This was posted on the User Talk page for a previous "outing" ... it's posted here because I'll probably go through this inquisition again for Some Other Editor ... I've made some updates to reflect my latest witch-hunt experience. —68.239.79.82 (talk · contribs) 18:29, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
Anonymous WikiGnome or Sockpuppet?
editIt is easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission.
— Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, USN
OK, time to make the public declaration … I suffer from schizoaffective disorder, which sometimes manifests as borderline dissociative identity disorder … in simple English, it means that my manic-depression can manifest itself in a Jekyll and Hyde kind of way … sometimes my Evil Twin overpowers me, and I can't always keep them away from the keyboard.
While passing the time surfing Wikipedia, sometimes I'm compelled to revert some obvious vandalism, or I'll see something that makes me just go Monkish and I'll start looking for ISBNs on Amazon.com and adding {{cite book}}
templates to references ... then I'll start looking at other articles, and what started out innocently enough takes a wrong turn, and Father of Orphans (aka, "He Who Takes No Prisoners") becomes the dominant personality.
It's like a normal adult and their hyperactive, anal retentive inner child are sharing the same IP address and passwords ... think Dr. Monk and Mr. T ... one "suffer fools gladly", the other "pities the fool!" (You know that little voice in your head that tells you to do things you know that you shouldn't do? Well, sometimes I listen to it, which wouldn't be so bad if I didn't also let it speak out loud through my mouth.)
At least by not using my registered account, I can keep my Very Bad half from turning into a Real Flaming WikiTroll when they don their Cloak of Righteous Indignation (they're anonymous, so the other WikiTrolls ignore them) ... like I said, there's both an "adult" and a "child" using this broadband connection, so my apologies for any disruptions ... I stand by the vast majority of my edit history as a WikiGnome and new pages patroller, with no apologies for any of my reverts of what I considered Vanispamcruftisement, non-neutral point of view, or original research.
Which brings me to a recent incident ... my ISP changes my IP address at random intervals, and because I'm anal retentive about signing my posts on Talk pages, I sometimes slip and use the current IP signature while logged in ... and that's when someone jumps on me for being a sockpuppet. But since I am not creating another account, and do not engage in any of the forbidden practices (although I may occasionally Comment on an AfD to point out an overlooked issue or related article), I resent the implication that I am acting in Bad Faith.
It's pretty easy for someone to track down the various IP addresses I've used since I "resigned" several months ago, and to be quite honest, it's people who have nothing better to do than actually perform such a background search that frighten me ... I'm not running around trying to influence opinions ... my Other Half has engaged in some disruptive behavior, and for using the veil of anonymity to avoid professional embarrassment, I plead guilty as charged ... but none of those issues are ever revisited from a different IP address ... and specifically because anonymous user opinions are discounted in most discussions, I am not tempted to participate in them.
Before I discovered the Dark Side of Wikipedia, and lost faith in the Noble Dream, I registered my real first name and created a User page with links to some of my websites ... as it happens, I have an international reputation in a field that most people don't even know exists, and you can get my resume by doing a Google search of just my first name, because I'm a single-name celebrity, like Cher, Mo'Nique, or Shamu ... in fact, at least half of the first ten results that are returned will refer to me (with my resume at the top of the list), including my Wikipedia User and Talk pages.
The point is, "If I can't be myself, then I don't want to be somebody else," so having an account with a name like The Bipolar Anon-IP Gnome (talk · contribs) is really no different from using a public access terminal at my local library ... my Verizon DSL connection is a "floating" IP address, and it changes at random intervals ... I may keep an address for a month, or for only a few hours during hurricane season when power outages are more frequent.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that Wikipedia is a codependent enabler of my dysfunction, but as an anonymous WikiGnome, I am able to make contributions without exposing myself to opportunities for mischief, even if that sounds counter-intuitive.
So, if you have "found" me, then I say, "Congratulations! Now, please, just go away and leave me alone." —My Real Name 10:21, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
Recent IP accounts
editLooks like the djinn got out of the bottle … again. <Heavy Sigh!>
In the interest of demonstrating my willingness to remain LoJacked, these are the IPs I've used for edits since April 5, 2007 …
- 68.239.79.97 (talk · contribs) - 2007-04-05 to 2007-05-03
… this one lasted for almost a month, which is a personal record for me with this Verizon Mid-Atlantic DSL connection.
- 72.75.73.158 (talk · contribs) - 2007-05-03 to 2007-05-06
… this one got speedy blocked from editing for a week, but it was lifted within a few hours by the blocking admin when Some Other Editors appealed on my behalf … they documented my systematic "sour grapes" harassment and persecution by a frustrated, anti-deletionist editor who assumed Bad Faith because I put speedy delete tags on their stub articles (which were restored only after beau coup messages were exchanged) while at the same time asserting my right to remain anonymous.
- 68.239.79.82 (talk · contribs) - 2007-05-06 to 2007-05-31
… begun less than an hour after the block, but before it was lifted an hour later … not that it really mattered … "Blocking anonymous IPs from editing is like herding cats."
- 72.75.100.232 (talk · contribs) - 2007-05-31 to 2007-06-03
… due to the weather, this one only lasted for 100 hours :-)
- 72.75.70.147 (talk · contribs) - 2007-06-03 to 2007-06-24
… my previous IP address, until a momentary power interruption @ 10:02, 24 June 2007 (UTC)- While doing the housekeeping for the move to this account, I noticed that 141.156.240.102 (talk · contribs) had evaporated (but not the edit history) … maybe it happens automagically after six months, or maybe someone tagged it for speedy deletion as an unused account … in any event, I'll have to be sure and migrate some of the sandboxes with each IP change so as not to lose them. —72.75.70.147 12:44, 8 June 2007 (UTC)
- 72.75.85.234 (talk · contribs) - 2007-06-24 to 2007-07-07
- 72.75.120.168 (talk · contribs) - 2007-07-07 to 2007-07-17
- 72.75.115.46 (talk · contribs) - 2007-07-17 to 2007-07-19
- … skipped a couple because it changed beau coup times over a 72 hour period
- 72.75.70.207 (talk · contribs) - 2007-07-21 to 2007-08-03
- 72.75.96.83 (talk · contribs) - 2007-08-03 to 2007-08-23
- 72.75.74.236 (talk · contribs) - 2007-08-23 to 2007-09-08
- 72.75.65.41 (talk · contribs) - 2007-09-08 to 2007-10-13
- 68.239.76.49 (talk · contribs) - 2007-10-13 to 2007-10-16
- 72.75.79.128 (talk · contribs) - 2007-10-16 to 2007-11-19
- 141.156.234.101 (talk · contribs) - 2007-11-19 to 2007-12-03
- 72.75.89.38 (talk · contribs) - 2007-12-03 to 2007-12-09
- 72.75.72.199 (talk · contribs) - 2007-12-09 to 2007-12-19
- 72.75.72.63 (talk · contribs) - 2007-12-19 to 2008-02-18
- … Wow! This one lasted for 8 weeks! :-)
- 141.156.217.11 (talk · contribs) - 2008-02-18 to 2008-03-09
- 72.75.110.142 (talk · contribs) - 2008-03-09 to 2008-05-07
- 72.75.78.69 (talk · contribs) - 2008-05-07 to 2008-06-01
- 151.200.237.53 (talk · contribs) - 2008-06-01 to 2008-08-04 … two months!
- 72.75.78.75 (talk · contribs) - 2008-08-04 to 2008-08-07 … only 3 days
- 72.75.91.179 (talk · contribs) - 2008-08-07 to 2008-08-26
- 72.75.76.238 (talk · contribs) - 2008-08-26 to 2008-08-29
- 72.75.117.122 (talk · contribs) - 2008-08-29 to 2008-09-06
- 72.75.98.105 (talk · contribs) - 2008-09-06 to 2008-10-04
- 72.75.82.202 (talk · contribs) - 2008-10-04 to 2008-10-18
- 72.75.68.177 (talk · contribs) - 2008-10-18 to 2008-10-25
- 72.75.110.31 (talk · contribs) - 2008-10-25 to 2008-12-20
- 72.75.108.10 (talk · contribs) - 2008-12-20 to 2009-02-05
- 138.88.32.143 (talk · contribs) - 2009-02-05 to 2009-03-23
- 138.88.91.205 (talk · contribs) - 2009-03-23 to 2009-05-08
- 138.88.139.71 (talk · contribs) - 2009-05-08 to 2009-05-09 … only lasted a day!
- 141.156.164.7 (talk · contribs) - 2009-05-09 to 2009-05-09 … less than a day!!
- 138.88.156.13 (talk · contribs) - 2009-05-09 to 2009-05-13
- 138.88.40.149 (talk · contribs) - 2009-05-13 to 2009-06-09
- 141.156.165.77 (talk · contribs) - 2009-06-09 to 2009-06-30
- 138.88.93.15 (talk · contribs) - 2009-06-30 to 2009-07-08
- 138.88.7.48 (talk · contribs) - 2009-07-08 to 2009-07-31
- 141.156.175.125 (talk · contribs) - 2009-07-31 to 2009-08-22
- 138.88.43.201 (talk · contribs) - 2009-08-22 to 2009-10-06
- 141.156.161.245 (talk · contribs) - 2009-10-06 to 2009-10-25
- 138.88.125.101 (talk · contribs) - 2009-10-25 to 2009-11-12
- … I was off-line for 4 weeks
- 70.21.2.219 (talk · contribs) - 2009-12-11 to 2009-12-17
- 68.239.74.5 (talk · contribs) - 2009-12-19 to 2009-12-23
- 72.75.58.171 (talk · contribs) - 2009-12-23 to 2009-12-28
- 72.75.58.211 (talk · contribs) - 2009-12-28 to 20010-01-06
- 71.166.132.232 (talk · contribs) - 20010-01-06 to 2010-02-08
- 71.166.152.95 (talk · contribs) - 2010-02-08 to 2010-03-24
- 71.166.147.78 (talk · contribs) - 2010-03-24 to 2010-05-11
- 71.166.140.70 (talk · contribs) - 2010-05-11 to 2010-06-12
- 70.21.13.215 (talk · contribs) - 2010-06-12 to 2010-08-12
- 72.75.61.114 (talk · contribs) - 2010-08-12 to 2010-08-12 … less than a day!!
- 71.166.157.40 (talk · contribs) - 2010-08-12 to 2010-10-28
- 70.21.16.94 (talk · contribs) - 2010-10-28 to 2011-01-28 … lasted 3 months!!
- 68.239.72.183 (talk · contribs) - 2011-01-28 to 2011-02-08
- 71.166.129.252 (talk · contribs) - 2011-02-08 to 2011-02-15
- 71.166.156.113 (talk · contribs) - 2011-02-15 to 20011-05-06
- 141.156.222.164 (talk · contribs) - 2011-05-06 to 2011-05-10 … less than a week
- 70.21.17.51 (talk · contribs) - 2011-05-10 to 2011-07-03
- 72.75.57.223 (talk · contribs) - 2011-07-03 to 2011-07-16
- 68.239.70.121 (talk · contribs) - 2011-07-16 to 2011-07-18
- 70.21.24.28 (talk · contribs) - 2011-07-18 to 2011-08-28
- 71.166.154.41 (talk · contribs) - 2011-08-28 to 2011-09-03
- 72.75.54.231 (talk · contribs) - 2011-09-03 2011-09-06
- 68.239.69.231 (talk · contribs) - 2011-09-06 to 2011-09-10
- 70.21.12.213 (talk · contribs) - 2011-09-10 to 2011-09-29
- 70.21.5.28 (talk · contribs) - 2011-09-29 to 2011-11-02
- 68.239.65.132 (talk · contribs) - 2011-11-02 to 2011-11-08
- 72.75.52.11 (talk · contribs) - 2011-11-08 to 2011-11-15
- 72.75.56.190 (talk · contribs) - 2011-11-15 to 2011-12-10
- 71.166.157.61 (talk · contribs) - 2011-12-10 to 2012-01-24
- 71.166.140.155 (talk · contribs) - 2012-01-24 to 2012-04-22
- 68.239.72.250 (talk · contribs) - 2012-04-22 to 2012-04-25
- … I was off-line for several weeks
- 71.166.139.215 (talk · contribs) - 2012-06-11 to 2012-08-30
- 70.21.7.150 (talk · contribs) - 2012-08-30 to 2012-09-22
- 71.166.135.104 (talk · contribs) - 2012-09-22 to 2012-10-08
- 72.75.127.20 (talk · contribs) - 2012-10-08 to 2012-10-19
- 68.239.75.117 (talk · contribs) - 2012-10-19 to 2012-10-30
- 68.239.69.131 (talk · contribs) - 2012-10-30 to 2012-12-18
- 70.21.25.110 (talk · contribs) - 2012-12-18 to 2013-02-01
- 71.178.91.221 (talk · contribs) - 2013-02-01 to 2013-02-10
- … I had several IPs over a few weeks due to router failure & replacement
- 71.178.81.209 (talk · contribs) - 2013-03-05 to 2013-03-21
- 108.48.215.54 (talk · contribs) - 2013-03-21 to 2013-04-11
- 74.96.37.132 (talk · contribs) - 2013-04-11 to 2013-04-22
- 74.96.33.189 (talk · contribs) - 2013-04-22 to 2013-05-14
- 96.231.9.18 (talk · contribs) - 2013-05-14 to 2013-07-04
- 96.231.0.249 (talk · contribs) - 2013-07-04 to 2013-09-07
- 74.96.38.203 (talk · contribs) - 2013-09-07 to 2013-10-03
- 96.231.12.212 (talk · contribs) - 2013-10-03 to 2013-10-21
- 96.231.12.212 (talk · contribs) - 2013-10-21 to 2013-11-06
- 96.231.5.47 (talk · contribs) - 2013-11-06 to date … my current IP address
— The Bipolar Anon-IP Gnome (talk · contribs) 02:27, 6 November 2013 (UTC)