Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Hentheden

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

– This SPI case is closed and will be archived shortly by an SPI clerk or checkuser.

• Philthebanker (talk⁺ · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · spi block · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki)
• Risktrademike (talk⁺ · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · spi block · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki)
• HalleyCA2015 (talk⁺ · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · spi block · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki)
• Deniss Alex (talk⁺ · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · spi block · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki)
• Tophe1984 (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 · SPI Tools

A six year old sleeper account with zero edits awakened, and several brand new accounts created, a few hours apart, to support user:Hentheden in a flimsy DRV case.

• Special:Diff/1245965226/1245982770 (user:Philthebanker)
• Special:Diff/1245982770/1245991043 (user:Risktrademike)
• Special:Diff/1246021091 (user:HalleyCA2015)
• Special:Diff/1246030332 (user:Deniss Alex)
• Special:Diff/1246028054 (likely same operator, forgot to log into one of their sock accounts; realizing their mistake, they quickly self-reverted their vote)
• Special:Diff/1246035588 (User:Tophe1984)

I don't know if user:Hentheden is the sockmaster or not, but it's probably worth checking. Note that I am involved as the closing admin of the subject AfD. Thank you! Owen× ☎ 11:41, 16 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

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

• I am not a puppet (although a puppet would be made to say that, wouldn't they). What happened is that Hentheden contacted people like me who actually care about the subject matter, Global Credit Data, to let us know that its entry was being removed and that there was a chance to have our say. I find it hard to believe that letting people know that there is an opportunity to make a comment or vote is against policy.Philthebanker (talk) 06:25, 18 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

  It is in fact against our rules, @Philthebanker. You may review WP:Canvassing. I would guess you should also review WP:Conflict of interest, which I have 0 doubt that the entirety of the list of accounts above have. Izno (talk) 01:15, 23 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

• Lol I'm not a puppet master and I didn't even canvass. I vented my frustration about how crazy wikilawyering by deletionists was ruining wikipedia (showing the exact page) to one friend, who happened to care enough about the topic to intervene in the discussion. In no way did I ask them to intervene or write anything in the DRV. That Philthebanker then canvassed the DRV is entirely on them. But thank you to everyone involved for taking the time to make wikipedia worse by removing notable information and discouraging editors - newcomers and oldies like me alike - from contributing. Hentheden (talk) 22:47, 25 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

• I have taken action to reduce the visual disruption of the DRV, as an uninvolved administrator. I second this request, although I think it's unlikely Hentheden is involved. The other five I suspect are linked. Daniel (talk) 23:00, 16 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]
• CU isn't all that helpful here, I'm afraid:
  • Risktrademike is  Confirmed to MichaelDhaenens (talk⁺ · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · spi block · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki), which seems pertinent given [1].
  • Tophe1984 is  Possible to Risktrademike
  • Everyone else looks pretty much  Unrelated
  • I did not check Hentheden directly, but they didn't show up in the checks.
• That said, the behaviour makes me think that there is essentially no chance that there was not some sort of inappropriate off-wiki canvassing here. Given that I have very limited amounts of data to work with for individual accounts, I also cannot fully rule out spoofing, but that scenario seems less likely. --Blablubbs (talk) 14:12, 17 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

  Canvassing subsequently admitted by one of the accounts. :D Izno (talk) 01:14, 23 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

• Blocked the one confirmed account to start. Izno (talk) 01:13, 23 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]
• Given the mostly negative findings, I think the right result here is talk page warnings of some sort for the clear response to canvassing and then otherwise to treat this as a one off for the currently unblocked accounts. Izno (talk) 16:48, 23 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]
• Issued a bunch of warnings, closing RoySmith (talk) 23:35, 19 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]