New policy regarding sockpuppet accusations

[Afrank]

In the past public sockpuppet accusations have been made with little to no action taken. Despite numerous moderators requests to report sockpuppet in private, it has not happened.

Public sockpuppet accusations add nothing to a conversation. They simply derail it and make the situation worse for everyone.

From now on the moderators will be employing a new policy regarding such accusations. If a poster makes an accusations, a warning will be given to that poster. If the poster continues after the first warning they will face a 24 hour ban.

As with everything, context is king and there will be times where it is not appropriate to issue a ban. Additionally if you believe a mistake has been made, please PM or email a moderator to explain.

[sir fly]

You're a sockpuppet, Afrank!

[Jspear]

You're a sockpuppet, Afrank!

This is hilarious....I hope this type of joke is okay.

[Afrank]

That will be a 6 month ban for you sir fly.

[Dear Wiggo]

Obvious 2009 / 2013 creation date accounts posting first post in The Clinic are obvious.

[42x16ss]

Obvious 2009 / 2013 creation date accounts posting first post in The Clinic are obvious.

Just include that when you report their posts. It's a pretty big red flag right there.

[heart_attack_man]

Obvious 2009 / 2013 creation date accounts posting first post in The Clinic are obvious.

Yikes - I joined in Feb '13 and post pretty much only in The Clinic...

j'accuse myself of being a Sockpuppet?

[Dear Wiggo]

Obvious 2009 / 2013 creation date accounts posting first post in The Clinic are obvious.

Yikes - I joined in Feb '13 and post pretty much only in The Clinic...

j'accuse myself of being a Sockpuppet?

Je ne peu pas. These were specifically accounts with no posts until 2015.

[blackcat]

but I think a sockpuppet generally has a more subtext, or more of a subtext, the person must be using the account concurrently to assume a new identity, two post with two different identities at once.

on other fora, when I have been banned, a bit like the poster arbiter, who then went thru mebbe a dozen iterations of which banproccyling may have been his most famous, well, he might be an exception, he was pretty obvious he was not the genuine sockpuppet, cos his accounts were neutralised and no longer valid, he was not merely on a ban, and using it to circumnavigate the ban... as I was about to say, I have done other accounts on other fora when I got banned, but I was posting with the same personality, in the same subject threads, it was obvious i was the currently banned blackcat <thirdperson>.

I have never used a "sockpuppet" with this definition.

Offhand, I cannot remember posting under two different handles here when I was banned as blackcat, BUT, I may well have, the short time memory is a problem at the moment, I have had prolly half a dozen bans here, so it would not surprise me if ~5 or 6 years ago, I did form another account, which the mods promptly shut down. There mebbe some details behind the member wall for the moderators who can clarify any ambiguity. It does not matter either way, I will plead guilty to knew accounts when I feel I have been incorrectly banned, and to be truthful, there is not a time when I feel I have been correctly banned your honour, so, there is a material chance, an even chance that I did another account to circumvent the prevention on posting.

But a second account to create a new identity to post concurrently with another handle, in the same threads? nope. I have not done that definition of a sockpuppet.

I think his debut was as arbiter...

but you could usually work out the new members' handles, because he then had a schema for his handle, usually went "three terms, two nouns, one verb, about 5 syllables in all"... and except for his original arbiter, you could put the new member handles thru an algorithm and it was pretty easy to work out arbiter's new handle, without even seeing the ISP, even if he never used a proxy.

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

Getting a bit tired of those sockpuppets, everyone knows who they are and nothing cant be done about them. The ignore function doesnt work as well as you still see when they are quoted.

[blackcat]

i for one, dont notice the sockpuppets, unless it is one of arbiter/BPC iterations, but I thought he left for good a few years ago... DearWiggo told me i was responding to an account that was someone's sockpuppet, and a confected handle. It was news to me. I only have a few threads I venture to, and it is a very solipsistic enterprise my forum use

[djpbaltimore]

I think there should be a thread where incorrect sockpuppet accusations are announced and the individual accused is 'cleared'. I repeatedly am accused of being Martin. Even if the accuser is punished according to the policy, people apparently still believe the accusation. Guilty until proven innocent....

[ebandit]

..........i'm surprised that those making such accusation are not automatically given a 1 day ban......

it's so obviously against forum rules................and hardly 'sporting'

Mark L

[djpbaltimore]

Thanks, Mark. I think the policy has been a good deterrent. I don't think a ban is necessary for 42x16ss by any means. I have had virtually no interaction with him on the boards and his first engagement with me is a post that serves only to call me out as Martin? Did Martin spend half his post history in the US politics thread? I just want my named cleared.

[ebandit]

............martinvickers was more of a clinic anti hero...............there is still the odd long term forum member

that has not caught up with changes on the forum..............

Mark L

[Irondan]

There's absolutely no evidence that says djpbaltimore is a sockpuppet of martinvickers.

Also, I didn't see the comment in which djp was accused as such. If anyone wants to file a report on the incident it will be dealt with in accordance to forum rules.

[TheSpud]

Thanks, Mark. I think the policy has been a good deterrent. I don't think a ban is necessary for 42x16ss by any means. I have had virtually no interaction with him on the boards and his first engagement with me is a post that serves only to call me out as Martin? Did Martin spend half his post history in the US politics thread? I just want my named cleared.

Welcome to the club DJP - I endured months of this accusation from more than one poster and then I was accused of the hacking of eBandits account. Something that never had anyone banned (before the new rule).

[djpbaltimore]

Thank you, Irondan. I appreciate that you addressed this. Also, thank you to mrhender for taking care of my report for the current incident. I don't always agree with moderation here, but I do respect the hard work you all do to make this forum a place where grievances are treated fairly. I've faced the same, TheSpud....

viewtopic.php?p=1624475#p1624475
viewtopic.php?p=1624792#p1624792
viewtopic.php?p=1749686#p1749686

[thehog]

Thanks, Mark. I think the policy has been a good deterrent. I don't think a ban is necessary for 42x16ss by any means. I have had virtually no interaction with him on the boards and his first engagement with me is a post that serves only to call me out as Martin? Did Martin spend half his post history in the US politics thread? I just want my named cleared.

Why would it matter with regards to the US politics thread? What are you trying to suggest?

[djpbaltimore]

The matter was settled as you can read above. No need to dredge up old arguments.