22 August 2007 (UTC)