Wikipedia:Suspected sock puppets/Paul venter

User:Paul venter

 * Suspected sockpuppeteer


 * Suspected sockpuppets


 * Report submission by

Rkitko (talk) 16:31, 11 November 2007 (UTC)

User:Paul venter worked on South African topics mostly related to botany. He was temporarily blocked for copyright violations and personal attacks. User:Raasgat's account appeared log a few days after Paul venter was last blocked log. User:Roxithro appeared in the DRV of a Paul venter article: Deletion review/Log/2007 July 17. User:Rotational appeared the same day that both Raasgat and Roxithro stopped editing, with the exception of a single edit later in the month from Raasgat.
 * Evidence

Aside from the timescale, the accounts all edit the same material. Paul venter created a copyvio article at Vibration-powered generator. Raasgat recreated the article at the title Vibration powered generator diff. Raasgat has edited the same articles Paul venter has edited - a short list includes Orothamnus, ‎Selmar Schonland, ‎Thomas Robertson Sim, ‎Cathy O'Dowd, ‎Arnold Theiler, List of South African plant botanical authors, etc. All accounts prefer the same style and use the same edit summaries: diff, diff, diff. All accounts also prefer to ignore WP:HEAD and Guide to layout: diff, diff, diff, diff. This also appears to be the editor in question, since the IP reverted all the style issues Paul venter/Raasgat has confirmed to abhor.

In my exchange with Raasgat, he may have been getting awfully close to violating WP:OWN and WP:POINT with some of his edits regarding style issues. Raasgat had also resorted to personal attacks at some points: I was called a "clueless chum" (not the worst thing I've been called...) diff after I placed an image in a taxobox against this user's wish diff, which he then attempted to change in this botched edit which only duplicated the image.
 * Comments

To me this appears to be a clear case of "avoiding scrutiny" from other editors. When challenged on the style issues, the user stops using that account and creates another to continue the crusade on style. See User talk:Raasgat for an extensive discussion where the user admits he thinks the style of Wikipedia articles - taxoboxes, headings, etc. - is terrible ("Some editors wouldn't recognise aesthetics if it were handed to them on a skewer"). When confronted with style guidelines, the user resorts to personal attacks and circumvents further discussion by creating additional sockpuppets. The user does make valuable contributions, but the ability to work with other editors within the guidelines and abuse of WP:SOCK takes up his time from those valuable contributions and other editor's time as well. --Rkitko (talk) 16:31, 11 November 2007 (UTC)

Aside from other evidence, the start/stop timelines make this hard to ignore. Socks blocked indef, Paul venter for 72 hours and warned. — Rlevse  •  Talk  • 17:02, 11 November 2007 (UTC)
 * Conclusions