Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by David Gerard (talk | contribs) at 21:45, 1 January 2005 (→Tagging ''identified'' sock puppets: template:sockpuppet). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This page describes a type of Misplaced Pages account. For puppets made out of socks, see sock puppet.

A sock puppet is an additional username used by a Wikipedian who edits under more than one name. The Wikipedian who uses a sock puppet may be called a sock puppeteer. Use of sock puppets is discouraged in most cases; Jimbo Wales has said, "There's no specific policy against it, but it's generally considered uncool unless you have a good reason."

The reason for discouraging sock puppets is to prevent abuses such as a person voting more than once in a poll, or using multiple accounts to circumvent Misplaced Pages policies. Some people feel that sock puppets should not be used at all.

See also MeatBall:SockPuppet for information on how this affects other online communities

Prohibited uses of sock puppets

Voting

Misplaced Pages uses a "one person, one vote" principle for all votes and similar discussions where individual preferences are counted in any fashion. Accordingly, sock puppets are not permitted to vote in any Misplaced Pages election, nor are they allowed to participate in any similar procedure, such as polls and surveys or the discussions at Misplaced Pages:Votes for deletion and Misplaced Pages:Requests for adminship. Proven sock puppets may be permanently blocked if used to cast double votes.

Deception and impersonation

In addition to double-voting, sock puppets should not be used for purposes of deception, or to create the illusion of broader support for a position. This kind of behavior is disruptive and unnecessary for any potentially legitimate use of sock puppets. In particular, accounts that are used to maliciously impersonate another Wikipedian should be blocked permanently.

Users who are banned from editing or temporarily subject to a legitimate block may not use sock puppets to circumvent this. Evading a ban in this manner causes the timer on the ban to restart.

Characteristics of sock puppets

Not surprisingly, sock puppet accounts usually show much greater familiarity with Misplaced Pages and its editing process than most newcomers. They are more likely to use edit summaries, immediately join in edit wars, or participate vocally in procedures like Votes for deletion or Requests for adminship as part of their first few edits.

When questions arise

In some cases it may not be completely clear whether an account is a sock puppet, as the purpose is usually to avoid detection. Similarities in interests and editing style can be noted, but not everyone may be familiar enough with the user to understand the evidence. If for some reason you need to demonstrate that you are not a sock puppet, there are various ways to do this.

If it appears that sock puppets are being used as part of an edit war or to distort the outcome of a vote or survey, one possible rule of thumb is the 100-edit guideline. This suggests that any account with more than 100 edits is presumed not to be a sock puppet, but accounts with fewer edits are considered doubtful, especially if there are unusually many of them participating.

If there is doubt, a developer can easily check to see whether accounts are related. Experience has shown that on article talk pages, including polls, the linkage is usually not supported by the information available to developers, so self-restraint in making such accusations is usually the right course.

In other cases, notably Misplaced Pages:Votes for deletion and a few extremely controversial areas such as articles about the conflict in the Middle East or articles about cult figures, there may sometimes be so many occasions where there is well supported reason for believing that accounts are linked that, if a developer is unable to check, some have suggested assuming, in cases where there is clear controversy and an abnormal influx of voters new to the wiki, that all accounts with fewer than 100 edits are sock puppets. In routine cases, please remember that checking even on VfD has generally shown such beliefs not to be well founded.

Tagging identified sock puppets

If an account has been shown to be a sock puppet by a ruling on Misplaced Pages:Requests for arbitration, then the following text may be added to the user page of the sock puppet account, replacing the two instances of "SOCKPUPPETEER" with the name of the sock puppeteer:

::''This user is a ]
of ], as established by
].''

This is useful for identifying the actual user who made edits under that account.

There is also Template:Sockpuppet, with syntax of the form {{sockpuppet|user=SOCKPUPPETEER}}, which expands to:

An editor has expressed a concern that this account may be a sockpuppet of ] (] · ] · ]). Please refer to editing habits or contributions of the sockpuppet for evidence. This policy subsection may be helpful. Account information: block log – contribs – logs – abuse log – CentralAuth

]

Note that this should only be done if the account has been unambiguously shown to be a sock puppet of the user by either:

• the user's own admission
• matching of IP addresses

The above text should not be added in the cases of accusations of sockpuppetry which have not been proven.

Multiple accounts

Multiple accounts have legitimate uses. For example, prominent users may wish to experience Misplaced Pages to understand how the community functions for those new to the community. In particular, some have suggested that Jimbo should get, and edit from, a sock puppet account. Perhaps he does.

Other users employ multiple accounts to segregate their contributions for various reasons. A user making substantial contributions to an area of interest in Misplaced Pages might register another account to be used solely in connection with developing that area.

Users with an expertise in mathematics, for example, might not wish to associate their contributions to detailed mathematical articles with contributions to articles about less weighty subjects. Others might use different accounts in talk pages to avoid extending conflicts about a particular area of interest into communitywide political conflicts related to user identity rather than to article content. A person participating in a discussion of an article about abortion, for example, might not want to allow other participants an opportunity to extend that discussion by engaging a particular user in unrelated but philosophically motivated debate outside of that discussion.

Multiple accounts also serve to protect identity. Someone who is known to the public or within a particular circle may be identifiable based on their interests and contributions; dividing these up between different accounts might help preserve the person's anonymity.

Occasionally additional accounts are used to make an important but controversial point. Even when the true identity of the contributor is widely known; c.f. MeatBall:CourtJester

Role accounts have been used on the French Misplaced Pages without any opposition, but their use is not officially sanctioned at this time.

A person using multiple accounts legitimately must refrain from using the different accounts in any way prohibited to sock puppets and from using one account to support the position of another, the standard definition of sock puppetry. Where the use makes it practical it is recommended that you provide links between the accounts, so it is easy to determine that one person is using them all.

Note: Wikipedians who operate bots are encouraged to create separate accounts so the automated edits can be filtered out of recent changes.

• Internet trolls