Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Trekphiler/Archive

Trekphiler

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

20 June 2019

Suspected sockpuppets

• Phx138 (talk⁺ · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · spi block · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki)
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I bring this here with great reluctance, because I recognise that there is a lot of past animosity from Trekphiler, mostly towards me, and also that if I'm wrong here, I'm facing an enormous BOOMERANG. I don't even object to the socking or the 'alternate account' here (we have far too many of those already, all across WP), but when that turns into double-dealing in a content edit-war, then that's way past acceptable.

Phx138 seems to be a 'good hand' account to avoid some of the controversies (with many editors, ANI passim) that Trekphiler's main a/c seems to get embroiled in. It has been editing lightly since December.

In the last week, Trekphiler has once again kicked off the claim that Donald Campbell never won a land speed record. That is quite a remarkable claim to make and it led to this ANO complaint: WP:ANI §Andy Dingley again, & more false charges. The details are complex and not hugely relevant here (although note that it crucially hinges on whether Craig Breedlove's 1963 attempt had been officially recognised or not), but there's clearly a dispute. It runs across Land speed record, see Talk:Land speed record, and see the page history.

Now look at Phx138's edit. This is bizarre. My only explanation for it (pure hypothesis) is that Trekphiler is trying to remove Campbell's record, yet still appear "reasonable". There are three changes:

• Edit summary: "Breedlove's record has been official & accepted for over forty years, & Campbell's is less; how is he so special?" (pro Breedlove)
• "Reasonable" and factually correct, although remarkably grudging: "In the intervening period, with Breedlove's record not officially recognized, Malcolm Campbell made an attempt, recording a speed of 403.10 mph (648.73 km/h), which would not have been enough to supplant Breedlove's, had it been official. " (pro Campbell, if grudging)
• Removal of Campbell (pro Breedlove)

I could not understand this edit. It made no sense. This was what prompted me to look further at who Phx138 was. Then it became obvious just how much of a QUACKing overlap there was. This starts with a huge overlap in subject interest; but that's of no great import, you could say the same about Trekphiler and I.

Referencing style

At Dale Emery we see the perfectly legitimate shared interest crossing over into the same article. But note the referencing style: Dale Emery#References In particular, the repeated use of the same long ref in every citation. A distinctive editing style, which is endemic across all of Trekphiler's dragster articles: see Dale Emery's car, Pure Hell or Walt's Puffer II (almost everything in Category:Drag racing cars).

Edit summaries

Looking at the edit summaries, we see a lot of shared style: the same fixations on proper nouns, and the distinctively verbose, angry and personalised edit summaries:

Phx138

• "did nobody ever teach you what a proper noun is?"
• "what, just bolding isn't enough for you?"
• " did nobody ever teach you what a proper noun is? and actual citations for those claims would be really helpful"
• "who thought text sandwiching was a good idea? and when will you learn, "plot" IS NOT AN ACCOUNT OF EVERY EVENT IN A MOVIE?"

Trekphiler

• " what is the matter with you people? do you really think the text sandwiching is a good idea?"
• "when did these become proper nouns? and do you genuinely not know the difference?"
• "the fact you can't distinguish a boat from a ship makes your "confusion" less credible"

Crossover on new and obscure articles

Phx138 creates Patty Willis, 11 minutes later Trekphiler adds it to a disambig.

Phx138 creates or edits some US legal articles, including Ex parte Jackson. Trekphiler then clams the credir for article creation on both Patty Willis and Ex parte Jackson. I think that is conclusive. Andy Dingley (talk) 11:14, 20 June 2019 (UTC)

Further back we have the same claim being made for Dale Emery too. Andy Dingley (talk) 11:17, 20 June 2019 (UTC)

Comments by other users

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

• OK, this is my typo and it should have been a Trekphiler SPI, listing Phx138 as the sockpuppet. If anyone with the right mop can reverse that easily (or just delete the lot), please do so. Andy Dingley (talk) 11:16, 20 June 2019 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 Clerk assistance requested: Please move case.--Bbb23 (talk) 14:58, 20 June 2019 (UTC)

Meanwhile, the two accounts are  Confirmed, blocked and tagged.--Bbb23 (talk) 15:27, 20 June 2019 (UTC)

•  Done. Sir Sputnik (talk) 18:08, 22 June 2019 (UTC)

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