Sockpuppeting - Lame or Cool?

I'm a ... girl too.  I think all those dot, dot, dot's  are the "pause" in my brain while I think of something to say. 

You and I may not agree on much, Kim, but on exclamation points we're simpatico!

I'll bet that if we had met anywhere other than R&R - you would find that we agree on a whole lot more than you would think 

Bet that scared ya   (I'm really not the bogeyman you seem to believe I am, but oh well, what you gonna do?)

Woman, when you stop putting words in my mouth (and thoughts in my head) we might just be able to get along. No, I wasn't scared, and I don't think you're a boogeyman.  I just think we disagree about *some* things, and we're both the type of people who feel strongly about our opinions and have little fear of expressing them. Pure and simple.

I'm sure we would find a whole lot of common ground. How about a truce? You try to accept what I say at face value and impute no bad intent to my posts, and I'll do the same for you?

Ah, thank you for the definition. I had no idea this was what you were talking about until you posted the definition. I was wondering why you were thinking about children's sock puppets. Hahaha. I'm the first to admit I am NOT forum savvy at all, in fact, I think this is my second, maybe third forum ever. Anyway...

I have been on OH for about a year now and I have noticed many people come and go who, in my opinion, have had multiple accounts. I am not sure what their purpose or rationale is/was, but I can usually pick them out pretty quick because they tend to have a similar writing style and other things. I've always thought they were called trolls, so I considered myself a great troll hunter...sock puppet hunter just doesn't have the same ring to it. 

There are few that stand out in my mind because they didn't like how they were responded to on a post so they came back with guns blazing to "defend" the OP (kinda like the debacle on a certain forum that was pulled last night - I believe at least two of the posters were the same person). Another handful that ended up ******g off so many people that they were blocked and could not get anyone to interact with them, so they created new identities to get back at and "show" every one and "teach them a lesson" (not sure what the lesson was, though). Who knows why some people do what they do and what their agenda is or might be. 

If you have something to say then stand by your words and say it and let the consequences happen. I have no respect for these people that go back and edit their posts, delete them, etc. If I have nothing to say or I'm not interested in a topic, I don't reply. If I post something and go back in and edit it, I make a note at the bottom why I edited it and it is usually for spelling, typos, or more often than not, damned autocorrect!!! I feel the same way for PMs that talk about specific people - I've been very vocal about this and will continue to be because I believe in transparency.

Some people use them to harass (and sometimes recruit meat puppets to join them in the attacks, defaming, besmirching, etc)... 

Many use them to simply have a bit of fun, perhaps an alternate persona, for the purpose of say something they usually aren't (be it silly, irreverent or harsh  -  even violating social mores) 

I say, if the purpose is antisocial in nature, regardless of the target, that it is far better to be yourself and just lay it out there.   If you feel moved to say it, then own it.   Just own it. 

Did not know that. Interesting. Is this what you meant or were you actually referring to playing with sock puppets?

That's exactly what I meant originally. I happened to notice one particularly egregious example, hence the post. 

Sad. It's very very sad that someone feels so strongly about an internet message board that they go through all of that trouble. I barely have time to maintain one account, let alone two or more. Anyone who spends that amount of time and energy on creating fake accounts is pretty pathetic.