Admin Future Perfect openly outs and threatens banned user

[VindTax45]

New to the forum, but wanted to share this first of all. This past week there was a particularly nasty episode on the Wikipedia noticeboard involving the administrator Future Perfect at Sunrise. His name should be familiar, one of the most egotistical and abusive administrators Wikipedia has ever seen.

Anyway, Future Perfect had apparently convinced himself that a banned user called OberRanks was in fact an employee of a government agency and then early one morning blocked an entire ip range for the entire agency, effectively locking out most anyone from there wanting to log on or edit. There was some off-Wiki correspondence, by apparently two or three people, and then Future was approached on Wiki advising him he should remove the block (which he did). Late that afternoon, a thread was started about what happened and Future went absolutely bezerk. He outed the person he thought had turned him in and then threatened legal action for something he had read on another website.

And what happened to him. NOTHING. A small note from a senior administrator saying "you should know better than that". If anyone else had done what Future did, they would have been immediately blocked probably for at least a month (maybe longer) and emergency de-s'd as an administrator.

The chronology is below. I should add this banned user OberRanks is certainly not "blameless and pure" but he has pretty much been vilified by administrators and accused of everything under the sun up to and including eating babies and drinking their blood. The whole story behind that is for another thread, I imagine.

1) Future blocks ip range for government agency
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... 1015191604

2) Future told he should not have done that
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... 1015216253

3) Admin Board discussion later that day
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... 1015320258

4) Future outs the person he thought had "turned him in" and this is redacted
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... 1015444104

5) Future makes a sneaky legal threat about "libelous claims"
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... 1015482396

6) Future pouts
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... 1015623212

[Jans Hammer]

[Hemiauchenia]

According to comments made in that thread OberRanks was involved in extensive fabrication that went on for years, and has previously pretended to be a member of the National Archives & Records Administration. The paranoia seems justified IMO.

[VindTax45]

According to comments made in that thread

The people operating the thread I think were engaged in something of a feeding frenzy about how evil that guy was. Even so, should not have posted personal information about him.

[Midsize Jake]

Where did they say OberRanks was eating babies and drinking their blood? If they really thought he was a US Government employee, that would suggest that QAnon has infiltrated the WP admin ranks, would it not?

...Or were you just exaggerating for effect there? If so, it would probably be better to use a different type of allegation altogether.

[Midsize Jake]

The people operating the thread I think were engaged in something of a feeding frenzy about how evil that guy was.

Well... putting aside the whole "outing" question, here's what I think about this — and as some of you know, I myself am a former NARA employee (though I worked there mostly in the pre-internet days).

If this OberRanks (T-C-L) (formerly Husnock (T-C-L)) guy kept meticulous records and documentation on all the "subtle vandalism" he was doing, which apparently involved quite a lot of source-fabrication around actual, reported events (making it extremely hard for most Wikipedians to catch it), and is writing a book or magazine article about his activities, in which he also details the kinds of inherent weaknesses Wikipedia suffers from in trying to deal with this sort of thing, then more power to him. Maybe it would be even nicer if he would go back and fix that stuff himself, though that's hardly a requirement.

OTOH, if he hasn't kept records and isn't planning to publish anything at all, then IMO it probably is fair to conclude that he's some sort of egomaniacal sociopath, and probably deserves what he gets, if not worse.

As for User:Future Perfect at Sunrise (T-C-L), I guess he's the point-man in the effort to stop him...? I mostly remember him from the dispute over "North Macedonia," but either way, you can sort of understand his frustration. NARA is, unfortunately, as close to being a Wikimedia "partner" as any agency in the US Government. So if this guy is really using NARA IPs and a NARA e-mail account to carry on this project/campaign/whatever, that's an unfair advantage for him, even if he's only using NARA-supplied public wi-fi. (Do we know if he is or not?)

What's more, that would lead me to suspect that the guy isn't doing this as part of a book (or magazine-article) project, because if it were to come out that he used US Government resources for something like this — and maybe NARA resources in particular — that would shoot down whatever journalistic credibility he might otherwise have had, and maybe even subject him to legal consequences.

I suppose there might be other motives (i.e., non-sociopathic, non-egotistical ones) for someone to do this, like maybe he's convinced that Wikipedia is full of leftists who have to be punished for their leftism by having to clean up lots of "subtle vandalism." Or, maybe it's personal between him and Jimbo, something like that. There's no question that he's very clever, perhaps diabolically so, but we'll probably never get an admission from him as to his motives, regardless of what they are... which I guess means we default to the most likely thing.

[VindTax45]

Well... putting aside the whole "outing" question,

That was my main reason actually for bringing this up. I thought what was done on the noticeboard could actually have put someone in danger. In the unredacted edit, Future Perfect used a type of code to direct people to an online directory where he was clearly pointing to a specific entry with someone's name, phone number, and where they worked. I can not think of a more blatant form of outting except for just outright posting the information directly. The fact it was a US government directory as well, especially in today's climate, is troubling.

Your analysis of OberRanks was intriguing. Personally, he reminds me a lot of Stephen Glass. Mainly literarary genius intermixed with fabrication. The account was banned over three years ago but prior to that was a contributor to some pretty major history articles.

[AndyTheGrump]

"a type of code"? Morse?

[VindTax45]

"a type of code"? Morse?

I think it was a series of letters that, if entered in the online directory would have brought up close matches to a real employee's name

[Lyallpuri]

"a type of code"? Morse?

I think it was a series of letters that, if entered in the online directory would have brought up close matches to a real employee's name

"Series" seems an exaggeration, if we're talking about the same text. It was the first letter of the first name followed by how many letters it had.

[Boing! said Zebedee]

"Series" seems an exaggeration, if we're talking about the same text. It was the first letter of the first name followed by how many letters it had.

Yep, and it didn't match any online directory that I could see, it was intended for those who had received emails to verify. And it was removed and hidden quite quickly. Other than that slip, FPaS did nothing at all wrong in any of this. OberRanks has openly claimed to be an archivist for years, and has openly spoken of his connections with NARA and his military record - so there's no outing there. (It appears that only recently has he asked for https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... &redlink=1 to be deleted).

And what should we do about someone who has been behaving as disgustingly as the fantasist and liar OberRanks, when he campaigns about his treatment by Wikipedia at other online sites while lying about what admins have done, and makes accusations privately to other admins? OberRanks needs to take the hint and walk away from anything to do with Wikipedia. He abused it egregiously as a platform for his fabrications for years, and there are enough people now who know exactly who he is and will use that knowledge to protect Wikipedia from him if it becomes necessary.

[Boing! said Zebedee]

I suppose there might be other motives (i.e., non-sociopathic, non-egotistical ones) for someone to do this, like maybe he's convinced that Wikipedia is full of leftists who have to be punished for their leftism by having to clean up lots of "subtle vandalism." Or, maybe it's personal between him and Jimbo, something like that. There's no question that he's very clever, perhaps diabolically so, but we'll probably never get an admission from him as to his motives, regardless of what they are... which I guess means we default to the most likely thing.

I've read far more about him and of his various interactions than I'd have liked, and I've really been perplexed over his motives. He's clearly very clever in some ways, but really stupid in others - his attempts to lie his way out of things were so inept I almost felt sorry for him*. But his motives? I can't help thinking the most likely explanation is a mix of ego and delusion, from someone who wants to be more important than he really is.

(*but then again, there were some experienced Wikipedians who were dumb enough to fall for them)

[VindTax45]

OberRanks has openly claimed to be an archivist for years, and has openly spoken of his connections with NARA

I am glad you brought that up since I have been trying to find a reference to where he actually said that he worked for the National Archives on a previous page or in a post. I was able to find references to "working for the federal government" which were posted years ago, but could find nothing about being a NARA employee and certainly he never named the job title "archivist" which, coincidentally, is a senior position there and would narrow his identify down to a few dozen people. Even so, a vague reference to a job from many years before wouldn't even approach justifying what I saw happen.

I also see by your user name you were one of the more vocal people on the thread calling for this guy's head. What bewildered me most of all is that OberRanks apparently didn't have any connection to this discussion. It was started by someone else who had received an email about Future Perfect mass blocking dozens of ip addresses coming out of a federal government server. I don't even think it was ever even established that OberRanks sent the email since it was just an assumption that he worked at NARA.

All the subsequent discussions about how OberRanks had been abusing government emails and using NARA resources to commit vandalism on NARA computers also don't appear to have been related since I couldn't find a single instance of vandalism coming out of a NARA server, except one which was ironically ten years ago on OberRanks own page.

[VindTax45]

there are enough people now who know exactly who he is and will use that knowledge to protect Wikipedia from him if it becomes necessary.

That was the main reason I came here to this website was to draw attention to statements like that. I think talk like that on the Internet puts people in danger. Also how do these people know who he is? He never said his name or other personal details about himself online and certainly never on Wikipedia.

Also the account has been blocked for three years with no real activity other than Future Perfect thinking random edits from NARA servers were him. Although (granted) some of the ones I found coming out of public ips in 2018 probably were him, but everything since then has been little more than fixing typos or minor edits to high traffic articles. The debacle that started this current spat, that of an ip asking about a deleted image, probably came from the west coast given the time stamp.

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... 1015181943

That would be 6:42Pm on the west coast and 9:42 on the east. All NARA facilities close at 7PM, which leads me to believe the only place that edit came out of was Riverside California or Seattle, Washington. Unless OberRanks took the red eye or had a teleporter I don't think he could have managed it, since the following day people were stating they had previously geo-located him to the east coast.

[VindTax45]

If this OberRanks (T-C-L) (formerly Husnock (T-C-L)) guy kept meticulous records and documentation on all the "subtle vandalism" he was doing, which apparently involved quite a lot of source-fabrication around actual, reported events (making it extremely hard for most Wikipedians to catch it), and is writing a book or magazine article about his activities, in which he also details the kinds of inherent weaknesses Wikipedia suffers from in trying to deal with this sort of thing, then more power to him.

Midsize Jake, what is really fascinating about that is, when I was conducting my initial digging into the background here, I discovered that OberRanks and Husnock were probably different people. My best guess is some password sharing might have been going on and that the two knew each other at some point in the past. Originally, OberRanks never said he was Husnock but then got accused of that by several people after he started working on the same articles. Then one day, the Husnock page was blanked and simply redirected to OberRanks, and Husnock was never heard from again.

[Boing! said Zebedee]

OberRanks has openly claimed to be an archivist for years, and has openly spoken of his connections with NARA

I am glad you brought that up since I have been trying to find a reference to where he actually said that he worked for the National Archives on a previous page or in a post. I was able to find references to "working for the federal government" which were posted years ago, but could find nothing about being a NARA employee and certainly he never named the job title "archivist" which, coincidentally, is a senior position there and would narrow his identify down to a few dozen people. Even so, a vague reference to a job from many years before wouldn't even approach justifying what I saw happen.

Firstly, the interactions with OberRanks stretch back years, and are possibly not all currently visible. That you, with little knowledge of the case, cannot find some of the detail is not surprising. I'm not going to spend time searching for it all now, just to satisfy you. Secondly, "Archivist" is a senior role, but there appear to be a number of non-senior roles of the form "xxx archivist". The term also appears to be used generically, OberRanks is not in a senior role, and referring to OberRanks as an archivist would not "narrow his identify down to a few dozen people".

It was started by someone else who had received an email about Future Perfect mass blocking dozens of ip addresses coming out of a federal government server. I don't even think it was ever even established that OberRanks sent the email since it was just an assumption that he worked at NARA.

It was started by someone reporting an off-wiki contact, not an email - and I and others know where that contact was and that it was from OberRanks. I'm no going to tell you where the contact was made and how I know, because (and with your bad faith assumptions you might not believe me) I don't wish him any real-life harm.

[Boing! said Zebedee]

there are enough people now who know exactly who he is and will use that knowledge to protect Wikipedia from him if it becomes necessary.

That was the main reason I came here to this website was to draw attention to statements like that. I think talk like that on the Internet puts people in danger. Also how do these people know who he is? He never said his name or other personal details about himself online and certainly never on Wikipedia.

I'm not going to tell you how I know, because that would help others to find out too, and *that* is what could put him in danger. I'm not going to expose him to danger, but if he continued with his disruption to Wikipedia then the Arbitration Committee combined with Trust & Safety will very likely want to do something about it - and they both know his identity and could use it through proper channels.

Also the account has been blocked for three years with no real activity other than Future Perfect thinking random edits from NARA servers were him. Although (granted) some of the ones I found coming out of public ips in 2018 probably were him, but everything since then has been little more than fixing typos or minor edits to high traffic articles. The debacle that started this current spat, that of an ip asking about a deleted image, probably came from the west coast given the time stamp.

No, it's not just "Future Perfect thinking random edits from NARA servers were him". He *has* been abusing Wikipedia using NARA servers, and he *has* been contacing Wikipedia admins from a NARA email account (while also making accusations in other media than email). And that is in 2021, just recently.

[VindTax45]

I don't wish him any real-life harm.

That's very commendable and I respect that. That was my initial reason for bringing all of this up was that it really looked like people were trying to identify a federal government employee and cause him or her to come to some type of harm or distress.

[Boing! said Zebedee]

I don't wish him any real-life harm.

That's very commendable and I respect that. That was my initial reason for bringing all of this up was that it really looked like people were trying to identify a federal government employee and cause him or her to come to some type of harm or distress.

I'm bringing it up, at Wikipedia, and here, in the hope that it might get through to him - I think it's very likely that he will have been following Wikipedia, and it's possible that he's following Wikipediocracy too. I want him to know that we know, to reflect on the real world damage that he could face should Trust & Safety pursue him through proper channels, and to go away and leave Wikipedia alone. If he does that, he will have nothing to worry about.

[Boing! said Zebedee]

Oh, and...

The debacle that started this current spat, that of an ip asking about a deleted image, probably came from the west coast given the time stamp.

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... 1015181943

That would be 6:42Pm on the west coast and 9:42 on the east. All NARA facilities close at 7PM, which leads me to believe the only place that edit came out of was Riverside California or Seattle, Washington. Unless OberRanks took the red eye or had a teleporter I don't think he could have managed it, since the following day people were stating they had previously geo-located him to the east coast.

There's no need to guess based on the time, you just need to look up the geolocation (there's a convenient link at the bottom of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:C ... .245.177.3). You can see the result at https://whatismyipaddress.com/ip/207.245.177.3

ISP: National Archives and Records Administration, State/Region: District of Columbia, City: Washington. And there's a helpful map there too.

[VindTax45]

He *has* been abusing Wikipedia using NARA servers, and he *has* been contacing Wikipedia admins from a NARA email account (while also making accusations in other media than email). And that is in 2021, just recently.

I honestly couldn't find any vandalism or abuse coming out of the NARA ip addresses, and I looked (quite hard) going so far as to make up a matrix cross referencing the ips with known OberRanks articles and then the ip edits on those articles since his ban. What I found were mainly typo corrections or minor edits on high traffic articles which could have been anyone, especially ip addresses which appear to have been affiliated with large NARA libraries or research rooms which hundreds of people use. There was one edit from mid 2018 which was certainly OberRanks and then, like I said before, an edit 10 years ago where someone had vandalized OberRanks user page by calling him a Nazi.

The NARA email account issue I cant speak intelligently on since I have yet to see copies of those emails, which is how it should be since if they were coming from an official account they should not be shared with others, especially depending on the content.

[VindTax45]

There's no need to guess based on the time, you just need to look up the geolocation (there's a convenient link at the bottom of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:C ... .245.177.3). You can see the result at https://whatismyipaddress.com/ip/207.245.177.3

ISP: National Archives and Records Administration, State/Region: District of Columbia, City: Washington. And there's a helpful map there too.

I think that's what people didn't understand, which is what started this incident, is that every NARA computer in the country routes through the Washington DC servers. So, yes, people in California, Texas, and Missouri all have ips on their computers associated with Washington DC since that's what the servers are.

Here is one from California
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:C ... 245.177.16

and another from Kansas
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... =789139171

(Both of those ips were also affected by the range block I believe)

Also, what I cant get around is the time stamp. It had to be someone on the west coast since OberRanks (if that who it was) would not have been able to make edits from a NARA computer at 10 o'clock at night. Unless of course he broke in or hid in a NARA building after hours. Now that would be dedication and also quite deranged!

[Boing! said Zebedee]

He *has* been abusing Wikipedia using NARA servers, and he *has* been contacing Wikipedia admins from a NARA email account (while also making accusations in other media than email). And that is in 2021, just recently.

I honestly couldn't find any vandalism or abuse coming out of the NARA ip addresses...

Let me try to explain the issue again. OberRanks' recent abuse in the form of accusations against a Wikipedia admin came via another website, not at Wikipedia from a NARA server. He also made accusations from a NARA email address. What he is alleged to have been doing directly on Wikipedia from a NARA IP address is making requests relating to files uploaded by the OberRanks account (which he's not allowed to do, as it is block evasion).

Was the IP range block excessive? Yes, I would say so, but that's been resolved. Other than that, I really can't understand what you're trying to get at.

[Giraffe Stapler]

That was my main reason actually for bringing this up. I thought what was done on the noticeboard could actually have put someone in danger.

Sorry, what does "put someone in danger" mean? What kind of danger would you OberRanks be in if people knew who you were he was?

[Boing! said Zebedee]

Also, what I cant get around is the time stamp. It had to be someone on the west coast since OberRanks (if that who it was) would not have been able to make edits from a NARA computer at 10 o'clock at night. Unless of course he broke in or hid in a NARA building after hours. Now that would be dedication and also quite deranged!

So NARA employees don't have remote access to NARA resources for working from home (especially during the pandemic)? I know I do, and I could use a company IP address any time of the day or night, from anywhere in the world.

Oh, and it's interesting that you know how NARA IP communications are routed - it's not something one usually picks up casually.

[Jim]

Sorry, what does "put someone in danger" mean? What kind of danger would you OberRanks be in if people knew who you were he was?

Dangerous danger. Not to be underestimated.

[VindTax45]

Sorry, what does "put someone in danger" mean? What kind of danger would you OberRanks be in if people knew who you were he was?

Ha, you're funny! Not about to get into my own identity since there has been enough trouble with that already. Outing any Wikipedia user by posting personal information can put people in danger, especially in today's anti-government environment if they are trying to link the user to a federal employee.

[VindTax45]

Oh, and it's interesting that know how NARA IP communications are routed - it's not something one usually picks up casually.

Well, its pretty common knowledge that NARA uses a central server in Washington DC. And I used to work in IT, so what can I say. I get what you are getting at, not even going to touch that one. Enough accusations about who people are happened last week.

[Jim]

Not about to get into my own identity since there has been enough trouble with that already.

Very wise... (I'm intirigued, though, about what kind of "trouble", but that's probably none of my business...)

Outing any Wikipedia user by posting personal information can put people in danger, especially in today's anti-government environment if they are trying to link the user to a federal employee.

What kind of "danger", specifically, though? It's still unclear to me what, precisely, you mean.

[Boing! said Zebedee]

Oh, and it's interesting that know how NARA IP communications are routed - it's not something one usually picks up casually.

Well, its pretty common knowledge that NARA uses a central server in Washington DC. And I used to work in IT, so what can I say. I get what you are getting at, not even going to touch that one. Enough accusations about who people are happened last week.

Oh, no, I don't actually think you and he are the same.

[VindTax45]

What kind of "danger", specifically, though? It's still unclear to me what, precisely, you mean.

There was a lot of talk on the admin noticeboard post about figuring out who OberRanks was in real life, plus the link to the employee locator which would have given access to someone's real name, phone number, and their specific office (this link was later redacted). In the end, people backed off a bit I think there was even a warning for people not to take matters into their own hands and start calling government agencies and narking on employees. The range block was also lifted so, as my new friend Boing! has said, the matter does appear to be closed on Wikipedia, or at least I hope it is.

I brought this up here since I had heard this website likes to hear about these types of stories. And this is quite a story.

[Boing! said Zebedee]

plus the link to the employee locator which would have given access to someone's real name, phone number, and their specific office (this link was later redacted).

There was no link given to an employee locator. And the comment that was redacted did not, as far as I can see, enable anyone to identify him from the published NARA organization list.

[VindTax45]

There was no link given to an employee locator.

You are correct. The link was discussed, as I recall, but not directly linked too. I myself stand link-corrected.

[Boing! said Zebedee]

There was no link given to an employee locator.

You are correct. The link was discussed, as I recall, but not directly linked too. I myself stand link-corrected.

I'll also add that the redacted comment did not give enough information to find him using the NARA employee locator.

[VindTax45]

I'll also add that the redacted comment did not give enough information to find him using the NARA employee locator.

I narrowed it down to two matches actually, based on what was put out on the thread, and with reasoning based on some other edits made by Future Perfect, could have made an easy guess. All around, just a bunch of bad decisions on that thread. You've made some good points here, though. Wherever or whoever OberRanks is or was I doubt he will be back sniffing around Wikipedia after what happened last week.

[Jim]

There was a lot of talk on the admin noticeboard post about figuring out who OberRanks was in real life

I see.

Well, OberRanks seems unlikely to go overtly drawing attention to themselves in random Internet places, so hopefully that's not a big concern, and, given that, I doubt anything in this thread would exacerbate any "danger".

[Boing! said Zebedee]

I'll also add that the redacted comment did not give enough information to find him using the NARA employee locator.

I narrowed it down to two matches actually, based on what was put out on the thread, and with reasoning based on some other edits made by Future Perfect, could have made an easy guess.

If you found your matches at https://www.archives.gov/about/organiza ... -list.html , they're both wrong. (You might have found them elsewhere, but I think it's worth putting this out anyway in case anyone else has got the wrong man from that list.)

Wherever or whoever OberRanks is or was I doubt he will be back sniffing around Wikipedia after what happened last week.

I believe that is what some people call a win-win result.

[VindTax45]

I doubt anything in this thread would exacerbate any "danger".

Jim, I couldn't find it online with a general search, but a few years back there was some type of case where a woman in Norway (I think) was attacked in front of her apartment (or maybe it was her workplace) after someone had identified her in real life based on a Wikipedia account. Its been a few years since I read the story, but it emphasizes the risk of people exposing real identities on Wikipedia.

[Giraffe Stapler]

I doubt anything in this thread would exacerbate any "danger".

Jim, I couldn't find it online with a general search, but a few years back there was some type of case where a woman in Norway (I think) was attacked in front of her apartment (or maybe it was her workplace) after someone had identified her in real life based on a Wikipedia account. Its been a few years since I read the story, but it emphasizes the risk of people exposing real identities on Wikipedia.

I would like to hear more about that. Does anyone know the details? I have a vague memory of a female editor in the Netherlands (I think) being harassed by a couple of male Wikipedia editors. I don't believe there was any physical attack. Is that what you're thinking of?

[Boing! said Zebedee]

Reading back through this thread, I overlooked this earlier...

Midsize Jake, what is really fascinating about that is, when I was conducting my initial digging into the background here, I discovered that OberRanks and Husnock were probably different people. My best guess is some password sharing might have been going on and that the two knew each other at some point in the past. Originally, OberRanks never said he was Husnock but then got accused of that by several people after he started working on the same articles. Then one day, the Husnock page was blanked and simply redirected to OberRanks, and Husnock was never heard from again.

Check out this edit by OberRanks to his user page - https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... =417113946
In it, he adds a userbox saying "This user edited under a previous user name of Husnock", and used the edit summary "prior user tags added (just to be honest)".

And you say that Husnock's user page was redirected, but did you not notice who redirected it? - https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... =324921492

So yes, OberRanks quite clearly did say he was Husnock.

[VindTax45]

Check out this edit by OberRanks to his user page - https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... =417113946
In it, he adds a userbox saying "This user edited under a previous user name of Husnock", and used the edit summary "prior user tags added (just to be honest)".

And you say that Husnock's user page was redirected, but did you not notice who redirected it? - https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... =324921492

So yes, OberRanks quite clearly did say he was Husnock.

Boing, that is a very complicated story, which took me a bit to learn the details about, and was not really relevant at all to what was being talked about here so I didn't get into it. The Husnock account I think went offline around 2007, nearly fifteen years ago, and prior to that time might have been operated by multiple persons. Again, not relevant to the incident on Friday or to this discussion (which was a good discussion by the way).

[Boing! said Zebedee]

Check out this edit by OberRanks to his user page - https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... =417113946
In it, he adds a userbox saying "This user edited under a previous user name of Husnock", and used the edit summary "prior user tags added (just to be honest)".

And you say that Husnock's user page was redirected, but did you not notice who redirected it? - https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... =324921492

So yes, OberRanks quite clearly did say he was Husnock.

Boing, that is a very complicated story, which took me a bit to learn the details about, and was not really relevant at all to what was being talked about here so I didn't get into it. The Husnock account I think went offline around 2007, nearly fifteen years ago, and prior to that time might have been operated by multiple persons. Again, not relevant to the incident on Friday or to this discussion (which was a good discussion by the way).

Well, it was you who brought it up. And it's suddenly not relevant now you've been shown to be wrong? How convenient.

[Midsize Jake]

So NARA employees don't have remote access to NARA resources for working from home (especially during the pandemic)? I know I do, and I could use a company IP address any time of the day or night, from anywhere in the world.

Oh, and it's interesting that you know how NARA IP communications are routed - it's not something one usually picks up casually.

Well...

Pretty much all US Government agencies have been running VPNs for at least 20 years now, so that their employees can get their work e-mail at home without any of it necessarily being transmitted "in the clear," or in the case of IT staff, maybe just so they "check the network logs" to see if anything strange is happening while everyone's asleep (since that's when the Russians, etc., are awake).

And if you look at the details for 207.245.177.3, for example, you'll see the hostname is "qwestaddr3.ara.gov"; "Qwestaddr3" is the name of the specific VPN server, and the "ara" refers to Applied Research Associates, the contractor who runs the VPN. That company actually runs VPN servers for lots of government agencies, particularly those like NARA that don't just immediately classify every document (and e-mail) they produce. If it were the CIA/NSA/FBI, etc., it would be a whole different infrastructure, but NARA doesn't warrant that treatment.

For Federal workers, these VPNs are fairly common knowledge, and of course there are lots and lots of Federal workers out there, so I think it could be picked up casually — depending on stuff like where you live/work, and who you hang out with.

Unfortunately that doesn't resolve the question of where that particular edit was posted, but I guess I see that as largely academic — either one (or both) of you could be right, or you could both be wrong, but we do at least know it was posted through a NARA VPN, and the Wikipedia folks aren't likely to be super-concerned with the additional details as long as they know that much.

[Zoloft]

As a now-retired federal employee, VPNs like that are all over the place.

Yes, thousands of people can be on one small range of IP addresses.

Oh, and federal employees working late into the night are a common thing.

[VindTax45]

And you say that Husnock's user page was redirected, but did you not notice who redirected it? - https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... =324921492

Well, it was you who brought it up. And it's suddenly not relevant now you've been shown to be wrong? How convenient.

I am sorry if the remark got off track. I was replying to Jake's comment and didn't mean to imply the Husnock account was relevant to what happened last week. As stated, that account hasn't been active for nearly 15 years and I think was connected to a group of people who were sharing it while deployed overseas in the military, of which OberRanks certainly was one. It is without a doubt he later took over the account (and responsibility for all previous articles associated therewith).

I am not going to comment further on a veteran's service and just leave it at that. I think veterans have actually not been treated very well at Wikipedia, but that is a whole 'nother topic.

[VindTax45]

I would like to hear more about that. Does anyone know the details? I have a vague memory of a female editor in the Netherlands (I think) being harassed by a couple of male Wikipedia editors. I don't believe there was any physical attack. Is that what you're thinking of?

I think you are correct, it was the Netherlands. As I recall, she was approached outside of her apartment either coming or going to work by two men who had identified her from Wikipedia. I can't remember the further details, its been maybe seven or eight years since I heard about the case.

[Vigilant]

Moiramoira stalked by a steward and another dingbat

[Boing! said Zebedee]

I am sorry if the remark got off track. I was replying to Jake's comment and didn't mean to imply the Husnock account was relevant to what happened last week. As stated, that account hasn't been active for nearly 15 years and I think was connected to a group of people who were sharing it while deployed overseas in the military, of which OberRanks certainly was one. It is without a doubt he later took over the account (and responsibility for all previous articles associated therewith).

Nope, it was just OberRanks (or Husnock as he was known then) using a number of sock accounts - he claimed he'd shared the password, but created another of his tissues of lies to back it up that was easy to see through. The way he posted as other people, to side with himself in his conflicts with others, was laughably transparent. The evidence on Wikipedia is clear, and no disinterested person who had genuinely just researched it would conclude that it was all about shared passwords. So why would you repeat OberRanks' debunked claims? Oh, hang on...

While you're insisting that you are not OberRanks (something I've been willing to go along with so far), do you not think it might have been a mistake to start complaining about poor Wikipedia coverage of military ranks at https://wikipediocracy.com/forum/viewto ... 00#p288294? You know, one of OberRanks' favourite subjects.

Oh, and your nom-de-plume of Endicor? With Endicor being a star system in the Star Trek universe, and Star Trek being another of OberRanks/Husnock's favourite subjects.

[Boing! said Zebedee]

Bearing in mind the desire to stay safe, I want to offer a few thoughts that the person behind the OberRanks account might care to consider (if he's here in person, or just watching, or whetever)...

Firstly, if you're going to spin BS on the internet, you need to be very very good at it, and know when to stop. Due to the collective nature of the internet, you can almost guarantee that there will be someone who knows more than you about any specific aspect of what you claim. For example, the claim that it couldn't be OberRanks using that NARA IP address as he'd had to have broken into the office late at night. Well, corporate VPNs and home working are well-known things. And we have two people here with knowledge of how NARA corporate VPNs are managed (and can attest to NARA employees working late at night). So, outsmarted on that one.

Then to take an example from Wikipedia, stealing someone else's photograph and passing it off as your own. There will almost certainly be someone with better photographic knowledge than you, who knows more about meta data, about camera history, and so on. Outsmarted again.

And then claiming that a specific revision of a hard-to-find book supports content added to a Wikipedia article (but not being able to identify the actual pages because you don't have it to hand). Well, you can be pretty sure someone will track down a copy and expose your lies for what they are. Outsmarted on that one too.

What's surprising about OberRanks' lies about copyright and about sources is that he kept on doing the same thing over and over again, seemingly never learning. Apparently thinking he really could carry on fooling people indefinitely.

OberRanks is obviously a smart guy, and he did manage to fool a lot of the people a lot of the time. But unless you can fool all of the people all of the time, you're going to come unstuck... as finally happened at Wikipedia, and also seems to be happening here.

There's a lot of personal information about OberRanks out there in public (and there's more revealed about federal employees than those in the private sector). And if that information should fall into the hands of someone who wants some comeback against him, well, such things do happen. I'm not going to reveal what I know about OberRanks, or how I found it, because I really don't want him to suffer any real-life harm. But not everyone is as caring as me.

But here's the thing... The more OberRanks attacks other Wikipedia people (by direct contact with Wikipedia admins, using other websites, even here), the more likely he is to annoy someone enough to expose his identity - and then potentially suffer real-world harm. It's not like OberRanks is the wronged party here - many have been wronged by Wikipedia over the years, but OberRanks is most definitely not one of them.

My recommendation to the person previously known as OberRanks is to put the OberRanks/Husnock years behind you, put Wikipedia behind you, and quit while you're still ahead.

[VindTax45]

Oh, and your nom-de-plume of Endicor? With Endicor being a star system in the Star Trek universe, and Star Trek being another of OberRanks/Husnock's favourite subjects.

Its also the name of several medical supply companies, some of which I've done IT work for

https://sec.report/CIK/0001131566