Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Militaryfactchecker/Archive

{{sock list|tools_link=yes

|1= CptJohnMiller

|2= 86.167.246.88

|3= Uawrsica89we}}

Earlier this month @Militaryfactchecker, who frequently edited the British Army Training Unit Kenya wiki, received a permanent ban from wikipedia. He committed many sins, including edit warring, soapboxing, plagiarism, and harassment (posting the lyrics to violent racist ethno-nationalist songs on my talk page).

1. He would start edit wars with me to remove information he deemed was damaging to the reputation of the British military.
2. He would cite almost exclusively from Ministry of Defence blogs and social media accounts with little attempt to use secondary sources.
3. He was most active on List of equipment of the British Army.
4. He was banned on the 2nd June by admin @Arado Ar 196.

The day after militaryfactchecker was banned, a user called @CptJohnMiller makes [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Contributions/CptJohnMiller&target=CptJohnMiller&offset=20230606220306&limit=500 his first edit].

1. He edits the same pages as militaryfactchecker. [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Contributions/CptJohnMiller&target=CptJohnMiller&offset=20230606220306&limit=500 His first edit] was militaryfactchecker's favourite page, List of equipment of the British Army.
2. He first began editing the very next day after militaryfactchecker was banned.
3. He is also fond of removing from the leads of articles information potentially embarrassing for the British military on the British Army Training Unit Kenya wiki, just like militaryfactchecker used to frequently do.
4. Just like militaryfactchecker, he cites almost exclusively from Ministry of Defence Blogs and social media accounts with little attempt to use secondary sources

I believe @Militaryfactchecker and @CptJohnMiller are the same person, and that the latter is an alternative account used to evade a permanent ban.

Note: I previously made this report to WP:AN before another editor informed me of the existence of WP:SPI. I apologise for the mess. The History Wizard of Cambridge (talk) 01:43, 15 June 2023 (UTC)

:Yeah, no idea what this means or what it has to do with me. CptJohnMiller (talk) 02:09, 15 June 2023 (UTC)

::Also note that after I accused CptJohnMiller of being a sock account for militaryfactchecker, he then edited his talk user page to express how much he hates communists. This is interesting because militaryfactchecker was very fond of accusing me of being a communist agent after I made a report about him. The History Wizard of Cambridge (talk) 05:20, 15 June 2023 (UTC)

:Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.

• Added Uawrsica89we and an IP that appears related. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 03:38, 15 June 2023 (UTC)
• :Am I being accused of being another account, that has been banned from wikipedia? I'm still fairly new to wikipedia and quite confused. I am this person because I edited 'list of equipment of the british army' a couple times? And also I didn't remove anything from the British Army Training Unit article, the exact same paragraph was already in the article further down the page, and more indepth CptJohnMiller (talk) 03:42, 15 June 2023 (UTC)
• :{{Ping|Courcelles}} apologies, historically a hand wave has been sufficient for spotting additional ducks. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 16:39, 15 June 2023 (UTC)
• Note that there is a pattern of older IPs, on British Army Training Unit Kenya it appears to go all the way back to 46.103.122.163 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/46.103.122.163]. Noting for archival/pattern analysis purposes, too old to be actionable. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 03:55, 15 June 2023 (UTC)
• {{re|Courcelles}} Well, let's examine the similarities between Militaryfactchecker and Uawrsica89we. Both accounts were created 39 hours apart: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAuth/Militaryfactchecker 1] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAuth?target=Uawrsica89we 2]. Both accounts have uploaded at least one image to Commons, the only other project that either account has contributed to (see both previous links). Uawrsica89we's [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Uawrsica89we 9th and 10th edits were made] to the article Royal Artillery. Militaryfactchecker's first edits [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Contributions/Militaryfactchecker&target=Militaryfactchecker&dir=prev were made to the same article]. In fact, Uawrsica89we's [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Royal_Artillery&diff=prev&oldid=1144501974 very last contribution] was made to Royal Artillery precisely one day to the minute before Militaryfactchecker first edited the same article [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Royal_Artillery&diff=prev&oldid=1144696631 here] (which was also Militaryfactchecker's first contribution). Also, if you take a look at the top of Militaryfactchecker's contrib page [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Contributions/Militaryfactchecker&target=Militaryfactchecker&dir=prev here], you'll notice that they took a break from editing between 03:50, 21 March 2023 and then resumed editing on 17:10, 21 March 2023; Uawrsica89we's first edit was made at [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Uawrsica89we 17:19, 13 March 2023]. This indicates that the person(s) operating both accounts not only seem to live in the same time zone; they also seem to have almost identical editing habits (which is odd even for people living in the same time zone). There's also [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Royal_Artillery&diff=prev&oldid=1145583195 this edit] by Militaryfactchecker, where they change something related to the "Exactor" missile; several days earlier, to the same article and section, Uawrsica89we adds [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Royal_Artillery&diff=prev&oldid=1144501860 "and Exactor"]. That's all I can find. Hope this helps. Nythar (💬-🍀) 13:20, 15 June 2023 (UTC)

Miller is {{confirmed }} and blocked (I’m working this mess backwards, I started on ANI, then, AN, now here.). I need to see some argument for checking Uawrsica89we besides a hand wave. At least a diff or two. Courcelles (talk) 12:41, 15 June 2023 (UTC)

:@Nythar, thanks for the convincing case. Turns out they’re stale by a day, but you made the case persuasively enough I’ve blocked. Courcelles (talk) 13:24, 15 June 2023 (UTC)

• Tagged Uawrsica89we. IP is stale. Closing. Thanks, Spicy (talk) 21:01, 18 June 2023 (UTC)

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{{sock list|1=2A00:23CC:B207:B601:7462:4792:22F5:23BB|2=109.157.92.138|tools_link=yes}}

Pro forma so we can get these in the system. I already blocked both IPs for 3 months. Evidence linking Militaryfactchecker to 109.157.92.138 is their unique edit summaries, which use lots of forward slashes.

{{Talk quote block|1=This IP's editing behavior is weird. Their [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Murder_of_Agnes_Wanjiru&diff=prev&oldid=1161352394 very first edit] was made to the article Murder of Agnes Wanjiru, which was created by The History Wizard of Cambridge recently (a user who has been harassed by {{noping|Militaryfactchecker}} and their socks). This IP is also [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_British_Army_installations&action=history&dir=prev&offset=20230411013834%7C1149246705 editing the page] List of British Army installations, which was recently edited by both Militaryfactchecker and their sock CptJohnMiller. Militaryfactchecker had a habit of adding slashes in their edit summaries (e.g., [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_British_Army_installations&diff=prev&oldid=1148615767 brunei units / nepal / worsley barracks / etc]), as did CptJohnMiller (e.g., [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_British_Army_installations&diff=prev&oldid=1158993304 Corps cannot have Regimental HQs as they arent a regiment / updated names / references / added units]). This IP also has this exact same habit: [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=3_Medical_Regiment&diff=prev&oldid=1161361209 Structure now unknown / 5 regt became 3 regt / now active regiment again / catterick]. Total WP:DUCK just from a preliminary analysis. Nythar (💬-🍀) 10:00, 22 June 2023 (UTC){{pb}}I'll add these two edit summaries: CptJohnMiller "[https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_British_Army_installations&diff=prev&oldid=1158993849 not a british army installation. Somalian Army / UN installation where a few british army troops visit to train somalian military]", 109.157.92.138 "[https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_British_Army_installations&diff=prev&oldid=1161370662 Not a British Army installation, a Royal Navy/US Navy joint operating base. No British Army personnel stationed there, just a small number of Royal Navy/Royal Marines.]" Someone please block this troll; they've wasted enough time already. Nythar (💬-🍀) 10:10, 22 June 2023 (UTC)}}

Evidence linking 109.157.92.138 to 2A00:23CC:B207:B601:7462:4792:22F5:23BB is that 23BB immediately resumed the exact same edit war on two pages immediately after 109.157.92.138 was blocked. [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_British_Army_installations&diff=1161370662&oldid=1160837039][https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_British_Army_installations&diff=next&oldid=1161387211] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1st_Aviation_Brigade_(United_Kingdom)&diff=prev&oldid=1161385612][https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1st_Aviation_Brigade_(United_Kingdom)&diff=prev&oldid=1161388053]

I am a new admin and these are my first sock blocks, so feedback welcome on the duration and anything else I might have messed up :) –Novem Linguae (talk) 11:48, 22 June 2023 (UTC)

:Thankyou Novem Linguae, militaryfactchecker and his sock accounts have been harassing myself and others for a month. I fear he will just come back with another IP any day now. Could we get extended protections on pages like British Army Training Unit Kenya, Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, and Murder of Agnes Wanjiru? The History Wizard of Cambridge (talk) 13:37, 22 June 2023 (UTC)

::{{u|The History Wizard of Cambridge}}. The culture on Wikipedia is to protect articles as little as possible, so that everyone can edit. I checked the history of those articles and there was only one user disrupting each article. In that situation the preferred method is to block the user instead of protecting. All the users are already blocked. So for now I can't place protection. If socks return, there's a ton of places you can report them: in this SPI, WP:ANI, WP:AIV after giving them 4 templated warnings on their user talk page, WP:AN3). Or perhaps the easiest way to navigate the bureaucracy is to post on my user talk page, User talk:Novem Linguae. Hope this helps. Happy editing. –Novem Linguae (talk) 18:46, 22 June 2023 (UTC)

:After consulting with other admins, I've reduced 23BB's block to one week, which is more in line with best practices around block lengths for IPs with one day of editing history. I am leaving 109.157.92.138 as 3 months for now since that got upgraded to a checkuser block. –Novem Linguae (talk) 18:06, 22 June 2023 (UTC)

:Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.

• Everything is blocked. Closing and archiving. Courcelles (talk) 23:02, 25 June 2023 (UTC)

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{{sock list|1=PINAC9|tools_link=yes}}

This is a duck sock of Militaryfactchecker, see the blocked IP sock {{IP|109.157.92.138}}, who also refers to reverts of their edits as "griefing" (e.g., PINAC9 and 109.157.92.138's edit summaries). They also edit the same articles. Nythar (💬-🍀) 01:10, 2 July 2023 (UTC)

:Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.

• Same country. No direct link to the case. {{possible}}. {{nosleepers}}. Dreamy Jazz ^{talk to me | my contributions} 14:43, 2 July 2023 (UTC)
• Closing as account is blocked. Spicy (talk) 17:40, 2 July 2023 (UTC)
• :Yeah, the conduct here is crystal clear. Courcelles (talk) 21:27, 5 July 2023 (UTC)

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{{sock list|1=PAWPERSO|tools_link=yes}}

I strongly suspect that User:PAWPERSO is a sockpuppet of User:Militaryfactchecker. See this page for more information. In this case there are two suspected sockpuppeteers, Militaryfactchecker and BritishSpaniard. Judging by the similarity of the latter’s edits (and the edits made by their sockpuppets) to the edits made by the former, I believe both are the same person. BritishSpaniard was blocked separately, and their SPI case did not formally establish a link between them and Militaryfactchecker. You can see at the page I linked to that most of these accounts started editing after an account got blocked. This is true for PINAC9 (a suspected sock of Militaryfactchecker) and BritishSpaniard. I haven’t tracked this case for a while so you can see there’s a gap between late 2023 and today, and I'm not sure how many socks there could have been in the meantime. Anyway, the person behind all those accounts almost exclusively edits pages related to the British armed forces. Below is some behavioral evidence--similarities between Militaryfactchecker, BritishSpaniard, and PAWPERSO, and other socks linked to both sockpuppeteer accounts.

Use of forward slashes in edit summaries

British Spaniard: [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_Royal_Air_Force_operations&diff=prev&oldid=1181220697 "Split up current / previous"]

PAWPERSO: [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Royal_Corps_of_Signals&diff=prev&oldid=1257030972 "11 Signal Brigade disbanded / 7 Signals Group"]

Militaryfactchecker: [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_Army_Air_Corps_aircraft_units_(United_Kingdom)&diff=prev&oldid=1157551401 "667 squadron replaced by RAF pumas/disbanded"]

PAWPERSO: [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Structure_of_the_British_Army&diff=prev&oldid=1256973249 "removed facebook/instagram/outdated/broken citations"]

Militaryfactchecker: [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Duke_of_Lancaster%27s_Regiment&diff=prev&oldid=1146815638 "Removed unproven slander/ negative view of the regiment."]

Similar use of numbers and abbreviations in edit summaries

Militaryfactchecker: [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_Army_Air_Corps_aircraft_units_(United_Kingdom)&diff=prev&oldid=1157551401 "667 squadron replaced by RAF pumas/disbanded"]

PAWPERSO: [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Joint_Aviation_Command&diff=prev&oldid=1257372979 "678 Squadron AAC disbanded"]

BritishSpaniard: [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_Royal_Air_Force_stations&diff=prev&oldid=1181052913 "No. 100 Sqn disbanded, updated other units etc"]

PAWPERSO: [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Army_Air_Corps&diff=prev&oldid=1257515176 "678 Sqn disbanded, correct names of flying stations and Barkston Heath isn't an AAC airfield nor is it even used by AAC units"]

Dolphinwaxer: [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Army_Air_Corps&diff=prev&oldid=1179485889 "667 Sqn no longer at Brunei"]

Dolphinwaxer: [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_British_Army_installations&diff=prev&oldid=1178121946 "6 Reg AAC at Wattisham"]

PAWPERSO: [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Royal_Corps_of_Signals&diff=prev&oldid=1257030972 "11 Signal Brigade disbanded / 7 Signals Group"]

Dolphinwaxer: [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Royal_Army_Medical_Corps&diff=prev&oldid=1178479317 "5 and 4 med regt disbanded, redesignated 2 and 3 med regt (after the original regts were disbanded), future soldier reforms"]

Use of "lmao" in edit summaries in a somewhat disruptive manner (but not blatantly disruptive)

British Spaniard: [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=RAF_Legal_Branch&diff=prev&oldid=1181437157 "Unsourced and if RAF lawyers actually do a 3 month SERE course i'll eat my hat lmao, definitely not true"]

PAWPERSO: [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sukhoi_Su-57&diff=prev&oldid=1228136264 ""best" fighter jet in the world belonging to the second best military in ukraine rendered kaput by $20 ukrainian drone. lmao"]

General snarky/aggressive remarks in edit summaries

PAWPERSO: [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sukhoi_Su-57&diff=prev&oldid=1228138677 "Not how wikipedia works Ivan. There is multiple reputable and reliable sources. Cope tho"]

PAWPERSO: [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sukhoi_Su-57&diff=prev&oldid=1228147798 "What is it with these vatniks removing heavily sourced material? It happened, get over it. Idk what you're yapping about accident losses etc."]

Militaryfactchecker: [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Duke_of_Lancaster%27s_Regiment&diff=prev&oldid=1146815944 "Wtf is wrong with this wikipedia page? It's all negative slander of the regiment. Wikipedia is not for posting every single mistake 1 member of the regiment has made and the supposed "murder" is unproven and definitely should not be on here. Shouldnt take up half the page anyway. Disgusting"]

Militaryfactchecker: [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_equipment_of_the_British_Army&diff=prev&oldid=1152705572 "Not at all. Don't undo things you're clueless about? They're now used on the C8s. Leave"]

Dolphinwaxer: [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=UK_Joint_Special_Forces_Selection&diff=prev&oldid=1179996134 "It's not copyrighted, it's been changed you clown"]

Anti-left wing / pro-right wing user page content

CptJohnMiller: [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:CptJohnMiller&oldid=1160218273 "Dislike communists and lefty snowflakes."]

BritishSpaniard: [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:BritishSpaniard&oldid=1182905600 "Hell No. This user is opposed to communism."]

Pegasussy: [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Pegasussy&oldid=1187025201 "Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger has warned that the website can no longer be trusted — insisting it is now just "propaganda" for the left-leaning "establishment.""]

PAWPERSO: [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:PAWPERSO&oldid=1258162039 "This user supports Donald Trump, trusting that he can Keep America Great."]

—Nythar (💬-🍀) 00:22, 19 November 2024 (UTC)

:Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.

• The old accounts from this case are stale, but based on the IPs I see in the CU logs I would call this {{possible}} based on geolocation, but nothing stronger than that on the technical data alone. {{behav}} Girth Summit _(blether) 12:09, 19 November 2024 (UTC)
• I'll block as suspected on behavior. Izno (talk) 23:09, 9 December 2024 (UTC)

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{{sock list|1=Zacchi1|tools_link=yes}}

I believe that Zacchi1 is a sockpuppet as they are editing the same articles as User:PAWPERSO did who was blocked for being User:Militaryfactchecker. PAWPERSO was blocked on 9 December 2024 and user Zacchi1 was created on 23 December 2024. On United Kingdom Special Forces: nearly identical edits were made by Zacchi1 [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_Kingdom_Special_Forces&diff=prev&oldid=1268924156] the same as PAWPERSO did [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_Kingdom_Special_Forces&diff=prev&oldid=1260996774][https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_Kingdom_Special_Forces&diff=prev&oldid=1262046210] citing the same sources and this edit on the SFSG structure [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_Kingdom_Special_Forces&diff=prev&oldid=1260879332]. On Special Forces Support Group: Zacchi1 made the exact same edit [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special_Forces_Support_Group&diff=prev&oldid=1268924026] as PAWPERSO did [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special_Forces_Support_Group&diff=prev&oldid=1260878101]. On Defence Human Intelligence Unit (United Kingdom): Zacchi1 made nearly identical edits [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Defence_Human_Intelligence_Unit_%28United_Kingdom%29&diff=1268923447&oldid=1268922547] the same as PAWPERSO [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Defence_Human_Intelligence_Unit_%28United_Kingdom%29&diff=1259919776&oldid=1240500763] and 86.20.219.179 [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Defence_Human_Intelligence_Unit_%28United_Kingdom%29&diff=1260548738&oldid=1259919776] did. PAWPERSO moved the page from Joint Support Group [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Defence_Human_Intelligence_Unit_(United_Kingdom)&diff=prev&oldid=1259917214] to Defence Human Intelligence Unit and Zacchi1 moved the page from Joint Support Group to Defence Human Intelligence Unit (United Kingdom) [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Defence_Human_Intelligence_Unit_(United_Kingdom)&diff=prev&oldid=1268923721].

Also, there is a pattern of editing the same pages: Zacchi1 edited the page Units of the Royal Engineers the same as Militaryfactchecker did; Zacchi1 edited Structure of the British Army the same as PAWPERSO and Militaryfactchecker did; Zacchi1 edited Chetwynd Barracks the same as PAWPERSO did; Zacchi1 edited List of British Army installations the same as PAWPERSO and Militaryfactchecker did. Melbguy05 (talk) 05:59, 13 January 2025 (UTC)

:Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.

• {{confirmed}} to {{noping|PAWPERSO}}, also to {{checkuser|DrWatlingWarfare}}. Blocking both. Girth Summit _(blether) 10:31, 13 January 2025 (UTC)

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