Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations

This page has an administrative backlog that requires the attention of willing administrators. This notice will automatically hide itself when the backlog is cleared.

This page is for requesting that we investigate whether two or more Wikipedia accounts are being abusively operated by the same person.

Before opening an investigation, you need good reason to suspect sockpuppetry.

1. Evidence is required. When you open the investigation, you must immediately provide evidence that the suspected sock puppets are connected. The evidence will need to include diffs of edits that suggest the accounts are connected. (This requirement is waived if the edits in question are deleted; in this case just provide the names of the pages that the accounts have been editing.)
2. You must provide this evidence in a clear way. Vaguely worded submissions will not be investigated. You need to actually show why your suspicion that the accounts are connected is reasonable.
3. Concision is key. Evidence should be presented in a concise format. Because of the length of the backlog, cases with clear and concise explanations and evidence are handled the most quickly.

Investigations are conducted by a clerk or an administrator, who will compare the accounts' behaviour and determine whether they are probably connected. Upon request, investigations can also be conducted by a checkuser, who can look at technical data behind the accounts in order to determine how likely it is they are connected. CheckUser results are often called technical evidence, in contrast to publicly available behavioural evidence.

Due to Wikipedia's CheckUser policy, checkusers will conduct a technical investigation only if clear, behavioural evidence of sockpuppetry is also submitted; if you ask for technical evidence to be looked at but do not provide behavioural evidence, the investigation may not be allowed to proceed. Additionally, checkusers will not publicly connect an account with an IP address per the privacy policy except in extremely rare circumstances.

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