Wikipedia:Long-term abuse/FixerFixerFixer
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| Wikilifespan | August 2005 – present |
|---|---|
| Known IPs | 162.83.171.121 |
| Physical location | Unclear, likely using P2P proxies or VPNs |
| Sockpuppet investigations | |
| Requests for arbitration | Zak Smith |
| Instructions | When a new account enters the Zak Smith topic area, send them a contentious topic alert for WP:CT/BLP if the account has not yet received one, and remind them of the ECR for WP:CT/ZS if they are not extended confirmed. Any permission gaming should be reported to WP:ANI.Suspected sockpuppets should be reported to WP:SPI for confirmation. When the active abuse has been taken care of, please update this report with the latest information. |
| Status | Pending Approval |
Basic information
FixerFixerFixer (talk · contribs · block log · SPI confirmed suspected)
Comprehensive edits analysis
XTools Timecard
Slacker13 (talk · contribs · block log · SPI confirmed suspected)
Comprehensive edits analysis
XTools Timecard
The article Zak Smith was created on July 2005, and was subsequently edited by several IPs and SPAs, including one claiming to be the subject. The account FixerFixerFixer (talk · contribs) was registered on March 2014 and solely edited about Zak Smith, and their initial contributions were constructive.
On September 2017, harassment claims were added to the article, causing FixerFixerFixer to return, who proceeded to edit-war that content off the article. They were eventually blocked for disruption, and proceeded to engage in sockpuppetry in order to continue the edit war and present a false consensus. In an unblock request created on June 2020, they claimed they were Zak Smith. Visible sockpuppetry continued until January 2023.
An academic book, Gaming the Dynamics of Online Harassment documented allegations that: Smith avoids direct harassment of targets when it can be delegated to his followers, creating plausible deniability through tiering effects... There is evidence he has created 'sockpuppet' accounts to impersonate people online, visible when he posted a statement in the wrong account before deleting it and reposting in the correct one.
[1]
Slacker13 is a user whose sockpuppet GenSmark claimed in September 2025 to be a fan of Smith. Slacker13 registered in February 2023, and initially made a number of edits primarily about visual artists. In August 2025, Slacker13 pivoted to editing solely about Smith until they were indefinitely topic banned from Zak Smith and then indefinitely blocked for not being here to build an encyclopedia.
A large number of single-purpose accounts appeared on Talk:Zak Smith on 20 August 2025, which resulted in a sockpuppet investigation that was split into two cases. The 26 August 2025 case concluded with 12 accounts being blocked for apparent meatpuppetry, and the 6 September 2025 case led to one additional account (GenSmark) being blocked for sockpuppetry.
Slacker13 and related users filed three arbitration case requests in 2025, the second of which resulted in the Zak Smith topic area (WP:CT/ZS) being subject to the extended confirmed restriction (ECR) as a subtopic of the biographies of living persons contentious topic (WP:CT/BLP).
Targeted areas, pages, themes
- Zak Smith and Talk:Zak Smith
- Vexatious noticeboard filings related to Zak Smith
- Vexatious arbitration case requests related to Zak Smith
Habitual behavior
See Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Slacker13/Archive § Account review for an analysis of the 20 August 2025 meatpuppetry campaign.
- Rushes to obtain the necessary level of permissions (autoconfirmed or extended confirmed), then enters the Zak Smith topic area
- Prior to implementation of ECR: created or recruited sleeper accounts to be activated during a content dispute
- They generally pretend to be a helpful editor before they enter the area, by copyediting, participating in unrelated RfCs, using the BLP noticeboard, etc.
- Repeatedly relitigates past disputes in the Zak Smith topic area until topic banned or blocked
- Seeks to overturn sanctions or decisions in the Zak Smith topic area by accusing other editors of:
- Being involved in the Zak Smith topic area for various reasons
- Having a conflict of interest with Zak Smith, the role-playing game community, or the adult film industry
- Engaging in advocacy or harassment against Zak Smith
- Being canvassed by Bluesky and Twitter posts created by accounts with no apparent connection to any specific Wikipedia user
- Taking too many actions in response to meatpuppetry, and not applying an equal number of actions against editors on "both sides" of content disputes
Cases
- Sockpuppet investigations (SPI)
- Arbitration case requests
- 29 August 2025: Tbanned by parties involved in the underlying dispute.
- 27 September 2025: Zak Smith
- 16 October 2025: Zak Smith 2
- Arbitration requests clarification and amendment (ARCA)
- 24 December 2025: Zak_Smith, ECP Motion
- Administrators' noticeboard (AN)
- 22 September 2025: Block challenge from Slacker13
- Incidents noticeboard (ANI)
- 25 August 2025: I believe that a page is being used as a suspected battleground
- Conflict of interest noticeboard (COIN)
- 12 January 2023: user: Morbidthoughts
- 24 August 2025: Zak Smith
- List of additional discussions
Other notes
Slacker13 had the IP block exemption (IPBE) permission from December 2023 to September 2025, with only a short gap in July–August 2025 when they were inactive. A checkuser found that Slacker13 had been using multiple VPNs to edit Wikipedia. On 18 September 2025, sockpuppet GenSmark claimed to have used an urban Starbucks location for Internet access. Another checkuser later stated that technical factors prevented checkuser scans from returning a high-confidence result.
Due to these factors, it is unlikely that requesting a checkuser scan would be helpful in a future SPI case. Behavioral evidence has been the primary form of evidence used in prior SPI cases.