Wikipedia talk:Articles for deletion/William Bradford (professor)

Comments from my talk page
I don't know how closely you've been following the discussion since putting the William Bradford (professor) article up for AfD, but I'm concerned that there may be some funky things going on with the discussion and the related articles. I think there may even be a possibility that Bradford himself is sockpuppeting the discussion in order to get the article deleted. Part of the Bradford controversy, which has been removed from the current article, is that he was accused of sockpuppeting on the college's student blog. I've been practicing AGF on the AfD and responding as if these are real individuals, but these are the accounts and IPs in the AfD that I am suspicious of:


 * Special:Contributions/Jonswift
 * Special:Contributions/24.250.202.104 [Cox communications, Atlanta (not necessarily located there) TedTalk/Contributions 21:38, 23 July 2006 (UTC)]
 * Special:Contributions/128.227.48.214 [University of Florida TedTalk/Contributions 21:38, 23 July 2006 (UTC)]
 * Special:Contributions/Massmato
 * Special:Contributions/Owmyeye

I'll cover IPs related to the articles later.

Here's why I suspect them:
 * Jonswift: claims to be new, but goes straight to an AfD. After I mention that I'd checked his contribs and noticed that his first and only edits were on this AfD, he joins a few other AfDs in the next half-hour, then disappears. Also, may have been trying to get away with voting two or even three times. His first vote was actually two edits. His second edit starts on the next line, with the words "vote to delete," and reiterates points already made in the first edit. It only looks like one vote because there is only one return, not two. It could be he thought of an extension for his first comment, but it could be a botched attempt to look like two people were voting, the first unsigned, the second a signed user. Later, he leaves a third delete remark, unsigned.
 * "24"/Barbara: All edits are on AfD or its article, until after I mention that I'd checked Jonswift's contribs, after which she visits a couple of other AfDs and vanishes (also, another "24" IP edited the article and a related article on April 16)
 * "128"/Zvonimir: Only other edit (apparently helpful) was back in February, for "List of schools in Colombia." If it's a dynamic IP that gets reassigned from session to session, that could explain the unrelatedness of the edits and why we haven't seen more from this IP. (Or maybe Bradford's now teaching in Colombia?) But what ordinary user (especially if he really is Russian), as their only edit of a session, would go to an AfD (which I believe had already fallen off the "front page"), to comment on how "obscure and unimportant" the person was?
 * Massmato: the subtlest sockpuppet, if it is one. A new account, but clearly not a new user. Doing mostly AfDs (including relatively old, not just recent ones), of which Bradford is only one, but has also tagged a couple of articles for {afd}. Shows clear knowledge of Wiki lingo and policy. It's possible that now that the puppeteer realizes that someone is watching and checking on him, he is trying to hide his singular concern in a flurry of edits. But he could be someone just piling on to an apparently overwhelming bandwagon.
 * Owmyeye: new account, only edits are to article's talk page and the AfD

Of course, that's their contrib history as of the time I'm posting this. If he's watching my edits, he could see this and start whipping up a storm of edits from these accounts.

Here's the background. Researching this case on Google, I found that what finally forced him to resign was evidence that his claim to be a Silver Star-decorated Green Beret turned out to be a peaceful stint in the Army Reserve. Since this wasn't in the article, I looked through its history. I found that this information had been in the original version, only to be deleted a number of times.

But it was what happened when I posted my findings to AfD that really aroused my suspicions. You can look at the history, but here are the salient edits:


 * 03:10 UCT, July 20: first Jonswift edit, unsigned
 * 03:19: second Jonswift edit, signed, possible attempt to look like a second voter
 * 03:00, July 21: I post what I'd found out
 * 03:19: Jonswift, who had already posted a delete vote, makes an unsigned comment again calling for delete, but also changes a reference in MY comment to "left-leaning blogs" to read "far left-leaning"; I prepare a note telling him not to edit others' comments
 * 04:27: "24," who calls herself Barbara, makes a post claiming to know him and to vouch for his military service and integrity; the story she tells of a cabal to ruin Bradford would actually make this incident more notable than the media version
 * 04:36: "24" edits my remarks, and has me saying that this was not notable enough, when I'd said I wasn't sure if it was notable enough, and bolds Jonswift's second delete
 * 04:43: when I try to post my reply to Jonswift, I find "24" has edited the page and also changed my remarks. By editing from her first post, I undo her changes (but forgot Jonswift's). I use {unsigned} to identify Jonswift's comment, tell him he shouldn't edit other users' comments, and note that I'd checked his contribs and found that he'd only edited this AfD.
 * 04:52: Jonswift apologizes, says he's "new" and doesn't have all the etiquette down yet
 * 05:09: I also tell "24"/Barbara not to edit my comments, and that it only serves to push me towards keep
 * 05:20: "24" apologizes, and we continue with an amicable exchange
 * 11:34: finally notice "far left" is still in my comment, and I take out "far"
 * 15:10: "128" logs a delete vote, signs Zvonimir
 * 20:44: express my frustration that recent voters are ignoring the evidence I turned up, post more evidence (even though I suspected the reason for their behavior was that many were sockpuppets)
 * 16:53, July 22: Massmato votes delete
 * 19:48: Owmyeye votes delete, makes actual points; I respond

My original intent was to give you time to investigate these charges yourself, before putting up an {afdanons} sign. However, I'm not sure you're still up, so I may end up putting it up before I turn in.

I also mentioned that the AfD's article had been edited and counter-edited. I actually found that the problem editors weren't just the pro-Bradford ones. Here is the timeline:
 * March 6: in a likely unconnected edit, IP 141.217.85.67 changed the article from saying that Bradford was one of "fewer than fifteen" tenure-track Amerind faculty members to "fifty." This was probably vandalism, but that figure has stayed in the article. Checking contribs showed that was the sole Wikipedia edit for that IP.
 * April 16: a series of four edits from IP 24.208.219.233 deleted various passages unfavorable to Bradford ([|cumulative diff]). Checking contribs shows that the only edits from that IP came during an eight-minute period on April 16, and the other target was the Florence Roisman article. The IP made three edits to that article, removing references to faking his military record and using assumed names on the blog from the account of her conflict with him(cumulative diff).
 * May 5: a section on the military service controversy is added by User:IndyLaw, another one-day editor.
 * May 6: two edits from IP 66.184.168.65 remove the new section (cumulative diff); again, contribs show another one-day editor interested in a single article.
 * July 9: a one-sentence paragraph about him lying about his military service is added by IP 71.108.208.188
 * July 10: sentence deleted by IP 24.250.202.104 (diff); this IP will show up at the AfD
 * July 19: sentence added back by 71.108.208.188; contribs show that the other article he worked on was James Dobson, where he made flamebait POV edits.
 * July 19: as described on AfD, IP 130.94.134.250 deletes the para again, then posts the attack/nn speedy. After you take that down, he posts the PROD. Contribs show this IP to have broader interests than the others, though the articles he edited Muslim baiting and The Jawa Report are inflammatory POV.
 * July 21: "24" returns from AfD to again edit the article (diff)

--Groggy Dice 06:30, 23 July 2006 (UTC)


 * I'm also suspicious of the new voter, Special:Contributions/207.67.145.159. --Groggy Dice 22:16, 23 July 2006 (UTC)