- LumCel (talk+ · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · spi block · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki)
- Suspected sockpuppets
Well, WP:DUCK issues aside, all three accounts appear to be involved in the creation of marginally promotional articles; the type of thing one might expect from a writer-for-hire. User talk pages show histories of creations and deletions of many articles. WikiDan61ChatMe!ReadMe!! 18:17, 13 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.
- I rescued The Artsy Fartsy Show which appeared to be borderline notable and discovered what this user's modus operandi is - he does a web search for a subject, and shotguns sources into the text at seemingly random intervals. The armchair psychologist in me says this sounds like a paid editor who either doesn't speak good English or is just lazy and looking for a quick buck. So if anyone else turns up and does the same thing, we might have some WP:QUACKing going on. Ritchie333 (talk) (cont) 11:52, 15 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]
- Suspected sockpuppets
Sort of a WP:DUCK thing based on AzzuriItalia (talk · contribs) being confirmed as a prior sock of this master. WikiDan61ChatMe!ReadMe!! 14:40, 13 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.
- Suspected sockpuppets
Duckish similarity to prior sock names. Similar pattern of promotional page creation. WikiDan61ChatMe!ReadMe!! 17:29, 10 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.
- Suspected sockpuppets
Four users have created a page with an unlikely title: InventHelp’s INPEX Invention Trade Show. The title is unlikely for two reasons:
- The title contains a nice curly Unicode apostrophe (U+2019) instead of an ordinary typewriter apostrophe (U+0027).
- The title includes both the organizer's name and the show's name.
Let me tell you about these four creators:
- The first creator was DrinkingLumia, who has already been blocked as a sockpuppet of LumCel.
- The second creator was Mr RD; the second creation was a trimmed-down version of the first creation.
- The third creator was Wefteemon, who writes[4] that he runs an online marketing firm.
- The fourth creator was Alexandra Goncharik, who created a redirect named "InventHelp’s INPEX Invention Trade Show" and a target article named "INPEX (invention show)". Within half an hour, Mr RD marked the target article as reviewed.
A fifth user created a similarly-named page: InventHelp's INPEX Invention Trade Show. This page has the same name as the first page, except that it includes an ordinary (non-curly) typewriter apostrophe. Mr RD removed the speedy deletion tag, but the page got deleted anyway. This fifth user is BritishSoldiersAreMurderers, who has already been blocked for having a rude username.
I suspect it's possible that all five accounts are really one person who wants to promote INPEX. (Paid editing?) Unfortunately, since I'm not an admin and can't view deleted revisions, I can't provide diffs to bolster my case.
I wonder if you could also please do a CheckUser on all the involved accounts for other sleeper socks, since LumCel has already used half a dozen socks in the past.
I thank the admin Geni for his/her invaluable help on IRC, which helped me to write this report. Much of the information in this report was discovered by him/her, not by me.
Cheers,
—Unforgettableid (talk) 01:56, 17 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.
- Bilby, I saw your comment in the section below. Thank you for your work on this case. If I may ask: Is LumCel or Mr RD or any other account a sockpuppet of Alexandra Goncharik? Because if so, then may I suggest that Alexandra Goncharik should be temporarily blocked for sockmastering, and that her sockpuppets should be indef blocked. Cheers, —Unforgettableid (talk) 00:43, 28 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]
- Unless the SPI turned up something, which I assume NativeForeigner would have raised if it was the case, then I don't have anything to connect LumCel, Mr RD and Alexandra Goncharik. I believe that all three are paid editors, and I'm chasing up something in relation to Mr RD, but I don't have any reason to believe that they are the same user. My understanding is that they may have shared a client, but were hired independently of each other - it isn't unusual to see a client hire an different editor after a paid-for article is deleted. - Bilby (talk) 01:28, 28 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]
- I hadn't considered that. I've re-analyzed the evidence with which I opened my original report, and re-analyzed some other evidence I've found. I've also dug up some strong counterevidence. (I've summarized it all in a memo stored on my cellphone. If anyone wants to see the undisclosed evidence and counterevidence, simply let me know.) In the end, I believe you are probably right: they are probably separate paid editors. Collusion to keep on recreating a non-notable article is an unfortunate tactic. Sadly, Wikipedia:Sock puppetry#Meatpuppetry doesn't seem to consider it a blockable offense. —Unforgettableid (talk) 05:47, 28 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]
- Not much to do here - MrRD is currently temporarily blocked due to an unrelated SPI. DrinkingLumia was previously indef blocked as a sock of LumCel. BritishSoldiersAreMurderers was indef blocked for username violations, but I've tagged and put a note on their talk page. And I'll raise the paid editing issue with Wefteemon. - Bilby (talk) 03:32, 26 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]