Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Sheepman2099/Archive

{{sock list|1=Shabel432098|2=Creativenforcement|tools_link=yes}}

I began a cleanup of the page for McGill University in removing and rewriting WP:BOOSTER material on 20 May 2023 as part of work regarding universities in North American and abroad. My edits were first reverted by User:Sheepman2099 on the 17 June 2023 [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=McGill_University&diff=prev&oldid=1160527745 here] then [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=McGill_University&diff=prev&oldid=1160527773 here] with no edit summary. This continued with a series of reversions first by Sheepman, then an IP address, then by a new account titled User:Shabel432098. The account of Shabel432098 engaged in an edit war with @Leventio, who also edits education articles, by reverting beyond 3RR. After a series of these reverts by WP:SPAs I requested an increase in page protection, which was granted by Daniel Case on 1 July 2023 [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=McGill_University&diff=prev&oldid=1162776821 here]. After this, SPA activity stopped until 22 July 2023, when the protection expired and User:Creativenforcement reverted my edits [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=McGill_University&diff=prev&oldid=1166525418 here].

Personal attack by User:Sheepman2099 on 17 June 2023 [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=McGill_University&diff=prev&oldid=1160548152 here].

1. All of the accounts mentioned began their time on the wiki exclusively on the McGill University page as reverting previous editors' edits, none of which had a previous history of editing beforehand.
2. User:Sheepman2099 branched out from the Mcgill University page onto the page for Kim Ung-yong beginning on 17 June 2023 [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kim_Ung-yong&diff=prev&oldid=1160551476 here], a page that is wholly unrelated other than that it is linked on my userpage under my substantial contributions. The trend of reverting my edits continued there (along with one IP), and removed sourced material without putting any sources of their own ( [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kim_Ung-yong&diff=prev&oldid=1160551476 [1]] [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kim_Ung-yong&diff=prev&oldid=1160835501 [2]] [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kim_Ung-yong&diff=prev&oldid=1160838715 [3]] ). The page of Kim Ung-yong previously had nowhere near as much editor activity, and followed the edit warring on the Mcgill University page.
3. Trend in accounts asserting that my edits constitutes vandalism. ( [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=McGill_University&diff=prev&oldid=1160527936 [1]] [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=McGill_University&diff=prev&oldid=1166525418 [2]] ) GuardianH (talk) 20:37, 23 July 2023 (UTC)

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

• {{Inprogress}} Dreamy Jazz ^{talk to me | my contributions} 22:03, 23 July 2023 (UTC)
• {{confirmed}}:

:{{socklist|Guardianpeanut|Shabel432098|Fjsl203489|Sheepman2099|Collagenisbad}} Dreamy Jazz ^{talk to me | my contributions} 22:05, 23 July 2023 (UTC)

• {{checkuser|Creativenforcement}} geolocates to a similar location of the same country. Dreamy Jazz ^{talk to me | my contributions} 22:10, 23 July 2023 (UTC)
• {{bnt}} the confirmed accounts. Dreamy Jazz ^{talk to me | my contributions} 22:10, 23 July 2023 (UTC)
• :@Dreamy Jazz As of today, a new account has sprung up: User:Iamgonnamissyou767 ( [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=McGill_University&diff=prev&oldid=1166880091 [1]] ). It is obvious it is the same person, with the same obsessive edit summary. GuardianH (talk) 18:34, 24 July 2023 (UTC)
• {{checkuser|Iamgonnamissyou767}} geolocates to the same general location. {{duck}}. Dreamy Jazz ^{talk to me | my contributions} 21:50, 24 July 2023 (UTC)
• {{btc}} Dreamy Jazz ^{talk to me | my contributions} 21:54, 24 July 2023 (UTC)

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

Reverting "vandalism" which was actually to restore edits made by sockpuppets. The use of the word "vandalism" is common amongst the sockpuppets editing there to restore their preferred version. Dreamy Jazz ^{talk to me | my contributions} 08:49, 27 July 2023 (UTC)

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

Also worthy to note is that Globalwikicontributor bears similar edit summaries in the same fashion to the previous sockpuppets, including detailed edit summaries challenging existing material as sourced, improperly sourced, or wrong and removing them ( Some examples from his most recent User contributions: [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_University_of_Toronto_alumni&diff=prev&oldid=1019685217 [1]] [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_University_of_Toronto_alumni&diff=prev&oldid=1019681221 [2]] ). Along with what's already on Mcgill University, see also the edit log for Kim Ung-yong for a comparison: [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kim_Ung-yong&diff=prev&oldid=1160551476 [1]] [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kim_Ung-yong&diff=prev&oldid=1160835501 [2]] GuardianH (talk) 05:33, 28 July 2023 (UTC)

The IP I mentioned in the earlier SPI case was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/219.66.157.138 User:219.66.157.138] on Kim Ung-yong which also used similar language and whose edits were made along with the sockpuppets. GuardianH (talk) 05:40, 28 July 2023 (UTC)

:Dreamy Jazz It seems this SPI has stalled in terms of review. GuardianH (talk) 16:26, 13 August 2023 (UTC)

• {{CURequest}} - Requesting CU. Already ran CU a few weeks ago, but was unsure on the results. Dreamy Jazz ^{talk to me | my contributions} 03:20, 18 August 2023 (UTC)
• {{Cu-endorsed}} - See above. --Jack Frost (talk) 09:30, 18 August 2023 (UTC)
• :I come down on the side of a (very helpful, I know) {{inconclusive}}. Purely from the technical side, I don't see it. From a behavior one, I sort of do. Courcelles (talk) 18:09, 18 August 2023 (UTC)
• {{Closing without action}}. Feel free to report again if there is substantially more evidence. MarioGom (talk) 17:52, 27 September 2023 (UTC)

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

Has the same single-article interest as Sheepman2099 and his socks (McGill University), and their writing styles/language used is near identical with edits from Sheepman that led to page instablity earlier in the year and resulted in the page being semi-protected until a week ago. Korensho in turn was created shortly thereafter.

The following user has made a single edit which shows a degree of proficiency unusual for a new user. Comparing their edit so far with multiple socks, the writing style and language used is near identical, and their edit is essentially restoring content created by Sheepman and his socks. Comparing Korensho's edit diff on the article [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=McGill%20University&diff=prev&oldid=1179000119 here] with the following proven sock edits:

• [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=McGill_University&diff=prev&oldid=1166525418 Creativenforcement - Diff 1166525418]: This edit and Korensho both restore the sockmaster's preferred language (from "McGill alumni, faculty, and affiliates include 12" to "McGill counts among its alumni and faculty 12". The latter portion of both edits are also near-identical edits, both restoring preferred text of the sockmaster in the latter part of the lead.
• [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=McGill_University&diff=prev&oldid=1166880091 Iamgonnamissyou767 - Diff 1166880091]: This edit and Korensho are near-identical and restores the sockmaster's preferred language (from "McGill alumni, faculty, and affiliates include 12" to "McGill counts among its alumni and faculty 12"). The beginning and end of both edits are also near-identical edits, both restoring preferred text of the sockmaster in the first and last paragraph of the lead.
• [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=McGill_University&diff=prev&oldid=1162156565 Shabel432098 - Diff 1162156565]: Near identical restoration of sockmaster's preferred text in the first paragraph concerning rankings.

If it quacks like a duck... Leventio (talk) 07:20, 7 October 2023 (UTC)

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

• CU puts them in the same country, but a different city as the blocked socks, so any connection would need to be made based on behaviour, and I'm not going to block them on the grounds of a single diff - for all I know, there is some sort of drive on to get students or alumni of that institution to improve their Wikipedia page. That would probably be a bad idea, but it's not sockpuppetry. If they persist in editing promotionally or disruptively, they can be blocked and/or the page can be protected; feel free to come back if more behavioural evidence emerges. Girth Summit _(blether) 14:42, 7 October 2023 (UTC)

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{{sock list|1=Guardiansiqisverylow|2=Korentio|3=Dsjfajs3248|4=Kakaronen|5=Korensho|6=Kakkisj|tools_link=yes}}

Investigated due to reports [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/IncidentArchive1151#Single-purpose_account_devoted_to_attacking_GuardianH here] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Doug_Weller&action=history here]. CU data is inconclusive, but consistently inconclusive, and behaviour is a fit for this case. Blocking unblocked account, tagging all as suspected. Girth Summit _(blether) 17:01, 17 April 2024 (UTC)

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

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{{sock list|1=Hdsksj4839|2=Loudmals|tools_link=yes}}

This is for the record: these two accounts are CU-confirmed with each other; I believe they are connected to Sheepman via behavior--which is, sad to say, pretty obvious. Drmies (talk) 15:57, 6 June 2024 (UTC) Drmies (talk) 15:57, 6 June 2024 (UTC)

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

• Pro forma I guess since Drmies blocked them all. Izno (talk) 02:34, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

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