Aman.kumar.goel
- Aman.kumar.goel (talk+ · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · spi block · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki)
- Populated account categories: confirmed
06 June 2020
– A checkuser has completed a check on relevant users in this case, and it is now awaiting administration and close.
Suspected sockpuppets
- NavjotSR (talk+ · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · spi block · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki)
- Tools: Editor interaction utility • Interaction Timeline • User compare report Auto-generated every hour.
The two editors show great deal of overlapping editing interest.
NavjotSR makes a revert on 3 November 2019 in Sino-Indian War changing "Decisive Chinese victory" to "Chinese victory". Aman.kumar.goel appears on 4 May 2020 and makes the exact same edit with no prior editing history in the page.
Their editing pattern in other articles looks more suspicious. Aman.kumar.goel on 5 January 2020 rewrites the lead and history section of Sitar, stating, "A modified form of Veena, the instrument was invented in medieval India" and replaces an existing reference in the history section with the book titled "Sitar Music in Calcutta: An Ethnomusicological Study", stating "Sitar is said to have been invented, or rather developed from the Veena by Amir Khusrow, a famous Sufi inventor, poet, and pioneer of Khyal, Tarana and Qawwali, during thirteenth century".
The article went through several changes afterwards and some new references were introduced by other editors. On 24 February 2020, NavjotSR makes their first edit in the article with exactly the same text and replaces two references with the same book ("Sitar Music in Calcutta: An Ethnomusicological Study") that Aman.kumar.goel inserted in the history section.
Note that NavjotSR is not merely reverting the previous edit here rather pretends to rewrite the article with an edit summary "poor coding and misrepresentation", but with, surprisingly, the same exact content that Aman.kumar.goel introduced. NavjotSR then, on 24 May 2020, begins an edit war in the article against some anonymous users to keep this version and continues for two days before the article gets fully protected.
Similar partnerships occured in Money marriage and Caste-based prostitution.
Aman.kumar.goel, on 17 May 2020, redirects the newly-created article Money marriage to Wife selling. When they got reverted by the article creator, NavjotSR appears on 19 May 2020 to redirect the article back to Wife selling.
Again, on 17 May 2020, Aman.kumar.goel redirects the newly-created Caste-based prostitution to Prostitution in India. And again after being reverted, NavjotSR appears and redirects it back to Prostitution in India.
In Child prostitution, NavjotSR deletes the content on India, particularly a reference from The Guardian which states "an estimated 100,000 lower caste women and girls are groomed into prostitution as a family trade...".
Edit warring begins: NavjotSR makes two subsequent reverts (One, Two) against two editors to restore their version and in the process, removes an additional reference from Reuters which states, "thousands of Indian children are trafficked into prostitution each year...", along with the previous content stated above. When they get placed on 3RR, Aman.kumar.goel appears and reverts the article back to NavjotSR's version, again with no prior editing history in the article.
Same thing happened in Child sexual abuse, NavjotSR deletes content on India, reverts other editor, reverts again, gets on 3RR, Aman.kumar.goel apears and reverts it back to NavjotSR's version.
There are numerous such cases which I haven't touched yet. The two editors have no history of interactions with each other, be it their own user talk pages or the talk pages of the articles mentioned above. The editing pattern seems to suggest NavjotSR is used by Aman.kumar.goel to do the dirty works while keeping their main account clean. Considering their contentious topics of interest, the master might have more such puppets playing around. I.Bhardwaj (talk) 18:12, 6 June 2020 (UTC)
- @Creffett:, @Maxim:, thank you for your time and efforts in investigating this case. Frankly, I'm indeed surprised to see them turn out to be separate users given the time I had to put to gather the evidence. However, as creffett has mentioned about the possibility of off-wiki canvassing, can it be inferred as a sign of meat puppetry? This could act as a record for other editors who interact with them to approach them in a better way, as the disputes they are involved in are still ongoing. As I stated above, there might be other users as well who are involved with this meatpuppetry. Thanks again. I.Bhardwaj (talk) 22:21, 6 June 2020 (UTC)
- Update: 8 June 2020
I have recently taken a look at another user Orientls (talk+ · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · spi block · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki). I'm adding this suspected sock to the list with some additional evidence. Note that, a user had improperly filed a case earlier under Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Orientls suspecting Aman.kumar.goel to be their sock but the page was rollbacked by Aman.kumar.goel when the filer was indeffed.
Although the account of Orientls was created in 2014, much before Aman.kumar.goel, the editor became quite active around late-2018, the same period when Aman.kumar.goel began editing. While the possibility of off-wiki canvassing can't be ruled out, the amount of evidence prompts me to post them here. I.Bhardwaj (talk) 13:22, 8 June 2020 (UTC)
Aman.kumar.goel + Orientls
Aman.kumar.goel starts edit warring at The Great Gama over the nationality, referring him as an Indian and makes another revert to restore their version. After getting reverted, hours later, Orientls pops up to make their first edit at the article to restore Aman.kumar.goel's version.
Aman.kumar.goel makes an edit at Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to remove some sourced content in what appears to be a content dispute but he calls it "removed mainly the vandalism". They basically changes the status of the conflict from "Pakistani government victory" to "Ongoing" along with the cited sources and removes some additional sourced content, particularly "Elimination of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, Al-Qaeda, Haqqani Network and other terrorist groups presence in Pakistan" and changing "Reduction of drone strikes conducted by the United States in Pakistan" to "Drone strikes were conducted by the United States".
The removed sourced content was restored by another editor on the same day, who in turn was reverted by an IP (most likely belonging to Aman.kumar.goel/NavjotSR/Oreintls). When the IP was reverted by two uninvolved vandalism patrollers through Huggle multiple times, Orientls pops up to make their first edit at the article to revert the patroller and restore the version of Aman.kumar.goel.
Aman.kumar.goel makes a gigantic revert at Vedas on 28 April 2020 to remove large amount of sourced content. Article goes through major changes by two other editors, one of whom added some references and expanded a section, stating "...reformers like B. R. Ambedkar, who saw it as part of the oppressive Varna (caste) system propogated by the dominant Brahminical social order." Hours later, Orientls appears to make their first edit and removes the part. After restoration by the other editor, Aman.kumar.goel removes it again.
Orientls makes an edit to remove some sourced content, particularly, "Pro-Pakistan sentiment in Kashmir is present among kashmiri muslims and Kashmiri people who are opposed to Indian rule in Jammu and Kashmir...". When another editor restored the content on 18 April 2020 with additional sources, Aman.kumar.goel pops up hours later and makes their first edit at the article to remove the same content that Orientls did.
Also, there are several instances where they joined the same AfDs to make same ivotes, for instance, Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Dalit Film and Cultural Festival, Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Caste-based prostitution etc. Again, the two editors have no history of interaction between them in their talkpages. I.Bhardwaj (talk) 13:22, 8 June 2020 (UTC)
I'm also taking a look to collect evidence of overlaps between Orientls and NavjotSR (who exhibit similar overlapping pattern) which will further bolster the case of sockpuppetry (or meatpuppetry). Will post it shortly. I.Bhardwaj (talk) 13:22, 8 June 2020 (UTC)
Comments by other users
Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.
Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments
This case is being reviewed by Creffett as part of the clerk training process. Please allow them to process the entire case without interference, and pose any questions or concerns either on their Talk page or on this page if more appropriate.
Clerk endorsed - There are indeed a fair number of places where both pop up to restore to the other's edits, though I wouldn't quite call this good hand/bad hand behavior. They also both showed up at Talk:Annexation_of_Dadra_and_Nagar_Haveli#Requested_move_21_November_2019 and Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Criticism_of_Pakistan_Armed_Forces, so I'm a little suspicious of vote-stacking. There is enough evidence here that I agree sockpuppetry is possible (though I suppose it could also be off-wiki canvassing), let's find out. Checkuser endorsed. creffett (talk) 18:39, 6 June 2020 (UTC)
Unlikely to be the same individual. Maxim(talk) 21:11, 6 June 2020 (UTC)
- I.Bhardwaj I am aware of your concerns and have directly asked both users about whether they are connected. creffett (talk) 22:30, 6 June 2020 (UTC)
