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→The Name Vandal (TNV): Add Headleydown
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* {{IPvandal|85.210.239.138}} December 7-9
* {{IPvandal|85.210.239.138}} December 7-9
* {{IPvandal|85.210.253.140}} December 10
* {{IPvandal|85.210.253.140}} December 10

===Headley Down===
'''HeadleyDown''' is the best known alias of a [[Wikipedia]] [[Wikipedia:Vandalism|vandal]] who specializes in massive sneaky vandalism with multiple sock/meatpuppets (20 - 40 total, often 3 - 10 at a time), and devastates articles by long term damage, and driving away of bona fide editors. It is not always clear which editors are socks, and which are meats run by his associates.

HeadleyDown initially acts as the "sweet voice of a reasonable editor", claiming to have a scientific or neutral interest, seeking minor improvements, POV fixes, balance, or a legitimate "scientific/neutral" viewpoint in an otherwise not-bad article. However in practice long-term he is a virulent and destructive subtle POV warrior who ignores bona fide research (sometimes calling it "promotion") and gradually over time using multiple socks forces a massive POV slant until articles end up attacking their own subjects, or twisted to a very one-sided POV, rather than explaining them. This is claimed to be "more concise", "more scientific", "cited" or "more neutral". At times, he has forged cites and credentials, invented material, and deleted bona fide information, to do this. He is quite tenacious and persistent and tries to come back if blocked.

It is worth noting that Wikipedians lacking prior experience usually mistake HeadleyDown's socks as being good-faith editors, perhaps who don't quite understand '[[WP:NPA|personal attack]]', and treat his disputes as run-of-the-mill content/civility/3RR/NPOV issues. As a result his socks are very often given much [[WP:FAITH|good faith]] even by experienced editors, and only slightly chastised by Arbcom, which he uses to continue degrading the article and deterring genuine editorship for months on end.

The most obvious visible symptom is a combination of (1) an individual or clique of editors who say they are being helpful or neutral and following Wiki-process, adding valid cites and genuine info and removing unsupported statements etc, while the article somehow keeps getting more and more virulently extreme or unbalanced, and there is a feeling of despair that it's "just not going to get better". (2) Eventual vicious personal attacks on more neutral editors, especially alleging bias or pro-<subject>. (3) Suspicion of sock/meatpuppetry. There are many ways to confirm a HeadleyDown presence if suspected but these are not obvious to unfamiliar editors.

HeadleyDown has been classed as "block on behavior" by [[user:David Gerard|David Gerard]], repeatedly confirmed by [[user:Mackensen|Mackensen]]. Because of his ''modus operandi'' the significant damage he does is not easy to unravel.

====[[Modus operandi]]====
Operates under multiple IP's, often multiple socks at a time. Often claims initially to have helpful information and merely want to help with a few problems with the article. Plays the game with policies, especially [[WP:NPOV]], cites, and demands for cites. Eventually turns to virulent personal attacks (alleging bias, promotion, covert support for topic X) to kill off any editors who might object to their actions. Appears to be within rules and yet somehow the article keeps getting more and more extreme, even as claiming to be "helping" it or making it "more neutral".

Often cites tangential or minor writers as if major or expert, whilst rubbishing deleting or ignoring genuine facts, attacks (often by playing [[WP:CITE]]) others who revert or correct the POV slants, and either gradually or viciously builds a case accusing those who try to include genuine facts or balance of being biased, and of working "against" the neutral editors or against policy.

Has forged cites or chosen selective interpretations, to support his edits. Long term aim is to turn articles into cynical travesties of themselves over time on the basis that this is "the real view", "neutral", "more scientific", "wikipedias view", or the like.

Has also attacked article contributors (eg [[user:Woohookitty|mentor:Woohookitty]]: [http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Talk:Neuro-linguistic_programming&diff=prev&oldid=58115104][http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Talk:Neuro-linguistic_programming&diff=prev&oldid=57987891][http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Woohookitty&diff=58136906&oldid=58021515] and [[User:FT2]] [http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Arbitration_Committee/Clerks/Candidates&diff=64235836&oldid=64097047]), at times threatening editors with bans or other disciplinary procedures if they do not "work with neutral editors", discussing their "crimes", "vandalism" or "blatent bias", agreeing (between socks) they should be ignored etc. If accused of wrongdoing, will deny, and counteraccuse bias or bad faith. Sometimes he uses socks to support or argue with his other socks to "muddy the waters" or prevent rational discussion, or during RFC/RFArb.

Also likely to be long term: promised to leave [[neuro-linguistic programming]] but instead within a day or so came back as 3 or 4 new socks. When finally removed from there came back 6 days later under a new name on [[zoophilia]]. Simultaneous to NLP (which reached RFArb) was also subject of independent 2nd RFArb under other aliases on [[Ted Kennedy]] et al, and active on [[Stalin]]. After attacking NLP for months, started inserting equally spurious ''pro-''NLP edits and views in multiple articles and talk pages in July 2006 (reverted by many editors). May be active elsewhere too. Seems to focus on only one (or a few) article at a time, but stick with them long term.

Finally, HeadleyDown often recruits meatpuppets as well as using socks: see [http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Requests_for_comment/24.147.97.230&diff=23785307&oldid=23746012 this comment on RFC/24.147.97.230] for the Kennedy articles, and the RFArb for [[Neuro-linguistic_programming#Likely_source_of_visiting_users_identified]] on NLP, for two examples.
====Examples====
* A new HeadleyDown sock acting as the "sweet voice of reason" on [http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Talk:Paraphilia&diff=64635169&oldid=64622899 Paraphilia] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Talk:Felony&diff=64633828&oldid=56730241 Felony]

====Identification methods====
There are a variety of strong evidences which rapidly help to identify a HeadleyDown reincarnation or sock. Please contact [[user:FT2|FT2]] for details if suspected.

[[user:David Gerard|David Gerard]] advises IP variability is such that IP alone is not sufficient to detect. [http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=User:Katefan0/Talk6&diff=prev&oldid=48816905]

[[user:Mackensen|Mackensen]] confirmed on RFCU that suspected HeadleyDown socks should be blocked on behavioral evidence even if Checkuser is unhelpful. [http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Requests_for_checkuser/Case/HeadleyDown&diff=62283718&oldid=62073673]

====Handling====
HeadleyDown's preference is to cause long term POV/NPA damage with extended chaos and dominate articles via his socks, so once he's firmly and dismissively called on it and editors stop being drawn into his sock-dramas ([[WP:DFTT]]), the article is no longer likely to be such good "entertainment fodder". So spotting him (ie "this could be HeadleyDown's work" as opposed to "just another typical POV/3RR/NPA editor") and blocking on sight solves much of it. Of necessity such blocks have to be "on suspicion and behavior", and if caught he will deny, deny, deny - and counteraccuse (play the game that not giving good faith to his edits shows extreme bias). If removed, watchlist the article for new socks in future and add suspected socks/meats to this page.


Examples of dismissals that worked: (1) [http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Talk%3ANeuro-linguistic_programming&diff=59800250&oldid=59796914 dismissively letting him know he's spotted], (2) [http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Talk:Neuro-linguistic_programming&diff=60229375&oldid=60221658 response to new meatpuppet why they can't edit despite claiming to be a different person].

====History and past incarnations====
HeadleyDown himself (via EBlack and D.Right) only goes back as far as early 2005. However it is likely from [[Talk:Neuro-linguistic programming]] and other RFC/RFArb posts that HeadleyDown was also [[User:Agiantman|Agiantman]] and [[user:24.147.97.230|24.147.97.230]], and examination of articles and disputes that user was in reveals that HeadleyDown had a parallel incarnation (including a large number of socks and anon IPs) simultaneous to his involvement on NLP, which were independently the subject of a second set of RFC's and ArbCom in 2005.


:{| border="1" width="90%"
! Main aliases !! Alias used !! Articles attacked
|-
| As twin sockpuppets [[user:EBlack|EBlack]] and [[user:D.Right|D.Right]]<br />and also [[user:A.Warner|A.Warner]] || March - August 2005 || [[Scientology]], [[Electroencephalography]] and [[Neuro-linguistic programming]]
|-
| As [[user:Agiantman|Agiantman]] and many others, probably including [[user:24.147.97.230|24.147.97.230]] || July - August 2005 || [[Bill Clinton]], [[Kathleen Willey]], [[Dan Rather]], [[Ted Kennedy]], [[Stalin]] and other similar articles, and then [[Neuro-linguistic programming]]
|-
| As [[user:HeadleyDown|HeadleyDown]] and many others || August 2005 - June 2006 (blocked) || [[Neuro-linguistic programming]] (''anti-''NLP)
|-
| As [[user:JHartley|JHartley]] and [[user:FFodor|FFodor]] || July 2006 (one blocked, one not) || [[Zoophilia]]
|-
| As [[user:Mindstore|Mindstore]] || July 2006 (not blocked) || [[Neurolinguistics]], [[Psychotherapy]], [[Linguistics]], [[Cognitive linguistics]] (''pro-''NLP)
|-
| As [[user:CSIvor|CSIvor]] || July 2006 (not blocked) || [[Zoophilia]] and [[Paraphilia]], also various others ([[Canada]], [[Criminal law]] [[Crime scene photography]])
|-
| As [[user:RoKeMo|RoKeMo]] || July 2006 (not blocked) || [[Psychology]] and [[ScienTOMogy]]
|-
| As [[user:144.214.62.99|144.214.62.99]] || July 2006 (not blocked) || Personal attack sock
|}<br />

====Other notes====
Private email from HeadleyDown, 13 June 2006:
:"Oh a lot of what I did on the article was for my own fun. I found it highly amusing to see you respond to my socks as if they were different people, and to real editors as if they were socks. And I got you to say some really stupid stuff. It really kept me going... sockpuppets are just too entertaining."

Comment by mentor [[User:Woohookitty|Woohookitty]] after HeadleyDown blocked, when new socks started to show up (20 June 2006) [http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=User_talk:FT2&diff=59622961&oldid=59534540]:
:"Honestly, I think I'm done with NLP. My problem is that once we do this editing, someone will come by and make it awful again. It's just pointless. Too many meatpuppets. Too many socks. Just too much work for this old Wikipedia soul."

====Known sock/meats====
=====Used to attack [[Ted Kennedy]] and the like=====
:* {{vandal|Agiantman}}
:* {{ipvandal|24.147.97.230}}
:* {{vandal|Ernestocgonzalez}}
:* {{user|FishingGuy99}}
:* {{user|Labgal}} - possible meatpuppet
:* {{ipvandal|66.176.129.11}} - confirmed to be same person as [[user:Agiantman]]

The first two of these editors were the subject of two RFC's and one RFArb for edits in connection with [[Ted Kennedy]] and other political articles, and had near-identical modus and timing to HeadleyDown. Again, there was other evidence tying them in, see [[user:FT2]] for details. The 3rd is behaviorally confirmed. The last two are covered in the [[Wikipedia:Requests for comment/24.147.97.230|RFC on 24.147.97.230]] and [[Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Regarding Ted Kennedy|RFArb on Ted Kennedy]].

=====Used to attack [[Neuro-linguistic programming]] and the like=====
:* {{vandal|A.Turner}} (older sock, identified retrospectively by edits, never blocked)
:* {{vandal|Addsquad}}
:* {{vandal|AliceDeGrey}}
:* {{vandal|AMaulden}} (older sock, never blocked)
:* {{vandal|Attack s0ck}}
:* {{vandal|Bookmain}}
:* {{vandal|BrightonRock101}}
:* {{vandal|Camridge}}
:* {{vandal|D.Right}} (older sock, identified retrospectively by edits, never blocked)
:* {{vandal|DaveRight}}
:* {{vandal|DoctorDog}} (older sock, identified retrospectively by identical contrib history & editing style to EBlack/D.Right, never blocked)
:* {{vandal|EBlack}} (older sock, identified retrospectively by edits, never blocked)
:* {{vandal|Figleaf Riverdance}}
:* {{vandal|HansAntel}}
:* {{vandal|HeadleyDown}}
:* {{vandal|HongKongMasterofSci}}
:* {{vandal|JaseC}} (older sock, never blocked)
:* {{vandal|JPLogan}}
:* {{vandal|LemonMnM}}
:* {{vandal|MastaMan}}
:* {{vandal|Medius Maximus}}
:* {{vandal|Oblio Yu HK}}
:* {{vandal|RomanX}} (older sock, identified by other editors on talk page, never blocked)
:* {{vandal|Superkyewl}}
:* {{ipvandal|80.189.81.19}}
:* {{ipvandal|203.186.238.160}} (forgot to log in, self admitted, HK IP, possible shared IP)
:* {{ipvandal|203.218.52.173}} (older sock, identified by edits, HK IP, never blocked)

Meatpuppets or possible sockpuppets:
:* {{user|Helen Wu}} (blocked then given extra chance)
:* {{User|Flavius vanillus}} (indef blocked)
:* {{User|Hylas Chung}} ([http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Requests_for_checkuser/Case/Hylas_Chung&diff=57714317&oldid=57685379 evidence], also active on [[psychology]])
:* {{user|MonicaPignotti}} (meatpuppet, admitted)
:* {{user|62.25.106.209}} <br />(shared IP, also reported for other vandalism, see user page and talk pages)
:* {{User|Harristweed}} Not yet banned
:* {{user|88.106.13.232}} Not yet banned
:* {{user|AlanBarnet}} Compare similar editing tactics on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Neuro-linguistic_programming#Introduction_and_top_section_too_vague| current discussions] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Neuro-linguistic_progamming/_archive_12#Change.2Fmove_to_Patterns.2Frituals_section| past discussions]. Same edits. Same Arguments. User not yet banned

=====Used to attack [[Zoophilia]]=====
:* {{vandal|JHartley}} (identified by behavior/IP)
:* {{vandal|FFodor}}
:* {{vandal|CSIvor}} (also attacking [[Canada]], [[Paraphilia]], [[Criminal law]] and [[Crime scene photography]])

=====Used to attack [[Psychology]]=======
:* {{vandal|Mindstore}}
:* {{vandal|RoKeMo}}

Untested sockpuppets:
:* {{user|Savoylettuce}}

=====Used for personal attack=====
:* {{vandal|Skypie}}
:* {{ipvandal|144.214.62.99}}


==='''Some of the Vandals other edits'''===
==='''Some of the Vandals other edits'''===

Revision as of 00:56, 28 December 2006


Shortcut

    Long term abuse is a page intended to hold information describing editors or IPs who should be known by as many users as possible to aid in detecting and defeating their policy violations. Think of it as a "post office wall" with wanted posters. This page has been confused with several other pages, so please check the "Explanation" section if this is your first time here.

    Explanation

    Vandalism
    Dealing with vandalism
    Resources and assistance
    Further information

    This page should contain only properly categorized, unique entries on specific vandals with enough relevant and correct information to allow other people to identify them and their tracks. To keep this page functioning smoothly, please:

    Don't add an entry here requesting action, such as a block or page protect. This page is not scanned regularly, the same way WP:AIV or, to a lesser degree, WP:RFPP is. If you need someone blocked or a pages protected, please refer to those two links.
    Don't add entries for users who have never engaged in serious vandalism. Generally speaking, if their main account isn't blocked indefinitely, their "vandalisms" don't merit inclusion here. If you aren't sure, ask on the talk page.
    Don't use this page for discussions. If there needs to be a discussion, start it on the talk page and link to its section from this page. If there is a discussion going on elsewhere, link to it.
    Don't "sign" your entries, but do say who originally reported them, or who are the most knowledgeable about them so they can be contacted if need be.
    Don't use relative phrases like "recently" or "lately" without qualification. Try using "as of" to remedy this: "As of August 3rd, ..."
    Don't add entries without the vital information enumerated below; they will be almost guaranteed useless and will be removed.
    Remember to update entries with new or important information.

    Criteria for addition

    Users listed should have a marked past of policy violations related to the entry. User accounts that are listed as vandals but only have minor blocks, or "major vandals"/"sockpuppets" that aren't blocked indefinitely, will likely be removed. The relevant logs should back up your assertions, not contradict them.

    Note that shared IP addresses (EG. Schools, libraries, prisons, legislatures, etc.) engaging in egregious vandalisms should be reported on this page as they specialize in dealing with such IPs.

    Criteria for removal

    The most common causes of removal are:

    1. Archiving old entries of inactive vandals.
    2. Removing improper or useless additions.

    Adding to this page

    1. If this vandal was previously active over a year ago, check the archives. If they're listed in there, create a new section here and link to the archives.
    2. Check the subpages to ensure that they aren't already known about there.
    3. If the vandal's totally new, create an entry at the bottom of the appropriate section (see below for an explanation), with a descriptive heading, and under it a "Modus operandi" subsection. Use {{userlinks}} to list registered users involved and {{IPvandal}} for IP addresses.
      • This is vital: Without information on what a certain "vandal" does or how they do it, it will be impossible for other readers to understand how to spot them. Entries without this information will almost certainly be removed. See below for more information.
    1. If they're already listed on this page, add new information if you have it (Such as new sockpuppets or MOs). Discussion should be kept to a minimum, such as an open ended question about a puzzling attribute. In this instance, if you post the answer, incorporate it into the entry and remove the question. This page is extremely long as it is, if there needs to be prolonged discussion, use a talk page and link to it from the entry. Off topic discussion should be removed by anyone and any large discussion that has idled may be summarized.

    Necessary information in an entry

    Entries MUST have the following information to have utility:

    • List of (some of) the accounts using by using {{vandal}}/{{IPvandal}} templates. If they have a category for their sockpuppets, link to it.
    • A description of their vandalism(s). Good detail is important: unneeded information will be trimmed out by others, but a underexplained entry will require other people to sift through links, or just remove it.
    • Difference ("diff") link examples of their vandalisms. This is extremely important as it will show exactly what the vandal does and explain the entry. Note that linking to an IPs contributions or the history of a page is NOT passable: IPs get reassigned, pages keep getting edits. After a while, these will push the vandalism further into history and make the entry on the vandal(s) very hard to use.

    With both lists, you don't need to go above 5, barring something extremely unusual. As an example, you only need to see 4 or 5 Willy on Wheels sockpuppets to be able to guess what every other one looks like. If there are more then that many sockpuppets, consider creating a category and tagging their userpages with sockpuppet tags.

    If you aren't sure that your entry is correct, it is OK to request formatting help in then entry. If people have questions when they fix the format, they may ask you for more details.

    Sections

    The page is divided up into sections as follows:

    • The Archives which are periodically created for old entries who have become inactive for a significant length of time.
    • Entries, comprizing (in addition to regular entries):
      • Subpages for vandals who are a serious enough threat to warrant a subpage for easy reference (Please read the guideline there before creating a subpage).
      • Serial SPAMmers who literally do nothing but SPAM, frequently by inserting the same link into every article that's possibly related to what they're pushing.
    • To be correctly filed — Holding pen where entries are added by default. If you're in a hurry you can add yours here, but you should try and find the correct section yourself.

    Archives

    Entries

    Subpages

    These pages contain information on more serious or unusual cases which merit a fixed location of reference. Before creating a new subpage, please read the guidelines. Frequently people jump directly to creating a subpage instead of listing a vandal on this page which often results in unnecessary pages which serve little purpose and end up getting deleted.

    Guidelines for creating subpages:

    Some questions to ask of the new subpage and its subject:

    • Is the vandal a "long term" vandal? Remember the pages are subpages of LTA and have to fulfill the same criteria as entries on LTA.
    • Does the vandal deserve a more permanent information location? Why can't they be listed on LTA like any other? There has to be a definite reason (or number of reasons) for giving them a subpage beyond "the LTA page section is too long" (e.g. engages in a very serious form of vandalism; appears to suffer from a mental disorder).
    • Is their vandalism simple and easy to detect? If so, then there probably isn't much need to create a page describing it, as users will be able to pick up on and deal with it as typical vandalism without requiring any insight into previous vandalism and/or whether or not a particular person is responsible for it. Pages on vandals which provide little help beyond what could easily be discovered by simply monitoring recent changes serve little purpose. As above, prolixity doesn't by itself warrant a subpage.
    • Is the increased exposure of the vandal outweighed by the increased visibility to the community and people who may run across them? An argument against these pages is that they by satisfy many vandals' desire for attention and/or encourage other attention seekers to engage in vandalism with the hope of getting a page created on themselves.


    Some example of "legit" subpages and why:

    • Primetime — This vandal regularly engages in one of the most dangerous forms of vandalism: Wanton copyright infringement that could place the Wikimedia Foundation in serious legal danger. People should know how to spot him so as many people as possible will know and be prepared to counter his plagiarism.
    • Lightbringer — This vandal is obsessed with inserting his extreme POV content into Freemasonry despite bans on doing so issued by the ArbCom and the community. To someone who doesn't know about this vandal and his MO, he may appear to be a participant in a legitimate content dispute rather than a vandal and banned user. Due to this, unneeded and (proven) useless dispute resolution may be pursued rather then his latest sockpuppet simply being blocked, wasting people's time.
    • Bonaparte — "Malicious sockpuppetry", vote stacking, consenseusfraud, ethnic disruption related to Romania and Moldova.
    • General Tojo — POV pushing on Parkinson's disease.
    • HeadleyDown — Compulsive sock/proxy IP user, historically degrades articles to extreme POV positions via sock-gangs for "fun" whilst gaming as valid editors. SPOV + NPA gamer. Block on conduct.
    • Israelbeach — Personal attacks and harassment; legal threats.
    • JarlaxleArtemis – Personal attacks, harassment, and e-mail bombing.
    • Lightbringer — POV pushing on Freemasonry, personal attacks, and ban evasion.
    • MascotGuy — Inserting hoax information into specific articles; possibly autistic.
    • Primetime and on Meta — Deliberate copyright infringement, personal attacks and harrassment on and off wiki, cross-wiki sockpuppetry.
    • Randallrobinstine — Childish vandalism to specific articles and images; creates socks with "Vrray" in their names; may be autistic. (Vandal is likely now inactive due to the indef blocking of his static IP address.)
    • Roitr — Adding false information on various militaries, especially Russia.
    • Universe Daily (No connection with the website) — Massive deceptive linkspam; personal attacks.
    • VaughanWatch — POV pushing on subjects related to Vaughan, Ontario.

    Serial SPAMmers

    Consider also reporting these spammers to the meta:Spam blacklist. If the addition is sucessful, you may wish to immediately archive or remove the section here.

    Universe Today and sockpuppet-SPAMmers

    Operating most notabily from the shared 203.10.59.63 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log) this user is a sneaky sockpuppeting SPAMMer. All this info is at /Universe Daily.

    AlloExpat

    SexInRussia spammer

    Car and Ringtone Spammer

    User keeps adding external links to his car website or ringtone/phone website, which only contains Wikipedia information (directly copied with no credit given to Wikimedia) and sponsored adverts. The links appear on many 'car' pages such as those of Aston Martin, Mercedes Benz, Land Rover etc (in the external links section). Spamming has continued to this day, despite a 24 hour ban by user RadioKirk. 50+ articles have had links added, some have now been removed be me and others, but he is persistent...

    Bulldog Spammer

    Using wikipedia to try to sell dogs, got final warning twice, still came back and spammed.
    Cleaned up the links for now (linksearch). Suggest blacklisting if the spammer persists.

    datasheet4u.com serial spamer

    Not surprizingly this spammer hits the Datasheet page (history) and others related to electronics. The domain was Added to the SPAM blacklist.

    "We are all looking fsorward to a great sseason"

    These SPAMmers, who may be running a botnet from zombie computers, add trash like this. Many of the IPs are in LACNIC's range). A site-specific search on Google reveals that it's been somewhat successful at getting some indexing. An example IP is 83.238.44.12 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log) on June 1 2006. These malefactors have hit up other websites as well: [1]

    SPUSA spammer

    Anonymous IPs with similar IP numbers have persistently added links to the Socialist Party USA website and the wikipedia page on the organisation. These links number in the hundreds to any article on a social issue, such as black power, and re-adds the links repeatedly after they've been reverted by other editors. They are usually in the "see also" and "external links section, but sometimes, the same editor removes content critical of the SPUSA, or adds links in the body of the article (e.g. this diff, this diff and this diff). Occasionally these links may be considered legitimate, but the vast majority are things like "the SPUSA cares about this issue too" (e.g. this diff). It's hard to tell if they are honestly trying to promote the group or turn people against it! The editor/s have used the the following IP addresses, among others:

    Shran/CantStandYa

    • Previously identified sock accounts/IPs:
    • Sample of articles which have been edited by more than one current account. *Conspicuous edit warring.
    • "Shran" uses sockpuppets to edit war. He has been asked repeatedly by editors to stick to one account. The user, through various accounts, has protested that the IPs are either open to many users, or are used by a "little brother" or "brother-in-law". Despite these claims the edits are clearly the work of one person. The previous set of sock puppet accounts was blocked several times in the fall of 2005, and a new set has been created since then. As with previous socks, these accounts were used to abuse consensus and fraudulate votes in CfDs and an AfD. User:Jayjg checkusered these accounts and showed a strong connection between many of them.


    InFlames vandalizer


    DickyRobert

    DickyRobert (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · nuke contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) was an editor who was blocked indefinitely for disruption on pages related to warez and threats. He regularly creates new sockpuppets but doesn't use them untill they're old enough to skirt semi-protection, then he'll flood his chosen targets with them, frequently using each account only once, whether or not it's been blocked.

    His sockpuppet names generally are names of famous people (User:Issac Newton), or various productions. See Category:Suspected Wikipedia sockpuppets of DickyRobert for the full list of suspected accounts.

    Blocked User:Gibraltarian

    Gibraltarian (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · nuke contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) was indefinitely blocked in mid-December 2005 for constant sockpuppetry, personal attacks, malice and POV pushing. His sockpuppets can be seen here and here.

    He uses the most major dial-up ISP in the territory, hence blocking them or individual IPs will result in collateral damage to most of most of Gibraltar. Keep the blocks short: Enough to make him impatient to re-dial-up. Also note that 212.120.227.226 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log), which is occasionally used by Gibnews (talk · contribs), is legitimate. A history of the IPs he's used may be seen here.

    Comments made by Gibraltarian may be signed "Gibraltarian": (Example).

    His purview is mostly the following, and can be identified by extreme POV edits:

    SpongeBob/The Shining vandal

    Sollog

    Followers of a self-styled god named Sollog frequently vandalise the Wikipedia. They at one point had a website at http://www.wikipediasucks.com.

    Articles regularly hit up on are:

    Sockpuppets / Meatpuppets of Sollog will usually make themselves known by invoking the name of Sollog or linking to the aforementioned site or http://www.247news.net/2004/20041211-wikipedia.shtml, also sharing a similar writing style, using UPPER CASE for emphasis. See Talk:Sollog for information on their past behavior. An example of Sollog vandalism can be seen in this edit to Henry VIII of England:

    In the past the following proxies have been used:

    The physical location for most of the attacks seems to be Atlanta, Georgia and from northeastern Broward County, Florida, possibly Pompano Beach, Florida and/or Lighthouse Point, Florida.

    Super Nintendo vandal

    This vandal vandalizes pages by replacing the page title or keyterms with the word Super Nintendo. This vandal moves at very high speed. I only have 2 IP's for this vandal but I'm almost positive that there are more.--Ichiro (会話|+|投稿記録|メール) 04:43, 26 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    IPs used by the Super Nintendo vandal


    Zephram Stark

    After being banned six months by the Arbitration Committee for POV-pushing on Terrorism and related pages, personal attacks (including a racial slur [4]), and unwillingness to cooperate with his fellow editors, he created multitudes of sockpuppets to circumvent his ban, which has been reset several times. --TML1988 21:39, 27 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Images:

    Frequently, he will upload an image. It can either be a strange one that he created, or just a random one that he swiped from the web. He also creates sockpuppets and uploads images to Wikipedia Commons. (See [5], [6], [7], [8]). They're all Zephram sockpuppets, many of the same images have been deleted from Wikipedia. If anyone uses any of these images here, he is most likely a sockpuppet. For example War on Sockpuppetism. --JW1805 (Talk) 17:02, 29 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Currently identified sockpuppets:

    Articles to watch (and associated talk pages):


    Krabs502

    Continued vandalism of this kind from Krabs and associated socks[9], most recently User:Krabs600. Kaisershatner 15:47, 19 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    See [10], and [11] Kaisershatner 15:48, 19 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    Why isn't this guy blocked at all? Any real edit he makes is drowned by the dozens of vandalistic ones he makes. - Hahnchen 18:15, 28 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Erlopez2 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · nuke contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) blocked

    I have blocked this [ab]user for 6 months for causing repeated disruption (blanking, uncivil comments, suspected sockpuppetry) in Anti-semitism [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] and Anti-Christian prejudice [17] and for ad hom attack [18]. ←Humus sapiens ну? 08:17, 12 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    User:Hryun (D.A. Arbatsky vandal)

    User has declared a "war" against Wikipedia because it did not allow the article on a purported scientific theory of Dmitri Arbatsky (who is probably the vandal) to survive. As such has created many single-edit sockpuppets and has made various edits to quantum physics articles, many of them intentional vandalism (inserting incorrect statements, moving or deleting sections) or variations of self-promotion spam. See Category:Suspected Wikipedia sockpuppets of Hryun for a list of them. They all have very similarly uninventive names and usually link to a diff of his declared "war" on Wikipedia, lord knows why. It would be great if we could assess whether or not the ISP, who is obviously assigning dynamic IPs, is worth contacting or just worth blocking alltogether. --Fastfission 00:08, 17 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    206.170.104.*

    Keeps vandalising Steven Spielberg, Amblin Entertainment, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, the user pages of editors who revert his vandalism, and removes warnings from own talk pages. All the IPs have been blocked before but vandalism continues... --Fritz Saalfeld (Talk) 20:03, 17 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Unemployed, living in basement, aka Brando(n)03, aka Louisville Vandal

    Unemployed,_living_in_basement (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · nuke contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) is a troll account which was indefinely blocked for repeated vandalism. He attempts to harass users who deal with his trollery by vandalising their user and user talk pages (Including using malicious redirects) and creating fraudulent impostor usernames and attempting to ruin their reputation. He has also made homophobic vandalisms against gay users. According to User:Chris24, his name is Jeffrey Brandon Morris.

    Brandon03 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · nuke contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) shows strong knowledge of WpA process and culture, suggesting this vandal has done his research or has been around for a while. Many of his IPs are registered to Qwest in Louisville, Kentucky, hence the name.

    See also, Category:Suspected Wikipedia sockpuppets of Unemployed, living in basement.

    He has claimed that he is going to stop vandalising. [19] [20] Note that this was one of the hallmarks of the "North Carolina vandal".

    Fursecution Vandal

    A user has been repeatedly attacking articles related to Furry fandom, Therianthropy and Otherkin. The user violates WP:HA. The vandalism often involves insults aimed at these various subsultures and/or bad-faith merge requests. The vandalism also involves user page vandalism, hate speech, and is not just blanking.

    User:Fursecution_vandal's sock puppets list is here.

    September 3

    Since August 24, attacks on this group of pages are still being observed, but if they are from the same editor, the MO may be taking a turn for the more subtle. Rather than delete entire sections or add merge requests, recent attacks have been single sentences or even single words, continuing the pattern of WP:HA, but from accounts not flaunting an obvious connection with TFV. These may be unrelated incidents, but I would caution editors to keep a close eye out regardless. Baxil 09:07, 3 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]


    Armking

    This user engages in circular redirect vandalism (Pointing two pages at each other via redirects). His original account was Armking (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · nuke contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log), and he has since started creating socks. Most of his accounts begin with "arm" or end with "mra" (arm backwards)

    Asian fetish vandal

    User logs in from a randomized German IP 80.138.x.x to post racist, anti-semitic, and sexist material under the rubric of "anthropology." Uses white supremecist sources. Most notorious for persistent vandalism to Asian fetish. Also attacks Beethoven, Racial fetishism, Anti-relativity, Mongoloid, Special relativity, Anthropology, and possibly other pages. Was a major vandal on Virago until the page was deleted and protected. Also insults other editors based on assumptions about their gender, religion, or ethnic background. Banning is impractical due to the range of IP addresses used. January - March 2006 addresses are listed below. Durova 04:50, 25 March 2006 (UTC)[reply] 

    80.138.128.87 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.130.146 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.134.141 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.141.154 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.142.102 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.148.67 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.152.165 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.152.199 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.158.108 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.166.174 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.168.39 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.168.54 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.168.55 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.168.9 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.172.139 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.172.31 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.174.234 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.175.232 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.177.147 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.184.169 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.185.229 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.188.125 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.188.86 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.189.79 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.190.240 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.190.246 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.190.9 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.191.138 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.191.193 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.191.193 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.191.208 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.192.174 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.192.181 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.192.188 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.192.188 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.192.206 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.192.251 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.192.251 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.193.152 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.193.187 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.193.56 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.193.77 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.193.176 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)
80.138.194.83 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)

    "The Blasphemy Guy"

    This person repeatedly vandalizes the dinosaur article by blanking it and replacing it with a Young-Earth fundamentalist Christian creed that states that dinosaurs did not exist. An example of this can be seen here. He or she also makes personal attacks against reverters; for example: [21] [22] [23].

    Some IPs used:

    He or she may also hit articles relating to Islam.

    The Middle East Conflict Man

    The Middle East Conflict Man (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log), indefinitely banned from three Wikipedias (English and both Norwegians), uses numerous sockpuppets to make a highly POV edit to Socialism, as well as making inflammatory/vandalistic edits to various other socialism-related articles. As of late July 2006 he has 50 suspected sockpuppets. Blocks on his IP are apparently ineffective.

    The sockpuppets variously claim to be from two different people: given their similar behaviour, they may be treated as one entity in accordance with Arbitration Committee rulings

    Banned User:Irate

    Banned user persistently returning using revolving IPs in the 84.9.x.x and 87.75.x.x range. This user uses the edit summary "revert vandalism" or "rvv".

    Emico

    Emico (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · nuke contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) was banned from editing Iglesia ni Cristo related articles for one year from August 21, 2005 (provided he doesn't violate his parole) by the arbitration comittee: Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Emico. He has not honored that decision and continues to cause disruption at the article and users involved with his ArbCom hearing. Emico is also believed to be using proxys to evade blocks, making it nearly impossible to confirm using checkuser functionality. A member of the Arbitration Comittee has declared explicitly that Emico's edits and edits edits of suspected sockpuppets may be reverted "without comment": [24]

    Modus operandi

    The following is a list of editing patterns which are common with Emico and his sockpuppets:

    • Posts only at Iglesia ni Cristo and its related articles.
    • Personal attacks or negative opinions aimed the contributers who are against him (mostly the ones who have participated in his ArbCom hearing). This includes, but is not limited to, comments about contributers' past policy violations or/and lack of knowlege of the subject matter.
    • New usernames where the majority of contributions are of the above point.
    • Posts coming from proxy addresses. A checkuser result has proven Emico posts from different IPs from all over the world.
    • Article edits which are nearly identical to Emico's initial edit pattern, which is explained at Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Emico.
    • Insult usernames which parodies current contributers' screen names (eg User:Starbucks, User:LenlenBunting)
    • Massive ommisions of sourced content which are critical of the Church.
    • Use of sockpuppets (See Category:Suspected Wikipedia sockpuppets of Emico and Category:Wikipedia sockpuppets of Emico)
    • Use of open proxies


    Tooj117/The Geek Vandal

    Tooj117 was a vandal that began vandalising the page Geek by repetedly adding a ridiculous picure of a stereotypical geek. The vandal the began adding this picture on various pages, or just doing other vandalism such as page blanking, and false information. After being warned several times, the user was blocked indefinitely. Tooj117 created many sockpuppets and had accounts doing the same vandalism from different IPs. The vandalism of the page geek still happens frequently, but not nearly as often as before. Tooj117 also "teamed up" with Stroon and felt it nececary to advertise their alliance and club on a bunch of pages. It seems the nonesense from Tooj117 has been reduced, but not completely stopped.

    Nokhc / aluminium, sulfur

    Nokhc is a vandal who attacks articles with unsourced comments and outright bias. His main targets are aluminium and sulfur, where he claims that the spellings are "a vulgar error that should not be perpetuated" and "a ridiculous spelling", respectively. He also seems to be homophobic (per this edit) and mysinogynistic (per this). He may be "EnthusiastFRANCE (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · nuke contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)".

    Other targets include Jeremy Bentham, Stanford prison experiment, Prostitution, Foreskin, Morality, Naturism.

    Userpage vandalism and personal attacks, signs himself as User:Nokhc (indef blocked). IPs used:

    Creates one-time socks: User:Diched, User:Dichead, User:RESURGAM, User:V----l Sch----l, User:Dududuh, User:Duh duh duh, User:Not the duke of Devonshire, User:Master of the prick, User:TICK TOCK, User:DINGGGGG!, User:At the speed of light, User:Wikipedia is immoral, User:Porud!!!

    Disney/Barney vandal

    Since late May, this user has vandalized several articles related to The Walt Disney Company, Barney & Friends, Public Broadcasting Service and The Simpsons. His modus operandi is to introduce inaccuracies and bad formatting, much of it subtle to inexperienced users or those who know little about either subject. Edits from all IPs are identical, so it's virtually certain they are operated by the same user.

    Articles frequented by this user include:

    Disney articles:

    Barney and PBS articles:

    Other:

    User:Kenwood 3000

    This vandal has two targets:

    1. The article on jazz fusion band Brand X and related articles, replacing tracklistings and band lineups with fake ones, occasionally inventing entire imaginary albums. A giveaway is including an 'Ian Hart-Stein' in the lineup.
    2. Libellous vandalism against biographies of living persons, the majority black celebrities.

    Has created numerous sockpuppets, and further ones should be blocked and rolled back on sight.

    User:Enlighter1 & sock puppets

    Original report by clearthought Sept 2006

    Seems to always vandalize Reuters, Agence France-Presse, Associated Press the most (sometimes other news and non-news articles too), as well as making personal and vile attacks against users. Always reverts the reverts people do to his/her (Enlighter1's) vandalism by saying something like "rv vandalism" or "I am not the real vandal" in the edit summary. Has edits and actions aforementioned consistent to all of this users IP and registered user sock puppets. Also, when registering a username, tends to have the name end in "1" or have something to do with "AllPowerful" or "AllKnowing". A vandal profile page keeping an eye on this vandal is needed (like what has been done with the 'communism' and 'on wheels' vandals, but obviously not as serious). I myself, and others, have spent much time trying to take care of this vandal, so I think that the Wikipedia community — as well as admins who can actually do something when help is needed — should be made known to this new serial vandal. Still very active 30.11.2006: [31] activity includes "archiving" aka blanking of larger talkpages as well as targeting specific talkpages. See [32] [33] [34] for typical patterns. Often uses webproxies - some open - some backslashing.

    User:Outoftuneviolin

    This vandal uses similarly named sockpuppets to vandalize. His edits follow few, set patterns. Their vandalisms are usually written in "AOL speak" or just poorly spelled. For the most part, they're trollish posts attacking evolution and users they think are "evilutionists" [sic].

    His sock puppets: category:Wikipedia sockpuppets of Outoftuneviolin Category:Suspected Wikipedia sockpuppets of Outoftuneviolin

    Galatasaray, etc POV pushers

    Galatasaray and some other Turkish football articles are repeatedly hit on by an IP-hopping, sockpuppeting vandal who will engage in midless reverts of these pages to "their" version regardless of the differences. When partially protected, this vandal uses sockpuppets such as Burak18 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · nuke contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) and Johnny200 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · nuke contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) to perpetrate the same reversions.

    A sampling of IPs used by this vandal will show their typical MO: 194.171.121.27 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log),124.50.89.17 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log), 148.233.120.49 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log), 200.76.104.121 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log) 82.168.59.236 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log) and 82.92.94.108 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)

    Most vandalic edits involve "Turkifying" Galatasaray or other clubs by removing lists of foreign coaches. They also add unsourced conjectures ("X'll be coach of Galatasaray next year", etc.) and removing dispute tags calling attention to their unsourced assertions.

    Administrator Robdurbar (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · nuke contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) has been helping out with dealing with this vandal, concerns (New sockpuppets, etc) sent to him may be understood more quickly.

    Ionocraft, Lifter (ionic propulsion device), and Biefeld–Brown effect

    An AOL user has been using AOL's proxies to persistently revert two articles (one of which was moved to a new name). Their edits are always exactly the same; replacing the entire article with an old version that they wrote in a bot-like fashion. They could easily be countered by a bot that watched the page and looked for their signature edit. Page protection logs (due entirely to this vandal): Lifter (now entitled Ionocraft), Biefeld–Brown effect — Omegatron 19:15, 17 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Jinxtengu Vandal

    Operating from the main account called JINXTENGU (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · nuke contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) this vandalizer persistently launches personal attacks, creates a large amount of malicious sock puppets, creates imposter/spoof accounts, and many of his accounts have been blocked but one in particular was blocked for issuing a death threat (see this post) JINXTENGU is also being reported at Wikipedia:Suspected sock puppets/JINXTENGU and this check user report caused one of the static IPs to be blocked for a month. This user has also claimed to have written a program specifically aiming to create large amounts of sockpuppet accounts to override bans (see this).

    Their sockpuppets can be seen at: category:Suspected_Wikipedia_sockpuppets_of_JINXTENGU. Note that Prussian Poet gal. (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · nuke contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) and Tunisian Prophet poet (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · nuke contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) are both attacks on User:Persian Poet Gal.

    The following is a list of diff pages tracking some of his vandalism/personal attacks throughout 2006:

    Suki vandal

    64.110.251.69 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log) and 209.107.121.103 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log): see Talk:Suki. Long-term hoax edits every month or so, notably to Suki and New World Religion, asserting the existence of a major world religion called "SUKI(tm)", despite repeated consensus to delete due to absence of reliable sources. Some examples: [35], [36].

    The IP above attempted to remove this section [37] and is noted for ranting wildly and making borderline personal attacks on people he runs in to.

    Sports television vandal

    Keeps vandalising Category:Sports television in the United States articles. Blocked several times but keeps on adding the nonsense after the blocks expire. Zzyzx11 (Talk) 19:00, 25 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    Joan of Arc vandal

    This vandal edits Joan of Arc, homosexuality, cross-dressing, Catholicism and related articles, particularly on topics where these interests intersect. Uses AOL (64.12.116.x, 152.163.100.x, 205.188.11x.x) and sockpuppets.

    This vandal alters pages toward a devoutly Catholic, anti-homosexual POV. Favored methods include deletion of cited material, deceptive edit summaries, and edit warring. Sometimes engages in lengthy talk page debates; at other times avoids talk pages and conducts disputes through edit summaries. Has been known to add inaccurate statements to cited passages, degrade existing footnotes, and fabricate fraudulent citations. Deletes material from talk pages. Has created at least one account to impersonate an established editor. Highly persistent vandal can read sources in French and attempts to mask destructive activity as legitimate editing disputes. Active since October 2004.

    On 16 December 2006 User:AWilliamson was community banned as the (dormant) sockmaster of this sockfarm. Sockpuppets have also been banned although new and unidentified socks may remain active.

    See also:

    Original report by User:Durova.

    The Name Vandal (TNV)

    • Modus operandi/analysis

    IP (85.210.0.0/16) add one after another unsourced/false first & middle names,mostly in professional wrestlers[38][39][40][41][42]/Football articles[43][44][45][46][47], Googling shows no results verifying users edits with rare exceptions., the vandal will sometimes revert own earlier vandalism when someone discovers his activities; an example: (vandalism another user removes fictionalize middle namethe vandal will later add the true middle name back), will also engage in blatant vandalism in articles[48][49][50][51][52] and on user pages.

    Known Ip's

    Headley Down

    HeadleyDown is the best known alias of a Wikipedia vandal who specializes in massive sneaky vandalism with multiple sock/meatpuppets (20 - 40 total, often 3 - 10 at a time), and devastates articles by long term damage, and driving away of bona fide editors. It is not always clear which editors are socks, and which are meats run by his associates.

    HeadleyDown initially acts as the "sweet voice of a reasonable editor", claiming to have a scientific or neutral interest, seeking minor improvements, POV fixes, balance, or a legitimate "scientific/neutral" viewpoint in an otherwise not-bad article. However in practice long-term he is a virulent and destructive subtle POV warrior who ignores bona fide research (sometimes calling it "promotion") and gradually over time using multiple socks forces a massive POV slant until articles end up attacking their own subjects, or twisted to a very one-sided POV, rather than explaining them. This is claimed to be "more concise", "more scientific", "cited" or "more neutral". At times, he has forged cites and credentials, invented material, and deleted bona fide information, to do this. He is quite tenacious and persistent and tries to come back if blocked.

    It is worth noting that Wikipedians lacking prior experience usually mistake HeadleyDown's socks as being good-faith editors, perhaps who don't quite understand 'personal attack', and treat his disputes as run-of-the-mill content/civility/3RR/NPOV issues. As a result his socks are very often given much good faith even by experienced editors, and only slightly chastised by Arbcom, which he uses to continue degrading the article and deterring genuine editorship for months on end.

    The most obvious visible symptom is a combination of (1) an individual or clique of editors who say they are being helpful or neutral and following Wiki-process, adding valid cites and genuine info and removing unsupported statements etc, while the article somehow keeps getting more and more virulently extreme or unbalanced, and there is a feeling of despair that it's "just not going to get better". (2) Eventual vicious personal attacks on more neutral editors, especially alleging bias or pro-<subject>. (3) Suspicion of sock/meatpuppetry. There are many ways to confirm a HeadleyDown presence if suspected but these are not obvious to unfamiliar editors.

    HeadleyDown has been classed as "block on behavior" by David Gerard, repeatedly confirmed by Mackensen. Because of his modus operandi the significant damage he does is not easy to unravel.

    Modus operandi

    Operates under multiple IP's, often multiple socks at a time. Often claims initially to have helpful information and merely want to help with a few problems with the article. Plays the game with policies, especially WP:NPOV, cites, and demands for cites. Eventually turns to virulent personal attacks (alleging bias, promotion, covert support for topic X) to kill off any editors who might object to their actions. Appears to be within rules and yet somehow the article keeps getting more and more extreme, even as claiming to be "helping" it or making it "more neutral".

    Often cites tangential or minor writers as if major or expert, whilst rubbishing deleting or ignoring genuine facts, attacks (often by playing WP:CITE) others who revert or correct the POV slants, and either gradually or viciously builds a case accusing those who try to include genuine facts or balance of being biased, and of working "against" the neutral editors or against policy.

    Has forged cites or chosen selective interpretations, to support his edits. Long term aim is to turn articles into cynical travesties of themselves over time on the basis that this is "the real view", "neutral", "more scientific", "wikipedias view", or the like.

    Has also attacked article contributors (eg mentor:Woohookitty: [53][54][55] and User:FT2 [56]), at times threatening editors with bans or other disciplinary procedures if they do not "work with neutral editors", discussing their "crimes", "vandalism" or "blatent bias", agreeing (between socks) they should be ignored etc. If accused of wrongdoing, will deny, and counteraccuse bias or bad faith. Sometimes he uses socks to support or argue with his other socks to "muddy the waters" or prevent rational discussion, or during RFC/RFArb.

    Also likely to be long term: promised to leave neuro-linguistic programming but instead within a day or so came back as 3 or 4 new socks. When finally removed from there came back 6 days later under a new name on zoophilia. Simultaneous to NLP (which reached RFArb) was also subject of independent 2nd RFArb under other aliases on Ted Kennedy et al, and active on Stalin. After attacking NLP for months, started inserting equally spurious pro-NLP edits and views in multiple articles and talk pages in July 2006 (reverted by many editors). May be active elsewhere too. Seems to focus on only one (or a few) article at a time, but stick with them long term.

    Finally, HeadleyDown often recruits meatpuppets as well as using socks: see this comment on RFC/24.147.97.230 for the Kennedy articles, and the RFArb for Neuro-linguistic_programming#Likely_source_of_visiting_users_identified on NLP, for two examples.

    Examples

    • A new HeadleyDown sock acting as the "sweet voice of reason" on Paraphilia and Felony

    Identification methods

    There are a variety of strong evidences which rapidly help to identify a HeadleyDown reincarnation or sock. Please contact FT2 for details if suspected.

    David Gerard advises IP variability is such that IP alone is not sufficient to detect. [57]

    Mackensen confirmed on RFCU that suspected HeadleyDown socks should be blocked on behavioral evidence even if Checkuser is unhelpful. [58]

    Handling

    HeadleyDown's preference is to cause long term POV/NPA damage with extended chaos and dominate articles via his socks, so once he's firmly and dismissively called on it and editors stop being drawn into his sock-dramas (WP:DFTT), the article is no longer likely to be such good "entertainment fodder". So spotting him (ie "this could be HeadleyDown's work" as opposed to "just another typical POV/3RR/NPA editor") and blocking on sight solves much of it. Of necessity such blocks have to be "on suspicion and behavior", and if caught he will deny, deny, deny - and counteraccuse (play the game that not giving good faith to his edits shows extreme bias). If removed, watchlist the article for new socks in future and add suspected socks/meats to this page.


    Examples of dismissals that worked: (1) dismissively letting him know he's spotted, (2) response to new meatpuppet why they can't edit despite claiming to be a different person.

    History and past incarnations

    HeadleyDown himself (via EBlack and D.Right) only goes back as far as early 2005. However it is likely from Talk:Neuro-linguistic programming and other RFC/RFArb posts that HeadleyDown was also Agiantman and 24.147.97.230, and examination of articles and disputes that user was in reveals that HeadleyDown had a parallel incarnation (including a large number of socks and anon IPs) simultaneous to his involvement on NLP, which were independently the subject of a second set of RFC's and ArbCom in 2005.


    Main aliases Alias used Articles attacked
    As twin sockpuppets EBlack and D.Right
    and also A.Warner    		 March - August 2005 Scientology, Electroencephalography and Neuro-linguistic programming
    As Agiantman and many others, probably including 24.147.97.230 July - August 2005 Bill Clinton, Kathleen Willey, Dan Rather, Ted Kennedy, Stalin and other similar articles, and then Neuro-linguistic programming
    As HeadleyDown and many others August 2005 - June 2006 (blocked) Neuro-linguistic programming (anti-NLP)
    As JHartley and FFodor July 2006 (one blocked, one not) Zoophilia
    As Mindstore July 2006 (not blocked) Neurolinguistics, Psychotherapy, Linguistics, Cognitive linguistics (pro-NLP)
    As CSIvor July 2006 (not blocked) Zoophilia and Paraphilia, also various others (Canada, Criminal law Crime scene photography)
    As RoKeMo July 2006 (not blocked) Psychology and ScienTOMogy
    As 144.214.62.99 July 2006 (not blocked) Personal attack sock

    Other notes

    Private email from HeadleyDown, 13 June 2006:

    "Oh a lot of what I did on the article was for my own fun. I found it highly amusing to see you respond to my socks as if they were different people, and to real editors as if they were socks. And I got you to say some really stupid stuff. It really kept me going... sockpuppets are just too entertaining."

    Comment by mentor Woohookitty after HeadleyDown blocked, when new socks started to show up (20 June 2006) [59]:

    "Honestly, I think I'm done with NLP. My problem is that once we do this editing, someone will come by and make it awful again. It's just pointless. Too many meatpuppets. Too many socks. Just too much work for this old Wikipedia soul."

    Known sock/meats

    Used to attack Ted Kennedy and the like

    The first two of these editors were the subject of two RFC's and one RFArb for edits in connection with Ted Kennedy and other political articles, and had near-identical modus and timing to HeadleyDown. Again, there was other evidence tying them in, see user:FT2 for details. The 3rd is behaviorally confirmed. The last two are covered in the RFC on 24.147.97.230 and RFArb on Ted Kennedy.

    Used to attack Neuro-linguistic programming and the like

    Meatpuppets or possible sockpuppets:

    Used to attack Zoophilia
    Used to attack Psychology==

    Untested sockpuppets:

    Used for personal attack

    Some of the Vandals other edits

    " you wikipedia assholes think u can stop me ha ha ha ha ha" [60] insulting a sysop [61] - Sirex98 16:06, 5 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

    To be correctly filed

    Sneaky Stats Vandal

    See also

    Modus operandi

    Sneaky vandal, alters statistics about population, race and skin colour, entering fabricated or poorly-calculated values. Turn-ons include weather, human height, and blonde hair colour. Also categorizes people into ethnic categories (many of these are legit edits). This vandal used to edit from Canadian IP addresses, but has recently started using Brazilian dynamic IP.

    Examples


    70.126.2.82 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RBLs · http · block user · block log)

    Me and others have warned this person to stop damaging articles related to beauty pageants and beauty queens. He/she has repeatedly placed items in the articles without citations, writes in very poor English, and also is racially insulting to certain nationalities such as Venezuelans. I have reverted the article on Denise Quinones many times because he/she claims that the crowd preferred the Greek candidate over Denise without citing any sources. This is pure speculation. I have kindly asked the editor to cite sources and to edit in a manner that doesn't cause the article's structure to lose shape to no ado. In articles such as Shanna Moakler he/she claims that she is a mixture of ethnicties without citing her sources. She/he has created several sock puppets to edit. Please be aware. Is there anything that can be done with this IP Vandal? --XLR8TION 02:47, 23 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

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