User:MarioGom/sandbox/do not report
< User:MarioGom | sandbox
 | This is an essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
 | This page in a nutshell: Reasons to not report a user to SPI. |
Sockpuppet investigations are often backlogged. We need more clerks. But we could also use far less low value reports, because they are expensive. This essay lists reasons to not report a sockpuppetry case.
Never report if...[edit]
- You cannot point to the reason why the use of multiple accounts is illegitimate (see WP:ILLEGIT).
- You cannot describe concrete evidence. This is not optional, see the instructions.
Avoid reporting if...[edit]
- The accounts are run-of-the-mill vandals who can be swiftly dealt with at AIV, ANI or WP:UAA. They will be handled faster there.
- You only have some IPs unrelated to any registered account. IPs change, and editing with multiple IPs is not a policy violation. Even when there is block evasion on an IP, other noticeboards are often more appropriate (see above).
- All accounts are stale (last edit is older than 90 days). There is usually no checkuser evidence for these, and they raise questions about whether blocking would have a preventative purpose or not.
- All accounts are already blocked. There is usually no point reporting blocked accounts.
- You are not really sure about the strength of your evidence. You can consider reporting in the future if you find a smoking gun. The cases that take the longest to process are those were there is some but inconclusive evidence.
Think twice if...[edit]
- You do not care. You might have seen two accounts used by the same editor, but ask yourself if you do really care about it. There are many cases where someone has technically breached some sockpuppetry rule, but most editors have no problem with it.
- The sockpuppetry policy breach happened years ago. If the observed breach of the sockpuppetry policy (see WP:ILLEGIT) happened 10 years ago, maybe you can let it go.
- There is block evasion, but present behavior is remarkably good. See User:Tamzin/Adverse possession unblock.
Final note[edit]
If you are really going to report, please, read both User:Blablubbs/How to file a good SPI and Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/SPI/Guide to filing cases.