It's not like Lightbulbs has existed so long as to have an enormous weight of precedence.

Is the sockpuppet worry about what might happen, or what just happened, or both?

Is the worst case scenario:

I hate ita. I always have. She makes me mad all the time. But as Allyson, I feel like I can't tarnish my good name by telling ita how I really feel. So one day, when I have FINALLY HAD ENOUGH of ita, I go psychotic and change my name to Earl the Bent, and go nuts on ita. I tell her I'm a lurker and I've been reading her and she sucks. I get all those years of hatred out, and I feel like I've been cleansed.

Then I happily go back to being Allyson, and ita is none the wiser.

Because I don't think you can legislate that.

Because I don't think you can legislate that

No, but I will hunt you down and kill you.

FWIW.

However, if a decision is made that sockpuppets are against code, then it may very be caught even before you get launched and booted.

Allowing it just seems to open the door to abuses which would be troubling, while disallowing it doesn't have much negative effect. (To me, anyway.)

The downside seems to be:

However I'm on the opposite side and I've found them pretty funny when they've popped up.

Fine, they bug some people, but other people are amused. Who's supposed to win here? I do understand people's dislike/annoyance/hatred of sockpuppets, but I have a real problem with board policy being decided by who is most bothered by something.

"One account per customer. Please don't set up multiple accounts under different names.

Okay, so I have two accounts. (I actually might have three. There was a thing after OoG aired and I couldn't log in and had to make another account because I needed to post right. that. second. and I have severe impulse control issues. If anyone sees a stray KristenSGC account floating around, feel free to give it the axe.)

One is, obviously, this one. The other one is bitterchick.

I've been considering going back to bitterchick, for personal reasons, but I would like the ability to still be Kristen in Minearverse. I don't consider either a "sock puppet" account but, under this proposal, I guess one of them would be.

So does that mean that, if this passes, I need to pick a single user name and then, probably, limit what threads I post in?

What I'm afraid of with this is the syndrome of "Oh, by the way, I've always hated psueds all in lower case, they really bother me. It's not that much of a problem to have the initial letters upper-case, and the inconvenience is outweighed by the annoyance that's avoided."

Or whatever will come up next.

When we irritate no one, no one will be here.

When we irritate no one, no one will be here.

wrod!

I have a real problem with board policy being decided by who is most bothered by something

That decision is between the voter and their mouse buttons.

If only the people that are bothered vote against it, and they're in the minority (or no quorum), then no biggie.

If they people that are bothered and vote that way are in the majority, why shouldn't it go their way?

If you don't care (or like them) and vote against them because you don't want to bother people -- that's a choice.

Fine, they bug some people, but other people are amused. Who's supposed to win here? I do understand people's dislike/annoyance/hatred of sockpuppets, but I have a real problem with board policy being decided by who is most bothered by something.

This, for me, is the crux of it.

ETA: ita, valid point. I wasn't thinking in terms of the vote really, and I probably should have been.

I can see why sockpuppets would bother some people. Personally, I think they're funny if used in moderation, but I can easily imagine how they could be trouble.

What I really don't like is the idea of having a new rule or regulation about the things. I think that if someone is bothered by a jokey SP, that person has every right to ask who the puppeteer is, and get an honest reply on the board (hell, maybe even in whitefont or a pointer towards the profile info if you're so inclined).

No being coy about "maybe I am, maybe I'm not." That's just rude and obnoxious.

On edit: I think this is a courtesy thing, not a rules thing. It seems to be akin to the way that people change their tags to "formerly known as ____" for a while when they have their user names changed for whatever reason.

Also, can't the stompies (or ita at least) identify possible sockpuppets?

No being coy about "maybe I am, maybe I'm not." That's just rude and obnoxious.

Yes, I agree. I think if someone is deliberately obfuscating their identity or if they are using a sockpuppet to be a troll, then they are really infringing on the atmosphere of the board.