Wikipedia:Suspected sock puppets/Mbabane

;Suspected sockpuppeteer

:{{user5|Mbabane}}

;Suspected sockpuppets

:{{user5|Plannedobesity}}

:{{user5|Nutsheller}}

;Report submission by

-- Collectonian (talk · contribs) 16:56, 12 July 2008 (UTC)

;Evidence

New account User:Plannedobesity (created 09:55, July 12, 2008), well versed in Wikipedia terminology, appeared today, editing the same articles as User:Mbabane, including redoing the detagging of Pygmy Kitabu that was reverted when Mbabane did it[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pygmy_Kitabu&diff=225219491&oldid=225020433], and undoing reverts of his Mbabane's edits on Jean-Pierre Hallet. User:Nutsheller also appeared today (account created 11:01, July 12, 2008), working in the same two articles, appearing to continue edits started by Plannedobesity and also quickly removing any attempts to tag the article for notability issues[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pygmy_Kitabu&diff=prev&oldid=225238097]. Note Nutsheller also uses the IP 66.122.185.187.[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk%3APygmy_Kitabu&diff=225239411&oldid=225239282]

;Comments

Collectonian has entered numerous tags for deletions to the identical page, which is a well-recognized work that is referenced in a movie of the New York Times today. This work is in wide publication and is not an obscure work that would be recognized by only a few contributors to Wikipedia. Collectonian's attack on multiple users is based on her lack of knowledge of the national publication of this work. It is unclear on what basis Collectonian has mounted a single-handed basis to prevent addition of this article to Wikipedia and on what basis she claims that it is of interest to a single user.Nutsheller (talk) 17:13, 12 July 2008 (UTC)

:Nutsheller's comment does not answer the fundamental point of concern, which is the question of sockpuppetry. Even if you are right about the substantive dispute, on which I have no opinion, it is wrong to use sockpuppets to further your agenda. You have not denied the allegation, but if you are someone other than Mbabane, please say so.

:That said, I think all three users are the same person. Plannedobesity's first four edits are to blue-link his userpage and talk page by adding "No content here" to each, then blanking the page. I have observed that this is a common tactic among sockpuppeteers who wish to avoid scrutiny by having blue-linked userpages and talk pages. His edits to Pygmy Kitabu and Jean-Pierre Hallet demonstrate familiarity with Wikipedia more than you would expect from a newbie, and fit the pattern established by Mbabane on those articles just a day earlier. (I didn't check diffs; this is all based just on reading the contribution logs.) Nutsheller also focuses on those articles. Nutsheller created his account just 17 minutes after Plannedobesity stopped editing, and began editing one minute later, also on the same two articles. I find it difficult to come up with any explanation other than that these are all one person. I would block the sockpuppets forever and the main user for six months - an arbitrarily long time, but not forever. Yechiel (Shalom) 19:37, 13 July 2008 (UTC)

;Conclusions

Per Shalom, master is blocked for 24 hours and the socks are blocked indefinitely. Enigma ^message 18:04, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

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