I don't think it's remotely a stretch to call sockpuppetry rude behavior

It certainly is to the people that think it is funny, or even those who are willing to tolerate it.

In a board culture that has traditionally valued real-world identity as much as this one has, using a sockpuppet to talk to people (or, more frequently, at people) just for kicks, is rude behavior.

To be evaluated and appealed as "demon-like" on a case-by-case basis.

t smelling the heady scent of consensus brewing

I like it

Any way we can consense the profile thing rather than making it a hard and fast LAW?

I'd be fine with consensing that it was a matter of etiquette and good citizenship to avoid sockpuppet abuse. That the expectation is that the puppetteer volunteer the information in their profile, and if they don't, then somebody can ask them to do so.

I'd be fine with consensing that it was a matter of etiquette and good citizenship to avoid sockpuppet abuse. That the expectation is that the puppetteer volunteer the information in their profile, and if they don't, then somebody can ask them to do so.

I'm cool with that.

If the puppetteer doesn't agree to that, that's the point where the rest of the armament of the Stompies can come into play.

Any way we can consense the profile thing rather than making it a hard and fast LAW? That way we won't have to legislate things like the Allyson Exception.

Works for me.

Well, one is a direct suppression of freedom of expression and one isn't?

As msbelle pointed out, we have lots of rules about how we can express ourselves and where. And no one can or is trying to ban all sockpuppets from the Internet. If you're into it, you can go to Sang Sacre, or another board. I don't think "No sockpuppetting" is any more supressive than "whitefont current-season TV discussion," and it will affect fewer people.

Right now outlawing sockpuppets feels more like the latter example.

I respect your thinking, Susan, though I still disagree. Thanks for your response.

hte proposal of a true ID in the profile is a very good work-around. Any SP who doesn't do this we know is not following hte rules.

If we had three choices -- ban sockpuppets, no change, or allow sockpuppets with attribution in the tagline or profile -- I would vote for allowed-with-attribution. The performance aspect bugs me, but I can deal with it much mroe than I can deal with not knowing who is posting.

I'd be fine with consensing that it was a matter of etiquette and good citizenship to avoid sockpuppet abuse. That the expectation is that the puppetteer volunteer the information in their profile, and if they don't, then somebody can ask them to do so.

I'm all sorts of good with that. (And again, my apologies to anyone who was annoyed by Clovis burbling in a thread other than Sang Sancre. Yes, I am worried that my fanged rabbit annoyed people. Look, you people *knew* I was crazy.)

That seems to get around teh ID issue that bothers people.

I would like to point out though, that no one had suggested banning or even warning anyone, so discussion of the "demon-like behavior" was not really fitting.

There is no reason why I couldn't post:

Dear Jesse,

I will mock you like a mocker who mocks.

sincerely, silly psued I think is funny

not that I'd suggest legislating a set formula for how to express one's attempts at humor, but let's not act like anyone was gonna get thrown off the board or that the elimination of sockpuppets would remove all hopes at humor.

FWIW, Jilli, I always loved Clovis' posts.