Wikipedia:Suspected sock puppets/Wikipéire (3rd)

User:Wikipéire

 * Suspected sock puppeteer


 * Suspected sock puppets

See also: Suspected_sock_puppets/Ovlem (4 new acounts and a 78.16 IP) all created in the last few days, all on the same topics. --Matt Lewis (talk) 15:33, 1 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Report submission by
 * Matt Lewis (talk) 18:21, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

User:Pureditor has just had a (I think incontested) 48-hour block for using an IP and suggesting it was another IP who did it (here). The blocking admin User:Thatcher noted that Pureditor had also used the undisclosed account User:Mulacho as a sock puppet (here). When I saw the 78.16.xx.xx 'link' (he was checkusered on this before the 48-hour block here) I realised that Pureditor is surely User:Wikipéire. I helped bring Wikipeire to light over his User:Petitspois sock in May (his second case after User:Melvo), and remembered that he has a string of 78.16.xx.xx edits (most listed here). I had been suspicious about Pureditor before, over a national anthem issue, but I failed to act at the time.
 * Evidence

All the editing patterns between Wikipéire and Pureditor are identical, and the post-ban account creation fits too. The idiosyncratic interests are, almost inclusively: National anthems, Wales, Scotland, national flags, British Isles (all are especially regarding national sovereignty - eps the word "country"), "Ireland"-piped-to-Republic of Ireland (he prefers the pipe-linked "Ireland" and will change existing text to this), Canada, and crucially, the band called 'Editors' (as edited by User:Mulacho).

Pureditor's recent slip with Mulacho and the 78.16 link completely seals it for me, as the interest in Editors is also there. Special:Contributions/99.232.55.119's edit on Wales here is a giveaway link for this particular IP (showing an inside knowledge of a poll at Wales), and is an interesting IP range to add too.

These are the non-previously-recorded 78.16's I've found:

Special:Contributions/78.16.77.86 This was used to vote twice in a poll here.

Special:Contributions/78.16.60.135 (from May at Editors, just after his indefinite block),

Special:Contributions/78.16.77.212 (a recent August one at Editors),

Special:Contributions/78.16.122.227 (an old one come to light from March, but from Northern Ireland),

Special:Contributions/78.16.103.84 (goes back to 2007 on Ulster, but with 9 months between edits)

This last one is close in proximity to edits by User:Derry Boi, who has edited recently on Editors in his own name, and very few people do when you remove Melvo/78.16.xx.xx/Wikipeire/Petitpois/and now "Mulacho" from the picture. Derry Boi edits on similar Irish issues to Pureditor (like Derry). I actually don't think there is anything in it now as I can see that Derry Boi has been editing mostly on Gaelic football for years, but I'm still pointing it out as it seems reasonably valid enough to do so (so apologies to Derry Boi), and it could save somebody else some time. Someone from Derry/Irish articles called User:Violetriga actually edit-warred with Wikipeire's sock User:Melvo on Editors – so maybe the band are linked to Northern Ireland in some way, although I can’t see a link - they are all English people in an English band, it seems to me.

Another editor had earlier suspicions (here). When Pureditor was asked if he was Wikipeire, he replied:

"I'm not what some old banned editor has to do with anything of what's going on here, but I can deny your acquisition. I've been editing on Wikipedia before this account without registering, mostly on Canada/Toronto related topics. Apologies on you being sick of this debate, but I didn't know that this name issue had been discussed before, even though I have Irish heritage I've never edited any of these pages before, it was actually only after holidaying in Ireland and Scotland that I began to get an interest in editing these pages about this part of the world."

Extra information:

User:Wikipéire wasted weeks of people's time when he joined forces with the multi-sock-user User:Iamandrewrice's puppet 'User:Gozitancrabz' on Wales (not sure if they are related, though). He is willing to use the 78.16 IP to push someone towards 3RR, and to troll people on their Talk page too.

If you look at his earliest edits from his rarely-used User:Melvo sock from (active from Dec 2006) here - it seems reasonable to assume that throughout 2007 there could have been socks we didn't know about, and possibly still don't. There was no editing gap between him editing as Melvo and starting Wikipeire in Feb this year, just a few days - so it was certainly made for a purpose. If he was 78.16.103.84 on this 2007 Ulster page - he could be somebody else on it too. A 78.16 appears recently on Derry here, but 'Pureditor' appears only on the talk page. I'm sure the majority of (if not all of) the 78.16's involved in these areas are him.--Matt Lewis (talk) 07:41, 26 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Comments
 * I find it highly suspicious that Pureditor has ceased to make edits/postings since this Sock case opened. Wikipiere, Gold heart etc - the mystery continues. GoodDay (talk) 15:27, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Looking at User:gold heart and his socks, I think he could be a red herring. --Matt Lewis (talk) 15:38, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
 * GH has become an infamous character on Wikipedia. Well known for his many socks, which he uses to intentionally get editors fighting on British/Irish related articles. GoodDay (talk) 15:40, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
 * I'm not so sure - looking at gold heart's history and his proven socks, I can't see enough direct links (only the interest in Ireland). His suspected IP's are very different too. Maybe somebody else can see a link to gold heart here - but I can't right now. --Matt Lewis (talk) 17:46, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Perhaps you're correct. Let's stick with Wikipiere. GoodDay (talk) 17:56, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Both accounts indef blocked for socking. The IPs are dynamic, by the look of it, and haven't edited for a while (a long while, in some cases). No blocks - I'm afraid that people editing around the targetted areas are just going to have to take edits from 78.16's with a heft dose of salt...GbT/c 12:09, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Conclusions


 * Would finding more help? Looking through Google (which I've done since) there are scores of them with clear links. I wouldn't normally want to block a range - but this seems to be almost owned by him. Is there anything you have to prove to block a range?--Matt Lewis (talk) 15:50, 2 September 2008 (UTC)