The following discussion is an archived debate of the case of suspected sockpuppetry. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page. All edits should go to the talk page of this case. If you are seeing this page as a result of an attempt to open a new case of sockpuppetry of the same user, read this for detailed instructions.

Suspected sockpuppeteer

67.55.159.44 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · page moves · block user · block log)

Suspected sockpuppets

Stephen C. Sillett (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · page moves · block user · block log)
DrVarkey (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · page moves · block user · block log)

Report submission by

David Eppstein 05:27, 1 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Evidence

The two users DrVarkey and Stephen C. Sillett, taking the names of two faculty at Humboldt State Univ., appeared here simultaneously and immediately started editing the same articles and attacking each other, particularly in Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Dr._Jacob_Varkey, where their comments also have a very similar textual style as each other. The public and personal nature of their attacking comments against each other seem unlikely for the senior academics they claim to be. 67.55.159.44 has been commenting in the same AfD claiming to be a student at the same university who has taken their classes, and again has no edit history longer than the last couple of days. It all looks to me very much what one would expect to see from a single sockpuppeteer trying to stir up controversy, and it also raises WP:BLP issues if they are impersonating and attacking real people.

Comments

I have not attempted to do so, but it should be possible to contact the real Drs. Sillett and Varkey by the contact information they list on their faculty web pages: Sillett, Varkey.

User:DrVarkey removed his (going to say "his", since the name is that of a man) sock puppet notice. I restored it and gave a uw-vand4 warning, as he's already gotten himself a uw-vand3 yesterday. I just checked the other two pages, which have not been bothered. Nyttend 12:52, 1 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

• Comment It would be better to file a checkuser request since they have both 'voted' in a deletion request, thats an abusive use of multiple accounts if it the same master Bleh999 02:49, 2 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

• I only created an account a few days ago when it became apparent that the Wiki page about me was being vandalized. I suspect Dr. Jacob Varkey of doing this. User:Caliwiki123 is my grad student who created the page and I trust his edits. User:DrVarkey whether or not he is the real Jacob Varkey (and I believe he is) does not seem to have my best interests in mind, and I believe his edits to my page have been petty vandalism. Dr. Varkey has held a grudge against me since he lost his elegans grant at the same time I received an honorarium from the Save-the-Redwoods League and I do not appreciate this provocation, however, I realize this is not the appropriate forum for personal attacks, and will henceforth refrain from such activity. Stephen C. Sillett 17:07, 2 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

• I did a basic check on the IP address, and found two interesting things:
  • DNS Stuff lists the IP address as being, not from California, but from somewhere in Iowa. If these users are sockpuppets, that could explain the very early editing, as both users did their first edits before 5:30AM California tiem.
  • If I understand this URL correctly, the IP has been blocked for spam on many websites. Nyttend 17:21, 2 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • That appears to be incorrect, it lists 'OK' or 'not whitelisted', the info on the far right is about the block lists not the IP itself. Bleh999 18:23, 2 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

• i am 67.55.159.44, i am in iowa for the summer, and this is hilarious. is this what i get for chiming in on a disupte b/w two profs? i only posted in the varkey deletion page because i know dr. varkey. anyway they both suck so block them or whatever, i will be sure to post all of this on my own website when i go back to school. p.s. nyttent - neither one of them is a "senior" academic and my ip is not used for spam as Bleh999 points out, call me a sock puppet if you have to but it looks like you are on some kind of wiki witch hunt. cheers all 67.55.159.44 19:48, 2 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

• I will contact their department chair to see if I can get some clarification from that end. —David Eppstein 20:25, 2 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • I heard from the chair this morning; he says he'll look into it. Sillett also contacted me by email and stated that he has never signed onto Wikipedia (and that he would like to find out whatever more we discover about who has been doing this). —David Eppstein 20:37, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

• Dept. Chair Casey Lu has reported back:

I have contacted both Jacob Varkey and

Steve Sillett regarding the Wikipedia discussion

and personal attacks. Both faculty deny any

involvement in that discussion. After reading

the "discussion" a little more carefully, it

looks to me very much like a current or former

student trying to cause problems. If there is a

way to stop this activity, please do so!

I think that, with the possible exception of a checkuser request (and my guess is they'll decline any such request based on it already passing the duck test) we've gathered as much evidence as we're going to. Can it be time to close the case and block the socks? —David Eppstein 17:09, 6 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Conclusions

Thank you for doing so much legwork. I've indefinitely blocked both named accounts. The IP is wireless and likely dynamic, and hasn't edited since August 2nd, so blocking it would probably not accomplish much at this point. MastCell ^Talk 18:32, 6 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

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