Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/NormalguyfromUK
NormalguyfromUK
- NormalguyfromUK (talk+ · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · spi block · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki)
29 June 2024
[edit] – A checkuser has completed a check on relevant users in this case, and it is now awaiting administration and close.
Suspected sockpuppets
[edit]- Eternal Iliridan (talk+ · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · spi block · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki)
- Albanian atdhetar (talk+ · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · spi block · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki)
- Binniwnl (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
All of the reported users are relatively new, with few edits, and active in the same topic area that NormalguyfromUK was; namely military incidents involving ethnic Albanians.
The user Eternal Iliridan was created about a month ago, on 19 May 2024 (CA). Despite being very new, and with only 25 edits, there is already significant overlap to the activity of the sockmaster NormalguyfromUK (EIA). Out of the 16 pages they have edited so far, six happen to have also been edited by the latter; I didn't compare Eternal_Iliridan's activity to that of NormalguyfromUK's numerous sockpuppets, which means there is potentially more overlap. Also, they have made similar changes to the ones by NormalguyfromUK. For example:
There are some additional similarities I observed, which I can share if necessary.
The user Albanian atdhetar was registered on 3 March 2024 (CA), and there is also significant overlap to the activity of NormalguyfromUK (EIA), with 35 edits in total. Out of the 16 pages they have edited, eight have also been edited by NormalguyfromUK; again, without taking into account the latter's numerous sockpuppets. For some examples of similar changes they have made:
- Compare diff1 to diff2
- Compare diff1 to diff2
- Compare diff1 to diff2 (similar to edit by co-reported Eternal_Iliridan from eight days earlier)
- Compare diff1 and diff2 to diff3
- Compare diff1 to diff2
I am also suspicious of Binniwnl, who is a little older than the rest of the reported users; registered on 9 April 2023 (CA). Bearing in mind that CU has been used numerous times since then, I don't expect a confirmed technical connection to NormalguyfromUK (or sockpuppets); however, there might be a connection to the rest of the co-reported users, if they are themselves unrelated to NormalguyfromUK. Regardless, there is overlap and similarities to the activity of both NormalguyfromUK (EIA) and Eternal_Iliridan (EIA), with only 43 edits in total. For example:
AND
Lastly, maybe Albanianhistorian123, who is mentioned in the SPI of 4 February 2024, should also be considered for potential links; as should the similarly named – to the reported Eternal_Iliridan – Illyrian5999, whose SPI case was actually the one where NormalguyfromUK, Albanianhistorian123, and them, were identified as three distinct groups (see here). For example, Eternal_Iliridan restored an infobox (diff), that was formed by the edits of Albanianhistorian123 (diff) and NormalguyfromUK (diff1, diff2); it had been removed by an IP some months earlier. Demetrios1993 (talk) 15:11, 29 June 2024 (UTC)
Edit: If you check the archives, you will see a group of "Based" usernames which might be related to the sockmaster NormalguyfromUK, but this isn't certain from what I understand; there are also additional users who have been blocked in relation to them, but aren't visible in the confirmed and suspected categories regarding NormalguyfromUK. These include Based Person, Based Person l, and Based guyy; see the 11 August 2023 case as well. The reason I am bringing this up, is due to the bizarre behavior by the reported Eternal_Iliridan. They appeared in the page Corfu Channel incident, which they hadn't edited before, in order to restore a previously reverted problematic edit by co-reported Albanian_atdhetar. Besides that, the former said that they "love" the latter, and that we should follow them on TikTok.
I love Albanian_atdhetar, GO FOLLOW HIM ON TIKTOK HIS USER IS @based.drenica😝😝😝
Following a revert by another user, this time Albanian_atdhetar appeared to restore the problematic edit again; leaving a similar edit summary with emoticons.
Mfs how isn't this Albanian victory we have 0 losses😭🙏🏻
Go check the history of the page, to get a better picture. Not only that, but Eternal_Iliridan continued with another bizarre edit (vandalism to be precise) in the page Battle of Mashkullorë; they replaced "Albanian victory" in the infobox, with "Shadow_based victory" (diff), which apparently pertains to – yet another – TikTok account @shadow_based. Now, if there isn't a single individual behind Eternal_Iliridan and Albanian_atdhetar, it does at the very least appear that they are coordinating from outside Wikipedia. Demetrios1993 (talk) 03:22, 5 July 2024 (UTC)
Edit: On 7 July 2024, the reported Albanian_atdhetar vandalized the page 2001 insurgency in Macedonia by inserting a personal attack against a fellow editor in the "result" parameter of the infobox (diff); they received a one-week block for this (block log). As aforementioned, Eternal_Iliridan also vandalized the "result" parameter in the inofbox of another page, three days prior to this incident. Demetrios1993 (talk) 01:01, 8 July 2024 (UTC)
Edit: On 29 July 2024, Albanian_atdhetar added a red link in the infobox of the page Greek Civil War; that is "Albanian-Greek Border War" (diff). It should be noted that the very same title was used for a POV fork created by NormalguyfromUK, that was deleted more than a year ago via an AfD. It is surprising that Albanian_atdhetar added a link to it, considering that they are only about five months old. I should also add that only a day prior to that addition, on 28 July 2024, a similar POV fork that had remained in the draftspace, was deleted; its title was "Albanian-Greek Border Clashes 1949" (deletion log), and was originally created by Albanianhistorian123 during the same period (no more than 10 days difference; between 20–30 May 2023) that the aforementioned AfD-nominated article was published. This indicates that Albanian_atdhetar was monitoring that draft, and was prompted to publish something about it following its deletion the day prior. Please recall again what I wrote about Albanianhistorian123 above, in the last paragraph of my post from 29 June 2024. Demetrios1993 (talk) 15:41, 1 August 2024 (UTC)
Comments by other users
[edit]- Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.
They have continued their disruption, as can be seen here. I'd say the possibility of them being socks is high. StephenMacky1 (talk) 12:00, 20 July 2024 (UTC)
Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments
[edit]- The best I can come up with on the technical data is Binniwni is
Possible and the others are
Unrelated. RoySmith (talk) 16:55, 2 August 2024 (UTC)