1) I CANNOT believe that no one had a string of posts from sockpuppets agreeing with them. That would have been the funniest thing ever.
2) I think it's too soon to come to "consensus" on this issue -- there's a reason we made formal discussion over a few days, because not everyone is at the computer every minute.
I haven't noticed the puppetry -- this is mostly going on in Bitches? Huh. So I don't have a strong opinion either way.
That said, I still have stuff to say:
The thing that scares me is that someday, there will be a March who *won't* be an innocent in joke. And I really don't want to have a precedent that says we're okay with sockpuppetry.
The thing that worries me about this is that people will let it go for a while, assuming it's someone we know, we just don't know who. And this includes the (hypothetical) person being made to feel uncomfortable -- they let it go because they don't want to be a party pooper or whatever.
I do have some concern about what Kristen brought up, that people might have legit reasons for multiple logins, and the potential Sang Sacre exemption. It becomes exactly as in-crowd-y as saying "Well, you KNOW who it is, and you KNOW it's just a joke!" (Edit to add that putting your real Buffista name in the profile doesn't help Kristen post incognito-like.)
It's possible that it's a cranky set of five people who have to deal or leave. Or it's something that's not of sufficient value to the people doing it that they stop.
Without discussion who will know?
Right, this. YAY DISCUSSION. This is a big group of people. If five people feel a given way, this is the best way to figure out if those five vocal people are representing 500 or not.
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."
Oh please. If you have not gotten that there is more to this than just personal annoyance, I don't even know what to say. (And I'm not saying there's a LOT more to it than annoyance, but there is something there.)
So I don't get anything out of the TV talk in Natter, and in a mild way it annoys me, insofar as when I see lots of posts in Natter I'm always hoping for an intriguing or amusing discussion and half the time it's just whitefont on some show I don't watch.
Man, I love it when I find I can skip half the posts in Natter, whether they are about a tv show I don't watch or a sport I don't follow. Who has time to read every post? Anyway....
I have to go have a gripe-fest in my LJ now.
Jesse just cracked my shit up. I know the Seantatorship would go down in flames, but I might propose a Jessetatorship.
If only I thought I had the votes....
1) I CANNOT believe that no one had a string of posts from sockpuppets agreeing with them. That would have been the funniest thing ever.
It was tempting but seemed unproductive.
If only I thought I had the votes....
Dude, you control the Phoenix purse-strings. And I'm quite certain that I can speak unequivocally for all 500+ of us when I say HELLS YEAH we can be bought.
I'm consensed, but I agree we should leave the discussion open for a bit to make sure everyone who wants a voice gets one.
(The tagline is purely for fun and good-natured snark and should not be construed in any way as a personal attack on anyone, 'k? I just got the giggles at the image of a stompy cornering a newbie, shining a big Maglite in their eyes, and asking this question sternly.)
Skimmed the last couple hundred posts in a couple minutes and am pleased to see we may be consensed.
The ability to peek at the profile to identify the poster is a good plan. I don't get annoyed by the sockpuppets, but I have been frustrated by not being sure of the secret identity. Mostly I knew who they were and found it funny.
If I didn't find it funny, or found it annoying, I would use that handy Block feature. I keep forgetting that option. Then again, I am tough to annoy.
Not voting and just adopting a gentleperson's agreement would be dandy.
Weighing in after wading through the thread:
yes, this is sort of a quick consensing with no announcement. I think there might be more interest in the topic if folks knew it was happening. I'm not saying we have to put it to a vote, but I'd feel a hell of a lot more comfortable if the discussion was on the table long enough for more people to find it, or, better, be alerted to it.
What Nora said. I was pissed as hell to get to the end of the thread and find out that y'all decided you had consensed. Some of us have obligations that keep us busy for most of the day, so giving us more than one afternoon to weigh in seems polite.
In particular, I think it's important to differentiate between sockpuppets and other uses of multiple logins.
But in the situation we're talking about, you would know that it's Allyson or that it's me. It's not like we're concealing our identity from the community. Just from the people observing the community.
Then that's not a sockpuppet, at least not in my book. To me a sockpuppet is a character brought in by someone so he/she can either a) take on a new persona, or b) interact with the board without revealing his/her identity. I think the second is more damaging to the community, whereas the first is usually just annoying.
And thanks, DX, for bringing up Anathema because for me, that's precisely the most egregious use of a sockpuppet. And you know what? We indulged it way too long (imo anyway).
Well, one is a direct suppression of freedom of expression
At the risk of sounding glib, why is this an issue? I don't think that a private posting board is obliged to uphold anyone's freedom of expression, including mine.
Also, FTR, I don't get the Jesusland comparisons either. Then again, I never get the comparisons folks draw between the board and the US government.
What I'm hearing is that sockpuppets amuse more people than they annoy; that being the case, I can settle for having the sockpuppets fess up.
Really? I'm noticing that they seem to annoy a lot more people than I thought, it's just that the one's that are amused are very ardent in their defense.
Really? I'm noticing that they seem to annoy a lot more people than I thought, it's just that the one's that are amused are very ardent in their defense.
Perception is a funny thing -- I saw that completly the other way around.
Pretty much all my points have been made for me, but I just felt like saying I find sockpuppets amusing. The Universe stuff was the only stuff I really even read when skimming the last 600 posts in Bitches. Putting the identity in the profile is a fine idea.
