Dragon-360

Requesting Unblock

This user's unblock request has been reviewed by an administrator, who declined the request. Other administrators may also review this block, but should not override the decision without good reason (see the blocking policy).

Dragon-360 (block log • active blocks • global blocks • contribs • deleted contribs • filter log • creation log • change block settings • unblock • checkuser (log))

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Request reason:

Hello! Four of the people flagged as sock puppets, myself included, would like to try to prove we're not sock puppets - which is why we were blocked (via a shared IP address). We'd like to prove this in three ways:

1. We are all posting our appeals to this block at the exact same time, from four different IP addresses (our respective homes). This allows a confirmation of IP addresses via checkuser.
2. We've each included a link to our personal LinkedIn accounts (here's mine: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iankeir1/), and linked from that account back to this page. You can find that link on the top-right-hand corner of the page, by clicking on "Show More" under "Contact and Personal Info", where it's listed under "websites". Our LinkedIn accounts are much older than our Wikipedia accounts. This reveals our identifies and that we are real people - not sock puppets.
3. We've included a detailed explanation of our accounts and why they're editing from the same IP address and other possible concerns. This is as follows:

Why are there so many accounts with similar activity contributing from the same IP address?

The four of us (Dragon-360, MushuNeak, Draketo, and TieBroune) work together, for a company called Dragon360 (which was known as DragonSearch until about two weeks ago) in a shared office space in Kingston, NY. I have, in the past few years, become increasingly interested in learning and contributing to Wikipedia, and have been actively self-educating within Wikimedia Commons in general. In the past year and a half or so, I've also been teaching my coworkers how to do it, and my company has been encouraging us to improve our skills by adopting Wikipedia pages and editing them, as well as creating new pages, and being involved in deletion discussions. We do this both in our spare time and recreationally at work during allocated self-learning time (or "innovation time").

Are we disrupting Wikipedia?

MushuNeak, Draketo, TieBroune, and I have been researching topics thoroughly before writing about them. I've been doing my best to provide guidance on best practices and offering advice (on Wikipedia guidelines, formatting, and neutrality) before anything was published live, and we do our best to only publish things that won't drain more experienced editors' time as we learn. To that point, if you review our edits, I'm certain you'll see that none of the edits we've provided are disrupting or damaging Wikipedia. Every edit, big and small, has been made with positive intent and good faith to build up each page, respectively, and enhance the credibility of the edited pages. We are also careful to not edit pages as a group, which would violate "meat puppet" guidelines. It's a learning process, but we've been proud of our contributions, and they seem to have been welcomed, before this block, by the community.

Are we being paid to edit?

Recently, I posted on my talk about about my intention to try out paid edits. But please bear in mind that no paid edits have actually been done yet, and before updating the talk page, I've carefully researched many Wikipedia-based articles and essays on policies related to this. Furthermore, I was clear of this intention on my page and have tried to comply with full disclosure guidelines. If I'm wrong -- that this is not allowed on Wikipedia, and what I've read is wrong, let me know and I'll abort the mission before it starts.

Isn't the username Dragon-360 the name of the company I work for?

Unfortunately, with the rebrand of the company from DragonSearch to Dragon360 on February 15, 2018, it is. Since I was considering using my account to eventually do paid edits, I had chosen this name in a misguided attempt to have full disclosure about what I was doing. As I researched sock puppetry and unblock requests, I do see that this username is against Wikipedia policy. If possible, please change my username to Glaeweyr

Are there any other concerns?

If so, we're happy to share as much information to help this as we can. Just let us know on our talk page(s), and we'll follow up.Dragon-360 (talk) 12:37, 1 March 2018 (UTC)

Decline reason:

The unblock request itself is clear evidence of meatpuppetry. I rather doubt you wrote it yourself, and you're posting it at the direction of another (blocked) editor. Huon (talk) 03:44, 4 March 2018 (UTC)

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If you want to make any further unblock requests, please read the guide to appealing blocks first, then use the {{unblock}} template again. If you make too many unconvincing or disruptive unblock requests, you may be prevented from editing this page until your block has expired. Do not remove this unblock review while you are blocked.

You all got together

and decided to edit from home. Sorry, but you seem to have been coordinating edits at work. Now coordinating edits from home. You need to reread WP:sock, as this is still sockpuppetry. And I infer you are all working together per WP:PAID. Sorry, nope.--Dlohcierekim (talk) 17:55, 1 March 2018 (UTC)

@Dlohcierekim:, I'm confused by your message on my talk page. I've read extensively through the sock puppetry article and there's no mention about coordinating edits. I also spent some time looking through other Wikipedia policies and wasn't able to find anything there as well. As a new Wikipedia user, I'm confused about why I would be labeled a sock puppet. I've been learning a lot from my co-workers, who have been teaching me about Wikipedia.

Also, regarding the paid edits discussion, I've read through the WP:PAID thread as well. As I've stated on my talk page, I am only considering this. I have not received any compensation for any edits (as I haven't made any yet). If it would be better for the community that I not engage in any paid edits, I won't pursue that further. Regarding normal (unpaid) edits, I did put together a lot of research I'd hoped to use to save the American Flyers Flight School page, before I was blocked.

I've tried to make every attempt possible to prove that I am indeed a real person by including my Wikipedia link on my LinkedIn profile. One of the elements of Wikipedia that is very meaningful to me is the sense of community. As I'm still learning Wikipedia, I would ask for the benefit of the doubt and for the chance to be able to positively contribute to this project. It is my sincere hope that the block will be lifted and that I can use this to learn more about Wikpedia, and make it a better place than I left it.

Thank you! Dragon-360 (talk) 12:13, 2 March 2018 (UTC)

Real people coordinating edits outside Wikipedia to achieve a goal at variance with Wikipedia's is still WP:sockpuppetry. Making simultaneous appeals as you stated clearly you were doing proves it.--Dlohcierekim (talk) 12:59, 2 March 2018 (UTC)

To be more specific, it's meatpuppetry, and meatpuppets who act in an identical manner to the account that recruited them may be hit with the same sanctions as that account. —Jeremy v^_^v ^Bori! 00:50, 3 March 2018 (UTC)