First of all,
the WP database definitely is f**cked up, to the point where I should probably stop using asterisks in that word. Look at those dates, WP'ers - does that look right to you folks? I don't think even WR has ever had anything like
that happen, and we've definitely had our share of problems in that area.
QUOTE(Herschelkrustofsky @ Sat 5th September 2009, 9:53am)
QUOTE(Kato @ Sat 5th September 2009, 6:27am)
No. The most likely explanation (amazing as it sounds) is that Cognition was a "black ops" account created to demonize Hersch and add fuel to the theory that LaRouchies were attacking WP.
That's not credible, because the Cognition who was editing back before I was banned had a detailed knowledge of
LaRouchismo that would be nearly impossible to fake.
Nearly impossible for whom, though? I'd tend to disagree with this - someone like Adam Carr or Will Beback, or even King & Berlet, probably got at least some of their information by reading uncritical commentaries and essays written by Larouche supporters. At some point they might easily have reached the point where they could imitate it.
Also, the fact that he was mainly active only during that few weeks in Summer '05 actually makes it
more likely to me that the account was a "stalking horse" sock puppet, not less. Remember to always look at the first article edit - in this case,
changing the photo for the article on Immanuel Kant. I'll admit it's not out of the realm of possibility, but is that normal for an inexperienced first-time editor? I don't think it is, and the anti-Larouche people on WP must not have thought so either at the time, because they quickly assumed he was a sock puppet of either HK or someone named "C Colden." (Also, the account might have been active longer if it hadn't been banned, obviously.)
The thing about User:Cognition, based on a closer look at his contribs, is that s/he
always got reverted, in most cases very quickly:
Chip Berlet:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=...&oldid=17992862The Beatles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=...&oldid=17880311Australian Larouche Youth Movement:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=...&oldid=18529862Moreover, Cognition was clearly Australian - his hours of activity were the same as Carr's, often responding to Carr's talk page entries
within five minutes, whereas he sometimes took several hours to respond to SlimVirgin, who presumably was/is in Canada. Cognition's spelling is British (favored by Aussies), not American - s/he "apologises," and doesn't "apologize," for example.
Incidentally, this actually got me confused about HK, too, back in 2006 - because of Carr, the number of Larouche-related conflicts involving Australia was so much greater than one would have expected, I guessed (wrongly) that HK was also Australian. (I was a little less experienced at the time, of course.)
User:172 is clearly British, however - he generally seems to have avoided anything Aussie-related. So, my working crackpot theory would be that Cognition was Carr's brainchild, but that they shared the account among several WP'ers (including User:172) in need of a convenient stalking horse. Or else, when Carr got bored with WP he simply turned the account over to 172. Either way, 172 tried to revive the account, possibly for the same purpose it was used for before, but got caught. It sounds crazy, and it definitely is, but not many other explanations can account for all the facts here - even given that the database has been corrupted.
QUOTE(Hell Freezes Over @ Sat 5th September 2009, 11:11am)
On the contrary - the more over-the-top it is, the more likely it is to have been faked in order to make the Larouchies look like nutcases. (I'm not saying they're not nutcases, but let's try to be serious about this.)
Try to find a diff on WP where Herschelkrustofsky, whom we know to be genuine, says anything close to that - I don't believe you can.