User blog comment:The Ultimate Thinker/How to catch a Sock Puppet?/@comment-452-20140815192542/@comment-452-20140815204609


 * "I still stand by what I said."

What you said does not properly communicate what you meant.

You said: "However if the community does not know that you are behind these accounts, then you have just created a sock account..."

No community, or user, knows about the connection between my 452 account, my former account, my current unconnected alternate account, or any of my throwaway accounts.

What you said in your post applies to these accounts, even if that's not what you meant, which is why I'm bringing this up.

I said in my first reply, I said that I believed you meant: "if you wish to edit on the same wiki you should not misrepresent yourself as a different person", which you have now basically agreed with. (Technically, I don't think it's even absolutely required by the TOU to reveal your identity on the same wiki, so long as you're not acting maliciously, but I think that it's always better on the same wiki to reveal alternate accounts, to avoid potential accusations.)

I'm sorry if this sounds pedantic, but as I often use multiple accounts, I dislike when people do not understand what a sockpuppet is, and I do not want people reading your post to misinterpret it.

Here's a handy list which you could add to your post to help clarify it:


 * What is a Sock Account?
 * An alternate account used for malicious purposes, including harassment and vandalism.
 * An alternate account used to pretend to be a different user in a discussion about yourself.
 * An undisclosed alternate account used to evade a block.


 * What isn't a Sock Account?
 * Any disclosed alternate account
 * A bot account
 * A testing account
 * An undisclosed alternate account used on other wikis for unrelated purposes.

(There may be additional situations I forgot, sorry.)