Unscintillating

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

02 April 2018

Suspected sockpuppets

This is based entirely on behavior evidence - checkuser is not requested. On January 20th of this year, Rusf10 began a discussion at ANI about Unscintillating's obstructive editing at AfD. Reyk proposed a topic ban on all deletion discussions which was later enacted. While that discussion was underway, NeilN specifically warned Unscintillating about their AfD behavior. Unscintillating made one more AfD edit after that warning and has since made no further edits anywhere, apparently disappearing.

This IP address is located to Whittier College. Prior to 2018, the activity was fairly random with the exception of multiple edits to the college's article, which would be expected of a publicly-available college address. This pattern changed as February 23rd of this year and all subsequent activity has been in relation the deletion activity that was Unscintillating's only interest. The person using this address demonstrated immediate familiarity with AfD, Wikiprojects, and notability guidelines. They have always !voted "keep" just as Unscintillating did (of the 68 AfD's they've !voted in, all but 1 was "keep"). The pattern of argumentation in these AfD discussions is also familiar and reflects the concerns raised in the ANI discussion. Nightfury, for example, noted this user's bad-faith accusation of canvassing in relation to an AfD. That discussion petered out but NeilN warned the IP user to not place further spurious canvassed tags there. Other repeated Unscintillating behaviors have also been demonstrated by this IP user, with minor variations. For example, selectively quoting and misapplying standards or twisting policy to always favor their position such as "That the article contained copyvio is no argument for deletion." or "specific notability guidelines... allow articles to be kept which don't meet the GNG." This account and Unscintillating also show similar rates of accuracy in their "Keep" !votes (about 41% and 53%, respectively). These similarities give rise to the reasonable suspicion that Unscintillating is using this IP address to circumvent their topic ban. Eggishorn (talk) (contrib) 18:32, 2 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Comments by other users

Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.

The highly inapposite edit summary for the above I think says everything that needs be said about the seriousness (or lack thereof) of this response. Eggishorn (talk) (contrib) 16:10, 3 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
192.160.216.52, Checkuser cannot be used owing to yourself, as an unregistered user being accused. I would also note that Unscintillating was topic banned from XfD approximately 3 months ago. A way to get around it possibly? I will say, checking cross-wiki contribs suggests both users have edited the same wikis, each with similar interests. I am with Eggishorn here and I say this is the same person.Nightfury 07:56, 4 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Isn't that convenient, that "Checkuser cannot be used owing to [myself], as an unregistered user being accused." What does it mean in English? Would you care to share your proof that "both users have edited the same wikis"? I don't even know what that means either. I've edited ENWP only. And what are the "similar interests"? The edit notice right at the top of the page you used to add that unsupported nonsense says clearly: "Do not make accusations without providing evidence. Doing so is a personal attack and will likely be summarily removed." Where's your evidence, User:Nightfury? 192.160.216.52 (talk) 13:58, 4 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
IP, administrators have a duty of care here as to not publicly disclose IPs against users. I suggest you also do a cross wiki check, using the link above, both on your IP and on the user you are accused of being. Nightfury 14:01, 4 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
For convienience's sake: Cross-wiki check for IP and for named user. Nightfury 14:03, 4 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Note this has now been raised at ANI. Nightfury 15:01, 4 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
You're using so-called evidence from 2012 against me? This IP address belongs to a 4 year college. Get for real. 192.160.216.52 (talk) 17:30, ::::::::::*4 April 2018 (UTC)
  • Everyone graduates in 4 years? And what if you were a janitor or some other employee? You'd have access to the school network over longer time frames, wouldn't you? Niteshift36 (talk) 18:30, 4 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • Maybe I'm a janitor? And I just randomly decided to take a six year break between editing on WikiwhateverTF and commenting on AfDs in a way that offends your holy named-account-holderness? Astonishing! Why don't you go back to building an encyclopedia instead of indulging your taste for silliness on various noticeboards? 192.160.216.52 (talk) 18:52, ::::::::::*4 April 2018 (UTC)
  • Miss the "or other employee part"? Obviously you weren't too busy reading WP:NPA. Niteshift36 (talk) 21:20, 4 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • Obviously you weren't too busy reading the edit notice at the top of this page when you left your ridiculous comment. Making accusations of sockpuppetry without evidence is a violation of NPA. The only reason you and User:Eggishorn are not getting hauled up to ANI and sanctioned for doing it is because you're editing behind anonymous accounts. Try using an IP to start an SPI against someone whose only mistake was opposing your holinesses at AfD for legitimate reasons and see how far you get. 192.160.216.52 (talk) 13:22, 6 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • Nice try....except I haven't actually rendered an opinion about whether or not you are a sock. I've made no "accusation". I addressed a comment that you made about how the college is a 4 year school, so it was evidence that you couldn't be a sock. Sorry you missed that important fact. Niteshift36 (talk) 18:58, 6 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

That makes no sense whatsoever but yo're welcome to try. Even taking everything you've said here at face value leaves a pertinent question open. The history of this IP address makes it highly likely that the user behind it since 2/23 is not the same user or users who previously edited from this address. The arguments made both here and in AfD also make it equally likely that the user behind this address was not a new user as of 2/23. You've made an offer to have a checkuser done, an offer you probably knew was not going to be accepted for the reasons Nightfury mentioned above. You do, however, have another option that would clarify this question and quickly and decisively close this report. If you voluntarily disclosed your prior user identity or identities privately to the functionaries, they could confirm your identity without violating WP:OUTING. The choice is up to you. Eggishorn (talk) (contrib) 17:57, 6 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Why would I do that given that no one but you and Mr. Nightfury believe your accusations. Obviously I've been editing for a long time. And you're wrong about my not editing from this IP before February. But there's clearly no reason to defend myself at this point since everyone's seen through your transparent attempt at gaining an advantage at AfD. 192.160.216.52 (talk) 18:15, 6 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
not seeing any convincing behavourial or technical evidence. The global edits of the two accounts don't seem to correlate with the ip editing on wikiversity and commons but Unscintillating has not edited those projects, thanks Atlantic306 (talk) 11:26, 5 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Ugh, the sockpuppet has now felt the need to put an ANI notice up on my talk page and involve me in unnecessary forum shopping here is the revision before it was deleted from ANI. -- Waddie96 (talk) 16:33, 10 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Ugh, the editor has started calling me a sockpuppet even though NO ONE has concluded that I am one in clear violation of WP:NPA. 192.160.216.52 (talk) 16:44, 10 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • Why don't you find the evidence before you post an accusation? If you're not the Queen of Hearts that's the order that most people think is reasonable? 192.160.216.52 (talk) 16:47, 10 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
"nomination has made undue assumptions"
"Nominator hasn't prepared the nomination"
"This isn't a valid deletion nomination"
...and so on. Quite obvious if you know what to look for. This IP also seems just as combative as Unscintillating.TheGracefulSlick (talk) 16:52, 10 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
No actual reason for deletion
No actual reason for deletion
No actual reason for deletion
No actual reason for deletion
No actual reason for deletion

It's a serious point. Many noms don't give reasons for deletion. What is anyone commenting on the AfD supposed to but say so? WP:AfD Patrol even recommends that such a failure be noted: "If you see a nomination where the nominator has not stated a Wikipedia:Deletion policy-compliant justification, add a note to the nomination justification pointing out deletion policy and asking for a restated justification." So essentially I'm being criticized with putatively behavioral evidence selected on the basis of search criteria for doing what WP policy requires to be done. Nice. 192.160.216.52 (talk) 17:27, 10 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

  • So this is apparently another IP that you edit under? It does beg the question of how many others there may be? Niteshift36 (talk) 14:47, 11 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • What an insightful comment! Thank you for yet another invaluable contribution to the discussion, oh great SPI investigator! Speaking of "begging" questions, how many IPs do you edit under? Oh, that's right, you've chosen to hide that information by using an anonymous account! Anyway, I don't edit under that IP, I just happened to be on the wifi there for a little while, which should be clear if you look at the contribs of that IP, which have nothing to do with me except for this one comment. 192.160.216.52 (talk) 14:51, 11 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

@TonyBallioni:, I posted some evidence in the original post above but I will attempt to provide more here shortly. Thank you in advance for your patience. Eggishorn (talk) (contrib) 15:33, 10 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@Eggishorn and TheGracefulSlick: thanks to both of you for your comments. TGS, thanks in particular for providing comparison diffs. I'd like clerks and other administrators to comment, so I'm not going to close this yet (and I also want both of you to feel free to provide more diffs). I am not currently convinced that these are the same person from the behavioral evidence: there are some significant stylistic differences in their !votes, and while this might sound trivial, while Unscintillating was pretty firmly an inclusionist, he didn't *only* !vote keep. This IP only has !keep votes. While I agree that they are similar, I personally don't see enough here for a block of a long term contributor for evading a ban. It is also worth noting that the IP did start contributing before the ban, and there is no overlap there: it doesn't really make sense to contribute as an IP with different linguistic and stylistic choices when you aren't under a ban. I'd like to see what other administrators think here. TonyBallioni (talk) 22:43, 10 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

07 April 2018

Suspected sockpuppets


I am not totally convinced about the IP address and Unscintillating being the same person, but there is another account that I been aware of for a while, that most likely is. FloridaArmy has existed since 2016, but their editing really picked up at the end of last year. Between December 2017 and February of this year when Unscintillating became topic-banned and stopped editing, the two accounts showed up in the same AfDs 13 times see editor interaction here. Of those 13 times they both voted keep every single time with three exceptions, here unscintillating votes keep, but FloridaArmy votes Merge, in Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Donald Trump racial views Both accounts make comments, but do not vote (very unusual) [4] [5], & Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Yantacaw Brook Park, New Jersey where FloridaArmy votes Keep, but Unscintillating just makes a comment. Just like Unscintillating, FloridaArmy frequently makes accusations that WP:BEFORE searches have not been done. For example, [6], [7] [8]. Another common theme is the accusation of "bad noms" (same thing as Unscintillating constant "procedural keep" argument)- [9] [10] [11] I've been aware of the possibility that these two accounts were the same for a while, but have been holding off on an SPI, but now after looking more closely, I feel very confident that these are the same person. Rusf10 (talk) 00:55, 7 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Comments by other users

Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.

Don't be fooled. It was not uncommon for Unscintillating to insert stupid questions into discussions. See [[12]] [[13]] [[14]] I don't think its a coincidence that they vote for keep almost by the same percentage according to the AfD tool.--Rusf10 (talk) 20:37, 7 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • @IP, there are two reports. This one (the second report) is closed. The one "at the top of the page" (the first report) is open.--Bbb23 (talk) 12:56, 15 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

Insufficient evidence. Closing.--Bbb23 (talk) 14:01, 10 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]


08 May 2018

Suspected sockpuppets

I was previously unconvinced that Unscintillating and the IP were the same, now I have definitive proof. The IP just made the same exact (word for word) speedy keep argument in an AFD [16] "Speedily Keep as per WP:DGFA. This is another "I have the right to nominate articles on New Jersey and nearby states" nomination." that Unscintillating made in an previous AfD [17] No need for a checkuser here, it is 100% clear. Block both for evading a topic ban here Rusf10 (talk) 19:31, 8 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Comments by other users

Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.

If you're not the same person, what possible reason do you have to search through old afds and then copy and paste comments from another user, the very same user that you have already been accused of being a sockpuppet of? I'm not buying it. You clearly evaded your topic ban and should be banned permanently. --Rusf10 (talk) 21:42, 8 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]
In the previous reports, this user stated they had not been editing prior to their appearance in AfD discussions on Feb. 23. That a completely uninvolved editor would then go back to copy and paste one of Unscintillating's comments from over a month before that date is simply not a credible statement. This becomes even less credible when the copied comment is a jargon-dense example of Unscintillating's vendetta against Rusf10. Eggishorn (talk) (contrib) 03:19, 9 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Now you're making stuff up again, Eggishorn. I never said I had not been editing prior to their appearance in AfD discussions on Feb. 23. In fact, I said on my own talk page that I've been editing for years and that statement was held against me in the previous SPI.192.160.216.52 (talk) 13:16, 9 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Rusf10, that is simply a brilliant question! If you're not the same person, what possible reason do you have to search through old afds and then copy and paste comments from another user? Now if only you can answer the other pressing question, which is if I *AM* the same person, what possible reason do I have to search through old AfDs and then copy and paste comments from myself? Your argument makes absolutely no sense. 192.160.216.52 (talk) 13:16, 9 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Because you are the same person, you didn't have to search through old AfDs and copy and paste, you just typed the same thing twice. Now, answer my question!--Rusf10 (talk) 14:58, 9 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]
My answer is that I'm not the same person, that's why. Now you answer my question! 192.160.216.52 (talk) 16:55, 9 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]
I did answer your question, but you ignored mine again. Why would you copy and paste something supposedly written by someone else from an old AfD?--Rusf10 (talk) 17:00, 9 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Because I agreed with the argument. That's why. Copy/pasting it is way more efficient than saying something like per Unscintillating in random old AfD X. People cite other people's arguments in AfDs all the time. There's nothing wrong with doing so. If you weren't so bent on knocking out your opponents by filing nonsensical accusations like this one you'd realize that (a) what I did was normal and (b) your reaction to it is very extreme. 192.160.216.52 (talk) 19:21, 9 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

Rusf10 and @IP: enough. This bickering is accomplishing nothing. Both of you stop.--Bbb23 (talk) 19:55, 9 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]