| Original name(s) | ItsLassieTime |
|---|---|
| Wikilifespan | 2008–present |
| Known IPs | multiple, unknown |
| Physical location | Maine |
| Sockpuppet investigations | ItsLassieTime |
| Instructions | Suspected socks should be tagged and reported to sockpuppet investigations for confirmation. When reporting, please link to this long-term abuse report. When the active abuse has been taken care of, please update this report with the latest information. |
| Status | Active |
 | Please report all ongoing incidents of abuse to AIV or ANI |
Basic information
ItsLassieTime (talk · contribs · block log · arb · SPI confirmed suspected)
Comprehensive edits analysis
User:ItsLassieTime (ILT) is a prolific sockmaster with roughly 200 confirmed accounts dating back to 2008 with accounts blocked every year from 2009–2012, and again 2015–2018. Checkuser data is most likely stale in uncovering new socks, save for those operating simultaneously at the time of an SPI, and so behavioral evidence may be the only means to link new accounts to the old ones. Due to this user's penchant for creating multiple personas, mass copyvio, and then attacks or threats toward users who disagree with their edits, (example) new socks need to be blocked as soon as the habitual problems emerge before too many problem articles are involved. Checkuser is generally advisable as this individual has at times created sleeper accounts.
The original pattern of this sockmaster was to create dozens of articles (up to 100 in a couple cases) with relatively few accounts. In 2016, the pattern changed to produce a massive number of accounts (an example being approximately 20-25 during February 2016) that made fewer edits each, but often purely for disruptive purposes in a game of "catch me if you can." It is likely that these may be two different individuals, designated LassieTime1 and LassieTime2. LassieTime2 is currently the far more disruptive sockmaster. That said, the LassieTime1 sockmaster may also still be quietly editing children's book articles, with a continued pattern of undiscussed changes, too-close paraphrasing, plagiarism, and improper attribution, though otherwise not drawing attention to themselves—in those cases, simple reversion and if needed, running the earwig tool and requesting revdel of problem edits seems to settle the matter.
_targeted areas, pages, themes
- ItsLassieTime socks tend to edit a very broad range of articles including comic books, ballet, literature, animals, religion, drugs, and the Old West. One consistent pattern is to have edits or account names associated with children's literature or TV shows from the 1950s and 1960s. Edits from 2015 forward added geographic focus, particularly the state of Maine.
- Each sock account tends to only edit a few articles in a narrow subject area, and behavioral analysis usually will not indicate that the socks are editing the same article at the same time. More recent socks tend to range a bit farther afield.
- This user tends to perform massive rewriting and restructuring of articles with no prior collaboration and refuses to collaborate once other editors request that they do so: this is one example.
- Has a penchant for WP:COPYVIO, close paraphrasing, and related problems. The original uncovering of this sockmaster also resulted in an extensive CCI involving about 700 articles which lasted from 2010 to 2023: Wikipedia:Contributor copyright investigations/ItsLassieTime.
- Often replaces sourced material with unsourced material or improperly attributes citations. Sometimes, copying directly from a source; more recently has tended to closely paraphrase and put in citations that are misattributed or don't match up to content. Often engages in SYNTH and OR.
- Another problem was frequently uploading non-free images. Many examples at User talk:ItsLassieTime
- The final common behavior is attacking anyone who disagreed with their edits, including sometimes filing at AN/I, best described here as "Having run into ItsLassieTime multiple times before, the ownership issues are seriously dead on. She did the same crap with all the Lassie articles, driving off every editor who actually wanted to improve them..."
- A 2016 pattern uses multiple accounts making multiple edits on the same article, such as here: [1], many now linked to the state of Maine or assorted highways in the United States.
Habitual behavior
- Original problem was mass socking combined with massive copy and paste copyvio from source materials in addition to behavioral issues noted here. User created some new articles but mostly edited existing articles. Since 2015, pattern now tends to primarily be disruptive editing with far less content creation.
- Primary behavior of this user, regardless of persona, is 1) High degree of sensitivity to criticism, 2) Disruptive behavior when challenged in any fashion, ranging from pitiable appeals for sympathy to vicious personal attacks. 3) Ability to make a prolific number of edits in a short period of time. Probably has learned from this page and has altered standard behavior patterns, but is unable to avoid being disruptive in some fashion and engage in WP:NOTHERE behavior.
- Characteristic original pattern was to make massive numbers of copyedits (sometimes 50 or more in a single day) to a small number of articles, often the very first day the sock account is created. Changed pattern in 2016 to create multiple single purpose accounts with only a few edits each, but still a large number of total edits, most disruptive.
- Often opens a user page and user talk fairly early on.
- Usernames frequently reference children's books or TV shows. 2016 pattern includes variants on ItsLassieTime name. Other personas may reflect primary subject area edited (ballet, westerns). Some are random personas.
- Different personas (including variations of age and gender) for different socks and editing areas, for example, sock account User:LaSylphide tended to edit articles related to ballet and Hans Christian Anderson, claimed to be a grandmother. In the same general time frame, yet another sock account User:Buttermilk1950 edited rodeo articles and claimed to be a teenaged girl: [2] and [3]. Admitted here to doing so: "Creating characters like a Marine, an elderly resident in a senior home, a voodoo priest. I thought it was all harmless backstage fun."
- Admitted to several sock accounts here: [4]
- Attempted to justify socking on the grounds of creating separate accounts for topic areas: here
- Often cites extensively to hardcopy works, which makes verification difficult. Often claims to be ordering new books.
- Often attacks anyone who disagrees with their edits, many examples noted in the chart below. In the past has taken others to ANI, often accuses others of "harassment" or otherwise being unkind or unfair.
- Often presents a sympathetic or pitiable persona, particularly after being challenged or disciplined. (Sometimes, though not always, claiming to be young/old/ill/disabled, etc.) May express remorse and a promise to behave better, usually claiming errors are due to inexperience, but actual behavior will not change.
- Likes to submit articles for GA or FA status. Doesn't like when they are criticized.
- Tag-teaming with sockpuppets and meatpuppets is also a hallmark: When LaSylphide was blocked, she made an edit claiming to be her husband [5] requesting an unblock. Buttermilk1950 was caught editing as ItsLassieTime, whereupon ILT claimed to be her mother. This user also tends to locate allies with a similarly tendentious style of editing and gets them to help in going after editors who they are attacking.
- Has been known to have the sock accounts "talk" to each other.
- Series of edits as the banhammer dropped in 2009 are particularly illustrative: [6]
- As shown in this SPI case (among others), they may impersonate the habitual behavior of other LTAs, such as David Beals, Soft skin, Link Smurf, and CatCreekCityCouncil.
- A new behavior starting in Oct 2016 is to {{hat}} reference sections, see sock #1 and sock #2.
- In 2017 and 2018 a pattern of making mass reverts, templating users, and (as usual) reporting users to ANI was observed: example, example
Cases
- Archive: Wikipedia:Sockpuppet_investigations/ItsLassieTime/Archive
- This chart below is an incomplete list, outlining behaviors associated with the over 140 sockpuppet accounts originally associated with this user. The list below is no longer maintained per WP:DENY, but most confirmed socks are here.
- Accounts in the original CCI indicated with †
- 2015: Reappeared, behavior matched ILT 1
- 2016: Over 30 accounts created, behavior matched ILT 2
- 2017: No problematic accounts identified until the end of 2017, at which time at least 11 new accounts were created in a short period of time.
- 2018: At least 20 confirmed accounts.
| Name | Create Date | First Edit | CU Confirmed? | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 808Starfire (talk · contribs) † | November 27, 2008 – November 25, 2009 | Colt McCoy NFL football player | Y | Various popular culture topics, football players, TV shows, movies, actors, Charles Dickens. Submits Shirley Temple to FAC, withdraws when another of their socks undergoes an SPI, [7]. |
| Anny Nonymous (talk · contribs) | November 30, 2009 | Babes in Toyland (edit summary removed), [8] | Y | Various, [9] |
| Audiobooks7 (talk · contribs) | January 24, 2011 – September 23, 2011 | Shirley Temple | Y | Apparently scrubs Shirley Temple and Little Orphan Annie of copyvio issues |
| BeethovenFidelio (talk · contribs) | March 30, 2008 | List of Flipper episodes, [10] | y | Flipper. Admits to being a sock of ILT, [11] |
| BlastAwayMeHearties (talk · contribs) | 15 March 2010 | to Ucucha | Y | Only two edits, both to Ucucha's page, [12], [13], and to Graham Beards but signs with BlowItAway (talk · contribs), [14] |
| BlowItAway (talk · contribs) | 15 March 2010 | [15] | Y | Only two edits, both to Graham Beard's page, to copyedit posts left by its sock, [16], [17] |
| Buttermilk1950 (talk · contribs) † | March 10, 2009 – April 4, 2009 | User page, "I love Wikipedia", and section blanking at Rodeo | Y | |
| CharlesWTrowbridge (talk · contribs) | July 18, 2011 – September 17, 2011 | Horatio Alger | Y | Removes copyvio from a number of articles: contribs |
| D4rkersib (talk · contribs) | August 29, 2012 – September 16, 2012 | Calf roping, [23] | Y | Edits Calf roping, user talk Montanabw, admits to being Lapzwans (talk · contribs), [24] |
| EatNoPig (talk · contribs) † | December 16, 2007 | merge !vote | Y | Andy Griffith Show, edits articles about old movies, westerns, Charles Dickens, complains about edit warring, edit-warring |
| FlippFlopp (talk · contribs) | December 26, 2007 | Flipper | Y | Flipper and Lassie related pages. |
| HatAct (talk · contribs) † | February 2, 2008 – February 10, 2008 | Bareback bronc and Saddle bronc riding [25] | Y | Rodeo event articles, promoting views of PETA, dispute over content [26], [27], threats to have other users blocked |
| HelloDenmark (talk · contribs) † | January 25, 2008 – January 31, 2008 | The Tinderbox: [28] | Y | Hans Christian Anderson stories, blocked November 11, 2009, probably on a CU sweep. Possibly intended as a sleeper account |
| HomeComingQueenl1942 (talk · contribs) | May 27, 2011 | [29] | Y | Three edits, vandalism to Truthkeeper88 FAs: True at First Light, Edmund Evans, The Magdalen Reading |
| IndianCaverns (talk · contribs) † | March 4, 2008 – February 23, 2009 | Thumbelina | Y | Edited to Feb. 23, 2009. 1950s movies, Peter Pan, Lousia May Alcott novels, Gidget [30] |
| ItsLassieTime (talk · contribs)† | January 12, 2008 – April 8, 2009 | [31] | Y |
|
| IttyBittyMe! (talk · contribs) | September 24, 2011 | Vandalism | Y | Vandalism only account: [49], [50], [51], one to a video game article, [52]. |
| JockFunster (talk · contribs) | October 20, 2011 | Vandalism to MuZemike | Y | Vandalism only account: [53] |
| Kathyrncelestewright (talk · contribs) † | May 6, 2009 | Welsh Corgi | Y | LIterature/childern's lit/ballet. Ottava Rima points out sourcing/paraphrasing issues on GA nom of Flore et Zephire here. |
| KentPhiladelphia (talk · contribs) | December 13, 2010 | Christmas in Puritan New England, [58] | Y | Only two edits to a single article. Sets images upright like Kathyrncelestewright |
| Lapzwans (talk · contribs) | May 27, 2009 | Electric potential | Y | Soccer, bowhunting, calf-roping, steerwrestling, food, zoos. Dispute with Montanabw [59] |
| LaSylphide (talk · contribs) † | January 9, 2008 – February 21, 2008 | La Sylphide, [60] | Y | Edited mostly Hans Christian Anderson stories and ballet articles. Unblock request, says s/he's living in a senior center, [61] linked to account Overjoyed by shared IP, claimed it was someone in her building. Later admitted to the account: [62] |
| LMD908jo (talk · contribs) | November 18, 2010 | Y | Hansel and Gretel. Only edits for one day. 18:50 UTC to 2:34, stops, returns at 9:02 UTC . | |
| MayfieldForever (talk · contribs) † | March 9, 2008 – May 29, 2008 | Creates user page, then 50 edits the same day to Leave it to Beaver | Y | Primarily articles about Leave It to Beaver TV show, Had a different sock give her a barnstar admitted to account:[63] |
| MyFebruaryBirthday (talk · contribs) | May 28, 2011 | to SandyGeorgia's page | Y | Single edit to to comment on SG's page about TK88 |
| NewHouse4533 (talk · contribs) | May 27, 2011 | Pig slaughter | Y | Account seems to have been created to harass and edit Jack and the Beanstalk [64], [65] |
| NYFernValley (talk · contribs) | May 18, 2011 – May 25, 2011 | created article | Y | Pig articles, concern with Pig slaughter |
| Overjoyed (talk · contribs) † | February 17, 2008 – February 20, 2008 | Adventures of Superman (TV series) deleted significant content | Y | Mostly Adventures of Superman (TV series) and Gidget (TV series). Linked to account of LaSylphide via IP. Admitted account: [66] |
| Pancakepatty (talk · contribs) | October 11, 2007 | Flipper, [67], | N | Flipper and Lassie, Edited logged out by confirmed ItsLassieTime IP: [68] |
| PrestoPrestoPresto (talk · contribs) | March 11, 2011 | [69] | Y | Edits to Horror comics talk re merge discussion, [70]. Says to TK88 that ILT has made hundreds of accounts and passed and FA without being detected, [71] |
| ReverendLogos (talk · contribs) † | January 31, 2008 | creates new article | Y | Comic books, Christmas stuff, creates My Big Redneck Wedding first day, Tag-teaming with other socks on The Andy Griffith Show and talk. ItsLassieTime posted a "thank you":[72] Admitted to account: [73] |
| SeeSpot Run (talk · contribs) | November 3, 2014 | Jumbo Altered infobox, totally rewrote article, removing sourced content | N | Ballet, Charles Dickens, Old West, Children's stories: Significant edits to Jumbo (about 60 over a three-day period as a brand new account), Petrushka (ballet), Giselle Le Spectre de la rose (also ballets), A Christmas Carol, Kit Carson, The Story of the Three Bears, plus assorted others. Significant edit-warring throughout: [74], [75],[76] |
| ShaShaJackson (talk · contribs) † | January 23, 2008- February 2, 2009 | Hazel (TV series) | Y | Mostly old TV shows from the 1950s, also a bunch of GA reviews: [77] and horribly unkind comments at a GAN, notably: "However, the article is sooooooooooooooooo slight, my gorge rises every time I look at it. I am astonished beyond words that an editor would have the nerve to seek GA status for this trifle."[78] |
| SoniaSyle (talk · contribs) † | December 17, 2009 | The Donna Reed Show [79] | Y | Lilyan Tashman, King Kong (1933 film), golden age Actresses, The Story of the Three Bears, Michael Jackson and Bubbles (note an IP hit to Simple article on same topic!) |
| Susanne2009NYC (talk · contribs) † | Dec. 6, 2009 - November 17, 2010 | Beatrix Potter | Y | Almost completely Beatrix Potter related. GA reviews, i.e, this one to Don't Forget the Bacon. Sent a number of Potter articles to GA and Miss Moppet to FA. Come back to this.
|
| TimmyTruck (talk · contribs) † | October 11, 2007 | The Andy Griffith Show, [84] | Y | Andy Griffith, Flipper (intersects with?), Superman (intersects with?), Jockstrap, very sick this: [85] |
| Tower4Sitz (talk · contribs) † | November 17, 2010, creates userpage with "interests are" | [86] | Y | All edits to Jack and the Beanstalk and Victoriaearle, [87]. Harasses VE on user page, pretentious bitch, rant, at AN/I calls VE/TK "pretentious little missy" etc, "pretentious little be-otch". |
| User:Tre=poi | November 16, 2009 | Lad a Dog, complained to Ucucha and Graham about promoting this under a different account | Y | Edits Ed Gein, murderer and bodysnatcher and Charles Johnston (captive of Native Americans), Shawnee captive. Opens this SPI against another ILT sock. LaVidaLoca (talk · contribs) admits to living in Ohio (see possible Ohio IPs). Leaves November 25, 2009. |
| Where the domestic things are (talk · contribs) | July 7, 2017 | [88], To Lassie (1954 TV series) article | N | Edits to Maine and Lassie articles [89]. Opened FAC following multiple edits. Soon blocked; also repeated a user harassment pattern here. |
| WP Martinet MZmke (talk · contribs) | September 19, 2011 | vandalism | Y | Only two edits: One blanks a page, the second is a personal attack toward VE/TK |
IP accounts
| Name | Create Date | First Edit | Link IP verified | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 209.244.189.88 (talk · contribs) | January 10, 2007-January 24, 2011 | N/A (may not be a static IP) | [90] | Lassie, Flipper, Hazel (TV series), other TV shows, rodeo articles, ballet, baseball, Hans Christian Anderson stories, etc. Associated with LaSylphide [91], Overjoyed [92], ItsLassieTime [93], EatNoPig [94] |
| 209.244.43.194 (talk · contribs) | December 31, 2006 - November 19, 2008 | N/A (may not be a static IP) | [95] | baseball, old movies, rodeo, Hans Christian Andersen, other. Associated with LaSylphide [96] |
| 2601:184:200:8067:F018:D884:7936:3154 (talk · contribs) | August 22, 2017 | [97] | [98] | Primarily vandalism of Maine and rodeo articles |
![[97]](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Long_John_bucking_bull.jpg&diff=prev&oldid=796703668){kind=link}
Other notes
Confirmed and suspected accounts
- Sockpuppet category: Category:Wikipedia sockpuppets of ItsLassieTime
- Suspected sockpuppet category: Category:Suspected Wikipedia sockpuppets of ItsLassieTime