User:NinjaRobotPirate/Socks

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Currently active socks who aren't documented anywhere else yet.

Detailed cases[edit]

Most of these were active from 2015–2018, but some continue to be active in 2020
Socks
Who What Where Geolocation Active in November 2018?
Plot blanker Blanking Film plots Cellco Partnership in Florida, US No
Ghazipur blanker Blanking Ghazipur-related topics Aligarh Muslim University in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India Blocked
Christchurch bloater Bloating, copyvio Children's animated films Vodafone New Zealand in Christchurch, Canterbury, NZ No
American animation hoaxer Hoax casting info Animated films AT&T Wireless in the US Maybe
Australian animation hoaxer Hoax casting info Animated films Vivid Wireless/Telstra in Western Australia, Australia No
TriStar and Columbia vandal Vandalism Live action films Time Warner Cable Internet in Kansas City, Kansas, US Blocked
British Blanker Blanking British film co-productions BT Group in the UK September
Malaysian title changer Cut-and-paste moves Films Telekom Malaysia in Malaysia Yes
Brazilian whitespace vandal Adds whitespace Various articles Vivo in Sao Paulo, Brazil Maybe
Rogers Toronto Engvar vandal Changes spelling Mostly Canadian articles Rogers Cable in Toronto, Ontario, Canada No
Presidents vandal Disruption Presidents, politics Jio in Bihar, India Maybe
Mexican blanker Blanking Films, actors Telmex in Jalisco, Mexico Yes
"This Is It" vandal Vandalism Films, concerts Comcast Cable in Minneapolis, Minnesota, US Blocked
Whiteville film vandal Unsourced content Films Time Warner Cable in Whiteville, NC, US Blocked
Miko Hughes hoaxer Hoaxes Biographies Level 3 Communications in Buenos Aires, Argentina Blocked
Regular Show vandal Hoaxes Cartoons Coop. de Obras in Rio Tercero, Argentina September
Radio station hoaxer Hoaxes Radio stations Comcast Cable in New Jersey, US Blocked
Release date hoaxer Hoaxes Upcoming films Verizon Wireless in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US September
Indian cast hoaxer Hoaxes Films Mahanagar Telephone Nigam in Delhi, India No
Eagles genre warrior Genre warring Eagles songs Cox in Rhode Island and Connecticut, US Yes
Spawn vandal Vandalism Comic books AT&T Wireless in United States No
Connecticut film vandal Hoaxes Films Comcast Cable in Clinton, Connecticut Blocked
Name changer BLP vandalism Biographies Telstra Internet in NSW, Australia August
Daddy vandal Trolling Talk pages Sprint PCS in Seattle, Washington Yes
Atlanta POV-pusher POV-pushing Conservatism, religion Sprint PCS in Atlanta, Georgia, US Yes
Dominican release date changer Unsourced date changes Film, biographical articles Claro in the Dominican Republic Yes
Marconi hoaxer Hoax film credits Films, biographies Spectrum in Fontana, California, US Yes

The plot blanker adds {{plot}} to articles that have a long plot and sometimes blanks random paragraphs from the plot summary to put them under 700 words. This leaves them incoherent, as the entire middle portion of the plot is now blanked. Has not been active since 2016.

The Ghazipur blanker primarily targets Ghazipur and its notable inhabitants. He will almost certainly engage in blanking, but he also inserts hoax details into infoboxes. This usually consists of changing any mention of Ghazipur to another Indian city. Doesn't seem especially active since 2017, but there were flare-ups in late 2017. IP range seems to be 103.55.108.0/22.

The Christchurch bloater primarily targets children's animated films, though he may also occasionally target mainstream live-action films. He engages in a variety of disruptive edits, including bloating the lead with overwhelming detail, adding massive amounts of unsourced fancruft copypasted from fansites, and copy-pasting trivia sections from the IMDB. He may also sprinkle semi-related images throughout the page, possibly in violation of fair use. I haven't seen this one since February 2017.

The animation hoaxer is apparently several different hoaxers active primarily in children's animated films. The American one targets 1990s-era animated films, and the Australian one mostly targets upcoming films. Both can vary in their targets, but once an article is targeted, it tends to be disrupted for months. Most edits involve hoax casting information, usually A-list Hollywood talent, such as Adam Sandler, Christopher Walken, Ray Romano, Tommy Chong, Eddie Izzard,Michael J. Fox, and Bill Murray (Australian hoaxer) and Liam Neeson (American hoaxer). Directors, composers, and production companies are also sometimes changed. The American hoaxer almost always changes the composer. Possibly related: Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Diamese. A series of long-term range blocks have apparently reduced the activity to a trickle.

The TriStar and Columbia vandal replaces the distributor in {{infobox film}} with TriStar or Columbia. Be especially skeptical of changes if it comes from an IP editor and goes from Dimension Films to TriStar Pictures. This seems to plague the Scream franchise (example). Older edits focused on TriStar, but newer ones change the production company to Columbia instead (example). The most recent incarnations also target professional wrestling. I range block this vandal whenever I spot new activity. Current range blocks: 2607:fcc8:d4c9:b300::/64 and 2607:FCC8:D4C5:9B00:0:0:0:0/64 (expires December 2018).

The British Blanker strips non-British countries from infoboxes on British film co-productions, such as Shaun of the Dead (diff). Sometimes the editor will argue that a film has no American production companies, so it can't be an American co-production. This flairs up every few weeks. More diffs: diff #1, diff #2. Although the vast majority of IP addresses geolocate to England, IP editors from France may also join edit wars begun by British IPs. I've begun doing range blocks and lengthy page protection to stop the edit warring.

The Malaysian title changer is an IP editor who engages in cut and paste moves (example, example 2, example 3), requested moves, blanking talk page discussions, and various other disruptive edits. Most of the disruption takes the form of changes to links, such as changing Friday the 13th Part 2 to Friday the 13th Part II (example). These often follow failed RMs to change the title of the article, and may result in breaking the link, turning it red (example). Creating a redirect to solve the redlink will probably lead to more copy-paste moves, so I would discourage doing that. Due to poor English-language skills, the IP editor may copy-paste messages by other editors to use as retorts to criticism. The blatant disruption has died down, but watch for edit warring and blanking.

The Brazilian whitespace vandal adds and removes whitespace characters repeatedly, such as adding a blank line and removing it a dozen times. This fills up the article history with nonsense edits. He may also blank articles entirely. Portuguese Wikipedia may also be targeted. Example IPs: 187.74.246.62, 2804:431:D718:3E2D:7F74:B045:39A:9F46, 189.97.85.188 (September 2017), 201.13.49.174 (December 2017). Ranges used: 201.27.0.0/17, 2804:431:D718:0:0:0:0:0/47, 2804:14C:123:AE2F:0:0:0:0/64, 189.38.168.1 (189.38.128.0/17). Discussions: Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Archive284#Range block for Blank testing IPs, Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/IncidentArchive948#Odd IP behavior, June 2017 ANI discussion. Disruption flares up intermittently, and range blocks have had mixed results.

The Rogers Toronto Engvar vandal edit wars to change Canadian spelling to American spelling, mostly in Canadian articles. Also, date formats are changed to American-style. Specific topics targeted include mainland Chinese companies, sea creatures, and airports. The vandal seems to speak Chinese. Sample diffs: example #1, example #2. I blocked the latest IP range, 2607:FEA8:235F:FF8F::/64, in August 2017 for six months. Earlier ranges were mostly in the 2607:FEA8:2360::/48 vicinity (ANI). In late 2017 through early 2018, seems to be active on Special:Contributions/2607:fea8:235f:f000::/52 and Special:Contributions/2607:fea8:235f:f5fe::/64 (ANI). The last obvious activity was in April 2018.

The Presidents vandal sometimes adds and removes whitespace, sometimes blanks content, and sometimes makes poorly-written copy edits, mostly to political articles. Many of the articles have a title that includes some variation on "president", such as Presidential system, United States presidential transition, and Office of the President-Elect. IP range: 2405:204:c000::/36. This is another one that flares up intermittently, sometimes with months-long breaks.

The Mexican blanker is a genre-warring blanker who mostly targets articles on actors and horror films. Most of the edits will be to remove citations, especially when they conflict with the editor's nationalistic beliefs. For example, actors will have their nationality changed (usually to become Mexicans), and citations that document international co-productions in films will be removed. IP range: 187.205.0.0/16 (ANI). Others ranges used may include 177.240.0.0/16 and 2806:102E:6::/48. 187.212.192.0/18, 200.68.138.0/23, and 187.210.230.0/24 look like the same editor.

The "This Is It" vandal mostly targets articles related to comedy films and rock albums, especially Michael Jackson's This Is It (album), The Big Year, and Live at the Roseland Ballroom, NYC. Adds hoax credits and changes dates: example 1, example 2. I range blocked this vandal back in February and March 2017, and the disruption since then has been intermittent. The primary range seems to be 2601:445:8102::/48, including 2601:445:8102:8390::/64. The latest edits appear to be on 2601:445:8280::/48, including 2601:445:8280:1E30::/64 in August 2017, 2601:445:8280:790::/64 (December 2017), and 2601:445:8280:253C::/64 (February and March 2018), 2601:445:8280:1481::/64 (December 2018).

The Whiteville film vandal, for lack of a better name, is an editor from the Whiteville, North Carolina, area in the US who disruptively edits film articles. Most of the edits are to add unsourced film production companies (example), but there may also be hoax citations that fail verification (example) or blanking (example). Main IP range: 2606:A000:FA88:BD00::/64; also 71.77.227.75 (talk · contribs · WHOIS). New in January 2020: 2606:A000:140A:89F4::/64.

The Miko Hughes hoaxer adds hoaxes related to actor Miko Hughes. This is, to date, always Spanish-language vandalism. The chief article targeted is Hughes' own biography, but it occasionally expands beyond that to include hoax relationships added to other biographies, hoax credits in other articles, etc. One perplexing hoax is the addition of a Spanish-language discography. Ranges: 64.76.13.0/24, previously range blocked in late March 2017, April 2017, and June 2017; 200.55.0.0/18, range blocked in July 2017; 201.251.76.194 (talk · contribs · WHOIS) (probably 201.251.76.192/26) (July 2017); Special:Contributions/131.108.80.0/22 in January–May 2018.

The Regular Show vandal targets Regular Show, Adventure Time, and their associated articles. The disruption usually takes the form of denying that the shows have ended and adding additional hoax seasons (ANI). Ranges: 179.60.96.0/21, 190.122.48.0/21.

The Radio station hoaxer is fairly self-explanatory: the vandal changes radio station branding and slogans from, say, "93.1 The Party" to "93.1 The Melinda" (diff). Other names are also likely, such as changing "Mix 106.9" to "106.9 The Marianne" (diff). It's probably a group of kids who are adding their own names to Wikipedia articles. Other topics may also be targeted, especially if they are related to music, but radio stations seem to be the primary target. The main range seems to be 2601:80:4003:8DEF::/64, which started adding unsourced content to cartoons in December 2017. Blocked for one year in November 2018.

The Release date hoaxer is also pretty self-explanatory. The standard hoax is to change an upcoming film's release date without a source, then state that it was "pushed back", often – but not always – with some hoax reason (example 1, example 2, example 3). Paramount Pictures films seem to be the primary target, and List of Paramount Pictures films will also be vandalized. There are also edits from the same range that will change direct quotations about film a film's reception (example). Edits will be tagged with "mobile edit, mobile web edit". IP addresses are on 2600:1002:B000::/42. IPv4 address on 98.114.52.125 (talk · contribs · WHOIS). A trickle of edits get through the various range blocks I've put down, but it's nothing major.

The Indian cast hoaxer adds hoax credits, especially directors and cast members, to American films. It is possibly a group of school kids in India adding their own names to Hollywood films. Films targeted range from the 1930s through 2000s, though they tend toward classics or award-winners. Less common targets include American universities and film schools, which will have their list of faculty expanded to include dubious Indian names. The main IP range seems to be 59.177.0.0/20. Also 120.56.128.0/20 (possibly a /17, though) and 182.69.86.150 (talk · contribs · WHOIS). Registered accounts: SmartNiru, Mockingbird2017, and Wryneck2017, who added the same names. Names include (but are not limited to): Special:Search/"Aditya Agnihotri", Special:Search/"Navneet Nadkarni", Special:Search/"Utkarsh Upadhyay", Special:Search/"Mridul Majumdar", Special:Search/"Ranveer Nihalani". The last obvious flare-up was in February 2018.

The Eagles genre warrior, unsurprisingly, is a tenacious genre warrior who plagues articles about Eagles songs. Other classic rock bands may be targeted, such as ex-Eagles solo albums (diff), but this seems rare. Typically, the disruption is as simple as repeatedly changing the genres. In some cases, citations may also be removed (diff). The genre will usually be changed to "hard rock", but this is not universal. IP addresses used include 2600:8805:AA03::/48, 158.123.154.0/24, 24.249.31.124, 108.34.158.165, and 72.200.184.142. Geolocation always seems to be in New England but may vary between Rhode Island and Connecticut. RI is the more common result.

The Spawn vandal targets articles about Todd McFarlane, Spawn (comics), Image Comics, and related pages. The most common edit is to add claims that the character was stolen from Scott Lee Jinks or to add Scott Lee Jinks as a co-creator (Special:Search/"Scott Lee Jinks"). "Digital webbing writers showcase" may also be mentioned. This seems to happen primarily on 107.77.0.0/16, a highly problematic range owned by AT&T Wireless. Due to unrelated disruption from other LTA vandals, sections of 107.77.0.0/16 may already be range blocked. The geolocation doesn't seem stable, and it can range from Ohio to Pennsylvania, US. There may also be disruption from 166.216.159.0/24 IPs. ClueBot and semi-protection generally take care of this now, but the disruption has a habit of flaring up intermittently. There are sometimes breaks between vandalism sprees that last a few weeks or months. The last obvious activity was in October 2017.

The Connecticut film vandal adds unsourced production companies, generally to upcoming American films. Most of the time, these production companies are accompanied by a citation that fails verification. Edit summaries are somewhat rare, but when they're used, they're usually very celebratory and/or trollish (example 1, example 2, example 3). Typical ranges used are in the 2601:185:c000::/39 range, including 2601:185:C100:2B50::/64, 2601:185:C002:9100::/64, 2601:185:C100:5130::/64, and 2601:185:C100:FFBB::/64. There are behavioral similarities to a few other socks described here, but the geolocation is wrong. Some IP addresses used by this editor have been blocked as schools at AIV.

The Name changer is a persistent vandal from Australia who changes names of BLP subjects. Most often, this takes the form of inverting the person's first name and middle name (example), but names might be invented outright (example). Any citations that prove these edits to be incorrect will be blanked. The vandal may add HTML comments that tell editors not to change it back. IP addresses include: 110.142.23.109 (blocked until 1 May 2018), 59.100.7.201, 1.129.108.209, 203.40.31.34, 2001:8003:3320:3900::/64, and 220.101.15.165. New in October 2019: Special:Contributions/2001:8003:2b53:bd00::/64 (blocked 1 month).

The Daddy vandal posts nonsense on talk pages, usually on articles that have some kind of connection with fatherhood, such as Talk:Ghost Dad and Talk:Daddy (Psy song) (example). IP ranges: 2600:1:9800::/42 (May and June 2018), 97.113.0.0/19 (May 2018), 97.126.116.243 (maybe 97.126.112.0/20 or 97.126.96.0/19, May 2018), 174.21.19.136 (maybe 174.21.0.0/16, May 2018), and 66.87.138.0/24 (November 2017).

The Atlanta POV-pusher is a stubborn edit warrior who edits articles on Christianity, Judaism, the Holocaust, colonization of Mars, overpopulation, and conservatism. The viewpoints expressed are typically from a conservative American POV. IP ranges: 2600:1:C400:0:0:0:0:0/41, 2600:1:D400:0:0:0:0:0/41, 2602:306:C57A:470::/64, and 99.203.4.0/23.

The Dominican release date changer is an editor from the Dominican Republic who habitually changes film release dates with no sources. IP ranges have included 148.0.0.0/18, 190.166.82.142 (probably 190.166.0.0/16), Special:Contributions/190.167.112.0/20, Special:Contributions/190.166.16.0/20, Special:Contributions/190.167.168.0/21, Special:Contributions/190.80.128.0/18.

The Marconi hoaxer is a hoaxer from California, US. The editor adds hoax credits to David Marconi, Ehren Kruger, Dan Mindel, Paul Rubell, and other filmmakers, usually related to Transformers, Enemy of the State, and Bedtime Stories. The hoaxer seems to come back to Marconi's article pretty often under various IP ranges, including 2600:1700:4450:3010::/64 (November 2018–March 2019), 2605:E000:1220:C4C3::/64 (July 2019), and 2605:e000:1220:c09b::/64 (August–November 2019) (see 2605:E000:1220::/48).

More stuff[edit]

IP addresses and ranges that need attention[edit]

Last active a while ago[edit]
These IP editors have been a significant pain but don't seem active right now
Currently active[edit]
Check when bored[edit]
Blocked[edit]
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