I hate taking up more space to ask more questions, but this has really made me curious.
In reading a number of threads, it started in BBQ pit, but I’ve seen it elsewhere too. ‘Sock Puppet’ people who materialize to back up or cheer on someone who is being either flamed or criticized.
Then the multiple personality, I don’t understand why someone would do this. I don’t mean changing their user names, I get that. It doesn’t make any difference to Chicago Reader whether someone calls themselves ‘Joe’ ‘Steve’ and ‘Gertrude’ but what would be the reason for it?? One whole thread was about, you are too, I am not, you are too! I picture kids in a sandbox, but I’m not sure what would motivate someone to do this, unless it is just the thrill to deceive. Boy, this is sounding naive. Is this something that is discussed, and discouraged, or just an object of curiousity and left alone?
Judy
“Subconsciously there are many people you hate.” “Consciously, sir, consciously.” Yossarian corrected in an effort to help. “I hate them consciously.”
Amen MrKnowItAll, you are the smartest and coolest poster on this board. I think we all should honor and respect everything you say! You’re always right, and you know it all!
Now with 1000 posts of pure wisdom!
(or something)
Nu Vo and MrKnowItAll are exactly right. I couldn’t have said it better myself. I really admire their eloquence and perceptiveness. You guys are the smartest posters on this board.
There’s no definite answer to this, so it doesn’t belong here. But it’s not really a debate, especially given the responses (wise guys! ). And you are all being too nice for the pit. I really hate to send yet another “What is a troll?” thread to TubaDiva, but About This Message Board seems to be the least worst place for this thread.
I dunno if I can properly answer your question, although all that have come before me have done a fine job of illustrating the situation.
Manny of the extra screen names we find were created out of accidental circumstances. Someone signed in, mistyped their email address, couldn’t get their password, they just started over. Result: two screen names on the board. (One never used.)
Other times people get tired of a name. Maybe it was a joke, or some passing fancy at the time; they liked it then, they hate it now. They don’t bother to tell us, they just abandon the old name and start a new one.
Some folks just feel like they need different names to more fully express themselves. I recently found where someone had signed up for 4 or 5 different screen names. They all had the same ICQ #, but he did ask, “How did you catch me?”
Others have no allies, so they must manufacture them. Call it the “Imaginary Friend” syndrome.
And of course, sometimes it’s just a joke.
We don’t approve of any of these things, but people being people, it’s part of what we have to deal with here.
If you’re ever in doubt about a screen name, yours or anyone else’s, just ask us. We’ll try to set you straight.
your humble TubaDiva
Administrator
The Straight Dope
You know that you & the Chicago Reader are proud of your near-5000 MB membership in your inaugural year. I’ll bet $10 that’s what your potential advertisers (are there any actual advertisers besides the Reader itself?) hear about instead of the three hundred something figure on Chrome Toaster’s registry.
Would a $10 Godiva on-line gift certificate be an acceptable bet?
I can’t remember where I got this, but here it is:
“A “sock-puppet” is a term coined, I think, over on news.admin.net-abuse.email (or maybe it was .misc back when that group was around). It refers to one person adopting multiple personalities in an attempt to fool people into thinking he has support for his position in a debate.”
In other words, it’s the refuge of someone who has neither logic nor friends to help his/her arguement.
Lynn
That’s way past “too careful”, gone through “paranoia”, around the bend, beyond the people with aluminum foil and colanders on their heads, to a point just about even with “the X-files”.
You’ll have to get your chocolate from some other suck–from someone else, my dear.
The Reader’s advertising department controls the advertising on the site. Such as it is. The latest information I have is that the advertising department is gearing up for more action, but they are moving at their own pace. That’s okay; they’ve already decided online is not their main chance anyway and they prefer to stick to what they know. But at some point, you’ll see more than just Reader ads.
Ads pay only a pittance anyway; you can’t even pay your expenses, much less make a profit, on ad sales in cyberspace today. (If ever you could.)
While Chrome Toaster’s thread is fun to read, it is in no way accurate. “Anecdotal” might be a better way to put it.
The list of registered members is just that, a list of registered members. Some people make thousands of posts, some make a few, some make none. We don’t swear that everybody that signs in spends their days reading and replying to every post on the board.
And actually there’s more to this than simply registered member numbers. Websites are able to deduce what sort of real attention they’re getting, that’s what “click-throughs” and “page views” are all about. FWIW, in February we had approximately 319,000 page views for the Straight Dope portion of the Chicago Reader site. THAT’s the sort of number the Reader will be throwing around, and for good reason.
your humble TubaDiva
Administrator
The Straight Dope
Lessee, 319,000 divided by 29 days = 11,000 per day.
If there really are only about 325 active users, that’s only about 34 page views per user per day. Note that that is page VIEWS, not POSTS. That figure would therefore include lurkers. Just today, I’ve read three (or four) threads without posting on them. Each occaision would be a page view. I’m sure a lot of people read threads they never post on. (Of course, some people seem to post BEFORE reading, but that’s another problem!)
When you post under one name, and talk to yourself under a different name, and then reply to yourself under the first name…
Lessee, if you did that in casual conversation, it’d be called paranoia sociopathic or some sort of -mania. When you do it on the web, it’s called “sock puppet.” Hmmm. I think I prefer “looney” as the characterization.
CKDextHavn, you’ve touched on what I meant in my post. The Sock Puppeteer isn’t fooling anyone, so it must be some kind of self delusion, though, even that doesn’t make a great deal of sense. YOU know the person you’ve just made up to agree with you, is YOU. If you’re accused of just that, you have to deny, deny, deny. What should you do with your ‘sock puppet’ then? Do you give them a whole personality so ya’ll can be ‘friends’?
The second personality people, if you were banned and you just wanted to come back because you miss everyone, couldn’t you just address that to either the moderators through a personal e mail, or the administrators of Straight Dope? Just say you’re sorry for being a jerk, and you’d probably have to say it to whomever you got into it with on the board too, I guess. THAT just seems easier than what I’ve seen happen. So much effort seems to go into both of these situations, when it needn’t be that way.
Which of course, means there is no real solution to this, other than knowing it exists, and steering clear of it.
Thanks for the responses,
Judy
“Subconsciously there are many people you hate.” “Consciously, sir, consciously.” Yossarian corrected in an effort to help. “I hate them consciously.”
And Judy, you make a good point. We’re not about stomping on people, we’re about encouraging good behavior. We’ve had folks that messed up (some in pretty spectacular fashion), they 'fessed up, promised to do better. Sometimes they did . . . but most always they got a second chance.
We really are your friends here.
your humble TubaDiva
Administrator
The Straight Dope
Thanks for answering again, Tuba, and I know that you all work hard, and you have to put up with a lot more than we’ll ever know.
I wonder why the first step to someone wanting to come back would be to invent a new ‘person’ rather than taking the most straightforward way of owning up and not having to go through being forever accused of being who they are and them having to deny it! It seems so exhausting.
I know I should check the FAQ again, but I don’t remember anything about reinstating someone once they’ve stepped on one too many toes, and is there a procedure that could apply to anyone written up ahead of time so that the ‘newbies’ would be encouraged to read it before their first official post. Maybe that would stop some of the ‘multiple personality’ people. Just a thought.
). And you are all being too nice for the pit. I really hate to send yet another “What is a troll?” thread to TubaDiva, but About This Message Board seems to be the least worst place for this thread.