In that case, I think the rules of ettiquette for any poster would apply. If anyone starts getting nasty, we have steps in place to deal with them and ban if necessary.

Yes, this. It just feels like the rule for the extreme misuse of this is already there. I get a kick out of the sockpuppets. I've never made one, but I get a chuckle reading them. I agree that a truly nasty one would be a bad thing. I also trust that as a community we'd deal with one as we'd deal with any truly nasty poster.

I see this argument alot, and it's lost its impact for me.

Well it hasn't for me. Having brief experience through links and blogs to other boards, I have NO interest in this becoming a

*grin LOL *hug* :-)

board where people take on psueds and do role-playing conversation - for fun, for jabs, for whatever.

My take is that if people are wanting that environment, it probably already exists somewhere and maybe that is somewhere to join a community. This place has a different feel/environment what-have-you.

What if SPs put their identities on the Profile page? "This Sock Puppet is being (man)handled by ____" That wouldn't kill the humor, would it?

I also trust that as a community we'd deal with one as we'd deal with any truly nasty poster.

I agree.

What if SPs put their identities on the Profile page? "This Sock Puppet is being (man)handled by ____" That wouldn't kill the humor, would it?

I like that suggestion, Wolfram.

This place has a different feel/environment what-have-you.

For me, the silly is part of the appeal.

I'm not trying to squash the discussion, and I hear that people are obviously much more upset with it than I am--I don't have sockpuppet baggage, I guess (not trying to be snarky, here).

Anyway, I hope we are able to resolve the issue. I like the easy camraderie of the board.

ETA: I like Wolfram's solution too.

Without discussion who will know?

To clarify part of my point (and I'm pretty sure this isn't directed solely at me):

I don't object to discussing this issue, though sometimes it does feel to me that letely we've been discussing to death the things that are bothering us.

I'm worried that now that it's become a proposal, and we have a clock on the discussion, that it won't be fully hashed out, and forced to a vote, which, if defeated, will make it sort of off limits for discussion for the length of the blackout period.

On the other hand, considering that we've maybe spent too much time lately discussing the things that bother us, maybe a clock on it isn't such a bad idea after all.

In an environment without sound, a lot of the way we judge tone of a post is by the personality of the poster. Words posted by an oldtimer we know may be taken one way, and verbatim words posted by a newbie may be taken completely differently. It really is all relative.

And this is the same issue we seem to navigate just fine with newbies. We've had times where they trip and fall in the guac, and we call them on it. Sometimes they leave, and sometimes they end up fitting in. I guess I just see the sockpuppets as I do any new poster.

We've has people that have lurked for months before posting. They have intimate knowledge of us before we know them at all. It just feels like this is something we already navigate.

I like that suggestion, Wolfram.

Me too. It wouldn't blow the joke, but anyone who's bothered can find out whose hand is inside the sock with one click.

I'm worried that now that it's become a proposal, and we have a clock on the discussion, that it won't be fully hashed out, and forced to a vote, which, if defeated, will make it sort of off limits for discussion for the

Weren't you just the one trusting Betsy? You think she'd do that?

We don't have to vote, you know.