Wikipedia talk:Sockpuppet investigations/Jaredsacks

Regarding the sock-puppet allegations against Jaredsacks and the entries on Abahlali base mjondolo:

Although there is a major case of sock-puppetry going on here, I am afraid that FFMG and Wizzy have got the details wrong. Jaredsacks edits a lot like Sekwanele but this is probably just a political, organizational and, er, intellectual affinity with Sekwanele. I am fairly sure that Jaredsacks is an independent user who has practically outed himself in his chosen wiki name. He does indeed live and work in Cape Town as he claims and not Durban from where, until recently, Sekwanele does most of his editing. Jaredsacks has got caught up in a case of sock-puppetry run by someone else who is so cynical and has created so many sock-puppets that he is finding it difficult to prove he is not part of this scheme.

I suggest we give the guy a break, clear his name and find another title for this discussion that does not mention him.

The real puppet master is Richard2704 who, over the past few years has created Bjorn Maritz, Bjorn Martiz, Inkani, and now recently Sekwanele and Inkululeko. These are all currently being used. I am hamstrung by wikipedia policy against outing individuals but if one considers who the actual editor is i.r.l., the case becomes overwhelming. Without naming anyone, it is a fact that in his various wiki guises Richard2704 references his own real life academic work on abm. He also punts the work of the few individuals with whom he shares a stated political relationship with abm itself. In some published and google-able texts, he is even described as a founder member of abm. I would need further guidance from wiki administrators about how much more to say on this score but I do believe the info divulged treads the fine line between outing and disclosing relevant information in an rather severe case of sock-puppetry. In short, the exaggerated political profile Richard2704 has created for abm on wikipedia flows from an association and relationship in real life.

The proof of the sock-puppetry is tedious but very simple. One must start from the beginning of Richard2704's work as an editor. Consider the unique range of topics that Richard2704 has devoted himself to and compare those to Bjorn Maritz, Bjorn Martiz and Inkani's interests. Consider the dates of creation of the identities and also the log off and log-on times of successive identities on days when puppet-master or sock-puppets were all active. None of this is to speak of the identical political line pushed by Richard2704 and his various sock-puppets. This is a line both in favour of certain organizations and persons and against certain persons and organisations. It is tedious work but once done, it's like a fingerprint.

The reason Richard2704 and Bjorn Martiz has receded somewhat of late as abm commentators and Sekwanele and Inkululeko have been bjorn again (sorry couldn't resist) is as a result of a recent academic expose at a University seminar in which this form of knowledge production of Richard2704 was critiqued. For a while after the expose Richard2704, Bjorn Martiz, etc had the grace to hang their heads. But after a while it all started again. Once again, I wish I could refer people to this seminar and this work but there is the understandable taboo against outing.

So we now have two newer sock-puppets, conveniently Africanised in name, one to deal with Durban abm activities (Sekwanele) and the other (Inkululeko) to deal with Cape Town activities of abm and its sister groupuscle, the aec. However as noted by others, we have the same style of editing, the same attempts at self-reference and the same political import to the edits. More importantly, for Sekwanele in particular, we see the same range of peculiar non-abm interests that point to another generation of Richard2704 sock-puppets. For example Sekwanele is just as interested in Raj Patel, the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union, Nandigrams and Michael Neocosmos as Bjorn Martiz is. And, if wikipedia would only take a peek at the IP addresses, this would in all likelihood be confirmed. Once again, were the real life identity of Richaerd2704 disclosed it would be a slamdunk case. Alas!

In addition, Richard2704 has edited without signing in, on literally hundreds of occasions. One knows it is him, because sometimes when he has edited on abm from an IP address (without logging in) he has displayed the unique and eclectic range of interests that Richard2707, Bjorn Martiz, etc also share. The chances that this is some other twin individual are very, very slight. His dynamic IP address on these occasions is a variation of 41.24xxx. I would thus regard 41.24xx edits as sock-puppets too.

There are also other once-off identities such as Mike399 or Azania Libre that are spawned from time to time. They are suspicious to say the least, creating an entirely false sense of wide consensus about how great, interesting and relevant abm actually are, when they are not even a fraction of what they are made out to be (and I speak as a politically engaged individual staying in Durban). But how does one pierce the circle of strident sock-puppets (and a few genuine supporters) to demonstrate the fact that abm have modest standing and significance in the broader political situation in SA. There are no google articles that say as much. Who writes an article arguing that an obscure group is obscure? This leaves the field open to people like Richard2704 to simulate importance by pointing to his own writings and that of his mates using different names.

The implications for the credibility of wikipedia couldn't be higher. While abm certainly exist and are by all neutral accounts a genuine organization trying to do good work within their limitations, the self-referential and grandiose manner in which they are being written up by a tiny coterie of interested individuals almost has the makings of a hoax. I trust I have given sufficient information to enable a solution being found to this problem and I seriously hope wikipedia has the infrastructure to deal with such a serial and cynical case of sock-puppetry. Indigenousname (talk) 21:25, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Note: moved the talk page to proper name. Please do not move this page to a subpage. -- Kanonkas : Talk  11:04, 16 February 2009 (UTC)