"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.

Okay, this is a personal ish, and it's going to sound arrogant, but having googled me, i know it's true.

Sometimes I want to weigh in on a show topic and I don't feel comfortable because I'm Allyson and it could get posted elsewhere, or Whedonesqued, as has happened before. There's things I don't say, that I think are interesting, or may be of interest, under this name. I have seriously considered using my LJ name before to be able to talk about some things, enter discussions freely, without some folks thinking this came from Joss Whedon or Tim Minear or something. That does happen from time to time.

I'd like to have the sockpuppet option, you know? What about that would bug?

I am missing why people can't be funny without sockpuppets.

there are levels of irritation. Let's not think that that anyone is bringing up every single irritation they have. I think we all know that people ignore or skim or skip things everyday that they find irritating. Obviously for some, this issue is more than mild irritation.

Oh, pseuds are next, don't you worry. (Ima go change my name legally to JohnSweden for when the Buffista birth certificate swipe card login happens.)

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

Some of the sockpuppetry has been some of the funniest stuff we've done here. Trudy's MARCH stuff was really well done in the context of all the griping (in good fun) that was going on here. Let's not stifle that very occasional creativity in the interest of, what? The board has the ways and means to deal with posters who step out of line. Sockpuppets have to hew to those rules the same as everyone else.