Wikipedia talk:Long term abuse/General Tojo

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[edit] SProtected

I Sprotected the page due to Tojo vandalism and distortion of information -- Chris 73 | Talk 00:06, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Diabetes

GT sockpuppets making edits on Diabetes[1].

Henna Pod removed a link I added with no explanation, a la Tojo [2], and also tried to do a similar thing to one of Profsnow's contributions on Ham Seok-heon [3]. This is exactly what Rok Bura had tried to do previously suggesting a similar MO to Tojo [4]. Rok Bura has been making all sorts of edits on diabetes mellitus, "supported" by john murphy and xemija[5]. PaulWicks (talk · contribs)

While similar in style I think there is insufficient evidence to ban these three editors. The discussion has ended, and the chromium triumvirate has not received much support. JFW | T@lk 21:03, 30 July 2006 (UTC)
Surely something a checkuser could establish? --PaulWicks 21:32, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Articles under attack

GT is currently using sockpuppets to revert (even minor) edits I have made on these articles. As I am not an admin I am unable to ban, and can only label them as such. I am requesting that admins with an interest in preventing vandalism block these accounts or run checkuser if they are not convinced I'm correct in labelling them as such.--PaulWicks 21:43, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Whilst we're at it, why in the hell hasn't someone done a range block yet? I've got better things to do with my day...--PaulWicks 21:43, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

I have blocked the entire Tiscali UK Limited range for one week. Hope this helps. This was also announced on Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard -- Chris 73 | Talk 23:51, 30 July 2006 (UTC)
I have undone the blocks per user request. See Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard#Wikipedia:Long term abuse/General Tojo and User talk:Chris 73#Your blocking of all Tiscali UK IPs. --Slowking Man 13:55, 2 August 2006 (UTC)
Okay, the Tiscali users on Chirs 73's talk page sort of have a point, but why do they feel anonymous editting to be such a necessity? And now we'll have GT back in force. How about talking, at least, to his ISP about this problem, and if they blow us off, well, at least we tried. --Dan 15:55, 2 August 2006 (UTC)
And as expected, my user page, the Parkinson's article, and who knows what else are currently being vandalized by General Tojo. Slowking Man and King of Hearts, I'd like to hear you rationales and your proposals for alleviating this problem. --Dan 22:36, 2 August 2006 (UTC)
You're actually saying that you didn't even think about contacting his ISP before putting a block on millions of Tiscali UK users? Tiscali aren't some tin pot outfit they're the 3rd biggest telecommunications service in Europe, give them an e-mail they won't bite. 14:09, 3 August 2006 (UTC)
Given uk laws Tiscali are likely to respond to complaints.Geni 15:29, 3 August 2006 (UTC)


Yo! Pay attention! a) I didn't put the block on; I'm just a lowly editor/user. 2) There was discussion and thinking of contacting them, but concern about what they would require before taking any action. To repeat myself, I'm looking for suggestions, not a scolding. This is a very tough problem and I gather unusual for a vandal/troll to be this persistent. Your help would be welcome; your Monday-morning quarterbacking is not so useful. --Dan 15:30, 3 August 2006 (UTC)
TOS part 5 is probably the part of interest.Geni 16:01, 3 August 2006 (UTC)
I can't offer help, there's nothing you can do regards this apart from contact Tiscali, my point is that discriminating against millions of UK users because of one person surely isn't right. I can't understand why you think blocking millions of people wouldn't be a problem, hence why the aggrieved tone from myself and others, I've just been accused of being this Tojo guy for standing my ground on Chris' talk page. 16:04, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] ISP abuse report

User:Geni appears to be preparing an abuse report to Tiscali [6]. Check the thread for further updates. I'm going to drop him/her a Talk page note offering assistance if needed. --Slowking Man 05:16, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

it is largly in arbcoms hands now any in any case I'm going to be away for a week.Geni 10:55, 5 August 2006 (UTC)

Some of those responses there are disgraceful. People on high horses thinking they are more important than anyone else. Do they actually research ISP's before banning them. For example - Blueyonder UK, is the brand name for the internet service provided by NTL:Telewest, in their Telewest franchise areas. Next year, NTL:Telewest will become Virgin Communications and both NTL and Telewest television, telephone and internet services will merge. Any blocking of this new ISP will deny access to every single person with a cable internet connection in the UK, as Virgin Communications is the sole owner of the cable network, bar one or two small towns. I'll be contacting Tiscali and advising them to go apesh*t. RobertBFC 10:15, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

These decisions were made after a long and painful process of having to deal with an abusive, wikistalking and sockpuppeting user. You're incorrect about cable internet - those have fixed IPs, while the range blocked is a Tiscali dialup range.
As was indicated when the 86.106 range was blocked: Tiscali will be unblocked once it has freed us from General Tojo. JFW | T@lk 05:31, 8 August 2006 (UTC)
It's akin to terrorists releasing the hostages once the demands have been met. Look at what happened the last time that occured, it led to the new Isreal-Lebanon conflict. Whether its a fixed range or (correcting you here) the entire ADSL range for tiscali, blocking all the IP addresses of an ISP has the same effect and on that link someone did say they had experience of blocking the cable internet provider blueyonder (ntl:telewest). You havn't even tried e-mailing Tiscali which makes this a farce. Blackmailing ISP's isn't going to work and they'll encourage more users like myself to come on here complaining. RobertBFC 08:35, 8 August 2006 (UTC)


I have made this comment elsewhere, but I think it's important to I shall mention it here too: I found this morning that I am blocked from editing at home (where I have Tiscali) even when I was logged in. It was my understanding that IP blocks only block anonymous edits, so why are registered users also being blocked? It's ridiculous MyNameIsClare talk 09:46, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

(Tojo removed -- Chris 73 | Talk 11:24, 8 August 2006 (UTC))

Dear me, how old are you? Are you proud that your childishness has led to inconvenience for everyone else? Just grow up MyNameIsClare talk 11:10, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] URL Blacklisting

Hi everyone, viartis.net has been added to the WikiMedia spam blacklist [7], but before p4.forumforfree.com can be added, all current references to it have to be removed. Are there any articles which Tojo's older forum is still a good idea to link to? --  Netsnipe  (Talk)  15:27, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

On second thought I don't think we can safely blacklist p4.forumforfree.com since Tojo will probably create a new forum on that site and may get assigned p1,p2,p3 etc. instead which may cause too much collateral if we try to blacklist them as well. There's currently 33 links to *.forumforfree.com right now. Comments? --  Netsnipe  (Talk)  16:08, 18 August 2006 (UTC)
I think as a starting point, blacklisting p4.forumforfree.com may suffice for now. I guess if he goes to p1, etc. we should cross that bridge then. Andrew73 20:11, 18 August 2006 (UTC)
So in other words you're supporting the blacklisting of the entire forumforfree.com domain (through no fault of their own) because of General Tojo? It's bit too similiar to the Tiscali block we had earlier for comfort in my honest opinion. But then again, Wikipedia:External Link does frown upon posting links to non-WP:WEB notable forums. I'll raise the issue with the administrator's noticeboard tomorrow. --  Netsnipe  (Talk)  20:40, 18 August 2006 (UTC)
My take on Bridgeman's sites is that it is a literature review with an end to support a particular point of view. Nothing unusual in that; you see people doing that in the peer-reviewed literature fairly often. They usually do more in the way of critiquing than Bridgeman does; his sites are pretty much cut-and-paste. The citations themselves are okay, but what's bothersome is Bridgeman's bombast about the authoritativeness and exhaustiveness of his site. That would be misleading to a reader without research background or unfamiliar with the field. --Dan 16:25, 18 August 2006 (UTC)
So do you think viartis.net should continue to be blacklisted? --  Netsnipe  (Talk)  16:30, 18 August 2006 (UTC)
Yes, I do - it's nothing unique and is indeed a slanted presentation. --Dan 16:57, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

I've spotted General Tojo trying to sockpuppet the linkspam team. m:Talk:Spam_blacklist#viartis.net_2 --  Netsnipe  (Talk)  09:01, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Banned in other forums

This recent discussion on Brain Talk 2 communities [8] is worth looking at. He has had trouble getting along in other online communities! 216.15.115.161 01:40, 8 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] He's back

Sadly I had to block Gerard Doyle (talk · contribs) today, who made a noncontroversial edit to the PD article but has previously shown the exact same modus operandi as GT. DEFCON 2. JFW | T@lk 16:02, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

Shucks - I was hoping braintalk2 was keeping him entertained. --Dan 18:16, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

Personally, I disagree with the preemptive block in light of WP:DENY. We should only be blocking him when he edit-wars, not the moment we "spot" another one of his socks, since in his mind, this will only legitimise in his mind the notion that this is all one big game. PS: I'm a WP:ADMIN too now. --  Netsnipe  ►  19:21, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

That account has every characteristic of a Tojo account. His combative attitude on User talk:Gerard Doyle subsequent to his blocking is also Tojoesque. I have told User:Georgewilliamherbert (who seems to have taken on this case) that I would discourage unblocking because Tojo is under a hard ban as supported by the ArbComm. That user caused so many hours of misery I will strike preemptively when I have identified a sockpuppet. If anyone unblocks him it will be on personal responsibility. JFW | T@lk 07:12, 20 September 2006 (UTC)
Netsnipe, I applaud your generous forgiving attitude, but Bridgeman has not just edit-warred and vandalized - he has also made outrageously bigoted insults and threats of assault. Please keep things as difficult as possible so he'll stay away. --Dan 17:40, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

I block and revert on sight. No one has to do anything they think is unwise, but neither should anyone unblock a user who is banned by arbcom. Tom Harrison Talk 13:24, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

I am not an admin, so you have nothing to fear at the moment from my unblocking anyone, however...
I am left with an uncomfortable feeling that the criteria in use here for IDing a Tojo sockpuppet are too vague, and subject to possibly accusing innocent parties, though the situation is suspicious given timing and the link.
I would feel much more comfortable about this case with two bits of information:
  1. A checkuser on Gerard Doyle / Tojo
  2. An explanation about why Gerard thought adding that site made sense, from Gerard.
I can get the second, but i would like to ask someone here to do the checkuser request...
Thanks. Georgewilliamherbert 18:52, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

I've unblocked Gerard - he gives a half-convincing explanation for his actions. Please reblock on sight if he displays Tojoesque behaviour. JFW | T@lk 21:05, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

I think your initial impression was right. We will see. --PaulWicks 07:20, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Gerard is watching this page, understandably. I have reiterated that all new editors to the PD article with strong views will be continuously taken to task for edits, and that this is General Tojo's fault. If anything untoward happens, the block can easily be reinstated, but not with at least a bit more evidence. If Gerard agrees, we can do a checkuser to formally disidentify him from Tojo. JFW | T@lk 20:18, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

A checkuser might be helpful, but of course there have been suspect edits from a new ISP so it would not confirm or disconfirm anything 100% right? GT's problem is that he can never quite manage to suppress himself, and he is nowhere near as subtle as he thinks. If he is still around, it will out. --PaulWicks 21:15, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Requests for checkuser/Case/General Tojo 2. JFW | T@lk 20:05, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Question Re: Identity

Mr. Bridgeman lives on the Isle of Wight, although he stays up near MTS during the week. Also, he is a Physics teacher, so why he would be vandalising about biological conditions beats me. Is it possible that there may be a case of mistaken identity here? Mr Bridgeman's somewhat odd sense of humour is perhaps the biggest character trait against him in this case; however, the biggest thing that might suggest mistaken identity is his taking sailing lessons at MTS and Queen Mary's Reservoir at on Mondays and Wednesdays, which coincided with one edit on the 21st of June. However, since this was during exam period, it is possible that there were no sailing lessons that day, explaining this. Several edits coincide with lunchtimes at MTS (1:15-2:25) or breaktimes (11:00-11:20), and the large number of free periods he would have had during exam leave for pupils might explain others. In any case, I hope that these concerns (especially the ones referring to numerous edits during school time help any investigation.

Joseph Sanderson 14:15, 15 October 2006 (UTC) (Pupil at MTS)

These are some interesting nuggets of information. When you refer to the "odd sense of humor," are you referring to the teacher, the Wikipedia user/personality, or both? Andrew73 18:06, 15 October 2006 (UTC)
Of course, it's always possible that it's a case of mistaken identity. His blatant anti-gay - and other -bigotry would, in my opinion, be a strong negative for a school teacher, so I hope that's not him. However, at least here in the States, science teachers of any stripe are so much in demand that it wouldn't be unusual to see someone teaching outside their specialty. Asking if he posts on Wikipedia would be a little too direct, and one couldn't tell anything from the answer. Something a bit more subtle, appealing to General Tojo's obviously oversized ego would work best. Or perhaps one doesn't need to ask him anything at all. Editting logs, analysis thereof, or something along those lines. --Dan 18:37, 16 October 2006 (UTC)
As another student at MTs I must say I find it very unlikely that this is Mr. Bridgeman - as head of science at Merchant Taylors, Chief Examiner for Physics A-level on Edexcel and organiser of the schools cadet force this not only seems completely out of character but also, looking at the other accounts on other sites, completely out of his field of expertise. All the edits seem to be about biology - not simply basic stuff but quite a bit in depth. Am I the only one thinking there has been a mix-up? If so, where? michaelCurtis talk+ contributions 20:01, 16 October 2006 (UTC)
Well, in other places around the web where this user has posted, he has used the name "Keith Bridgeman", and if one uses a search engine to look up that name with the word "biochemist" or "dopavite", one comes across an invention, a mix of various amino acids and supplements that could conceivably be a treatment for Parkinson's Disease. Hence our identification of Gerard Doyle, General Tojo, Viartis (and so on, and so on) is based upon that use. Certainly that might not be his name, or if it is, it may well not be the Mr. Bridgman you know. It sounds unlikely from what both of you are saying, and in fact at one point when I wondered out loud on this site if the user Tojo was indeed your Mr. Bridgeman, Tojo sneered at me for thinking he could ever be a teacher. So, there you are. --Dan 20:46, 16 October 2006 (UTC)
Oh, and another indication - this user has a page of Parkinson's information that he's maintained in various places, currently here at viartis.net[9]. If one does a whois [10] for viartis.net, the owner is shown to be Keith Bridgeman, with an address near, ummm, Heathrow? --Dan 21:43, 16 October 2006 (UTC)
And one other final bit - his significant other is apparently Iranian, Tojo has an interest in things Persian, may even speak the language. --Dan 16:57, 17 October 2006 (UTC)
I think the most likely state of affairs is we are dealing with two separate people named Keith Bridgeman in the London area (which does cover over 8 million people) or that this is a case of identity theft. The Keith Bridgeman at MTs has a degree in engineering and I still find it highly unlikely that he posseses detailed biochmistry knowlegde. I will endeavour to ask him...michaelCurtis talk+ contributions 17:09, 17 October 2006 (UTC)
That seems most likely to me as well, Mr. Curtis, and I am relieved for you and your fellow students. --Dan 17:33, 17 October 2006 (UTC)
I have just checked out Free Directory Enquiries on 192.com and there is one Keith Bridgeman living on the Isle of Wight, where school sources place him. He lives at school (or possibly nearby) during the week, and also, Longford is not a particularly logical place to commute from, but then again, neither's the Isle of Wight. According to the same website, there is a Kenneth Bridgeman living in West Drayton, in the vicinity of Longford; according to google, there are a number of different Keith Bridgemans living in and around London, so the name proves nothing. and by the way: This may be relevant. WHOIS for viartis.net no longer seems to list him. My (unqualified) guess would be a different Keith Bridgeman. Only thing against this is that one of the vandalisms of the MTS page by Aaaaaaaaaq was flagged as sock puppetry, although I couldn't see anything to justify this. I am also somewhat uneasy about legal aspects of assuming that it is a particular Keith Bridgeman. Can anyone else find any info? Joseph Sanderson 19:57, 17 October 2006 (UTC)
Thanks Mr. Sanderson, very helpful. I don't think any of us are assuming anything yet, but we have all received threats, some physical, so there could conceivably be legal implications for the Bridgeman - if that's his name - who indulged his temper or perhaps his very odd sense of humor in that fashion. --Dan 20:40, 17 October 2006 (UTC)
Interestingly GT / Gerard Doyle has been rather quiet since we've started discussing this. --PaulWicks 07:03, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Return

A new editor with a POV on toxic causes has surfaced, Drbartlett (talk · contribs). DEFCON 2. JFW | T@lk 21:52, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

I restored a previous version. This editor makes good points. However, if you read the details of the original article, they actually already accomplish what his edits try to do. Andrew73 22:57, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Tojo's back for 2007

Hi everyone, just caught him trying to sneak in links to his website at viatris.net using the doiop.com URL shortening service. --  Netsnipe  ►  16:23, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

Blocked username indef. Not gonna make much difference, but it is the right thing to do. -- Chris 73 | Talk 16:29, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

Blocked sockpuppets:

doiop.com submitted to the spam blacklist. --  Netsnipe  ►  16:38, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

Also added doiop to the User:Lupin/badwords tool -- Chris 73 | Talk 16:47, 8 February 2007 (UTC)
Is the any significance to these:
--A. B. (talk) 15:35, 18 February 2007 (UTC)
Also, see where someone had to remove a viartis link.[11] I'm traveling and have a slow connection, otherwise I'd step through the edit history to find out how and when it was added. --A. B. (talk) 15:46, 18 February 2007 (UTC)
The link was added before the url shortener was blacklisted. -- Chris 73 | Talk 23:08, 18 February 2007 (UTC)
The URL shortener was only recently blacklisted but viartis has been blacklisted for a while, I think. --A. B. (talk) 01:40, 19 February 2007 (UTC)
See also:
--A. B. (talk) 14:35, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
--A. B. (talk) 16:07, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Ludwig

David Wittgenstein (talk · contribs) was Tojo's latest reincarnation. I've blocked him now. Sadly, we need to be on the watch for an explosion of socks for a while. JFW | T@lk 09:48, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

212.1.145.175 (talk · contribs) suggests that he still uses Tiscali, just a different range. JFW | T@lk 21:10, 21 April 2007 (UTC)
He's wikistalking me now - reverting all my edits over a period of time. JFW | T@lk 21:15, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Rampant

He's running rampant again. I guess everyone is pretty much clued in as to how best to approach this. He seems to have a lot of time on his hands, and uses 3-4 sockpuppets at a time to stalk round editors who have reverted him. Be patient, everyone. There is little point engaging into any discussion with him.

Perhaps we need to get viartis.net blacklisted again. JFW | T@lk 14:40, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

It looks like viartis.net was taken off by the blacklist in April 2007 [12]. If it were blacklisted again, it would take away some of the fodder for Tojo. Andrew73 15:14, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Digging

Interesting thread from braintalk2.

[edit] General Tojo? "Sockpuppets"?

Gosh, I clicked on one of the links provided (I don't know exactly which link it was) and this Tojo-san lives "more than" 1 mile from me. O.o

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=%2B51.5986%2C%20-3.1394&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&sa=N&tab=wl

Anyway, what's a sockpuppet? I do know what a proxy is...but why use the term sockpuppets?

88.105.69.234 13:26, 30 September 2007 (UTC)

See Sockpuppet (Internet). Regards, Newyorkbrad 23:15, 30 September 2007 (UTC)


[edit] WHOIS

Please explain the unexplained and baffling reverses back to what is an obviously incorrect version.

By simply clicking on [13] the owner comes up as PLANETDOMAIN PTY LTD., a company in Houston, Texas.

--Robin Naylor 23:52, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

This company only hosts the site, the owner is still Keith Bridgeman, and the full adress and phone number is given. See [14] for a better lookup. -- Chris 73 | Talk 05:37, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Rearing his ugly head

I have the feeling the page is being attacked. On 23-12 Logon 789 (talk · contribs) blanked the page and replaced it with invective. Today Lplplplplp (talk · contribs) did exactly the same (with the same invective). Any further similar edits should make us concerned about resurgence of Tojo, shouldn't they? JFW | T@lk 16:21, 26 December 2007 (UTC)