I see absolutely no point in using “Coventry” here and then turning around and letting a few privileged people see the shadow-banned posts. The moderators really can’t allow anybody else to see those posts, because it would take iron discipline on everybody’s part to pretend they never saw them. You have to trust EVERYBODY let in not to blow the secret. Not gonna happen. Somebody will drop some hints indicating they saw that content sooner or later, and then the troll gets at least some of what they were after.
And these are the same people that will post “Where is So And So?”, letting the banished know exactly what happened.
Banning isn’t meant to be a punishment, it’s meant to be a benefit to the rest of the posters.
Can you have just a sock username but no official username? How do we know any Doper is not really a sock who hasn’t yet signed up yet with their real username? I wouldn’t expect any of them to admit to it if instant banning is the benefit to the rest of the posters.
When I first started posting here, more than twenty years ago, if I forgot my user name, or password, I would just create a new account. At some point, I realized that I seem to keep coming here, so I should probably remember my account details.
27 times is a lot of forgetting…
I used to smoke a lot of pot
I admit, it’s possible that someday in the future I might choose to create a “real account”, so I’ve been using this sock account (and only this sock account) for the past dozen years.
When I first signed up here, there was very quickly some open speculation that I might be a sock of a then-recently-banned poster (based on nothing more than a similarity of user-name). Hey, for all y’all know, maybe I am! But I’m using a different personna than that other guy who I may or may not be, so I’m all good, right? They haven’t caught on to me yet!
That’s just what a socking socker would say!
(joking)
This reminds me, that there is myself, @TriPolar, @Trip2014, @triplea424, @tripfours, and a few others. While I don’t think we’re socks of each other, my internal mental committee cannot make up their minds.
Tripler
I think this is a perfect opportunity to dust off the ol’ pre-written signature.
DISCLAIMER: All thoughts and ideas put forth in this communication are sole property of the voices in my head. ©1998-2021 - ‘The Voices’ ™. All rights reserved.
BAN THEM ALL! God will know his own!
Whoa whoa whoa. . . that escalated quickly!
Tripler
The original since May, 25 2000 so ban me last.
Nah, we’d go through the wall a few hundred meters down. They’d see us coming at the gates, and even I don’t wanna f*ck with Archangel security. You ever see them flaming swords? 
Tripler
Going to Heaven with a bang!
Now that we have avatars, it’s a little easier to tell similar-named posters apart (like you and @TriPolar and @Trinopus and etc.)
Unless someone who has had an avatar for a long time switches to a new one, and a different poster uses the old poster’s avatar. That actually happens. 
Or they have the same cool hand Luke avatar, like Lucas_Jackson and Left_Hand_of_Dorkness did for awhile. I think Dorkness has changed his. Seemed pretty socky to me. I suggest the mods ban them both, just to be safe.
We have at least 3 blank white squares.
We have a lot of squares 'round these parts.
::rimshot::
Tripler
You totally set us up for that one @What_Exit .