Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/NovaSkola

NovaSkola

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

Populated account categories: confirmed

For archived investigations, see Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/NovaSkola/Archive.

28 May 2019

– A checkuser has placed this case on hold pending further information or developments.

Suspected sockpuppets

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

• Tools: Editor interaction utility • Interaction Timeline • User compare report Auto-generated every hour.

Azerifactory (talk · contribs) is a suspected sockpuppet of NovaSkola (talk · contribs) and its derived sockpuppet Yacatisma (talk · contribs). The user shares strong edit history overlaps with the confirmed sockpuppets on the topics of Azerbaijani football, Scotland and Scottish politics, and the individual Fuad Alakbarov. Evidence also confirms that both this user and the sockpuppets of NovaSkola are all handles of Fuad Alakbarov himself.

Azerifactory is the creator of and primary contributor to Fuad Alakbarov. In a 2015 edit they disclosed that they were the subject of that article.

Alakbarov's corresponding article on Azerbaijani Wikipedia was created by NovaSkola (talk · contribs) and heavily contributed to by its sockpuppets including Yacatisma (talk · contribs), and is now being maintained by Azerifactory (talk · contribs). Both the sockpuppets and Azerifactory have contributed strongly personal information to this article without any formal references, suggesting it is of autobiographical nature.

A tweet from 21 Aug 2014 by Fuad Alakbarov's official Twitter account states he created the Azerbaijani Wikipedia pages for Scotland and Palestine, presumably referring to these formative edits made by Yacatisma (talk · contribs) on those pages on or just before the same date: [1] [2] [3]. The evidence therefore demonstrates that both Yacatisma and Azerifactory have been claimed by Alakbarov, and thus confirms the relationship between them as sockpuppets.

Editor interaction reports for Azerifactory with Yacatisma and NovaSkola also show strong edit overlaps in the topics of Azerbaijani football, Scotland and Scottish politics, the name Fuad, and the insertion of Fuad Viento/Alakbarov into various list articles. In one example, Yacatisma adds Fuad Viento (individual's earlier alias) to this list, which is then later renamed to Fuad Alakbarov by Azerifactory.

Finally, Azerifactory was created on 24 February 2015, about four months after the final confirmed sockpuppets of NovaSkola were banned.

While it is possible that in the four years since the account was created Azerifactory has changed their editing behaviour and style in response to the earlier successful sockpuppet reports, the overlap in the topic of articles being edited and the specific articles being edited remains. The external evidence identifying both accounts with the individual Fuad Alakbarov removes any further doubt that they are being used by the same person. Wrenhaven (talk) 01:11, 28 May 2019 (UTC)

Comments by other users

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

Hi, thank you for the quick response. I should probably clear up concerns re my own account: I was a very active Wikia user about a decade ago so I am aware of how these things work, although I modelled this report on earlier ones against the initial sockpuppet. However, I have no dog in the fight regarding the azwiki disputes, have never edited there, and do not speak Azerbaijani myself. My interest in this user came about yesterday after coming across the article on Fuad Alakbarov. It became immediately apparent that the article did not meet notability requirements and on the whole looked oddly written, so I had a look at the edit history and I saw that it had been created and mainly contributed to by one user, Azerifactory. A comparison of the article's edit history on its bulkier azwiki counterpart showed quite clearly that the three users mentioned above were either quite closely related to the subject in question or were the subject himself. So I did some digging into NovaSkola and Yacatisma, as well as the earlier activity of Azerifactory, and gathered evidence for this case overnight. It does seem like I have opened a can of worms here looking at the situation with azwiki currently, but if anything I hope this can move that forward, because it would appear that a sysop on that wiki has been abusing a sockpuppet for four years and has used it for self-promotion on English Wikipedia. Wrenhaven (talk) 13:00, 28 May 2019 (UTC)

Comment. This is absolutetly witchhunt against me. I'm not related to following accounts which I think are banned and could you provide any hard evidence that I'm that user except accusing me without any evidence. So anybody editing in that account must be related to banned users? Wrenhaven, it was very odd that you're aware of all banned users, perhaps you are that banned user yourself. --Azerifactory (talk) 14:51, 28 May 2019 (UTC)

• I am unaware of what the protocol is for accepting external evidence, but what is done about the statement from Alakbarov's official Twitter account that he created the articles on Scotland and Palestine on Azerbaijani Wikipedia: which must refer to the formative edits made by Yacatisma (talk · contribs) on those articles on the same date? If such evidence is admissible it is surely proof that both accounts are operated by Alakbarov. Secondly, I have edited on Wikipedia with one other user, although it has never been blocked or otherwise involved in controversy, and I have never edited on Az Wiki. So if it needs to be disclosed to a relevant admin I can do that, otherwise I do not see an immediate need to disclose it publicly given the WP:CLEANSTART policy. Wrenhaven (talk) 23:29, 31 May 2019 (UTC)

• Comment Hi, It's pretty sure that I'm not anybody's meatpuppet at all, I'm deeply shocked to see this comment that attending to a poll can have such a consequence, nevertheless among my contribution in Wikipedia, I keep participating the deletion sorting discussions. --SalmanZ (talk) 23:18, 1 June 2019 (UTC)

 Comment: I guarantee that Azerifactory is UNRELATED to Fuad Alakbarov. Alakbarov is a known public person, he has a lot of students, and has 11K followers on Twitter. I've personally talked with him via Facebook. He barely knows Azerifactory, who created article about him, probably for patriotic reasons. Alakbarov has been targeted by Armenian lobbyists numerous times, this might be another attack carried out by them... --► Sincerely: A¥×aᚢ Zaÿïþzaþ€ ⚔ (hail sithis!) 02:47, 2 June 2019 (UTC)

 Comment: Hi. 1) I'm not Sock puppetry. This is mistake. All admins of azerbaijani wiki know me, you can ask their opinions about me. Also if you want you can check my account. 2) About - Fuad Alakbarov (2nd nomination). My english is bad, but I read this page in azviki (Fuad Ələkbərov) and I think the article is eating enough sources, maybe I'm wrong but this is my opinion. Regards.--Nicat49 (talk) 03:22, 2 June 2019 (UTC)

• Comment This is another ludacris accusation from Cabayi. He's accusing me of to know somebody that I've never had any connection. Bbb23, I would like you to take stance on Cabayi as by this rate he gonna tag every random user from Azerbaijani Wikipedia, to falsely accuse their time with me, which is also waste of admin time.--Azerifactory (talk) 12:20, 2 June 2019 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

• This case is being reviewed by Cabayi as part of the clerk training process. Please allow Cabayi to process the entire case without interference, and pose any questions or concerns either on Cabayi's Talk page or on this page if more appropriate. I'm a trainee but I'm not claiming exclusivity on this as a training case. Cabayi (talk) 08:23, 28 May 2019 (UTC)
• CheckUser requested and endorsed by clerk - While some of the evidence stands up, it's been long known and has been seen by a CU (Bbb23) before. Other bits of evidence are not robust, conflating m:Special:CentralAuth/NovaSkola and m:Special:CentralAuth/NovaSkola~azwiki (not certain given the timing around mw:SUL finalisation). When a low activity editor returns after several months and files a well-formed SPI report as Wrenhaven (talk⁺ · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · spi block · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki) has done, citing a sysop on another wiki as a suspect I feel uncomfortable. When I see that the whole admin corps there is under a cloud it looks like this case is being filed as an extention of azwiki disputes by a sockpuppet of an interested party in that dispute and the case needs to be kicked upstairs. Cabayi (talk) 08:58, 28 May 2019 (UTC)

• @Cabayi: What account are you asking to be checked? And compared to what other account?--Bbb23 (talk) 13:45, 28 May 2019 (UTC)

• Bbb23, My bad. I should have been clearer. I clicked on "Endorse for CU attention" intending for the issue pushed onward to interwiki checkuser given the cross-wiki and azwiki issues rather than intending a request for an investigation here. Having split up the issues and gathered my thoughts, & the evidence to flesh them out, I now see that the case may be made entirely on enwiki.

1. Wrenhaven (talk⁺ · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · spi block · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki) - needs investigation. With only 28 edits, showing an interest in the caucasus (az & hy were very early additions to the Wrenhaven's global accounts list), & filing a comprehensive SPI case, this account isn't as disinterested as Wrenhaven's reply would have us believe. The allegations against AF were first raised by Aykhan Zayedzadeh (talk⁺ · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · spi block · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki) on meta on 9 May. Both accounts are fresh. Given the multiple (and mutual) accusations of multiple sockpuppetry on that meta page, please confirm & check for sleepers.
2. I've raised an AFD for Azerifactory's autobiography.
3. the notes of Fuad's political endorsements (Yacatisma, 2014 Scottish referendum, Azerifactory, Bernie Sanders 2020)

the chess from NovaSkola Special:Permalink/605644032, Special:Permalink/412343392, and Fuad himself, "Since 2017, Alakbarov represents Scotland at international chess championships."

together with the evidence given by Wrenhaven, regardless of motivation, convince me that Azerifactory is just block evasion by NovaSkola. Again, given the accusations of multiple sockpuppetry on meta, please check for sleepers. Cabayi (talk) 15:10, 31 May 2019 (UTC)

@Cabayi: I understand what's needed regarding Wrenhaven. However, is there a non-stale NovaSkola sock to compare Azerifactory against?--Bbb23 (talk) 15:17, 31 May 2019 (UTC)

Bbb23 Not that I can see. There may be something in the Azeri text allegations on meta, but I don't think so (most of the bad stuff seems to be repeated in English for a wider audience pretty quickly). I'm happy to deal with AF on the behavioural evidence. Cabayi (talk) 15:58, 31 May 2019 (UTC)

• Wrenhaven and Aykhan Zayedzadeh are  Unrelated. Based on CU logs, Azerifactory is very  Unlikely to NovaSkola.--Bbb23 (talk) 17:00, 31 May 2019 (UTC)
• @Wrenhaven: Please e-mail me the name of the other user and explain what you mean by "with one other user" as it's unclear whether you mean in concert with a separate person or that you operated the previous account. I will not reply to the e-mail, but I will review it and decide what, if anything, needs to be done. Thanks.--Bbb23 (talk) 00:36, 1 June 2019 (UTC)

• The AFD on Azerifactory's autobiography has drawn in 3 obviously canvassed keep !voters (solicited off-wiki). One of them Nicat49 (talk⁺ · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · spi block · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki) (who seems unable to communicate in English) was previously suspected of being a NovaSkola sock by Vanjagenije in 2014.

 Awaiting administrative action

I'm now sufficiently convinced by the behavioural evidence to ask that Azerifactory (talk⁺ · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · spi block · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki) & Nicat49 (talk⁺ · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · spi block · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki) be blocked indef as meatpuppets of NovaSkola.

SalmanZ and Babək Akifoğlu should be aware of the risks associated with responding to off-wiki canvassing. Cabayi (talk) 13:44, 1 June 2019 (UTC)

• I've put this case on hold. I'm troubled by the recommendations of Cabayi and, at a minimum, want to delay any administrative action against the two users.--Bbb23 (talk) 13:50, 1 June 2019 (UTC)
  • Bbb23 responding from your meta ping. My understanding of the situation on az.wiki is that there is a lot of off-wiki collaboration that goes on through private social media groups. While I think there are issues with that from a perspective of a project having a group of users who run it via a Facebook group and block people based on comments in a Facebook group, I'd be very hesitant to block on en.wiki based of supposed off-site collaboration/MEAT.
    Other language projects are much more open to this than en.wiki is, and if there was a policy violation here, it could be an honest mistake based on what they thought was normal. Rschen7754 is more familiar with the situation on that project than I am, so he might have another suggestion, but those are my thoughts. TonyBallioni (talk) 00:05, 2 June 2019 (UTC)
    • A case could be made for short-term blocks (maybe) but I would be very reluctant to indef based on this. --Rschen7754 00:13, 2 June 2019 (UTC)

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