Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/GMTV Chart Show/Archive - Wikipedia


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GMTV Chart Show (talk+ · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · spi block · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki)
Suspected sockpuppets

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The quantity and nature of disruptive edits being made from these IP addresses (which all resolve to *.b-ras2.dbn.dublin.eircom.net) are focused on including misleading information in articles relating to British television channels and, frequently, children's television shows. A common theme is inserting unsourced information, often dated in the future (e.g [[1]] and [[2]]) claiming that foreign channels are launching in the UK, or that long-closed channels are returning. While the editor's current primary focus is Kidsco and JimJam, they frequently include edits to, or mention, The Children's Channel giving fictitious future dates for a return - example [[3]]. These are uncannily similar to the long-running vandalism and disruptive editing commited by User:GMTV Chart Show - e.g. [[4]] and my strong suspicion is that they are one and the same. Dealing with the current wave of disruptive editing is difficult since the user just edits until they are blocked, then presumably they evade the block by turning their modem off and on again and returning with another IP address from the ISP's dynamic pool. It seems now that this user changes IP addresses when their IP is first warned, before there is even chance for them to be blocked. Similar edits have been seen from a school broadband range, HEAnet Dublin school broadband (connection ID 2354) range 87.39.115.128 - 87.39.115.191. It appears to be a pattern of behaviour stretching back several years which continues unchecked. It is the tight focus on certain articles - e.g. KidsCo, Template:Children's channels in UK & Ireland, 2011 in British television, Children's television series and others, the same material inserted in the edits, and the same underlying IP address range, which suggests that it is the same underlying editor. I suspect that this user is using raw IP editing solely to evade a long series of blocked user IDs and sockpuppetting. Bonusballs (talk) 20:39, 19 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Vandalism has resumed from 86.41.28.194 immediately following the expiry of the two-week block. Bonusballs (talk) 14:51, 5 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

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  Checkuser note: blocking 87.39.115.128/26 too following an AIV report. No other contrib on that range. -- Luk talk 15:44, 2 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Suspected sockpuppets

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Vandalism from this user has resumed immediately following the expiry of the previous IP address range block. Same focus on articles such as Kidsco, JimJam, Template:Children's channels in UK & Ireland etc. Reported at WP:AIV who suggested posting here instead. Bonusballs (talk) 14:58, 5 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

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Suspected sockpuppets

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Vandalism following the previous patterns has resumed from the above IP addresses (the 86.44/45.x addresses were previously blocked, the 137.191.241.9 address is new and presumably is a public internet facility or workplace. Same pattern of edits to a small number of articles, and further dubious or otherwise obviously untrue edits to other articles. Bonusballs (talk) 21:17, 15 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

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Suspected sockpuppets

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Resumption of same pattern of vandalism by including incorrect and unsourced infomration. IP addresses in the same previously-blocked netblock. Same focus on articles like KidsCo, 2011 in British television and The Children's Channel, inserting fictitious future dates for unsourced events [[5]], continuing same edits made from other blocked IP addresses abused by the same vandal (e.g. [[6]] from school and [[7]] from home. [[8]] from school, [[9]] from home.) This vandalism continues to hop between dynamic IP addresses tracing back to *.b-ras2.dbn.dublin.eircom.net and 87.39.115.146 (school connection in same geographic area). The vandal appears to reset their modem to get a new IP address each time an individual one is blocked, or edits from school during range blocks of their home ISP. They simply don't give up... Bonusballs (talk) 18:15, 18 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

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That's because they've already moved on to other IP addresses - 86.41.27.8, 86.44.196.1, 86.41.38.68 have been used in recent days. This vandal rarely stays on the same address for long enough to get blocked, they're faster and more subtle than that, unfortunately. Bonusballs (talk) 19:08, 22 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Suspected sockpuppets

MO of modifying UK TV show information to incorrect information is the same. Already blocked for vandalism. Moving here for documentation. NativeForeigner Talk 06:47, 17 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

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Suspected sockpuppets

Same pattern of vandalism and insertion of errors and bogus claims into articles has been ongoing since the earliest reports of this vandal's activities. Latest edit to 2012 in British television here - [[10]] - being just the most recent example. This persistent and determined editor continues to evade all blocks and warnings by constantly IP hopping. Bonusballs (talk) 21:39, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

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Suspected sockpuppets

Hopped on to a new IP address - started out with reasonable-looking edits on familiar articles, then reverted to usual pattern of vandalism against 2012 in British television and JimJam. These two articles in particular continue to be a strong focus for this editor. Bonusballs (talk) 23:00, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

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Suspected sockpuppets

Continued error-vandalism by this long-running sockpuppet - most obvious examples are edits [[11]], [[12]] plus repeated attempts at [[13]] and [[14]], continuing the pattern of inserting bogus information into children's TV articles, almost always mentioning The Children's Channel in some way or another. Both IPs resolve to *-dynamic.b-ras2.dbn.dublin.eircom.net addresses, as per previous activity. Continues despite all warnings and blocks. Bonusballs (talk) 11:10, 25 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

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Suspected sockpuppets

Continued insertion of bogus TCC-related information into articles - e.g. [[15]] and [[16]] (this article in particular is a constant target, maybe it needs protection) and further irrelevant mentions in[[17]], [[18]] and [[19]] Bonusballs (talk) 21:55, 26 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

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Suspected sockpuppets

Continuation of same pattern of bogus TCC/The Children's Channel based edits, including [[20]] Bonusballs (talk) 22:17, 3 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

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Suspected sockpuppets

Continued one-track vandalism to same old articles, including [[21]] and [[22]] Bonusballs (talk) 22:20, 6 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

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Suspected sockpuppets

This sockpuppet continues to vandalise anonymously and prolifically across their ISP's address range. Hallmark disruptive behaviour includes repeated insertion of unsourced claims and errors into children's TV articles, often listing random programmes as 'coming soon' or 'TBA' [[23]] and listing the same programmes across multiple different articles, listing bogus DVD releases, [[24]], [[25]] [[26]] making claims of bogus TV channels as launched or 'coming soon' and 'TBA', [[27]] etc. Particular focuses of this vandal continue to include Template:Children's channels in UK & Ireland and 2013 in British television, any articles relating to channels operated by the Chart Show group such as Kix (UK and Ireland), Pop (UK TV channel), CSC Media Group and Template:CSC Media Group. These 35 IP addresses are just those used in the last few months alone. This vandal has been attacking these articles, and many more, for a period of several years and still shows absolutely no signs of stopping. Although certain articles such as The Children's Channel have been protected due to this vandal's particular focus they continue to post nonsensical edit requests on its talk page ([[28]], [[29]], [[30]]) and no amount of blocking seems to discourage them, they change their focus onto other articles (e.g. [[31]]) and programmes and continue unabated. There are now over 200 IP addresses for this sock listed at [[32]] and more appear almost every day. Bonusballs. Since this SPI case was reopened the Pop (UK TV channel) article has been protected, and the same pattern of nonsense edit requests has now started appearing on its talk page as well - e.g. [[33]] (talk) 12:14, 26 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]

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  Range blocked. 86.41.0.0/18 (talk · contribs) soft-blocked for a month. 86.42.128.0/19 (talk · contribs) soft-blocked for a month. 86.44.192.0/20 (talk · contribs) soft-blocked for 3 months. WilliamH (talk) 16:42, 28 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Suspected sockpuppets

Vandalism has resumed following expiry of previous rangeblock. Some individual addresses blocked at WP:AIV but most recent one (86.41.43.247) was refused and referred to SPI. The original GMTV Chart Show user was blocked for 'apparent long-term issues' and this seems as true today as it has ever been. Even where this vandal's focus pages are semi-protected, they begin filling up the talk page with nonsensical edit requests. (e.g. [[34]], [[35]] It seems that there is no end in sight. Bonusballs (talk) 10:01, 25 September 2013 (UTC) Bonusballs (talk) 10:01, 25 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

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  • Two named users   Confirmed to each other. 86.41.0.0/18 has been softblocked for 6 weeks. If disruption to this degree resumes on these IPs after an unblock I recommend for it to be extended, but there is a lot of constructive activity on this range. 86.44.192.0/20 may need to be blocked again (probably another 3-6 months), but it is still currently under rangeblock and he may no longer have access. NativeForeigner Talk 16:11, 25 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  • Tagged and closing. Rschen7754 20:17, 25 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Suspected sockpuppets

DHX Media and Nick Jr. (UK and Ireland) are frequent targets of GMTV. In this edit the user submits a litany of unsourced information about Tiny Pop, Pop Girl, Kix, which are ALSO articles frequented an vandalized by Chart Show. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 19:53, 25 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

KidsCo has also been a long-held favourite of theirs. Added 86.44.206.37 due to the hallmark nonsense edit request [[36]] so often seen on pages that have been protected due to their previous abuse. Bonusballs (talk) 22:30, 25 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims. None of these are it. GMTV World (talk) 08:13, 2 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

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Suspected sockpuppets

It seems that this vandal has changed IP for the holidays - a new burst of edits to the sock's regular focus articles including JimJam, The Children's Channel, Totally Spies!, Pop (UK & Ireland), Tiny Pop and Tiny Living. Same hallmark behaviour of wildly unsourced claims and nonsense future predictions. Edits such as [[37]], [[38]] and [[39]] are a clear continuation of this vandal's previous long-running activity. Bonusballs (talk) 17:26, 23 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

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Suspected sockpuppets

Recurrence of long-term vandalism against focus articles including Template:Children's channels in UK & Ireland adding lists of completely made-up television channels and supposed 'returns' of long-closed services - [[40]]. Same pattern of nonsense edit requests on protected pages [[41]] [[42]] and bogus claims of DVD releases - e.g. [[43]]. Vandalism seems to have moved consistently to this IP address, a cable modem in Ireland, fitting the geographic location of previous vandalism by this editor, which abated slightly following a number of IP range blocks of their previous ISP. Bonusballs (talk) 09:24, 24 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

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Suspected sockpuppets

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Sockpuppetry by this editor shows no sign of stopping, changing only slightly over time and moving away from previous focus articles such as The Children's Channel as these articles are protected. While the majority of problematic edits continue to be from IP ranges registered to Eircom, or sometimes other Irish ISPs, most recently editing has been concentrated from the 'Brian fagan' username (related no doubt to the 'Dylan fagan' username previously used by this sockmaster). Following the eventual blocking of Brian Fagan yesterday, same activity has resumed from a freshly-minted 'Sunita Bahadursingh' username. Target articles continue to revolve around children's television, with particular focus most recently on articles such as Pop (UK and Ireland), JimJam, Kix (UK and Ireland TV channel), Tiny Pop and particularly claiming UK 'TBA' launches for DreamWorks Channel. The most telling and consistent focus continues to revolve around Template:Children's channels in UK & Ireland - when opportunity permits, they persistently add scores of hoax 'future' channels - e.g. [[44]], [[45]] (and scores more edits like this from various IP addresses prior to page protection being reapplied). When they cannot edit the template directly due to it being restricted only to autoconfirmed users, they revert to repeatedly posting nonsensical edit requests on the talk page. Particular examples of this pattern, adding requests like 'UK channels future', 'uk future children's channels', 'UK Childrens Channel in Upcoming', etc, can be seen here: [[46]], [[47]], [[48]] - It's the focus on this template page in particular which is the most obvious smoking gun of this sockpuppet and has remained constant throughout, as can be seen by the near-decade-long history of nonsense edit requests on the talk page: [[49]]. While IP editing tends to be the main vector for abuse, there seems to have been recent new focus on using user accounts to avoid the page protection on their persistently most favoured articles. Bonusballs (talk) 14:50, 1 March 2017 (UTC) Bonusballs (talk) 14:50, 1 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]

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  Administrator note The logged-in accounts are blocked already. The Eircom IP ranges are difficult to deal with, as they're very wide. 86.42.128.0/19 is not as busy, so I can range block that for two weeks. I can also block the latest IPs I see on 92.251.160.0/19, including 92.251.161.215 and 92.251.171.202. I'm reluctant to do a range block on the second range, though, because it's fairly busy. Semi-protection might be a better choice to deal with disruptive edits coming from busy ranges. If semi-protection fails, it can be upgraded to extended confirmed. NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 20:14, 11 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Suspected sockpuppets

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Duck, persistent disruption of BBC Two '1991–2001' idents Dat GuyTalkContribs 05:45, 27 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]

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Suspected sockpuppets

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DUCK per Special:Contributions/Sunita_Bahadursingh and CU findings at Wikipedia:Sockpuppet_investigations/GMTV_Chart_Show/Archive#27_March_2017 EvergreenFir (talk) 19:53, 9 June 2017 (UTC)[reply]

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Suspected sockpuppets

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Edited pages seems to revolve around children's TV articles  AxG / ✉  12:43, 9 July 2017 (UTC)[reply]

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Suspected sockpuppets

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Same name, same edits to articles, same editing pattern, Thanks –Davey2010Talk 16:53, 23 July 2017 (UTC)[reply]

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Suspected sockpuppets

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Reporting this on the oldest active account. Note, Brianfagan2 was created in 2017 but had no edits.

Brianfagan5 was blocked by Ad Orientem on Sept. 11 with a note that this user might be GMTV Chart Show (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log). Since that block, Brianfagan6 and Brianfagan7 were created and edited. Brianfagan4 was created about 9 months ago, but fits the pattern.

All accounts edited on TV show pages, specifically young children's cartoons. Based on the naming and article type similarities, I'm calling DUCK.

Requesting a CU to see if (1) there are sleepers and (2) if this is indeed GMTV Chart Show EvergreenFir (talk) 20:36, 24 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

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Suspected sockpuppets

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WP:DUCK based on naming, but all accounts edited on TV related pages.

Note that Dylanfagan6 was blocked as a sock of Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/SunitaBahadursingh10 by NinjaRobotPirate. Dylanfagan2, however, appears older than SunitaB. Someone has tagged both SunitaB as possibly being Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/GMTV Chart Show

Requesting CU to try to sort out connections and, given the multi-year existence of the Dylanfagans, seeing if there are any sleepers EvergreenFir (talk) 19:39, 4 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

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Suspected sockpuppets

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Already blocked for disruption; editors have proposed this is a GMTV sock (and a number of those socks were named "Dylan"). I don't have the old CU data, but maybe another CU knows this person and recognizes the ranges. Drmies (talk) 17:48, 16 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

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Suspected sockpuppets

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Usual pattern of disruptive editing (nonsense 'coming soon' claims, placing blank edit requests on protected pages) appeared immediately following block for same activity at Dylan6764. Bonusballs (talk) 14:58, 22 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

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Suspected sockpuppets

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Likely username user:Dylan56768 and same edit pattern on Template talk:Media in the United Kingdom with strange edit requests. Lemonaka (talk) 16:43, 30 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

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Suspected sockpuppets

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Similar editing patterns on Template talk:Children's television & radio in UK & Ireland Schminnte (talk • contribs) 18:20, 15 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

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