Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Developer help needed

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The purpose of this page is to inform the Wikimedia developer community of requests by the ArbCom for help. This usually involves investigative help to determine if different user accounts are likely used on the same computer.

David Gerard has limited access to the database, using the Special:CheckUser function — see m:CheckUser. This checks the RecentChanges table to match a username to an IP. Questions concerning suspected sockpuppetry, etc. in ArbCom matters are handled with this where possible.

Please don't edit this page unless you are an Arbitrator or Wikimedia developer. Thank you.

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Open requests[edit]

  • It would be useful if regular users, say those with 1000 edits or more could be given a status which would permit them to edit articles which have been given a measure of protection which prevents editing by anonymous ips or newly created accounts. As it sits now protection with editing allowed only by administrators unduly restricts editing. In cases where an edit warrior is engaged in sustained edit warring focused on particular articles and is using a variable ip account such as EarthLink to log in. See Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Johnski/Proposed decision. Fred Bauder 19:28, 19 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
    • I guess this would also require coding two levels of protection. One which permitted only editing by administrators and another which permists only editing by regular users. Fred Bauder 19:33, 19 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
    • It has been pointed out that Wikipedia:Semi-protection may accomplish this when implemented.
    • As Wikipedia:Semi-protection has been implemented, it is not sufficient for Arbitration Committee purposes, we need a threshold that take some effort, like a thousand edits, to pass. Fred Bauder 21:37, 22 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The current semi-protection coding is not adequate, see User_talk:Ecemaml#Blocking_the_latest_sock_of_Gibraltarian Fred Bauder 18:56, 2 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

  • As long as there is no way of preventing the user Gibraltarian from accessing from any IP address from the range of ISP, I think that a new blocking tool should be implemented. It would to prevent anonymous editions from a given IP range. On the one hand, it would allow blocking Gibraltarian. On the other, it would not affect the rest of legitimate wikipedians from such a range. --Ecemaml 13:36, 4 January 2006 (UTC) Fred Bauder 15:36, 4 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Answered requests[edit]

  • Cantus violated his revert parole using an IP, 200.83.181.18, which is definitely him. This may of course change in the future - David Gerard 08:43, 17 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]
  • The Number and Sollogfan are, as they state, in the UK, not Sollog and almost certainly not the same person (DSL through different providers). But then, they were blocked for being trolling and abuse accounts - David Gerard 08:43, 17 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]
  • Several more Alberuni socks blocked: MD2020, Elitcher, JuiceLayer, Dogtag. Keeping an eye out for these - David Gerard 08:43, 17 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]
  • More GRider socks: Relax, Abort Retry Fail, Sexy Schoolgirl, Maggie311. I have a very good idea who the sockpuppeteer is, but they appear to have cooled it with the l@m3r behaviour - David Gerard 08:43, 17 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]
  • Further on the Instantnood case: User:Amerinese and User:BlueSunRed are being run deceptively as sockpuppets. I have blocked both with a note for the real identity to email me. At some stage I'll be checking every username involved in an Instantnood poll, because classic sockpuppetry has been going on on a wide scale - David Gerard 19:19, 8 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]
  • MarkSweep asked about sockpuppetlike behaviour in the Instantnood case (currently in evidence), specifically Jianq (an impersonator of Jiang), 160.39.195.88 and 50Stars. Looking at these, checking what the IPs are and seeing who else is using them where and how, I'm wondering who in this matter isn't running a sock ... I'll be looking more closely at those involved in the case and will write up any findings later today - David Gerard 10:19, 29 Apr 2005 (UTC)
User:160.39.195.88 is User:Amerinese, pretending to be a different person (classic sockpuppet). User:Jianq is someone coming in from Comcast cable IPs, no matching usernames. User:50Stars is User:DINGBAT and User:Bond007 (both sockpuppets). I'll be asking devs to look deeper into the database when I have better questions to ask. - David Gerard 12:18, 29 Apr 2005 (UTC)
  • G Rutter requested a clarification of CheeseDreams and whether The Rev of Bru is a sockpuppet, based on edit pattern [1]. CheckUser shows they use the same ISP, but it's one of the largest broadband ISPs in Britain and changes people's IPs regularly, so that's neither positive nor negative evidence - David Gerard 20:05, 5 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]
  • Thryduulf requested (on WP:AN/I) a check into GRider and Tallyman's correlating behaviour is of interest. They have similarities, but there wasn't enough for me to be reasonably confident they were the same person. There does appear to be sockpuppet theatre going on here, though. A combination of reviewing edits, IP checks and a check with Tim Starling for further technical info lets me state with reasonable confidence that GRider, HERMiT cRAB, Tallyman, ..-. ..- -.-. -.- ..- and almost certainly Jonahhh are the same person. Furthermore, they have also set up accounts G Rider, HERMiT CRAB, HERMiT cRAB and TallyMan (note subtle variation). I've blocked the lot as sockpuppets. There's another bunch on associated IPs I'm still checking further. I'd always thought GRider behaved oddly differently from a regular single-account editor, and this would explain it a bit - the sockpuppeteer, whoever it is, was treating it as a role account for particular types of edit and not bothering to humanise it much - David Gerard 12:02, 4 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]
  • LevelCheck acted in an arguably troll-like manner ("socratic editing") from early on, and Ambi raised the question in accepting the case of a sock puppet. I looked and there was no evidence of a match with anyone else in the past week - David Gerard 23:40, 26 Apr 2005 (UTC)
  • Iasson/Faethon is still running a remarkable number of sockpuppets. I checked, and he's coming in from ranges belonging to forthnet.gr and otenet.gr. Admins should take care to block the accounts, rather than change the passwords. This will then raise an IP block. Be sure to remove the IP block after a couple of hours - David Gerard 20:45, 23 Apr 2005 (UTC)
  • A pile of page blankings, including on User:Irate's case, came this evening from 217.204.65.210 - this being an IP at the Internet cafe User:WikiUser was known to use a lot. The IP also spoke of User:B1link82, who has a case request in. There was no evidence of the IP being used by any username in the past week. - David Gerard 19:33, 16 Apr 2005 (UTC)
  • I should note here I used the CheckUser functionality to check on User:Greggy, an apparent sock of Rienzo. There was no certain link to Rienzo, but the circumstantial evidence was pretty strong. In any case, the account had only been used for vandalism, so I blocked it as a vandalism-only account - David Gerard 12:33, 12 Apr 2005 (UTC)
Tim Starling says the login data from Dec/Jan is largely gone, but there should be other things to check for correlations on - David Gerard 21:18, 6 Apr 2005 (UTC)
  • The ArbCom needs to know if there is any connection between JillandJack, Oirvine, and any sockpuppet of DW (see DW's userpage for a list of sockpuppet accounts). -- Grunt 🇪🇺 04:08, 2005 Feb 24 (UTC)
    • Developer response: data suggests a lack of connection between the two named accounts. The very limited data available on the others doesn't suggest a connection. Jamesday 13:47, 5 Mar 2005 (UTC)
  • The ArbCom needs to know if there is any connection between Baku Ibne, Osmanoglou, Twinkletoes, Rovoam, LIGerasimova, Kiramtu Kunettabib, Kiramo Bemik, Dubistdas Letztearschloch, and any IP address in the ranges 84.154.0.0/16 or 64.136.0.0/16 (are these ISPs' networks?). -- Grunt 🇪🇺 22:08, 2005 Mar 2 (UTC)
    • Developer response: Rovoam has used two IP addresses in different /16s on the US west coast, summary conveyed privately. Seems unlikely to be related to the others. An additional account, WikiAdm, has used one of the two IP addresses on one day.
    • All others (Baku Ibne, Osmanoglou, Twinkletoes, Rovoam, LIGerasimova, Kiramtu Kunettabib, Kiramo Bemik, Dubistdas Letztearschloch) have used addresses in the 84.154 block, which appears to be a large dialup modem pool range in Germany. Other accounts using this pool are Tigranes, Photographer, Grm wnr, StuffedTurkey, Yourologist, TomSawyer, Pantherarosa, ArchieBunker, Osmanoglou, UROLOGISST, Mh26, Fantasy, GynoWizz. Only the IP block links them (plus any edit patterns). Use caution with the newly listed accounts - this is a large dialup pool and uninvolved accounts can be expected to be using it. Jamesday 13:04, 5 Mar 2005 (UTC)


  • The ArbCom needs to know if User: Robert the Bruce, User:Friends_of_Robert, User:Robert Brookes and User:Robert Blair are the same user, or show any correlation. Note that the correlation of Robert the Bruce and Robert Blair has been explicitly denied by both. The first three are already considered the same user. - David Gerard 01:04, 1 Feb 2005 (UTC)
    • Developer response: There is moderately suggestive evidence that all but Robert Blair are linked. It is unlikely that Robert Blair is connected with the other three. Jamesday 04:36, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)
  • The ArbCom needs to know if there is any technical evidence linking User:TDC and User:Libertas. Neutralitytalk 21:16, Jan 30, 2005 (UTC)
    • Developer response: No recent edits of User:Libertas could be found. -- JeLuF 22:40, Jan 30, 2005 (UTC)


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