What if someone with some $ were to pay subscriptions for 20, 40 or more “socks”? What would effect could this have in the SDMB forums?
Moving this to About This Message Board.
I predict the following would happen:
- The board would make $99.00 ($4.95 times 20) to $598.00 ($14.95 times 40) or more from this person.
- The person would not take up any more bandwidth that he/she normally would if he/she were posting with one name, and probably make less posts, due to the time needed to register so many names, and the time needed to switch back and forth between usernames during the time he/she were posting. (Take note of the words in italics.)
- As soon as the accounts were found to be socks, they would be banned without refund. The rule against having more than one username is stated explicitly in the user agreement; it does not even come close to falling into the “Being a Jerk” grey area that you are obsessed with. It’s an out-and-out, straightforward violation of the rules.
Sorry to put you through trouble of having to move this thread. 
I was informed that my questions were clogging up the ATMB. I would also like to correct the would/could redundancy in the OP. Thanks …
The relevant paragraph from the User Agreement:
Thank you. Sorry, you must have some misinformation, there is no way you or the SDMB can determine with certainty which accounts are socks (particulaly AOL socks), including the tracking of DNS’s, IP’s, money transfers, screen names, etc. Being a “jerk” is more a matter of Freedom of Speech, not some violation of a subjective, arbitrary and undefined set of “rules.”
Actually, you must have some misinformation, because there have been many instances where sockpuppets have been banned before they were able to make a single post. The admins have some pretty clever ways to identify sockpuppets. But that’s not the point. You’re right, some socks have gone unnoticed for a long time. Why anyone would choose to waste loads of time and money to set up dozens of accounts is a little beyond me, but in the event they’re found out, the accounts will be banned, all of them.
The board profits from this trollery, and the troll gets… not much.
The User Agreement is very clear: any person may have exactly one screenname. Having more than one will result in loss of priviliges to post under any of them. This will not change with the institution of pay-to-post. Sockpuppetry becomes a game of pissing away money. If not immediately, whenever you’re found out.
No, being a jerk is to transgress the agreed standards of decency as judged by the admins of the board. You have no right to free speech here. You can say what you’re invited to discuss, and on the SDMB, you’re invited to discuss anything you like, within the board rules, and as long as, by the cultural mores of the community and the administration, you’re not crossing the line into unacceptable. If that’s not free enough for you, make your case in the forum dedicated for complaining about board policy, or find a board more to your liking.
Take, oh, Real Life, for example. I bet you know some jerks in Real Life. I know I do. How do you judge if they’re jerks? Because they break one of a list of rules you kept written on the wall of your bedroom? No, because they do things that offend, anger, or harm you enough that you’re tempted to say “What a jerk!”
At least, that’s the way my Real Life works.
True, I don’t have any way to determine who’s a sock, but the Admins do. And it appears they do a good job of it.
As for Freedom of Speech, you have no idea what you’re talking about. The only Freedom of Speech you’re guaranteed (assuming you’re talking about the First Amendment) is freedom from goverment restriction on your speech. A private message board is under no obligation to let you say word one.
Freedom of speech doesn’t apply here. The SDMB is not any branch of the US government. And we don’t only use IPs and such to determine who is a sock, in some cases it’s a pattern of behavior. For instance, you have had at least 3 warnings in the short time you’ve been here, and of your 67 postings, more than half have been either commenting on or complaining about how this message board is run. Of the remaining posts, some have been some unbelievably stupid questions, such as “Did Christianity exist before Christ?” Therefore, I can conclude that you’re not on this message board because you genuinely seek knowledge, you’re just a jerk looking to stir up shit wherever you can. Goodbye.
Lynn
For the Straight Dope