FlowerStorm48

FlowerStorm48 (talk+ · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · spi block · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki)
26 May 2015
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Suspected sockpuppets


SarahKrauch appears to be a paid editor who works out of Fiverr (were they have gone through multiple accounts as we have had a number of them deleted). They made changes to a draft article by brand new user Lawrencelightman as their thrid edit. There six and seventh edits were to support the keeping [1][2] two another likely paid for article. The second was created by Race786. A couple of edits latter they support the keeping of the article here [3] by BirdBath0239. Legendarybroly also supported keeping this article and is another brand new account with the same pattern of editing.

To me this looks like multiple accounts opperated by a single person publishing multiple promotional articles for pay and than using their multiple socks to try to keep them from being deleted.

The style of Race786[4] is very simialar to that of SarahKrauch [5] None of them are obviously brand new users. There appear to be a bunch of older associated accounts but I have left them out. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 05:04, 26 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

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Maybe I'm missing something, but what's the link to Girlishkim? This is the only crossover I could find and seems a bit odd for a sock to !vote delete. SmartSE (talk) 17:27, 26 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Yes do not have clear on Wikipedia evidence right now for this connection. Can we just run this 5? Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 22:04, 26 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Found it: Girlishkim and then SarahKrauch removing ((coi)) and ((notability)) from Nadine Spencer. Quack? SmartSE (talk) 22:13, 26 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks User:Smartse for pulling that up :-) Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 22:15, 26 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]
No worries. @Bbb23: There may also be links to Wikipedia:Sockpuppet_investigations/Mr.sahota/Archive as Race786 created yet another draft of Furvah today which that group of socks had created multiple times before. SmartSE (talk) 17:07, 27 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Yes this group has been highly active for years. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 03:11, 28 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments
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22 June 2015
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Suspected sockpuppets

Recreated article Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Sohin Shah, this time as Sohin Shah (entrepreneur). That article was one a sock (DWTSFan2015) attempted to add to List of New York University alumni, [6] which this editor has also done.[7]

Otherwise this editor has a similar fluffy edit history to the socks of adding and removing wikilinks to random articles. Checkuser request considering large number of previously discovered socks. Grayfell (talk) 03:38, 22 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]

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Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments
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16 October 2015

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Suspected sockpuppets


Co-involvement pointed out by JzG at sockfarm nexus [8] and [9]. Brianhe (talk) 15:48, 16 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Comments by other users

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Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

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  • @Brianhe: In order to facilitate and expedite your request, please provide diffs to support your case. Please give two or more diffs meeting the following format:
  1. At least one diff is from the sockmaster (or an account already blocked as a confirmed sockpuppet of the sockmaster), showing the behaviour characteristic of the sockmaster.
  2. At least one diff per suspected sockpuppet, showing the suspected sockpuppet emulating the behaviour of the sockmaster given in the first diff.
  3. In situations where it is not immediately obvious from the diffs what the characteristic behaviour is, a short explanation must be provided. Around one sentence is enough for this. Vanjagenije (talk) 20:39, 20 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

11 September 2017

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Suspected sockpuppets

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I'm seeing various signs that make me suspect that these users are undisclosed paid editors and could be controlled by the same person. To begin with the master, some of their first edits were to remove ((coi)) from articles written by Worthywords (talk · contribs) who I blocked for advertising: [10] [11]. In July 2016, they added this very spammy link, on the very day that the source was published. They also removed a coi tag from Fishel Jacobs (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views), an article created by a throwaway sock account (see User_talk:Bbb23/Archive_38#Suspicious_user). Marvel Fan 2016 has also edited that article only a day before Stars Stripes Forever: [12]. They also crossed paths at Sue Hershkowitz-Coore (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) within only two days: [13]. That article was also created by a throwaway and is about a very obscure author. Similar crossover at Margaret_Ann_Withers (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) [14] which was created by a sock of Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/FlowerStorm48 (stale) and of course they removed ((coi)) along the way. SmartSE (talk) 22:05, 11 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

LOTR Fellowship may also be related: They've expanded Nik Dodani (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) that MV2016 created: [15] and leave the same unusual edit summary of copy edit(s). as the other accounts: [16] [17] [18]. Their only article creation certainly fits the mould for UPE too: Dark Model (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views). SmartSE (talk) 22:22, 11 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for the check @Yunshui:. It's not terribly surprising that they are difficult to confirm since it is obvious from their contribs that they have been doing this for a long time prior to these accounts. There are a couple of other accounts that looks suspicious:
The American Farmer also edited Nik Dodani and crossed over with Marvel Fan at Tony Alessandra (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) [19]. Draft:Clearwater Compliance (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs) that they created was obviously UPE too and there is crossover with the master too: [20].
LCU9283 crossed over with TAF and SSF at Rocco Gardner (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) and created Rancho V (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) which is linked to Gardner. Similar edit summaries again: e.g. [21]. SmartSE (talk) 10:31, 12 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Comments by other users

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Have commented on COIN & emailed SmartSE with some behavioral info related to more suspicious editing for public speakers/artists kind of material. The behavioral notes made by Bilby in another SPI here should be given careful consideration. ☆ Bri (talk) 16:58, 12 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I just found a reposted article originally created by User:FlowerStorm48 sockfarm. Bryan Creed Jack = Bryan Jack. Recent edits by Marvel Fan [22]. We also have a number of contribs from these new actors at Fishel Jacobs (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views), created by FriendsForever2016 (talk · contribs) in 2016 who appears to be CU confirmed FlowerStorm48 sock. Recent edits include Marvel Fan [23], Stars Stripes [24], Marvel Fan again [25].

There are more pointers to FlowerStorm48 through Elisa Pritzker (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views). Created by an editor who has only substantially edited 4 other articles [26]; edited by CU confirmed sock a couple days later [27]; most recently edited by both Boxing Day 2015 [28] and The American Farmer [29]. This is beyond credibility. ☆ Bri (talk) 19:34, 12 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

@Bri: Fishel Jacobs was created by SunShades (talk · contribs) rather than FriendsForever2016 (talk · contribs). Those two accounts were CU confirmed to each other at User_talk:Bbb23/Archive_38#Suspicious_user but FlowerStorm48 was already stale. Behaviourally though there was a good match. SmartSE (talk) 23:13, 12 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]
My bad, had too many open tabs and/or saw the FlowerStorm farm mentioned in that thread together with the CU block and made a rash assumption ☆ Bri (talk) 23:22, 12 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Easily done. Looking at Elisa Pritzker (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) and the rest I agree that it looks very much like this is a continuation of FlowerStorm e.g. [30]. SmartSE (talk) 23:31, 12 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Double checked this time: Margaret Ann Withers (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) was created by a CU confirmed FlowerStorm48 sock [31] then edited by Marvel Fan [32] and Stars Stripes Forever [33]. ☆ Bri (talk) 16:43, 13 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

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 Checkuser note: This is tricky one, since all three are using a VPN or proxy to get around CU checks. Based on what I can find, I'll say that LOTR Fellowship and Stars Stripes Forever are  Likely to be the same user, while Marvel Fan 2016 is  Possible. Can't really give you more than that, I'm afraid. I'm not issuing any CU blocks here, so this needs a behavioural review from another admin. Yunshui 雲水 09:53, 12 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Also worth mentioning that there is a very strong (effectively  Confirmed) connection between LOTR Fellowship and Stonevault, and there is also a weak link to the BurritoSlayer group (although they may just use the same VPN provider). Yunshui 雲水 09:56, 12 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]
@Smartse: LCU9283 looks  Possilikely (a mix between possible and likely), American Farmer is  Possible. Again, both are accessing via network sharing, VPN or proxy IPs. Yunshui 雲水 10:35, 12 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]
@Yunshui: Ok thanks for that. I just noticed that Clearwater Compliance (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) was created by a sock of Bamanh27 and some of these accounts crossed over at National Speakers Association (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) which that master created way back in 2010. (Sorry I never know where it is best to reply in SPIs). SmartSE (talk) 10:48, 12 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]
If you've got your magic admin pants on, here is as good as anywhere. I'll have a look at the Bamanh investigation and see whether there's anything helpful to be gleaned there. Yunshui 雲水 10:56, 12 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Nothing useful from a CU perspective, I'm afraid. Yunshui 雲水 10:59, 12 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]


13 November 2017

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Suspected sockpuppets

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Carying over last investigation, in which CU stated Stars Stripes Forever was likely socking and both American Farmer and Marvel Fan possible, but neither seems to have been tagged. Several lines of evidence point towards these being related accounts at least WP:DUCK.

Logged ☆ Bri (talk) 17:12, 13 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Above information in tabular interaction format. CU confirmed socks of FlowerStorm48 are bolded.

' FlowerStorm48 The American Farmer Blue Sky Cotton Boxing Day 2015 DancingMirrorBall Friends Forever 2016
(SunShades) 		I Love Figure Skating Last5YearsFan Marvel Fan 2016 StarsStripesForever StudioBand2015 SuperFan 2014
FlowerStorm48 - - - - - - - - - - - -
The American Farmer - - - - - - - - - - -
Blue Sky Cotton CU Pritzker - - - - - - - - - -
Boxing Day 2015 Pritzker - - - - - - - - -
DancingMirrorBall Gardner - - - - - - - -
Friends Forever 2016
(SunShades)		 - - - - - - -
I Love Figure Skating Musical Pairing - - - - - -
Last5YearsFan Musical Pairing - - - - -
Marvel Fan 2016 Jacobs - - - -
StarsStripesForever Gardner Jacobs - - -
StudioBand2015 CU Withers Withers - -
SuperFan 2014 Taylor Taylor -

Note, CastleKing1440 socks use same idiosyncratic edit summaries e.g. [58] [59] [60] [61] (CK) vs [62] [63][64] and have crossover at least on one apparently promo job, [65][66][67] ☆ Bri (talk) 04:25, 18 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Is there anything else I can provide to help move this case forward? ☆ Bri (talk) 04:00, 29 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Comments by other users

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Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

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I'm sorry the filer has invested so much work in this, but there's really nothing that needs to be done here. The accounts are old, and the propriety of the reorganization is not worth the effort. I would concentrate on recent disruption when there is any as a more useful expenditure of time. Closing.--Bbb23 (talk) 16:45, 9 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

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