I edit on Wikipedia using my real name. My real name is verifiable as a real person by a simple google search. I have been using wikipedia without any problems for three years.

Yesterday I logged in to update some of the Turkish election pages on wikipedia. I found that I was blocked by [[User:Dmcdevit]] for allegedly being a sockpuppet of a user named Runcorn. I have never heard of a user named Runcorn. If I were a sockpuppet, it would be rather silly to use my real name.

Indeed, Wikipedia's own advice on sockpuppets states that "sock puppet accounts usually show much greater familiarity with Wikipedia and its editing process than most newcomers. They are more likely to use edit summaries, immediately join in existing edit wars, or participate vocally in procedures like Articles for deletion or Requests for adminship as part of their first few edits. They are also more likely to be brand new or a single purpose account when looking at their contributions summary." I.e. - someone who has made over 1000 edits, most of them relatively minor ones, over three years.

I was unable even to request that my page be unblocked, as my work IP address has also been blocked, so when I got home that night I requested that my page be unblocked. When I logged in this morning I found that my block had been confirmed by a wikipedia user who claimed that a computer programme said that I was a was indeed a sockpuppet, and that she had no reason to doubt that and was maintaining the block on my account indefinitely!!! I can't appeal this, because my account and my IP address have been blocked!

The page where my case is discussed is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Incidents#User:Gerry_Lynch_Unfairly_blocked_as_a_sockpuppet

If you are a wikipedia user, please, please, help!

Jimbo Wales' libertarian paradise is turning in to a Kafkaesque nightmare...