Hi @sherlockholmes - I happened across this thread today, and thought this thread was interesting. It was interesting not only because you were on the case, but I've been tracking the spamming activities and vote collusion of @cczhou (a.k.a. @cindyzhou) and @luckforsale. Here they are, both in the same thread!
Cczhou and Cindyzhou seem to be following the same pattern as you describe above. They seem to have stopped posting under the random tags. (That's a step in the right direction, I guess.) However, they still seem to be copying articles from elsewhere, posting them here, and then upvoting themselves in a ring.
I just wanted to add a couple of sock-puppet aliases to your scheme above. I've been downvoting them to the best of my ability.
Thanks for your work - getting here once again before I could, Mr. Holmes!
Thanks for the support, and yes, their operation is indeed quite a bit bigger than just these few accounts.
Thank YOU for being on this, too. Keeping this network clean is a community effort and I am delighted to see this specific subject getting tackled from multiple sides independently. Maybe we are making some progress after all.
tips hat