Sock Puppets and Spam

[sthatting]

Recently on the LDS Forum, the subject of sock-puppets has arisen.

There are a total of at least 2 sock-puppets that have been discussing theology with each other even creating their own threads with no one else posting in them.

I say that it is spam because it is unwanted.

I was curious how the CF staff would handle a situation like this.

Sock puppet - "the act of creating a fake online identity to praise, defend or create the illusion of support for one’s self, allies or company."

That is spam because it is unwanted.

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/s/spam.htm

I know that sock puppets aren't against the rules, but when they are drumming up the forums with all sorts of spam (or unwanted messages) in an attempt to create noise or make it appear that their opinion is the most popular, that is a form of spamming.

Agree?

[Addicted2~Jesus]

Who defines "unwanted messages"?

[Rep Daddy]

traffic = revenue
we allow counting threads

[Avatar]

I am the sock master. But I don't use them for deception. If I have a serious position to take, it's Avatar who takes it.

[A New Dawn]

I don't think that using socks in that manner is appropriate, personally. I have to agree with sthatting. It gets tedious watching him argue with himself, or pat himself on the back.

JMO.

[sthatting]

I don't think that using socks in that manner is appropriate, personally. I have to agree with sthatting. It gets tedious watching him argue with himself, or pat himself on the back.

JMO.

How about when a sock puppet starts responding to itself then it becomes unwanted/spam/noise? I really think there should be a rule about this.

[MercyBurst]

Who defines "unwanted messages"?
me

[MercyBurst]

Who defines "unwanted messages"?

myself

[MercyBurst]

Who defines "unwanted messages"?

I .... and that makes three of our opinions against one of yours. You are clearly in the minority view here which gives the rest of us the right to bully you... See how majority rule works with sock puppet spam?

[EternalMoment]

What is a sock puppet? What is noise?

[A New Dawn]

What is a sock puppet? What is noise?

A sock puppet is when someone has more than one account. The socks are the secondary and tertiary accounts, etc.

[sthatting]

What is a sock puppet? What is noise?

New Dawn kinda answered what a sock puppet is, but if you can imagine someone using 3 or 4 sockpuppets at the same time and responding to himself, it creates a lot of distraction and noise. For example,

If I were to set up 3 accounts in addition to this one. Let's call them sockpuppet number 1, 2, and 3, here's what might occur:

Sthatting: I don't think the US should allow gay marriage.
Sockpuppet 1: I agree. People who are gay are stupid.
Sockpuppet 2: You both are ignorant and stupid. You shouldn't make judgments like that you bunch of pipsqueaks. (notice now #1 and 2 resorted to calling names. This is an example "baiting" and in the case of #2, making the other side look less intelligent.)
Sockpuppet 3: Why do you think we shouldn't have gay marriage in the US?
Sthatting: I don't think it's right according to the Bible.
Sockpuppet 2: You're just so ignorant!!! Why don't you go pound sand, etc. etc., etc.

See how it can distract? Each account has a specific purpose. In general, they are used by other users to say things that may get them blocked, but if it's from a different account (like sockpuppets 1, 2, or 3) then the original is kept and the others are deleted.

Hope that makes sense. Some people use them for different reasons other than that, but the the main general purpose I've seen on the Internet is to pick fights with other users or make their own opinions look more popular.

In general, though, what I'm concerned with is when they create noise, drum up confusion, and give me a headache. :)

[encouraging loves animals]

I use mine sock for keeping my 1,000,000 blessings in the bank, so I don't use it.

[sthatting]

I use mine sock for keeping my 1,000,000 blessings in the bank, so I don't use it.

That's great. It's not sock-puppets that I have the whole problem with. It's those that use them to manipulate other users by responding to themselves and create noise/spam.

[BAFRIEND]

I have one sock puppet and everyone who knows me knows who it is.

The old rules used to state that moderators were allowed to have one sock puppet, so clearly it is not a rule violation- unless it violates some other rules like misrepresenting your religous icon, etc.

But I believe that we need to be more concerned here on the legality if policy changes as a person is now being criminally prosecuted by the Federal Government (USA) for creating a sock puppet on myspace. She is being charged with illegally accessing a computer in a case that resulted in a suicide.