Can Jayjg be stopped?, Middle-aged management guy, or wacky teenager? Options

[Heat]

Paid lobbyist? Who does he work for? What is his real name? What city is he posting from? Any clues?

This post has been edited by Heat:

[gomi]

Mr. Brandt believes he is from Williamsburg, NY, USA, works in management, and is in his 40s.

[anon1234]

Mr. Brandt believes he is from Williamsburg, NY, USA, works in management, and is in his 40s.

He sure edits wikipedia a lot for someone with a full-time job.

[The Adversary]

Mr. Brandt believes he is from Williamsburg, NY, USA, works in management, and is in his 40s.

I assume Brandt got the "works in management, and is in his 40s" info from Jay himself, as that was what he stated during arb.com elections, Jan. 2006:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Arb...didates_by_jguk



Brandt states that Jay is from from Williamsburg, NY, USA(?). I don´t know where he got that from, but googeling brings:
http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/App/TalkBack/C...3161625,00.html


And very few on Wikipedia have been so careful covering their identity as Jay. You will be banned for just asking if he is payed to edit Wikipedia...no kidding. (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/ph34r.gif)

[WordBomb]

Paid lobbyist? Who does he work for? What is his real name? What city is he posting from? Any clues?

My data suggest he works from his home, situated outside Toronto, Canada. Likely in the vicinity of Ajax. I'm 99% certain he made this "oops!" anon edit and quick revert back in 2005.

The IP you see (69.196.8.45) seems to be unassigned currently, but as recently as a few months ago, it mapped to Thornhill, Ontario, a northern sector of Toronto. Then last year, Jayjg appears to have relocated east of the city.

[anon1234]

Paid lobbyist? Who does he work for? What is his real name? What city is he posting from? Any clues?

My data suggest he works from his home, situated outside Toronto, Canada. Likely in the vicinity of Ajax. I'm 99% certain he made this "oops!" anon edit and quick revert back in 2005.

The IP you see (69.196.8.45) seems to be unassigned currently, but as recently as a few months ago, it mapped to Thornhill, Ontario, a northern sector of Toronto. Then last year, Jayjg appears to have relocated east of the city.

I also had an inkling that he was based near Toronto, Canada. There were some other coincidences that suggested this, but there was no solid evidence.

This post has been edited by anon1234:

[Somey]

There were some other coincidences that suggested this, but there was no solid evidence.

I once saw him wearing a Maple Leafs jersey while drinking a bottle of Molson's, but I just figured he was celebrating St. Patrick's Day a little early.

[The Adversary]

I somehow would have trusted a few links more than Somey´s sighting of him in a "Maple Leafs jersey while drinking a bottle of Molson's, " (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/biggrin.gif)


This post has been edited by The Adversary:

[guy]

I'm 99% certain he made this "oops!" anon edit and quick revert back in 2005.

He'd have deleted the talk page and restored it without that edit.

Last time I checked, he seems not to edit on the Jewish sabbath and festivals, so he's an orthodox Jew. A little sophisticated analysis should confirm which time zone he's in.

[anon1234]

quote:
"I also had an inkling that he was based near Toronto, Canada. There were some other coincidences that suggested this, but there was no solid evidence."
Links, please!

IP address: 74.108.30.192.
Reverse DNS: CPE000c4141a0d3-CM000a7369bd22.cpe.net.cable.rogers.com
Geolocation: Toronto, Ontario.

At first, I gave the odds of it being Jayjg's IP at roughly 2:1 in favor. The coincidences appeared meaningful but I came to doubt their validity after learning that Jayjg was "known" to be located in NYC. After learning that Jayjg himself is the only source of evidence of his linkage to NYC and that there are others who believe Jayjg is located in Toronto, Canada, I have renewed semi-confidence in my original suspicions.

Last time I checked, he seems not to edit on the Jewish sabbath and festivals, so he's an orthodox Jew. A little sophisticated analysis should confirm which time zone he's in.

I correlated that evidence some time ago and it fits with his being in the North American Eastern Time Zone (GMT-05:00.) There are many major cities in this time zone including both New York City and Toronto, Canada.

UPDATE: If Jayjg has a dynamic IP then it is likely the suspected IP I listed above is of historical interest only as it isn't especially fresh.

[anon1234]

Here is Jayjg's first few months on Wikipedia, its buried in the history of User_talk:Jayjg/Archive_8 for some reason. I don't see any clues to his identity though.

On a side note, Danny's AOL ID is "[redacted]".

[a view from the hive]

Here is Jayjg's first few months on Wikipedia, its buried in the history of User_talk:Jayjg/Archive_8 for some reason. I don't see any clues to his identity though.

On a side note, Danny's AOL ID is "LITTLE BOOTS".

Just a friendly reminder, the point of the WR isn't to harass people.... it's for constructive discussion not a "I hate you so I'm going to harass you" forum. Harassing / the intent to harass Danny without disclosing your full identity is in violation of US Law (thanks Daniel for pointing that out). Danny isn't evil, he's a human being just like the rest of us..... please try and be nice.

On the other hand, what is with the attempts to "track" people down. In the real world we call it stalking..... it's generally seen as a crime. Does it really matter if you know where a person lives or not? One can very easily use proxies to mask their location, it basically ruins geoIP as a detection method.

[WordBomb]

I'm 99% certain he made this "oops!" anon edit and quick revert back in 2005.

He'd have deleted the talk page and restored it without that edit.

Today, yes. But did he have that authority/audacity back in September of 2005?

[anon1234]

Just a friendly reminder, the point of the WR isn't to harass people.... it's for constructive discussion not a "I hate you so I'm going to harass you" forum. Harassing / the intent to harass Danny without disclosing your full identity is in violation of US Law (thanks Daniel for pointing that out). Danny isn't evil, he's a human being just like the rest of us..... please try and be nice.

I wasn't recommending that people actually contact Danny, let alone harass him. It was just something strange that popped out on the page. I have redacted it from my original comment, I suggest you do the same in your quotation of my original comment.

On the other hand, what is with the attempts to "track" people down. In the real world we call it stalking..... it's generally seen as a crime. Does it really matter if you know where a person lives or not? One can very easily use proxies to mask their location, it basically ruins geoIP as a detection method.

There is a significant legal difference between uncovering someone identity and stalking.

Jayjg is one of the few users whom we haven't yet identified. Jayjg himself engages in similar online investigations of mysterious identities that catch his attention: User:Jayjg/Mystery

I can now add that someone pointed me to a third line of independent evidence that solidly links Jayjg to Toronto, Canada. This time the information is from early 2006. The IP is near identical to the one I gave above in that it geo-resolves to Toronto, Canada and it gives up in a R-DNS query an address that terminates in "*.cpe.net.cable.rogers.com."

[anon1234]

I'm 99% certain he made this "oops!" anon edit and quick revert back in 2005.

He'd have deleted the talk page and restored it without that edit.

Today, yes. But did he have that authority/audacity back in September of 2005?

Jayjg granted "checkuser" rights:
10:10, 12 November 2005 Datrio (Talk | contribs) changed group membership for User:Jayjg@enwiki from sysop to sysop, checkuser

Jayjg granted "oversight" rights:
13:34, 29 May 2006 Oscar (Talk | contribs) changed group membership for User:Jayjg@enwiki from checkuser, sysop to checkuser, sysop, oversight

This post has been edited by anon1234:

[Unrepentant Vandal]

On the other hand, what is with the attempts to "track" people down. In the real world we call it stalking..... it's generally seen as a crime. Does it really matter if you know where a person lives or not? One can very easily use proxies to mask their location, it basically ruins geoIP as a detection method.

Because admins need to have accountability for their actions.

[WordBomb]

On the other hand, what is with the attempts to "track" people down. In the real world we call it stalking..... it's generally seen as a crime. Does it really matter if you know where a person lives or not? One can very easily use proxies to mask their location, it basically ruins geoIP as a detection method.

Because admins need to have accountability for their actions.

Bingo. I'm convinced that 99% of the abuses seen on Wikipedia, both on the part of admins and vandals, would evaporate the same day folks began attaching their names to their actions. It's no coincidence that the worst abuses take place at the hands of those who work the hardest to remain anonymous. Accountability is key.

[Somey]

Just a friendly reminder, the point of the WR isn't to harass people....

Just what is the point of WR, anyway? I was under the impression it existed just to feed me easy straight lines, but now I'm not so sure anymore...

it's for constructive discussion not a "I hate you so I'm going to harass you" forum. Harassing / the intent to harass Danny without disclosing your full identity is in violation of US Law... On the other hand, what is with the attempts to "track" people down. In the real world we call it stalking..... it's generally seen as a crime...

I'm afraid the insistence on calling it "stalking" and "harassment" probably just makes it worse, though. Once you've accused your opponent of the worst thing he's ever likely to do, what does he have to lose by actually doing it?

Remember, we don't allow posting of street addresses, phone numbers, private e-mail addresses, things of that nature. (Don't all try it at once...) And please refer to this post and maybe this one, as I don't care to go over it again at the moment.

Does it really matter if you know where a person lives or not? One can very easily use proxies to mask their location, it basically ruins geoIP as a detection method.

In Jayjg's case, it probably doesn't matter. Frankly, I doubt we'll ever figure out who he is unless he tells us. He's too careful... He's like a ghost, slipping in and out of the shadows with no more footprint than a wisp of smoke... And you're right, ever since the whole Hivemind thing started, there's probably at least a dozen private co-located proxy machines out there for folks like Slimmy and Jayjg to remote into, not associated with any domain or DNS entity whatsoever, just sitting there in enormous virtual server farms all over the globe - all expertly configured for maximum anonymity protection. (Pretty cool, actually!)

Jayjg is one of the few users whom we haven't yet identified. Jayjg himself engages in similar online investigations of mysterious identities that catch his attention: User:Jayjg/Mystery

Who was he trying to finger there, User:Grace_Note? I had no idea. He used to have an account here, didn't he? Before my time...

The fact is, of all the "checkuser" admins, Jayjg is by far the single most often-accused of misusing his feature access for non-kosher purposes, and almost certainly for good reason. I still don't think we're ever going to identify him without some sort of deus ex machina, but it's just inevitable that people would want to know who he is.

Of course, if he turns out to be Brian Peppers, people here are gonna be pissed! (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/mad.gif)

[The Adversary]

Jayjg was promoted to admin in Sept. 2004. Few, if any, of those promoted to admins at that time got that many "Oppose" votes: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title...2828.2F8.2F4.29

In spite of this, Jimbo appoints him to the arb.com in July 2005. There had been arb.com elections half a year earlier, but nobody from the "waiting-list" in that election was promoted, instead Jimbo choose to promote a rather controversial admin; Jayjg. There was a lot of talk about it at the time, people did not see that what Jay had done on Wikipedia merited such a promotion. Most seem to think that there were some off-Wikipedia reason as to why Jimbo promoted him. (Same as when Kelly Martin was promoted to arb.com)

[anon1234]

Paid lobbyist? Who does he work for? What is his real name? What city is he posting from? Any clues?

Did a bunch of research looking for topic areas where Jayjg is abnormally knowledgeable. This means that I had to filter out the ethnic conflict and discrimination topics that are the favorite time wasters over at Wikipedia. What was left was a lot of Jewish topics, which isn't a surprise. I filtered out the general Judaism topics to see what stood out.

After a while the pattern become obvious. Jayjg has very specific knowledge and interest in Chabad-Lubavitch, a large branch of Hasidic Judaism. I say this because of Jayjg's attention to the following articles (and his avoidance of topics not of relevance to Hasidic Judaism):

• Kabbalah
• Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (an important figure in Kabbalah)
• Chabad-Lubavitch (customs derived in part from Kabbalah, branch of Hasidic Judaism, based near Williamsburg, Brooklyn)
• Menachem Mendel Schneersohn (Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbe, close to Yechiel Michel Epstein)
• Menachem Mendel Schneerson (Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbe, controversial links to Jewish Messiah)
• Jewish Messiah (controversially linked to Menachem Mendel Schneerson)
• Jesus (relevant to Jewish Messiah)
• Halakha
• Shulchan_Arukh (an important Halakha text)
• Yosef Karo (composed the Shulchan_Arukh)
• Shulchan Aruch HaRav (commentaries on the Shulchan_Arukh, important in Hasidic Judaism)
• Aruch HaShulchan (an illusion to the Shulchan_Arukh)
• Yechiel Michel Epstein (composed the Aruch HaShulchan, close to Menachem Mendel Schneersohn)
• Mishnah Berurah (a study of the Shulchan_Arukh)
• Yisrael Meir Kagan (composed the Mishnah Berurah)

What also stood out is that Jayjg rarely contributes new articles or sources. He prefers to edit war on the controversial articles, fight off vandals, and do minor clean ups on the topics he's genuinely interested in (such as those above.) Strange.

If Jayjg is a paid staffer of a lobby group and uses his permissions to persecute critics of Israel it would make the essjay scandal pale in comparison.

I highly doubt that Jayjg is paid. He's just an edit warrior on the controversial who has the admin bit. The biggest issue with Jayjg is his tendency to not contribute sources or new material in general, instead he falls back on simplistic and aggravating revert-based edit warring often progressing to a complete breakdown of WP:AGF. (The Chabad-Lubavitch branch of Judaism is now a strong supporter of Israel and takes a distinctly hard-line approach as described here: Haredim_and_Zionism#Chabad-Lubavitch.) - per Guy's comments.

This post has been edited by Somey: