Misplaced Pages

:Sockpuppet investigations/Glasscity09 - Misplaced Pages

Article snapshot taken from[REDACTED] with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
< Misplaced Pages:Sockpuppet investigations

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Hersfold (talk | contribs) at 18:57, 3 April 2010 (→Clerk, patrolling admin and checkuser comments: done). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 18:57, 3 April 2010 by Hersfold (talk | contribs) (→Clerk, patrolling admin and checkuser comments: done)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

Glasscity09

Glasscity09 (talk · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · spi block · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki)


Report date April 2 2010, 20:27 (UTC)


Suspected sockpuppets


Evidence submitted by Orlady

This looks like a classic case of sockpuppetry done to dominate discussion and intimidate other contributors by appearing to constitute a group consensus.

These four accounts, three of which were registered only within the past month, have been engaged in continuing contention (during roughly the last four weeks, at the article and its talk page)) about the content of Washington International University. They all are repeatedly alleging that negative content in the article is POV-pushing and they are attacking the motives of the other participants in the discussion. Note that Washington International University is an unaccredited online-only school that some would allege to be a diploma mill, and it's rare for its article to get much attention, much less 4 new editors in a short time.

I listed Glasscity09 as the puppetmaster because that is the account that has been here the longest. However, this account has not been solely focused on this particular article or topic, and in fact visited the article for the first time only within the last 10 days. Of the other accounts, User:Mainlineepa is a WP:SPA that has touched only the WIU article, while User:Simply cannot be stopped and User:CRedit 1234 have each made a few edits (most of them fairly innocuous) to articles on closely related topics, while repeatedly coming back to the WIU article and related talk page(s) to harangue about the article.

Diffs, etc.:

diff from his talk page, accusing TalkMagic and me of "tag-teaming"
diff on WIU article
diff on my talk page, citing WP policy
diff from WIU talk page, charging that TallMagic and I are POV-pushing
diffs on Daniel Rigal's talk page

I think there are a few more diffs involved, but this gives a pretty good picture of the situation.

I am requesting checkuser because (1) I believe these accounts are engaging in sockpuppetry to bias editing discussions -- and avoid the incivility warnings that likely would have been issued by now if all of those personal accusations had come from the same account, and (2) I think that behavioral evidence may not be sufficient to determine a connection between these accounts. --Orlady (talk) 20:27, 2 April 2010 (UTC)

Comments by accused parties

See Defending yourself against claims.

  • I didn't want to have to bring this to light, but it looks like Orlady has forced my hand. User:Orlady and User:TallMagic are operating a tag-team, POV-pushing operation unlike any other I have seen. They are clearly on a one-track campaign to bring as much defamation and embarrassment to unaccredited institutions as they can get away with. Over 90% of their joint article activity centers on the one-track subject of unaccredited educational organizations. TallMagic is actually a self-incriminating sockpuppet of User:Bill Huffman. If you want a taste of Bill Huffman's agenda, look no further than one of his attack pages off Misplaced Pages. Huffman certainly hates Derek Smart, largely because his PhD degree purportedly comes from an institution that Huffman discredits! Huffman (TallMagic) is a known Internet crusader against diploma mills. Do we want Internet crusaders and their admin tag-team partners lording over the supposedly NPOV content of Misplaced Pages? Just look at TallMagic's top 20 areas of contribution on Misplaced Pages... 19 of the 20 have only to do with unaccredited degree institutions, and the 20th is simply his own Talk page. Go ahead and check for sockpuppetry. I don't know about GlassCity's record of socking, nor of Mainlinepa -- I've never met those people. I do have a knowledge of "Simply cannot", if it's who I think it is. We've worked together on another wiki. When you finally determine that I'm innocent, anyway, there is going to be a follow-up to this on the Admin's Noticeboard. What Orlady and TallMagic have been perpetrating is nothing short of an online attack campaign to defame non-traditional degree institutions (as if they don't have it bad enough!), and now they're stooping so low as to wave their hands frantically about "sockpuppets" so that they can get right back to manipulating articles with shoddy sources like Archive.org records that just happen to support their agenda, but don't stand up to the light of day when you actually look into the basis for the claims. I suppose they will regret the blow-back that they'll have brought upon themselves, glass houses, and all. - CRedit 1234 (talk) 04:01, 3 April 2010 (UTC)
I've made an important analysis that demonstrates that Misplaced Pages has 11 article mentions of "operating illegally" as it relates to the subject of unaccredited institutions. Eight out of those eleven articles (73%) witnessed Orlady as the agent injecting this POV of illegal operations into the record. Not one of the edits were sourced to reliable journalistic publications. They were all a product of what I can only call "original research" of out-of-date government websites that are frankly out of jurisdiction. Do we at Misplaced Pages really prefer to turn to an Oregon website to determine the status of a British Virgin Islands corporation as it relates to an affiliated vendor operating in the state of Pennsylvania, where absolutely zero journalistic or judicial evidence exists that anything whatsoever illegal has transpired? Do we want a source from the state of Maine to adjudicate on an institution in Pakistan? Even more ridiculously, do we accept a blog as a way of sneaking in a defamatory source title? Is Orlady Misplaced Pages's own judge and jury as far as unaccredited institutions are concerned? I am actually thankful that this socking accusation was brought forward by her, for we can now see who has the years-long agenda to manipulate Misplaced Pages. How shameful that, once confronted with intelligent critics who wish to balance articles back to NPOV, Orlady and her partner TallMagic try to resort to accusations that are hardly worthy of investigation. -- CRedit 1234 (talk) 13:35, 3 April 2010 (UTC)
Update: I should amend my claim that "zero" of Orlady's sources came from journalistic publications. Turns out, one source was purportedly to the "Nairobi Business Daily", but clicking the link from the edit as it stood fails, and clicking the link from the current article takes one to a page saying "This article has been unpublished." So, Orlady will use broken links to defame her targets, but she's more concerned about sockpuppetry. I see that GlassCity09 edited here this morning. Where does the check-user data show the editor is located? Where does the check-user data show I am located? I'm curious, as I've never had the pleasure of meeting GlassCity09. Maybe I can drive or fly to his or her location and we can have a laugh about this nonsense. -- CRedit 1234 (talk) 14:22, 3 April 2010 (UTC)
  • I will post a more detailed response later. It's Saturday morning -- I don't have time to deal with this BS. You can see my history here. While it's focused on a particular geography, I do have other interests. I'm a former journalist and blogger, so I dig into one topic and then get accused of being a puppet master? Hah! Did you check the IPs of the different accounts -- are they all near mine? I don't have the conspiracy mindset or astroturfing network to coordinate such an effort. I'll read through this in more detail later. You all in the meantime, enjoy your weekend. --Glasscity09 (talk) 11:33, 3 April 2010 (UTC)
Comments by other users

I consider the comments by CRedit to be personal attacks against me. I also believe that attempts to expose other editors real names on Misplaced Pages is strictly against policy. I believe that Glasscity09CRedit 1234 should be permanently banned for this even if the checkuser clears him/her. Thank you, TallMagic (talk) 05:44, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

TallMagic, could you please explain why you used your account to "sign" a comment left by User:Bill Huffman, noting in the edit summary, "sorry, forgot to sign"? How is that "exposing" your real name? We certainly don't "know" for sure if User:Bill Huffman is really named "Bill Huffman", even if he edits on exactly the same areas of interest that a real-life Bill Huffman has written on for decades. Do you have any insight as to why both the User:TallMagic and User:Bill Huffman accounts have been similarly active on Misplaced Pages over the second half of March 2010? Is sockpuppetry okay for some people, but forbidden for others? Also, would a permanent ban of my account help to improve Misplaced Pages's portrayal of unaccredited institutions, or would it just make it easier for you to keep a stranglehold on those articles, such that they push a "suitable" POV that you and Orlady are happy with? Honestly, I'm sorry to poke with such a sharp stick, but you two really brought this on yourselves, and there is no denying the evidence of your conspiring together, and that you each have an agenda that dates back many years. In fact, if it is the finding of this administrative community that I posed a threat to "exposing" your "real name" that you yourself exposed, I will be happy to see that retracted and I will never again edit any article related to any unaccredited institutions, if and only if you would make the same pledge to stop editing such articles. Think you could do that? Let us know. -- CRedit 1234 (talk) 06:15, 3 April 2010 (UTC)
I don't see how your attacks on me have anything to do with this sockpuppet investigation. Please stop your personal attacks. TallMagic (talk) 15:00, 3 April 2010 (UTC)
It's really not a personal attack to demonstrate that you yourself are operating multiple accounts for the past two weeks, and that you have a clear off-Misplaced Pages agenda (an intense one, at that) which you are importing to Misplaced Pages. I think you realize you are in deep trouble here, and you should really just pray that this doesn't get taken to the Admin Noticeboard. I'm quite certain you wouldn't fare well there. So, how about you stop your attacks and your disproportional defense of entirely unique sources on the web that you're using to mischaracterize "illegal operations"? If an entity breaks the law, there should be documented evidence of charges being filed and/or a case being heard by a court. There is no such documentation. All you have is a snapshot of a 2+ year-old website that itself removed the defamatory statement. I think you're just deflecting attention from the fact that you've been caught, Bill. -- CRedit 1234 (talk) 16:40, 3 April 2010 (UTC)
Clerk, patrolling admin and checkuser comments

{{RFCU}} is deprecated. Please change the case status parameter in {{SPI case status}} to "CURequest" instead.

Checkuser request – code letter: F (Other reason )
Current status – Completed: Reviewed by a Checkuser, results and comments are below.    Requested by Orlady (talk) 20:27, 2 April 2010 (UTC)

 Clerk endorsed Tim Song (talk) 03:29, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

information Administrator note CRedit 1234 has been indefinitely blocked for harassment. Note that this is unrelated to whether or not socking is going on. –MuZemike 18:38, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

Red X Unrelated: Glasscity09 (talk · contribs), Mainlinepa (talk · contribs)
 Unlikely: Simply cannot be stopped (talk · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · spi block · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki), CRedit_1234 (talk · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · spi block · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki)
 Confirmed: Simply cannot be stopped (talk · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · spi block · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki), Brown Loafers (talk · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · spi block · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki)
Very  Likely: Both confirmed users, Iron Eagle 6 (talk · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · spi block · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki), Below Larger Pile (talk · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · spi block · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki)
Hersfold 18:57, 3 April 2010 (UTC)
Category:
Misplaced Pages:Sockpuppet investigations/Glasscity09 Add topic