[Wikipedia-l] RE: Cross-project vandal

[Elihu Falk]

On Thu Jun 2 21:12:41 UTC 2005, kelvSYC wrote:
> I'm here to post a warning of a vandal that spans multiple projects.
> Here's a synopsis of how it went down from my POV:

> [[b:User:Ivyboy]] and possible sockpuppet [[User:Dittoboy]] have been
> causing disruptive behavior while trying to impersonate
> [[User:Bulbaboy]] on at least en.w and en.b and possibly others.  I
> was alerted to this when I saw the user trying to wikify a copyvio
> page (ripped from GameFAQs), then trying to delete subsequent vfd and
> copyvio notices and discussion from [[b:WB:VFD]] and the pages in
> question.
>
> As I was the person who took notice, I had to let another admin do
> the work.  [[User:User142]] and [[User:Frazydee]] (also an admin)
> have also been involved in this situation (as well as, of course,
> [[User:Bulbaboy]]).  Ivyboy and Dittoboy have since resorted to
> vandalism in various parts of en.w and en.b, ostensibly in an attempt
> to prevent users at their university, [[Bar Ilan University]] in
> Israel, from accessing the Wikimedia projects (it's also to note that
> User142 also attends the university).

I have a number of comments:
1)  Yestersay, [[User:Dittoboy]] started vandalising the other 7 wikis.
After having been blocked indefinitely from Wikibooks, and periodicly
signing in and clicking "Edit" in order to make sure no one else can do so
from [[Bar Ilan University]], he came up with a new method of getting
himself blocked. This method is simple - vandalise the user pages and talk
pages of admins, and one of them will decide to block him. This method
worked.

2)  I think that [[b:User:Ivyboy]] and [[User:Dittoboy]] are NOT the same
person. Until after [[b:User:Ivyboy]] was blocked at Wikibooks, it looked
like he just wanted to get up that stolen walkthrough and make it look
like he was [[User:Bulbaboy]]. His goodbye message, which warns about his
"friends", is different - I think [[User:Dittoboy]] tried to convince him
to try and block [[Bar Ilan University]], but [[b:User:Ivyboy]] refused.
He decided, however, to leave a message with [[User:Frazzydee]], saying
that he wasn't defeated (even though he was!). [[User:Dittoboy]] was
clearly a vandal from the beginning.

3)  [[User:Dittoboy]] at Wikibooks didn't say why he was doing what he was
doing - he vandalised the page of [[User:Jimmy Wales]] and a few other
pages, and reported himself on the Vandalism in Progress page. He later
reported himself on same page at Wikipedia. When I reverted that, he tried
a different method - he blanked most of the page, left a request to be
blocked so he can block Bar Ilan, with the title "Important Message To All
Administrators At Wikimedia". His edit comment was: "IF DELIBERATE
VANDALISM OF THIS PAGE IS LIKELY TO LEAD TO YOUR BEING **BLOCKED** FROM
EDITING WIKIPEDIA WITHOUT WARNING, THEN BLOCK ME". This is clearly copied
from a comment on the page, with the word IF stuck before it and 3 words
added after it. He left that comment on the page, as the Backlog tag to
attract them to it. A user named Kelly Martin asked him not to vandalise
Wikipedia saying "If you do continue, your account and/or IP will be
blocked." His response was to replace her page with the message he was
placing everywhere ("I've been vandalising, and will continue vandalising,
pages in order to be blocked indefinitely. After that, I can keep Bar Ilan
University blocked indefinitely, in accordance with a political boycott
which I am forcing on Wikipedia against Bar Ilan University.") with a
different title: "I think you understand what I'm trying to do" (I just
added spaces where I think Dittoboy meant to put them)

       User142