User ElementalOrange (W: 25 days, S: 24 days, ID: 9568107) was brought to staff attention after leaving posts on various staff team recruitment threads. After doing an investigation into this user, we found their account and behavior to be very suspicious.
The user has guru karma within Wikidot, which is usually achieved from a very long period (generally years) of activity on the platform. It has no actual value, simply being visual but communicating that the user has probably been around for a while. However, we found that this user had guru karma when it was only 6 days old, and looking through its revision history, there is found evidence that automation was used to make spam edits on a page to artificially boost the account's karma value.
We believe it is very unlikely for a legitimately new user to join, immediately ascertain the perceived social value of guru karma and implement a script to automatically build up to that level, then apply to staff. Given those circumstances, it seems much more likely that the user is a sockpuppet of someone already familiar with Wikidot, who was interested in creating a false account which looked legitimate in order to join staff.
The user is suspected of having used an LLM ("AI") tool to write some of the DMs they sent to staff:
Could you elaborate on what specifically you would be interested in doing?
- Processing new tag requests, and updating technical configurations such as the tag list accordingly
- Helping others with Wikidot page formatting and editing
- Developing little tools like the timer
What skills and experience do you have that would enable you to contribute to the team, as well as staff as a whole?
Technical skills:
- Moderate skills in Wikidot syntax, some familiarity with TOML and the tag systme.
- Basic skills in Javascript and CSS
- Experience in building and managing Wikidot sites
General skills:
- Ability to "translate" requests into technical details
- Communication, problem-solving and teamwork abilities
- Open to learning new things
(Specifically, the last two sections struck some staffers as being potentially machine generated.)
Additionally, the user has been overly obsessed with staff members and engaging in PMs, in a manner which some staffers have described as "creepy". For example:
Hi,
I've been browsing around random forum posts and found an old one in which you mentioned your journey to China.
As a Chinese, I'm a bit curious about your impression of China from that journey.
I think I'd like a review specifically from you.
By the way, It seems that my time is 16 hours ahead of yours, so it might be 00:05 for you.
As well as various messages suggesting a disturbingly intimate interest in various staff members.
While these last two by themselves may be seen as borderline, within the larger context of likely sockpuppeteering, suspicious account usage, and the uncomfortable messages sent to staff members, I believe the Disciplinary Team should consider a revoke or a ban.