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Edgar181 - admin with decade-old sockfarm
Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2019 2:32 am
by JuiceBeetle
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... desysoppedHave not read the rules of ArbCom elections:
scrutineers get checkuser tool.
Socks confirmed (more presumed):
Code: Select all
user_name | user_registration | user_editcount |
--------------------------------------------------
Edgar181 2005-10-14 196322
Deli nk 2005-11-07 78799
ChemNerd 2006-09-15 17568
Slideshow Bob 2006-10-02 566
PCock 2006-10-02 15586
TimBuck2 2006-10-03 724
Edgeweyes 2006-10-03 1860
Gnome de plume 2007-10-07 4748
MetrosMan 2009-02-03 15
Tcg2019 2019-10-02 2
Dwonderl 2019-10-03 0
Dwndlnd 2019-10-03 2
Mylucideyes 2019-10-17 1
Mwg24 2019-10-24 1
Questiontoask 2019-11-27 5
Re: Edgar181 - admin with decade-old sockfarm
Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2019 2:45 am
by Abd
Fascinating. I might take a look at the edit timing patterns. Under some conditions, they can reveal socking. This is a very weird case. Socking in voting for arbcom? Dumb. If he cared.
The scrutineers are stewards, who already have global checkuser and they were authorized to consult with the local checkusers.
Appearance is that he really didn't care, but maybe we will see more. I think he might be kidding himself.
Re: Edgar181 - admin with decade-old sockfarm
Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2019 8:48 pm
by CMAwatch
2005?! And administrator since 2007, at the time when YouTube was merely 2 years old?
Incredible. 
Such a
long-term administrator happens to be banned… incredible.
Hopefully, Bbb23 is next.
Deli nk = Female?
Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2019 8:50 pm
by CMAwatch
Re: Deli nk = Female?
Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2019 9:26 pm
by Abd
It would take some detailed study. If there are two people who live together and thus use the same internet access, and if they either use the same computer or the same setup (software versions), checkuser will not be able to distinguish between them. I notice, however, that the blocks do not shut off talk page access, so a wrongfully blocked user could make the point. That Deli nk has not commented is evidence in favor of the sock idea.
They do advise that people in a situation like this disclose it in advance, otherwise checkusers will make the assumption that same access and same user agent string equals same person. The same thing can happen, of course, with library or internet cafe access. If they use the same computer, i.e., they are not editing at the same time, there will be a very similar pattern of editing to being a single person. If they use a different computer, there are still likely to be correlations. To study this, in the past, with other suspected socks, I have loaded the edit times into Excel and plotted them. Truly independent people will show very different patterns from a single person with multiple accounts. It is obvious. By the way, an occasional "edit coincidence" (same minute of edit) does not prove two different people. People may have more than one edit window open. To test it, one time I made a series of edits all in one minute. Not difficult at all. But doing this all the time without showing some odd pattern would be very difficult.
Does anyone really care?
Edgar181 banned
Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2019 8:17 pm
by Masked User
TL;DR: Edgar181 is not what he seems. He has been using 13 different sockpuppet accounts for over 13 years, mainly to stack votes. And CU has finally caught him.
Link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ol ... r_Edgar181
Re: Edgar181 - admin with decade-old sockfarm
Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2019 11:40 pm
by JuiceBeetle
Support because this was cross-wiki socking, you need evidence of community discussion like this before a global ban can be considered. He's either currently socking or will be back, probably on multiple projects, so documenting this for a few months down the line when the inevitable global ban discussion occurs helps tick the checkboxes for the meta rules. TonyBallioni (talk) 23:57, 7 December 2019 (UTC)
Endorsed by Doc James
Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2020 8:00 pm
by CMAwatch
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk ... ntributors!
James Heilman, a member of the
Board of Trustees, the second highest level of the power structure of WikiMedia Foundation (the highest level being that guy from Alabama)
endorses Edgar181!
(Yes, Edgar181 has indeed done good work too. But how come the good work of many other
unreasonably banned users (e.g. Aron Manning) is
completely unappreciated by those administrators?)
And yes, Bbbum23 has also
edited that page quite a few times.
Re: Edgar181 - admin with decade-old sockfarm
Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2020 8:49 pm
by ericbarbour
Didn't notice this thread before--Edgar181 was a low-profile admin and I had not looked into the history before.
Xtools is down again but Edgar looks like a typical patroller to me. He/she? clearly has professional expertise in drug chemistry. Created articles about very obscure experimental drugs like
AMG 510.
Don't worry, he/she/it will be back. And next time Heilman will try to protect him/her. Debatable how effective this will be.