NoCal100 and his many socks, Isarig's love of harassing Palestinian women Options

[nableezy]

NoCal100 may have the dubious distinction of having two separate accounts banned in the same ArbCom case, after having "vanished" in a prior case. His first, as far as I can tell, account was Isarig (I'll leave what that stands for unsaid, but it will get obvious in a bit). He has, for as long as he has been active on WP, had as his overarching goal, to denigrate Palestinians and harass anybody who gets in his way. His prime target has been Tiamut, a Palestinian woman in Nazareth.

Among NoCal's sock puppets are AgEng, an account whose primary purpose was to create a biography on one Yoav Sarig. Other accounts include Canadian Monkey, the other party to the same ArbCom case that saw NoCal topic banned (West Bank/Judea and Samaria).

None of this is all that unusual, lots of people sock, but where this gets surreal, at least for me, is how this twat of a man can, with a parade of socks that are evading bans, demand that others who violate the rules be punished with a firm hand. His most recent IP sock (71.204.165.25) has in the past months demanded that Bless sins and Vice Regent be blocked as sockpuppets (here) despite even Jayjg's acceptance that they not be, participated in another SPI (here) and is now arguing that his long-time target be blocked for edit-warring (permalink). He used two separate socks to argue that an editor whose only block was placed at their own request not be allowed to edit as an IP or even as an account after that block was lifted, and he was able to get FT2 to back him on this, even though FT2 was aware that he was a banned sockpuppet arguing that an IP of an unblocked account was a sockpuppet that should be blocked (see here and here

All of this showcases several of the problems with WP and topics as controversial as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The truly dedicated accounts will return, again and again, and cause the same problems, again and again. Others with even a touch of dignity and self-respect, like the inimitable G-Dett, will not. So instead of a writer whose only actual activity in the topic area was to attempt to clear the most ridiculous garbage, we are left with a never ending parade of Isarig socks. Why this is so difficult to deal with is beyond me. Why this IP is allowed to continue his years long harassment of Tiamut is also something that I cannot explain.

I am not sure why I am writing this as it is clear, or rather should be clear, that nothing ever gets accomplished on Wikipedia. That those who play the game well will always beat those that actually try to write an encyclopedia. But this really is absurd.

This post has been edited by nableezy: Mon 20th February 2012, 7:44pm

[Malik Shabazz]

But Isarig "was awarded the prestigious Namir Prize". Surely that excuses any puppetry.

[Fusion]

But Isarig "was awarded the prestigious Namir Prize". Surely that excuses any puppetry.

Even a Nobel prizewinner, Brian Josephson, has been treated badly on Wikipedia. A winner of the Namir Prize is scarcely likely to be treated better!

[EricBarbour]

So, is he really Yoav Sarig (T-H-L-K-D), or his son, or another relative?

Nableezy, if you've got a list of accounts he's used, please post them. The best thing you can do with an ass like Sarig is to report on his activities--to the public.

This post has been edited by EricBarbour: Mon 20th February 2012, 10:41pm

[nableezy]

So, is he really Yoav Sarig (T-H-L-K-D), or his son, or another relative?

Nableezy, if you've got a list of accounts he's used, please post them. The best thing you can do with an ass like Sarig is to report on his activities--to the public.

Yoav Sarig seems far too serious, and old, to be NoCal. If somebody on his level were doing all this I would be shocked. It takes way too much time and effort to pull off what NoCal has been doing for years.

The established accounts are in the sock categories on-wiki, though it is missing a few names. I'll get to putting a list together, may be a few days though.

[Tarc]

I noticed an IP filing a complaint today against Tiamut and wondered who it would turn out to be. Isn't filing complaints as an IP like posting a neon "give me an extra dose of scrutiny" sign, though. If Israig is a master sock monkey, seems odd that he'd blow a chance to get a foe in trouble by not using one of his identities to do so.

[radek]

I am not sure why I am writing this as it is clear, or rather should be clear, that nothing ever gets accomplished on Wikipedia. That those who play the game well will always beat those that actually try to write an encyclopedia. But this really is absurd.

Judging by your description, here it's actually worse - even those who play the game "badly" - in the sense of being obviously abusive, with that abuse being common knowledge among some administrators - will always beat the ones who try to write an encyclopedia. It's a lot whim, butt kissing, woke-up-on-the-wrong-side-of-the bed and just plain ol' "I only pretend to care".

The sheer, raw, unbridled, unvarnished, unpolished, there-for-all-to-see-but-so-what, stupidity - and that means "stupidity" as in the most appropriate and accurately descriptive adjective that exists in the English language, not "stupidity" as an insult (or what Salinger simply called "a moron") - of the Wikipedia admin corps is really staggering. (Standard disclaimer - they're not all bad, some are good, and smart, yadda yadda yadd)

This post has been edited by radek: Tue 21st February 2012, 1:49am

[nableezy]

Judging by your description, here it's actually worse - even those who play the game "badly" - in the sense of being obviously abusive, with that abuse being common knowledge among some administrators - will always beat the ones who try to write an encyclopedia. It's a lot whim, butt kissing, woke-up-on-the-wrong-side-of-the bed and just plain ol' "I only pretend to care".

By "play the game well" I meant those that are good at playing the game, not those that play the game to get good things done.

The established accounts are in the sock categories on-wiki, though it is missing a few names. I'll get to putting a list together, may be a few days though.

Besides the accounts in the categories on-wiki (confirmed, suspected), there are some additional accounts. I think that NoCal has access to a closed proxy in China. A sock of his, Two for the show, had been checked and was said to be in the same city as NoCal (around San Fransisco, real original I know). When blocked the user claimed to be editing in Chengdu. I think he just forgot which accounts were using a proxy and which are not. Some of the other accounts that I think he has used, or is using, in addition to the IPs are:
Shanghai Sally (T-C-L-K-R-D)
Red Stone Arsenal (T-C-L-K-R-D)
There are more I am sure, but I can't remember all of them.

IPs used by him include the one listed above, 24.23.193.232, and 12.54.125.181 (from which you can see yet another example of his unexplainable hard-on for harassing Tiamut). I'll look around to see if I can find more. The category pages are relatively complete as far as I can tell. Though they are of course missing Isarig, whose account is vanished to Former user 2 (T-C-L-K-R-D)

[Kelly Martin]

I noticed an IP filing a complaint today against Tiamut and wondered who it would turn out to be. Isn't filing complaints as an IP like posting a neon "give me an extra dose of scrutiny" sign, though.

When I was a checkuser it was standard practice to check both the person being complained about and the complainer. A substantial fraction of complainers were sockpuppeting themselves or otherwise doing something inappropriate.

[The Adversary]

Yoav Sarig seems far too serious, and old, to be NoCal. If somebody on his level were doing all this I would be shocked. It takes way too much time and effort to pull off what NoCal has been doing for years.

Well, I was more shocked when I learned that a certain University of Haifa associate professor was behind the Runtshit-vandal. That vandalism also normally comes during "office hours". Nice to have a University to pay you to vandalise Wikipedia!

[TungstenCarbide]

Yoav Sarig seems far too serious, and old, to be NoCal. If somebody on his level were doing all this I would be shocked. It takes way too much time and effort to pull off what NoCal has been doing for years.

Well, I was more shocked when I learned that a certain University of Haifa associate professor was behind the Runtshit-vandal. That vandalism also normally comes during "office hours". Nice to have a University to pay you to vandalise Wikipedia!

for the love of God! 1,398 sockpuppets!?

[The Adversary]

Yoav Sarig seems far too serious, and old, to be NoCal. If somebody on his level were doing all this I would be shocked. It takes way too much time and effort to pull off what NoCal has been doing for years.

Well, I was more shocked when I learned that a certain University of Haifa associate professor was behind the Runtshit-vandal. That vandalism also normally comes during "office hours". Nice to have a University to pay you to vandalise Wikipedia!

for the love of God! 1,398 sockpuppets!?

Yupp, + some suspected. He has a full-time job. (Some might be by his students/followers, though.)

Editors in the US normally do not notice him, as I said; he operate mostly in University of Haifa´s office hours.

[Heat]

Yoav Sarig seems far too serious, and old, to be NoCal. If somebody on his level were doing all this I would be shocked. It takes way too much time and effort to pull off what NoCal has been doing for years.

Well, I was more shocked when I learned that a certain University of Haifa associate professor was behind the Runtshit-vandal. That vandalism also normally comes during "office hours". Nice to have a University to pay you to vandalise Wikipedia!

for the love of God! 1,398 sockpuppets!?

Yupp, + some suspected. He has a full-time job. (Some might be by his students/followers, though.)

Editors in the US normally do not notice him, as I said; he operate mostly in University of Haifa´s office hours.

Maybe he has a grant to sockpuppet from the Israeli Foreign Ministry's Hasbara program?

[Sololol]

Yoav Sarig seems far too serious, and old, to be NoCal. If somebody on his level were doing all this I would be shocked. It takes way too much time and effort to pull off what NoCal has been doing for years.

Well, I was more shocked when I learned that a certain University of Haifa associate professor was behind the Runtshit-vandal. That vandalism also normally comes during "office hours". Nice to have a University to pay you to vandalise Wikipedia!

Just to clear it up, it's the son, not the father. Many of Nocal's sockpuppets edit the entries on whichever Silicon Valley company he's currently employed at.