Shoreshthe drift report / case files / data
The editors

Who made the cuts

For every passage removed from a case-file article, we searched Wikipedia's revision history for the exact edit that did it. Wikipedia publishes who made each edit, when, and what they wrote in the summary box. 278 removals across 82 articles are pinned that way, and they are grouped here by account.

One edit proves nothing. Editors trim articles for many reasons, and a summary like “cleanup” is usually just that. What is worth looking at is repetition: the same account removing the same kind of language across articles that have nothing else in common. Every row links Wikipedia's own diff so you can judge the edit yourself.

When the cuts happened

Pinned removals by year. Red marks 2023 onward.

6051006110710820961091151261351461510169174186191920202110225123462425251126

18 years to the end of 2022 average 8.1 pinned removals a year. 2023 alone has 51, and 2024 has 46. From October 2023 the rate runs at 33.3 a year, 4.1 times the eighteen years before it. The waypoints these removals were pinned inside are not evenly spaced, so treat the multiple as approximate; the direction is not in doubt.

How concentrated this is

If removals were incidental they would spread thin across many accounts. They do not.

24%
of all pinned removals were made by 10 accounts out of 164. An even spread would give those ten 17, not 67: a factor of 4.0.
36%
were made by 20 accounts. The other 144 accounts share the rest between them.
51
of the 278 removals were saved with no edit summary at all (18%). Wikipedia asks editors to say what they changed and why.

The same account, across articles with nothing else in common

Many edits on one page is a content dispute and is not interesting. One edit each on several unrelated pages is a pattern. These 8 accounts removed language from three or more separate articles.

Removals made in a single sitting

Accounts that made three or more pinned removals inside one week. A burst is not proof of anything on its own, and every one of these links to Wikipedia's diff so the edits can be read.

Accounts with more than one pinned removal

46 accounts account for 160 of the 278 pinned removals.

Iskandar32310 removals

5 articles · 2022, 2023, 2025

Nishidani8 removals

2 articles · 2016, 2020, 2024

Marokwitz7 removals

3 articles · 2010, 2023

Xpërt37 removals

1 article · 2021

Gilabrand6 removals

6 articles · 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2022

Buidhe6 removals

3 articles · 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024

Mooonswimmer6 removals

2 articles · 2023

IOHANNVSVERVS6 removals

2 articles · 2024

Tewfik6 removals

1 article · 2007

ImTheIP5 removals

4 articles · 2020, 2021

Nableezy4 removals

3 articles · 2021, 2023, 2024

Asarlaí4 removals

2 articles · 2024

Tazmaniacs4 removals

1 article · 2006

Makeandtoss3 removals

3 articles · 2023, 2024

Vice regent3 removals

3 articles · 2024, 2025

Number 573 removals

2 articles · 2007, 2009, 2016

Omnipaedista3 removals

2 articles · 2023

PrimaPrime3 removals

2 articles · 2023, 2024

Zero00003 removals

1 article · 2024

Keith-2643 removals

1 article · 2023

Onomatopoeia3 removals

1 article · 2006

Hindbærbrus3 removals

1 article · 2021

Ixudi3 removals

1 article · 2024

Mizrahi583 removals

1 article · 2016

FRS3 removals

1 article · 2005

VersaceLaurent3 removals

1 article · 2023

Rangasyd3 removals

1 article · 2024

Emasterbuild3 removals

1 article · 2025

Steven19912 removals

2 articles · 2024

Egeymi2 removals

2 articles · 2023

Surtsicna2 removals

2 articles · 2025, 2026

Longhornsg2 removals

2 articles · 2023

Nosebagbear2 removals

1 article · 2019

217.180.219.2032 removalsnot a registered account

1 article · 2024

Vitus Doerfler2 removals

1 article · 2014, 2019

Prezbo2 removals

1 article · 2025

TheEpicGhosty2 removals

1 article · 2020

Rms125a@hotmail.com2 removals

1 article · 2016

SaskatchewanSenator2 removals

1 article · 2019

Chicdat2 removals

1 article · 2025, 2026

Illegitimate Barrister2 removals

1 article · 2025

TheDoodbly2 removals

1 article · 2025

WikiCleanerMan2 removals

1 article · 2024

Chichifat2 removals

1 article · 2024

Laterthanyouthink2 removals

1 article · 2026

R'n'B2 removals

1 article · 2023

Accounts with a single pinned removal

118 accounts, one removal each. Listed for completeness: publishing only the repeat names would be the cherry-picking we exist to document.

Attributions come from Wikipedia's public revision history, pinned by searching each removal window for the first revision where the passage no longer appears. Usernames are shown exactly as Wikipedia shows them; we hold nothing else about any editor. Data: /data. Last pinned 2026-08-02.