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 Copy of email sent to ARBCOM in relation to sockpuppet debacle 

Hi,

First off, my username on WP is Russavia and is in relation to user FayssalF

It is with regret that I am bringing this case to ARBCOM. I want it to be known that I hold no grudge against FayssalF but feel that for the best interests of the overall project that I have to bring this request here. As this involves one of your own, I know there is going to be a desire to write off anything I may have to say, and possibly use the filing of this report against myself in another report I will be filing and directly related to this. I do hope that members of ARBCOM can view this without bias.

I was blocked by User:Moreschi due to alleged harrassment of another editor. What brought this accusation of harrassment up was due to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard#Serious_ban_request

After a two week block which I received (and will be addressing separately), Fayssal proceeded to do a check-user on myself and User:Miyokan which he announced here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard#Russavia.2C_confirmed_sock_of_Miyokan.3F

An admin, User:Tiptoety then proceeded to indef block both myself and Miyokan on case of being sockpuppets (Miyokan as being one of my socks).

I attempted to have this sockpuppet block removed on account of providing my IP address in an open fora, so that editors/admins could see that I was in Perth (Western Australia), whereas Miyokan was in Nizhniy Novgorod (Russia). These attempts were denied due to the check-user that had been performed by Fayssal. A check-user which he himself confirmed the results of in that thread above. I proceeded to send an email to Miyokan (for only the 3rd time that I can remember we have ever had a direct discussion) in order to talk to him about this. In the meantime, Fayssal had posted a message to my talk page which in effect stated that Miyokan being in Nizhniy Novgorod is not the case, and that I should know this as both Russavia and Miyokan are in Australia.

When discussing with Miyokan not long after I sent the email, I found out that he was in fact located not in Nizhniy Novgorod, but in Adelaide (South Australia). After that, I then became aware of the message Fayssal left on my TP; and I responded to the effect that the results of the check-user should be revealed, as I know I am in Perth, and I know that Miyokan is in Adelaide (but did not mention Miyokan's location due to privacy).

Luckily, and thankfully, I was able to convince Miyokan to place his IP on his talk page, with a note to say it is for my use. I then posted both IPs on my talk page, and provided the relevant links to check them (www.network-tools.com and www.geohacks.com) and that would reveal that we are not in the same location, and hence not the same user.

Fayssal said that he tried but was getting timeout messages and would look again. Whilst all of this is happening, discussions is still going on at the Admin noticeboard, and nothing short of Wikimurder was going on - a fact I pointed out to Fayssal at the time.

Eventually Fayssal came back and confirmed that what was being said all along my myself was in fact the truth. He placed a notice on my talk page with an apology. This and my response can be found at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Russavia#Unblocked_and_apologies

I responded to this stating that the apology would be wholeheartedly accepted once a similar apology was made to Miyokan, as the community has already dealt with his previous use of two accounts - which stopped immediately when he was alerted to it being a no-no. And I stand by the comments there. And yes, I am still willing to accept the apology so long as Miyokan also receives the same apology, as both of our accounts were unneedlessly dragged thru the mud, and if the accusation can be made jointly, then so should the apology.

That's the background. Now here's the problem.

What has occurred here is a total breakdown in admins doing check-users or the check-user system itself is horribly flawed and needs to fixed. This does not take into account our totally different style, completely different editing subjects, with little or no interaction, etc - this episode should be directly mentioned at WP:DUCK as a prime example as to why WP:DUCK is inherrently flawed.

Consider this one question. If I was not able to convince Miyokan to reveal his IP, where would we be at now? That is the question that needs to be considered in conjunction with the fact that a Geo-IP check is a simple operation, an internet novice is able to do it. How is it that Fayssal was not able to immediately determine upon doing a check-user that both Miyokan and myself