WikiQueer:Sockpuppet investigations/SPI/Administrators instructions

''This page covers the procedures for patrolling administrators. For clerk and CheckUser procedures please see here. To open a case, please do so here.''

This page outlines instructions by patrolling administrators for sockpuppet investigations (SPI), which is used to discuss whether a user is likely to have violated WikiQueer's sock puppetry policy. When reviewing cases, keep in mind that there are legitimate uses of multiple accounts, and that improbable things can happen by chance. Unfairly blocking someone as a sockpuppet is a harm not easily undone.

How to open an investigation
To open an SPI case, please follow the instructions at WikiQueer:Sockpuppet investigations, making sure you have read and understood the SPI case guidelines. Similarly, to request CheckUser, please follow the instructions in that same section (in the collapsed box below the two input boxes), making sure you have read and understood when and when not to request CheckUser at WikiQueer:Sockpuppet investigations.

Taking administrative action on open cases
Any uninvolved administrator at any time may block any account that has violated the sock puppetry policy based on behavioral and/or technical evidence. Behavioral evidence consists of editing behaviors and patterns from suspected sock puppets as well as having similar usernames or IP addresses. Technical evidence consists of evidence provided by CheckUsers, in which the details are not shown to the public per the Wikimedia Foundation's privacy policy. Administrators are the primary people who hand out blocks in most SPI cases.

Non-CheckUser cases

 * If the patrolling administrator (or any user) feels CheckUser is appropriate and necessary they may request it; see below.

In usual SPI cases, where CheckUser is not requested, admins should look carefully and neutrally at the evidence and determine whether the behavioral and other evidence shown makes it very likely that sock puppetry is occurring. In many cases, sock puppetry can be determined just by behavioral evidence and without the need for technical evidence. Many admins normally apply what is colloquially called the duck test – if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck.

Patrolling administrators should be sure to:


 * 1) Check that any CheckUser-confirmed accounts have been blocked and tagged – Those accounts that have been Artículo bueno.svg confirmed by CheckUser are normally blocked, but they should be double-checked to make sure that they are. If they have not been blocked, then follow the blocking procedures found in the Blocking and tagging section.
 * 2) Check evidence and block/tag any sock puppet accounts – For accounts that have not been confirmed by CheckUser nor already blocked, check the behavioral evidence along with the results of the technical evidence provided by CheckUser. Make a determination as to whether sock puppetry has occurred. If so, block those violating accounts, following the procedures under the Blocking and tagging section, and make a note of the blocks under the "Clerk, patrolling admin and checkuser comments" section of the SPI case page. If evidence has not shown that sock puppetry has occurred, then likewise make a note of that in the same section. Preface all such notes using the Admin-note template. For example:
 *  Foo has been indefinitely blocked, 192.168.0.1 blocked for three weeks. ~ 

CheckUser cases
Cases endorsed for CheckUser attention are identical in every way to non-CheckUser cases, except that a CheckUser will first add the results of their technical investigation to the case, and may have already taken some actions on the spot when abuse is found, before patrolling admins review the case.

CheckUsers will have posted their results under the "Clerk, patrolling admin and checkuser comments" section. They will state any accounts confirmed to be the same user, which ones are  likely,  possible, or technically  unlikely to be the same user, and any that appear to be  unrelated or are  inconclusive. The IP addresses used by sock-puppets may also be blocked as a result.

Once Checkuser results have been added, any admin may re-assess and decide the issue.

Requesting CheckUser
If CheckUser has not been requested, you can request CheckUser assistance by changing  on the top of the page to .

This does not guarantee that a CheckUser will run a check, but it will alert CheckUsers that a request may be needed. Normally, an SPI clerk or CheckUser will either endorse the case for CheckUser attention or  decline the case. Ultimately the decision is down to the responding CheckUser.

Any user can add this request to a case at any time, if appropriate. The most common reasons are:
 * The behavioral evidence is not clear, and you cannot figure out all the socks
 * There may be other hidden socks, or an unknown previous history of socking, and help is needed to find the sock-master or "sleepers"
 * The underlying IP needs blocking, or more thorough investigation is required (eg in the case of an ongoing problem, confirming suspected block or ban evasion, suspected hidden problems, or serious repeated vandalism)
 * (Full list)

If the case is declined, then the patrolling administrator must make that determination as to whether sock puppetry is going on and subsequently block all violating accounts. If the case is endorsed, then a CheckUser will add technical evidence and notes to the case first; this may take a while.

Closing
If the case is complete, all accounts have been looked at and any issues dealt with, and the case has run its course with no further action needing to be taken, then the clerks can be asked to review and close the matter. To request that the case be closed, change the parameter of the  template on the top of the page to close along with adding a note in the "Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admins" section, confirming the final resolution and that all accounts have been addressed. For example,

Clerk, patrolling admin and checkuser comments
All accounts blocked and tagged. ~

The tagging will alert the SPI clerks and CheckUsers, who will do a final review before archiving the case.

Blocking and tagging
Follow these instructions to block sockmasters and sockpuppets.

Sockmaster (if not already blocked)
If the sockmaster has not already been blocked and tagged, then do the following:

Sock puppets (registered accounts)
If a registered account has been shown in engaging in sock puppetry and is not the sockmaster, then perform the following tasks:

Sock puppets (IP addresses)
If an IP address has been shown in engaging in sock puppetry, then perform the following tasks: