CrowsNest wrote:I don't mean they don't use it. But in the world of socky-socking, looking at an IP as your primary identifier, is about as much use as asking for ID in a forger's den. You only catch the stone cold idiots, or the completely innocent.Gaslighted wrote:CheckUsers use IP info. If two editors edit from the same IP, and only one IP, then it's either the same person (most likely), or a house (possibly family, but usually fake brother) or a school/dorm (favorite target of Bbb23). These are CU blocked before they can claim it's a shared network behind NAT. This is called a "confirmed CU block".
Complications start, if a user edits from vastly different IPs (home, cafe, office, train, vpn, can be many reasons), or different IPs from the same subrange (dynamic IPs of one ISP). It's likely other people will use the same networks, thus the IP addresses used is not unique to one user. The user agent can distinguish these users, but 1. an editor might use different browsers and devices, 2. two editors might use the same browser or device type. It's up to the CU to judge the "uniqueness" of the data (taking into account the behavioral evidence). This results in suspected sockpuppets, or "possible sock-puppetry".
Cookies, device/browser, and behavior, is what it's all about. Change/mask those, you're home free. People who don't know how to do that, including how to evade AI tools, will be caught. And people who need to be taught how to do that, will also be caught, just a little later.
With a bit of work on appeal, you could even get away with using a Grawp IP. Might even be granted IP block exemption!
At the end of the day though, what potential socks have to be clear on, is why they are socking. It's a lot of effort, and in my experience, the only reward that justifies it, is just to fuck with Wikipedians, to waste their time and make them mad/bad/sad. If that's the goal, then by all means, become the best socky-sock you can be. If not, maybe find another hobby.
Basic human instinctive motivation: Avoiding Domination. When a user is unskillfully blocked/banned, and even sometimes when it was done properly,. they will sock to prove that they are free, not dominated by these assholes. This, then, with enforcement intensified (Scibaby is the poster boy for this phenomenon), socking intensifies. It becomes a hobby a habit, which can be very difficult to stop. At one point, I and another user attempted to reach out to Scibaby. That was whacked by Raul654, who had created the whole Scibaby mess. (Scibaby was apparently a global warming skeptic, I accept global warming as a real danger, so this wasn't about POV. It was about a faction believing that the public could not be trusted with complete information, and that it must be manipulated to create the "true" meaning.)
Most disruptive socks never bother to figure out how to actually accomplish it. But some do.
Those who develop skills sometimes make a mistake and it only takes one to ID them. But they have discovered that the banhammer doesn't hurt at all, and they have practically nothing to lose, if blocked already.