Deletionists and sockpuppetry, Is there a link and why? Options

[Casliber]

From time to time I participate at AfD and generally seems that the deletionists outnumber the inclusionists in most cases- I can only think of about 4 or 5 inclusionists and a rather larger number of 'the other side'. What has puzzled me, though, is the frequency that deletionists have either been confirmed using or being sockpuppets, or appeared highly suspicious. My question is, is this view only an apparent one, or is it a real association and if so, why? (i.e. why on earth sock if you outnumber the opposition anyway??)

[Firsfron of Ronchester]

From time to time I participate at AfD and generally seems that the deletionists outnumber the inclusionists in most cases- I can only think of about 4 or 5 inclusionists and a rather larger number of 'the other side'. What has puzzled me, though, is the frequency that deletionists have either been confirmed using or being sockpuppets, or appeared highly suspicious. My question is, is this view only an apparent one, or is it a real association and if so, why? (i.e. why on earth sock if you outnumber the opposition anyway??)

This is an interesting topic. I've seen quite a few hard-core deletionist accounts turn out to be sockpuppets. The Eyrian/Varlak/THX1337/JohnEMcClure/Graevemoore/etc. accounts stick out in my mind, since Eyrian was an administrator.

The question is: since AfD "votes" are generally 2-to-1 in favor of deletion to begin with, why bother creating sockpuppet accounts when the process will naturally favor deleting articles? I guess it's to speed up the process. I remember the person behind the Displaced Brit account saying he hated "bloody smeggy lists", and didn't want any such pages on Wikipedia, ever. He actually nominated several articles for deletion using the words "another bloody smeggy list". That sort of personality seems sort of predisposed to "going the extra mile" to make sure a hated article really does get deleted.

The "keep my article because I like it" sockpuppet types are one-offs and are usually pretty obvious to spot; the hard-core deletionist socks just seem harder to spot.

Of course, Jon's experience with vendetta-type deletion happens all the time, too, which also reminds me of the Displaced Brit socks.

[SomeRandomAdmin]

One of the problems is that you have some rabid inclusionists (Le Grand Roi de whatever springs to mind) whose arguments at AFD and DRV are so frankly ludicrous (see this for an example) that they actually attract people who vote delete purely to try and oppose their stupidity. Personally, when I see such inane crap at AfD, it spurs me to close those AFDs as delete regardless.

[Kurt M. Weber]

One of the problems is that you have some rabid inclusionists (Le Grand Roi de whatever springs to mind) whose arguments at AFD and DRV are so frankly ludicrous (see this for an example) that they actually attract people who vote delete purely to try and oppose their stupidity. Personally, when I see such inane crap at AfD, it spurs me to close those AFDs as delete regardless.

Then you are part of the problem.

The fact is, anything with a verifiable existence is a perfectly appropriate topic for Wikipedia. Those who try to delete them regardless of this simple fact quite clearly hate Wikipedia, and need to be driven off.

You and your ilk need to go. There is no place for you on Wikipedia.