Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/HaughtonBrit

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HaughtonBrit

HaughtonBrit (talk+ · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · spi block · block log · CA · CheckUser(log) · investigate · cuwiki)
Populated account categories: confirmed · suspected


06 April 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]

In case, admins would like more info on HB's usual IP ranges and some of the proxies he uses, please refer to this-[1]

HaughtonBrit (while block evading) had been extensively edit warring with a competing sockmaster Kamal Afghan01 through both SPAs and logged out editing. Some examples of edit wars between the 2: [2], [3], [4]. HaughtonBrit filed 3/4 of the SPIs against KamalAfghan with his blocked proxies/usual Pittsburgh IPs-[5], [6], [7]. His previous SPA Dazzem was blocked for requesting Ponyo to take a look at accounts he believed to be KA socks, in co-ordination with his proxies and usual IP ranges-Dazzem's post to Ponyo's t/p & [8], [9]. He also hounds users whom he believes to be KA socks-[10], [11].

Historian2325, despite his limited number of edits, seems to always "conveniently" show up to continue HB's campaign against KA , pushes the same MO/POV as prior HB socks, and was recently found to be acting in glaringly obvious coordination with another blocked HB sock. Here are diffs of Historian2325 being used to edit war/counter KA-This too was immediately after his SPAs Javerine and Ralx888 were blocked, [12], [13], [14], [15], [16], This was a draft made by KamalAfghan's sock, Historian2325 edit warred with KA here, the only way Historian2325 could have found about this draft was if he was tracking KA much like HB.

Examples of similar POV pushing: Historian2325 decreases the Sikh troop strength and claims that British suffered heavy casualties in the Battle of Ferozeshah. MehmoodS also inflated British troop strengths in the same page; On the page Nepal-Sikh war, Historian2325 mainpulates infobox figures, decreasing Sikh troop strength and casualties whilst inflating the Nepalese's numbers and casualties. Same MO as his other FedEx proxies/accounts/IPs-[17], [18], [19]; On the page Battle of Ramkani, Historian2325 changes "Inconclusive" to "Sikh victory" much like other HB socks-[20]

The page Afghan-Sikh wars has been a fixation of HB for years making 50-100 edits on the article and its t/p with SPAs and logged out editing over the years- For example much of the article's t/p is littered with HB's socks trying to aggrandize the Sikh side as much as possible-his usual 199 FedEx proxy, HB's blocked 134 proxy, his SPA MehmoodS, his blocked account Dekhoaayadon etc. Historian2325 makes the same POV edits as HB used to-[21], [22], [23]. On the same day (March 16) the page is ECP and 3 hours after Historian's last edit to that page, Dekhoaayadon is created. He promptly accuses a competing editor Paathan2024 if he is a sockpuppet on the t/p and files a SPI against him a few days later-[24], [25], heavily mirroring the accounts Dazzem and his posts to Ponyo's t/p requesting action against KamalAfghan. Dekhoaayadon gets blocked as a HB sock on April 3. During that time Historian2325 was completely inactive, just 2 days after Dekhoaayadon's block, Historian2325 makes a post on the t/p asking why pages that HB's previous SPA Javerine created are deleted-[26] + [27]. replaced with shorter version Southasianhistorian8 (talk) 08:20, 3 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Turns out my previous suspicions on how HaughtonBrit was evading his block was correct-[28]. According to Ponyo, Finmas, a SPA, who was previously determined by CUs as "Unrelated" and then "Inconclusive", was editing solely from VPNs. HaughtonBrit used to hound me primarily through logged out editing, but since September 2023 he also started using a bunch of different proxies into the mix, some of which managed to "pass" Wikipedia's proxy checker and spur, even though it was pretty obvious that they were proxies because they were linked to some business which was not a legitimate ISP. I will list all the proxies I've dealt with. Southasianhistorian8 (talk) 01:14, 8 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
2 admins have stated that a CU check on Historian2325 is warranted-[29]. Southasianhistorian8 (talk) 17:03, 12 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Alvin1783, a newly activated account, immediately starts creating articles in which the Sikhs were victorious. Definitely not ones which would indicate that he's a new user. The articles are designed and worded and sourced EXACTLY the same way as HB's SPA Javerine's articles- they have the same typical article length, same images, similar grammatical style, same MO/POV, same content demarcation, same use of Article Wizard. The fact that he created his account in July 2023, days apart from other sock accounts like Supmananger and Elifanta23, yet only became active 6 months later also suggests that this was a burner account.

Alvin1783's edits are consistent with numerous other HaughtonBrit sockpuppet accounts which tend to follow me to pages and counter my edits with either SPAs or logged out editing This edit here, done to counter my edit just a day before indicates following. The same page was targeted by HB before-[30], [31], [32], [33], [34], [35] etc. He also followed me to the page Battle of Chenab (now deleted) within hours of my edit.

He has the same fixation and overlap on Afghan-Sikh conflicts.

Same POV pushing edits on Battle of Akora Khattak, a page that was extensively targeted by HB in the past with dozens of edits on both the article and its t/p as recently as January of this year; admins also sock struck his comments on the page-[36]. HB also voted 4 times logged out on the article's AFD-[37], the blatant sock puppetry was even noted by another user-[38] . — Preceding unsigned comment added by Southasianhistorian8 (talk • contribs)

This account is possibly using proxies which geolocate to Germany-[39] & [40].HB has edited and blocked evaded extensively with various proxies.

Thanks @Yamla: for looking into it, I would like to point out that I've come across some HaughtonBrit proxies which managed to pass Wikipedia's ProxyChecker and spur.us, but they were pretty clearly HaughtonBrit; all these proxies had one thing in common and that was that they would be linked to some obscure "ISP" or business, instead of being linked to a known company like AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, they would have a listed ISP of "Level 3 Communications" or "AIC Communications" or "Align Network", one one occasion the ISP was some HVAC contractor. He's also used some regional IPs which geolocate to Ohio. The behavioural evidence for Historian2325 strongly suggests meatpuppetry to me since he seems to consistently be doing HB's bidding despite his lack of presence on Wikipedia; continuing edit wars for him, asking why pages his SPA created were deleted and vice versa HaughtonBrit socks continuing edit wars for Historian2325 . There's so much fishiness going on here, for example this account Festivalfalcon873 created around the same time as Javerine, after a one year hiatus, suddenly returns and the first thing he does is to request an undeletion request and deletion review of an AFD by Noorullah (AFDs in which HB is 100% keeping a track of and using SPAs to vote in)-[41] (the fishiness of the situation was also noted by other users in the DR). Knowing HaughtonBrit, there's no way he'd just roll over and allow these AFDs to proceed without doing something about it, there's definitely something nefarious going on behind the scenes which involves extensive sockpuppetry/burner accounts/meatpuppetry to create certain articles and impede AFDs. Southasianhistorian8 (talk) 22:27, 6 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It should also be noted that Finmas was found to be "Unrelated" and then "Inconclusive" even though the behavioural evidence was airtight and acting in tandem with HB proxies. Southasianhistorian8 (talk) 18:44, 7 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Comments by other users[edit]

Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.
@Southasianhistorian8 Adding on -- Another account User:Festivalfalcon873 immediately began editing after a 1 year hiatus after AFD's were opened on User:Alvin1783's pages. Here was Falcon's last edit on his hiatus: [42] and here's him editing a year later: [43] He himself opens numerous AFD's such as shown here: [44] and comments on Alvin's: [45].
Alvin's behavior is almost the same as most HaughtonBrit accounts, creating numerous pages of Sikhs against the Afghans such as: Siege of Lahore (1800), backed with the same sources that were almost universally seen across all his sockpuppet accounts. Just look at [[46]] and ctrl + f "Afghan", it's a pretty common reoccurring theme for these accounts. Alvin's first edits were making some of the pages as mentioned.
Lastly, check falcon's edit history. [47] Noorullah (talk) 23:37, 8 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Pinging @Yamla Noorullah (talk) 23:38, 8 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I don't see why you are accusing me and actually stalking my pages when, first of all, I have no relation to that "Haughtonbrit" and didn't its Exsistence until I was mentioned here. Secondly, Festivalfalcon is a different person and resides in a different country than me. I'm new to Wikipedia and wanted to grow it. You may freely offer advice or assist me make improvements to my articles, but can you accuse me outright of doing something wrong? Kindly refrain from acting in such a childish manner. I won't accuse you of being Noorullah's sock puppet, nor vice versa as you both target my Pages. Alvin1783 (talk) 23:53, 8 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Lame attempt at gaslighting once again, you've followed to me 3 different pages now, Maratha-Patiala clashes, Battle of Chenab, and Guru Tegh Bahadur within hours of my edits, something HaughtonBrit did thousands of times. The only reason I even found about you was because YOU followed me to the M-P page. Admins and everyone else needs to know that this is a predatory sockmaster who preys on people's supposed naivete. He gets a kick out of deceiving others and making fools out of others; just look at the user talks of other SPAs like Finmas, Supmananger, Elifanta23, MehmoodS, Ralx888, Canon8, HaughtonBrit, AtmaramU and see how this playing none the wiser is a common tactic of HB to try to make admins sympathize with him. Southasianhistorian8 (talk) 00:14, 9 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Try something fresh, buddy, rather than making the same accusations. I started Wikipedia because I wanted it to grow while also combating anti-Sikh propaganda, which has been prevalent here for some time. By the way, I didn't know you before you and Noorullah began deleting my pages. At this point, you're making some random claims without a basis. Leave this childish behaviour and your unhealthy obsession with Sikh pages and bring better arguments next time, Buddy. Alvin1783 (talk) 00:25, 9 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Admins, this is what I'm talking about, this sockmaster created such an insane, convoluted web of lies over the past few years that the subsequent difficulty and delay in dealing with his mess is something he leverages to prolong his block evasion, and he cheerfully gloats about this and tries to further bait people. What a sad state of affairs this is. Southasianhistorian8 (talk) 00:38, 9 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
You might need therapy at this point, trying to establish himself as a victim of a "sockmaster," whatever that means, and quit acting like a child its only getting Pathetic. Alvin1783 (talk) 00:45, 9 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for proving my point. Southasianhistorian8 (talk) 00:47, 9 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for proving my point. Alvin1783 (talk) 00:49, 9 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Final comment: Admins, I implore you to take a look at the user talk pages of the aforementioned sock accounts and you'll see that Alvin1783's and their behaviour is a 1 to 1 match in terms of childishness and deception. Southasianhistorian8 (talk) 00:51, 9 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I understand your worries and respect how serious you are about Wikipedia's integrity. However, I feel your argument contains fundamental misconceptions and assumptions that should be addressed.
1. While you have observed parallels in editing patterns and thematic focus between my contributions and those of other users, correlation does not indicate causality. As authors to an encyclopaedia, we must depend on verified evidence rather than guesswork. I beg you to examine the possibility that our theme commonalities are merely the result of shared interests in certain historical topics, rather than evidence of sockpuppetry.
2.We are going away from productive debate by accusing me of dishonesty and wrongdoing without actual proof, which may violate Wikipedia's behavioural rules. I encourage us to prioritise content enhancement and verification, which are the foundations of our joint efforts here.
3.I wholeheartedly support a neutral investigation into these issues. If there is any uncertainty regarding my activity, I welcome administrative review. I am willing to face whatever examination deemed appropriate by the community.
4.I joined Wikipedia to positively contribute to the discussion of historically significant events, especially those that are underrepresented. My goal is to enrich this platform with well-sourced, balanced, and helpful information. I am dedicated to following Wikipedia's content regulations and working respectfully with all members of the community.
Good Night. Alvin1783 (talk) 01:03, 9 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
For @Yamla
This is a matter is a concern of casting aspersions under WP:CASE as subjecting myself and another user Alvin1783 through false accusations of attacking other editors on the platform without substantial evidence and baseless allegations in regards sock puppeting.  The problem with these baseless allegations is that it costs nothing to unscrupulous appellant to throw other editors under Wikipedia: Sockpuppet investigations, at which multiple members of the community end up wasting their time on responding to baseless allegations that are a great cause of casting aspersions. The  "WP:SHOT" principle should be applied here to casting aspersions in regard to those raising false allegations where some form OP:blocked should be the resulting closure toward the one raising disruptions. The fact should be clear here, my page created of over 2 years was put on Afd without any part of notification or partaking of me in the discussion, with both the users raising allegations, Noorullah and Southasianhistorian, partaking on the deletion vote to speed the process of deleting my hardwork. This should be seen as a coordinated attack. I am not the best editor or know all these codes too well as it can be seen through my work, so accusations of sockpuppeting of being perviously on this platform, should go out the window. However I have every right to come back and defend my hardwork which is being attacked by the same users Noorullah and Southasianhistorian8, who are raising allegations in this investigation. A trend of opening Afd specifically to target myself and Alvin and others should be seen as abuse of the system and categorized as "WP:HA" "WP:PA" and attempting to disclose location of users should be seen as "WP:PRIVACY". Overall this should be considered abuse of power and should result in a “Wikipedia:BP” due to the continuous disruptions & opening multiple baseless Afd in an attempt to indirectly attack the user itself and then raise casting aspersions (as this one) to silence the user.
Festivalfalcon873 (talk) 20:34, 9 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Admins in a couple of hours, I will be filing a SPI agains Festivalfalcon and one more SPA and I am 99.9% sure that the evidence will irrefutably prove sock puppetry going on. Like I said this a extremely experienced and predatory sockmaster who exploits people's supposed naivete and gets off on it. Southasianhistorian8 (talk) 20:40, 9 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The admins should recognize this as a clear case of caste aspersions & if they are free to verify via any investigation or checking IP , and they will know I am not similar to any other user on this platform. The fact that I barely know the codes on here or know any of the users mentioned in this investigation, should be crystal clear of the baseless allegations being raised. However the “”boomerang”” principle should be applied to the accusers raising disruptive SPI and wasting the time of the admins. @Yamla Festivalfalcon873 (talk) 20:50, 9 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Yamla knows very well that HB is a deceitful and desperate sockmaster. He's dealt with you before-[48]. Southasianhistorian8 (talk) 20:52, 9 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
They can check or do any investigations they like. If they are false accusations, then the ones raising casting aspersions should be dealt with. Festivalfalcon873 (talk) 20:55, 9 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
You were notified of the AFD's, Festivalfalcon. [49] Noorullah (talk) 01:51, 11 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments[edit]

  • Note that Historian2325 was checked in April 2023 and found to be unrelated to HaughtonBrit. I will leave the report open for a Clerk to review to see if further action is needed.-- Ponyobons mots 22:40, 10 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    I ran CU based on the additional sockpuppet and additional discussion after Ponyo's statement. I loathe these HaughtonBrit investigations. It's very, very tricky to pull useful information out. Frankly, I think in the future we should probably just block on behavioural grounds. Anyway:
  • Historian2325 still appears Red X Unrelated.
  • Alvin1783 is  Inconclusive so  Behavioural evidence needs evaluation.
Note that one of my VPN detecting tools (out of three) is not currently functioning. Nevertheless, I looked hard for proxy use. Other checkusers may have more luck but I'd hate to subject them to HaughtonBrit SPIs. --Yamla (talk) 21:59, 6 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

10 May 2024[edit]

– This SPI case is open.

Suspected sockpuppets[edit]

RangersRus
Gubara90 creates his account on August 16, he starts off making edits to Indian movies/entertainment/actors-actresses related pages. This however was a ruse so he could evade scrutiny in order to recreate deleted pages made by his SPA Javerine-[50] & [51]. On August 21 16:50, the account is blocked as a DUCK of HB. Exactly one hour later RR creates his account on August 21 17:50-[52]. "Incidentally", RR also predominantly edits Indian movie/entertainment/actors-actresses pages which serves as a ruse to evade scrutiny for his DUCK edits to history and religion related pages. HaughtonBrit himself used to sporadically edit movie articles as a tactic after his prior account WorldWikiAuthorOriginal was blocked-[53]

Close proximity editing to HaughtonBrit's blocked IP on the page Sikhism in the United States: IP inflates various census figures; changes 200,000 American Sikhs to 500,000. Inflates low end estimates from 78,000 to 200,000 etc. + [54]. In the middle of these edits, the IP removes the block evasion notice from its talk page. RangersRus, a mere 6 day old account at this time, jumps in 2 hours after the IP's edits, making the same type of edits + [55]. The page was extensively edited by other HB sock accounts like Javerine-[56]. Edits to Sikhism in X country has been a common feature among HB socks-Elifanta23 and Finmas

HaughtonBrit's MO includes militantly aggrandizing the Sikh side and vitiating pan Indian groups, in particular the Marathas. Marathas and Afghans are particularly anathema to HB. Usually, when a user shares the same Maratha-Sikh overlap, it's HB or his SPA. I will list 5 diffs highlighting this (to save space) but please understand there are 100x more such examples- Unlike Marathas who made an ignominious exit from the Punjab, the Sikhs did not allow Abdali to take on Lahore without a fight, Removes Maratha Victory from infobox, replaces it with a treaty, Adds content stating a Maratha figure acted treacherously against the Sikhs, Removes content claiming a Maratha figure ruling Punjab, Accentuates Maratha defeat in infobox

In fact, when MehmoodS was blocked, he was brazenly block evading to continue his campaign against Marathas. See the contributions for the IP that resubmitted MehmoodS' unblock request after his t/p access was revoked + [57]; campaign against Marathas- [58], [59], [60]. He even edited Maratha pages from airports believe it or not -edit from his home state's airport, exact same MO and geolocation as his 50* IP, Calgary Airport edit a few days after, numerous edits from Toronto Airport. This really goes to show just how unhinged this sockmaster's actions are.

RangersRus continues this same MO-removing content claiming Marathas took over the Rohtas fort and the Sikhs being defeated as a 10 day old account. HB's SPA Javerine made two articles about Rohtas-[61]

My first AFD nom of 2024 was in January 14 20:34. RangersRus, up until that point had ~1000 edits and had been on Wikipedia for 5 months; he had zero activity in AFDs whatsoever, not one vote, not one nomination. 3 hours after my nom, on January 14 23:51, he votes in his first AFD. Now let's look at his first 3 AFD votes:

1) RangersRus's first AFD vote ever is to delete an article in which the Marathas were victorious. See Wikipedia mirror of the article

2) His second AFD vote is also to delete an article in which the Marathas were victorious. See Wikipedia mirror of the article

3) His 3rd vote is to Delete an article in which the Sikhs were defeated. That article had been extensively targeted by HB socks in the past- with 8 edits by HB's SPA Ralx888 and 1 logged out edit in the very same day of its creation-[62], 5 edits on the t/p within 2 days of its creation leading admin Abecedare to sock strike and then 9 edits in Jan 2024-[63]. HaughtonBrit also made 4 delete votes (!) logged out to the AFD. HaughtonBrit's proxies and IPs, along with RangersRus, were "coincidentally" the only delete votes.

It's a clear case of following and sly hounding, which as we've more than thoroughly established years ago, HB employs SPAs, logged out editing, and proxies to counter my edits non stop. Immediately after January 14th, RangersRus goes on a mass AFD voting spree, making 65-70 votes in a span of two months from Jan-March, according to his own words. The obvious conclusion to draw from that is that he knew he messed up and the numerous votes help to disguise himself; making DUCK-like AFD votes more legitimate at face value.

Since then, RangersRus has been sabotaging my AFDs, consistently voting to Keep extremely poorly written and sourced articles which promote religious heroism, making terrible, IDHT arguments to litigate. See [64], [65], This one in particular really highlights how RR is following me, he timed his vote right after another user, Jttrs, expressed his intention of changing his vote from Keep to Delete; the AFD had been listed for almost 20 days at that point. While RR seems to consistently vote to defend Sikh interests, conversely, he consistently votes to undermine Marathas and other pan Indian groups-[66], [67], [68], [69], [70].

On April 21, RangersRus took a Wikibreak, making zero edits to Wikipedia whatsoever, when does he return? Hours after I return to voting at AFDs, voting to delete poorly written/sourced articles promoting Sikh heroism on 28 April 3:39 and 4:01. RangersRus comes back immediately, votes in a bunch of irrelevant AFDs, and 2 days later votes to Keep the Battle of Kalnaur; an obvious counter to my vote

RangersRus also votes in line with another obvious HB sock/burner account, Festivalfalcon873, who out of vindictiveness, nominated various articles in which the Sikhs were defeated for deletion: Votes to Delete an article which an HB sock nominated in quick succession + thus far, voting in line with Festivalfaclon in 3/5 of his AFDs.

RangersRus also undermines Noorullah's AFDs-making nonsense arguments, reinstates extremely poorly sourced content promoting Sikh heroism; claiming that 100 Sikhs defeated 5000 Afghans, claiming that an author to which only one book written in 1935 can be traced back to is reliable to push Sikh heroism. HaughtoBrit has an extensive history of targeting Noorullah's edits. See edits from his most recent sock Dekhoaayadon-[71], Javerine, MehmoodS etc.

RangersRus also somehow found about the SPI filed against him in March a mere 9 hours after it was filed, despite not being pinged, which also very strongly suggests following me around. He claims that he found about it because of my response to him on the Rohilla AFD, despite it being 3 days before and he wasn't pinged there either; he also voted in 7 different AFDs between Feb 29 and March 2.If RR was indeed a legitimate user, why would he be following the creator of an AFD, 4 days after his vote there, 9 hours after I filed an SPI, when RR votes in numerous AFDs, making 7 votes in between the Rohilla vote and the creation of the SPI. It would logically follow that I would have zero significance to him, just another blip in the radar, just one out of the 70 AFDs he voted in up until that point. The obvious conclusion is that he was shaken and wanted to undermine my report, calling it bogus and insulting me there. As you'll see later, HB socks somehow consistently finding out about my SPIs, and desperately proclaiming their innocence here is an extremely common theme.

HB sabotaging my AFDs is not something new; we have at least one blocked sock Elifanta23 whose actions strongly resemble RR's actions. HB sock voting to undermine my AFD in 2023 and then desperately proclaiming his innocence on HB's SPI, minutes after it was filed

Lastly Abecedare, an admin involved in South Asian topics, who has extensively dealt with HB's nonsense before, also agrees with me that RR is a SPA. "The behaviorual evidence is indeed suspicious & further noting that RangersRus and HB's POV is aligned and that RR has stylistic overlaps with HB which is something I've noticed as well. RangersRus and HB talk and argue the exact same way, their behaviour in religion/history topics is a 1:1 match. Southasianhistorian8 (talk) 13:53, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Festivalfalcon873
Festivalfalcon873 creates his account in November 2022, roughly the same time as another SPA, Javerine, who created his account in August 2022.


In April 2023, HB's blocked IP expresses his desire to create Battle of Sirikot in order to counter KamalAfghan's creation of the Battle of Nara, a battle in which the Sikhs were defeated. Who ends up creating this article? Festivalfalcon873-Thank you for making Battle of Sirikot! and [72].

Festivalfalcon also removes Battle of Nara from the infobox of Hari Singh Nalwa, once again consistent with HB's vexation at the creation of the article-[73], [74]. Festivalfaclon gives a Wikilove message to Ronnie Macroni, asking him to update the page

Smoking gun #1: Festivalfalcon posts on Abecedare's tp requesting protection for the page Battle of Sirikot, his second message is once again expressing contempt at the page Battle of Nara, and asking Ohnoitsjamie and Abecedare to move the article to the draft space. A mere 1 hour later, HB IPs go to Ohnoitsjamie's talk page, further requesting pages that KamalAfghan made to be moved to the draft space; the title of his post being "Pages with unreliable sources need to moved to draft space". Abecedare commented in the thread: "Ohnoitsjamie, fyi the 2601 IP is a block-evading sock of HaughtonBrit."

We have already more than thorougly established, by the way, that HB was engaged in numerous edit wars with, filed 3 out of 4 SPIs against KamalAfghan, and has a blocked sock Dazzem that was blocked for DUCK edits and acting in tandem with HB's IPs/proxies in asking for an admin to take action against KA's suspected socks-[75]

Festivalfalcon also uses AFC wizard to submit his articles much like Alvin1783 and Javerine. All 3 editors have the exact same MO of aggrandizing the Sikhs.

After a prolonged break of almost a year, Festivalfalcon comes raging back, asking for his article to be undeleted, making personal attacks against other editors-[76], [77].

Out of obvious vindictiveness, he starts nominating articles in which the Sikhs were defeated, "incidentally" involving himself in AFDs, suppressing articles in which the Sikhs were defeated, promoting articles in which the Sikhs were victorious at the same time that Alvin1783's articles are nominated.

AFD #1

His second AFD nom is an article in which HB was extensively editing with HB's SPA Ralx888 making 7 edits to the page, edit warring with KamalAfghan, in the very same day the page was created [78].

His 3rd AFD is one in which HB made 20 edits, extensively edit warring with KamalAfghan, making 15 edits with his SPA Ralx888, and 5 edits logged out

His 4th AFD is one in which HB made 7 edits to, again edit warring with KA leading to Abecedare protecting the page, citing HB's sockpuppetry in the edit summary

His 5th AFD is an article in which HB made 14 edits throughout the page's history, the most being as recent as Jan 2024-[79]

The smoking gun #2 which undeniably proves that Festivalfalcon is a sock is his attempted nomination of the page Battle of Qarawal, which is what HB's SPA Javerine attempted before [80] in order to counter Noorullah's nomination of the page [81]. Javerine was vexed and passionately trying to get the page Battle of Qarawal deleted. The fact that Festivalfalcon873 continues this effort is so obviously a duck quacking into a megaphone at this point. Keep in mind, Noorullah has created 23 pages, so why did Festivalfalcon choose this page out of all 23? The article is decently written and sourced so it's undeniable this was out of vindictiveness and revenge rather than a genuine effort to improve Wikipedia


Festivalfalcon voting to Keep a page that Alvin1783 created

Festivalfalcon's spiel on the HaughtonBrit SPI is incredibly similar to Alvin1783's and RangersRus

Regarding the CU checks, somehow, someway, HB manages to consistently trick CUs; I've commented before how HB would employ proxies to hound me, and some of them managed to pass Wikipedia proxy checker tools as well as spur (which Yamla directed me to), the common feature among all those proxies was that they would be linked to some random obscure business that was clearly not a legitimate ISP; instead of being linked to AT&T, Verizon, Comcast etc, they would be linked to something like AIC Communications, Level 3 Communications, Align Network. Finmas, who was a loud duck quacking into a megaphone; his first check had at him "Unrelated" and then later "Inconclusive". Dazzem was a "possible" even though it too was an undeniable sock, which The Wordsmith can attest to (for both accounts). Look at the user talk of MehmoodS; Yamla did a check for his bogus unblock request, stating " Whether or not that precludes them from making a request under WP:SO is up to the reviewing admin. Checkuser data shows no other evidence of evasion" even though he was consistently making hundreds of edits logged out for 7 months straights beforehand + was operating a sock account Javerine at the same time. Yamla even stated in the previous CU check for Historian2325 that it's difficult to extract useful technical information and that SPAs should be blocked on bheavioural evidence. Underestimating HB's extreme resoluteness to block evade and taking CU findings at face value is a mistake.

For example, this proxy 65.205.15.158 (talk+ · tag · contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RBLs · proxy check · block user · spi block · block log · cross-wiki contribs · CheckUser (log)) was employed to continue HB's edit war, making the exact same edits as his actual IPs which geolocate to Pennsylvania. The 65* proxy manages to pass Wikipedia's proxy checker as well as spur https://spur.us/context/65.205.15.158, obscures HB's actual location, and if you search the ISP "AIC Communications" there are zero legitimate ISPs under that name.

Same thing for this proxy as well 207.189.217.195 (talk+ · tag · contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RBLs · proxy check · block user · spi block · block log · cross-wiki contribs · CheckUser (log)) which he employed- it passes Wikipedia's proxy tools and spur, it obscures his actual location, and if you search up the ISP "Accelerated Connections", it's obvious that it isn't a legitimate ISP.

65.211.34.66 (talk+ · tag · contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RBLs · proxy check · block user · spi block · block log · cross-wiki contribs · CheckUser (log)), another proxy that he used, passes Wikipedia's proxy checker as well as spur. But it's so obviously a proxy, the "ISP" Friendwell Managment LLC is a property management company!

There are numerous other examples of this. He's making a fool out of everyone. Southasianhistorian8 (talk) 23:21, 13 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

He also manages to use legitimate regional ISPs like Armstrong- 24.154.162.189 (talk+ · tag · contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RBLs · proxy check · block user · spi block · block log · cross-wiki contribs · CheckUser (log)) (note the IP's similarity to this blocked HB IP 24.154.112.204 (talk+ · tag · contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RBLs · proxy check · block user · spi block · block log · cross-wiki contribs · CheckUser (log)); both have the same ISP of Armstrong) and Agile Networks 67.219.155.230 (talk+ · tag · contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RBLs · proxy check · block user · spi block · block log · cross-wiki contribs · CheckUser (log)), which obscure his real location of Pennsylvania and instead make it seem as if he's editing from the neighbouring state of Ohio...if he can make it seem as if he's editing from a state to the west, surely he can do the same for states to the east as well. Given the large number of IPs and proxies at his disposal and his history of tricking CUs., behavioural evidence should be the basis of blocking, not CU checks Southasianhistorian8 (talk) 00:12, 14 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Comments by other users[edit]

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

This Bogus SPI case is a repeat of previously closed SPI with Wall of texts, full of all inane allegations and is continous case of WP:BULLY and revenge threat to stop me from voting. I hate to repeat myself. All editors have right to vote on AFDs and I am active on Wikipedia:WikiProject_Deletion_sorting/India and I have voted on AFDs by Suthasianhistorian8 before in his favor where I found his nomination to be right. When I voted against because I did not see the nomination to be right, he makes this sock threat for fifth time now with this repeated SPI case. Southasianhistorian8 filed SPI before for same allegations that two admins @The Wordsmith: and @Drmies: found no connection [82]. Southasianhistorian8 also filed incident on ANI against admin The Wordsmith for misunderstanding his SPI case and the incident was closed with closing statement "No consensus has or will emerge to find fault with TheWordsmith's or Drmies' SPI findings.". Suthasianhistorian8 also did forum shopping WP:OTHERPARENT to try to block me. He is forum shopping again now. I fail to see how any of his repeated allegations from previous SPI are tenable. I do not remember my earlier edits and its plausible that Sikhism in the United States and Rohtas fort were one of the many pages on mainspace that showed up on recent edits list and I took interest in what I considered was unwarranted edits that didn't run parallel with the source and Rohtas Fort was a case of no source available and that is why the bare comment was removed. My interest in Deletion sorting list of India began when Battle of Udgir showed on recent edit list. Pages like Battle of Rohilla, Third siege of Anandpur and Battle of Akora Khattak AFDs are one of the many that were listed in the deletion sorting list that I would go through often to help with votes. I voted Delete for Third siege of Anandpur because it was poorly sourced and poorly written page and it was nominated by accuser himself. There were no complains. Battle of Akora Khattak was another where I voted for Delete because it was too poorly written and poorly sourced with snapshots from Google books and my vote didn't matter because other voters thought that it was a keep. Battle of Rohilla is in near path with Battle of Akora Khattak but had more than passing views by very reliable scholarly sources. The vote didn't get prized by the accuser and so he created initial SPI case. I am not connected with any religious or community to take precedence over. My votes are exclusively on the evaluation of sources. From many many AFDs that I voted for, it should be unconcerning if I voted on the some pages that the accuser has concern on. This WP:BULLY behavior of Southasianhistorian8 continued on an AFD. Southasianhistorian8 had no problem with my vote when in his favor but had one when not in his favor and tried to make accusations and attacks on an AFD Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Battle_of_Haidru_(1828)_(2nd_nomination). Admin Liz said "It is not appropriate to accuse an editor of being a sockpuppet in an AFD discussion. If you have concerns, file a case at SPI. If there is no confirmation of sockpuppetry through an SPI, then you are just trying to tarnish the reputation of an editor which is a personal attack. Please conduct a discussion elsewhere." This revenge and BULLY behavior and wikihounding is at its peak now with this repeated bogus SPI and should come to an end. This user has repeatedly violated Wikipedia's civility policy. RangersRus (talk) 14:26, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Noorullah21: in case he wants to add any information regarding Festivalfalcon873's nom of Battle of Qarawal which is what HB's previous SPA Javerine did before.

@Seawolf35 I think the RR section is pretty well written, I know I've had some issues with bloat before, but trust me there's no bloat or filler there, the sock-master just did such a bad job that listing all of his blunders and all the essential evidence takes that long. You have to remember that this sockmaster has been on Wikipedia or the past 4 years, and in just the past year alone, has made dozens of burner accounts and thousands of edits. It's simply not feasible to explain the sockpuppetry in 3-4 sentences. That's why I think it would be a great idea for SA admins like User:RegentsPark and User:Abecedare to take a look at this because they can understand the nuances in his edits and MO, and both of them have dealt with HB before. Southasianhistorian8 (talk) 19:48, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I dont know who these people are or this HB guy. I came back as Southasianhistorian and Noorullah vindictively deleted my page. AGF should be the standard for Wikipedia rather then [WP:HA] against me and casting aspersions to silent users who are still learning how to edit on this platform. Festivalfalcon873 (talk) 22:05, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The AFD's raised against you were not attacks nor harassment, they were as a result of the poor quality of the pages backed by poor sources. You yourself noted that you are not the best editor which can be seen through your work in one of the paragraphs you posted above.
"I am not the best editor or know all these codes too well as it can be seen through my work,"
You did a counter AFD against one of my pages for little reason in return in this diff. [83] Noorullah (talk) 01:50, 11 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I am not the best editor in regards to knowing all the WP codes when writing these comments (my work), which also takes the whole SPI argument raised against me out of the window that I was falsely accused of in an attempt to silence me. I never said my page was poorly sourced , infact the AFG against my page provided inadequate reasoning in attempt to cancel universally accepted authors and it was pushed to delete by the same group of people in the form of a coordinated attack. Festivalfalcon873 (talk) 05:10, 11 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not gonna argue about the sources because this is not the place to do so, but these AFD's were raised for a reason, and it's not a "coordinated attack", it's just editors that are in the same field seeing said AFD's. Noorullah (talk) 00:23, 12 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Do note, two of the IP users' addresses do seem to come back to hotels, so they're unlikely to be useful for identifying socks. -- Aunva6talk - contribs 02:49, 14 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments[edit]

  • I don't have time right now to consider RangersRus and read through all that. Falcon may look like Javerine, and while the AfD on Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Battle of Qarawal was presented as a smoking gun here, and a reason for me to check, there is nothing in the technical record that ties Falcon to any other account. If I understand it correctly HB is all over the place with IPs--Falcon is not. Also, User:The Wordsmith, earlier, was convinced that RangersRus was not a HB sock, so I really don't want to dance this dance again. Drmies (talk) 22:35, 13 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
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