User talk:Ivanvector

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Over the past few days, I have noticed a concerning trend in the South Asian military history articles on Wikipedia. A significant number of articles that are of relatively low importance are being rapidly created and then promptly deleted. What is particularly noteworthy is the speed at which these articles are appearing and disappearing. The root cause that I have identified behind this issue is the persistent "vandalism" of existing articles by certain users. I have compiled a list of names that should be closely monitored and considered for inclusion on a list of frequent vandals.How can I go for the block of the vandals or what steps should I follow to apply for their block? (1)[1]
(2)[2]- A confirmed sockpuppet of User-[3]Check confirmation points below
(3)[4]
(4)[5]
(5)[6]

Proofs:- (1)Rawn3012 being sockpuppet of Mohammad Umar Ali:- [7] 1)[8] 2)[9] 3)[10] 4)[11] 5)[12] (2)Supporting Based Kashmiri(sock/meatpuppet) : 1)[13] 2)[14] 3)[15] (3)User Editing articles together with BHUPENDRA JOGI:- 1)[16] 2)[17]-----> edited by bhupendra jogi and Mohammad Umar Ali 3)[18] (4)BHUPENDRA JOGI edited Mewar Malwa conflicts:- 1)[19] 2)Warned for his distruptive edits-(especially on Rajput pages, Similiar to Rawn3012:-[20] (5)Editing Articles in a vandalising manner:-[21] Same article Created By User Mohammed Umar Ali (2)Engaged in Edit Warring: 1)[22] (6)Rawn3012 Supporting Ratnahastin and Based Kashmiri: 1)[23] (7)Links of Ratnahastin and Padfoot2008: [24] (8)Involvement of user padfoot2008:- ->Continuously editing the some articles in the similiar way the user based kashmiri did and supporting Rawn3012,Based.Kashmiri and Mohammad Umar Ali.[25] ->Destroying some articles and supporting another articles without WP:NPOV !!! [26] [27] Roberthooke003 (talk) 04:14, 22 June 2024 (UTC) Blocked sock. Ratnahastin (talk) 05:52, 24 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The above user is probably a sockpuppet, see this [28], Thanks. Ratnahastin (talk) 07:22, 23 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

My talkpage ping may not have worked so dropping you this note about a discussion I started on the article talkpage that parallels your previous edit summary advise. No immediate admin action is needed but some extra eyes would be good. Cheers. Abecedare (talk) 19:40, 23 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for your note; you're right, your ping didn't work. I'm busy for the next few days but will try to have a look. Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 20:52, 23 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I am not really sure how specific this should be (or needs to be), but you recently closed a discussion that has then moved to the subject's talk page. (I blanked it without doing anything further.) JackTheSecond (talk) 16:15, 6 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@JackTheSecond: you'll have to help me out with a link here, I don't know what discussion you're referring to. Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 16:22, 6 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I decided to post it to WP:AIV. JackTheSecond (talk) 16:25, 6 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

You may want to comment on this:[29], [30], [31]. (I did ping you but I think I messed it up). DeCausa (talk) 09:32, 7 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@DeCausa: thanks, you're right that your ping didn't work. You need to sign the same edit where you add the ping template - if you add the ping to a comment that is already signed then it doesn't trigger. A workaround is when you're adding a ping, you can remove your previous signature and re-sign, then it'll work. Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 13:34, 7 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, should have done that! Thanks for the clear explanation on Drbogdan's talk page. DeCausa (talk) 13:37, 7 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Hello - You mentioned "they're using a proxy." Pardon my ignorance but could you help me understand a bit more? 1) Why do editors use proxies? 2) When you say "proxy," are you referring to VPNs? 3) As I understand it, if someone's account isn't IP exempted, they can't edit using a VPN because VPN IP ranges are generally blocked. How does an account get past this restriction? P.S. Just trying to learn more, not planning on using proxies! — Saqib (talk I contribs) 20:36, 11 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

"Using a proxy" is kind of code for a few different things.

• In the Nauman335 case it looked like that account is using a peer-to-peer proxy service, which is software you run on your computer that shares your connection (and your public IP) with other users of the same service - Apple Private Relay is a popular one. These don't usually show up as proxies in our detection tool but they're easy to spot with checkuser, they look like a static IP with a lot of simultaneous users, or one user editing at the same time from connections that are very far apart. People use them because they're sold as "anonymizing" services, and they can be built into an OS or a browser or even a router without the end user even being aware.
• There are also proxies that are set up deliberately or can be left open by a badly configured server or one infected with malware, which are an old-school tool for hackers. We usually block those when we see them because you need to be up to no good to find one to connect to in the first place, and they usually don't last very long.
• VPNs are not quite the same thing: they're organized and set up on purpose, often by organizations that need to share local private network resources with users across multiple physical locations. They're very common, and normally limit access to known people within the organization, so we don't normally block them unless they're actually being used abusively. Most users connected to one probably have no idea, but they can also be open to the public or exposed by malware, and those are the ones that would often be blocked.
• There are also residential VPN services you can sign up to like NordVPN or Surfshark that will hide your IP and encrypt your connection, which have valid uses in the real world (I use one but not for editing) but they are also usually blocked because it's very easy to use them for abuse. These are usually also the services that are used to bypass a government firewall (like China or Turkiye) so we commonly give IP block exemption to users who request it from one of those countries, since they can't even read Wikipedia without using one.

Like you probably guessed, bad actors on Wikipedia use proxies to hide their connection details, thinking that if we can't see their real IP address that we won't be able to link them to prior blocked accounts. But checkuser reveals more than just IP addresses, and we have plenty of ways to see through proxies. The only way for an account to edit from a hardblocked (not anonymous-only) IP is to have local IP block exemption (global IPBE does not override local blocks). It would be very unusual for an account without established history to get IPBE without being checked by a CU. Hope that helps! Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 16:12, 12 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I get the gist, but some of the technical stuff is a bit much for me but anyway, thanks for taking the time to explain! — Saqib (talk I contribs) 19:52, 12 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, I have seen that you concluded Wikipedia:Sockpuppet_investigations/StayCalmOnTress#15_June_2024 as unrelated, but a simplewiki CU has concluded as related (simple:Special:Diff/9639111, simple:Wikipedia:Requests_for_checkuser#Umro_Ayyar_-_A_New_Beginning_accounts). Does this affect your previous decision? I look forward to hearing from you. MathXplore (talk) 06:12, 12 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@MathXplore: thanks for pointing that out, I'll follow up with the simplewiki CU. I checked again this morning but it still looks to me like they're consistently located in an entirely different country from the Nauman335 socks, but I can only see data from this wiki. Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 16:15, 12 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]