# Answer a Q from a Banned Sock, or ignore it?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answer-a-q-from-a-banned-sock-or-ignore-it/923540>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [October 21, 2020, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answer-a-q-from-a-banned-sock-or-ignore-it/923540 "2020-10-21T22:43:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answer-a-q-from-a-banned-sock-or-ignore-it/923540/1 "2020-10-21T22:43:50Z")

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I was about to answer a GQ topic on Farmed Trees, which had but one (noncommittal) reply, and I noticed the OP is a Banned Sock. What’s good form for that? Answer? Ignore?

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**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answer-a-q-from-a-banned-sock-or-ignore-it/923540/2 "2020-10-21T23:24:40Z")

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Well I answered. How did you know it was posted by a banned sock? If banned how did they even post? BTW it seemed like a strange and not thought out question.

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2020, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answer-a-q-from-a-banned-sock-or-ignore-it/923540/3 "2020-10-22T01:01:26Z")

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Well, [in this case](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-farmed-trees/923378) it was because 1) their title says “BANNED: SOCK”, and 2) they posted the question before I investigated, banned them, and changed their title. In this case, I didn’t bother to remove their (few) posts.

There’s nothing wrong in answering a GQ question in such a case, although there is little point in posting a reply to a problem specific to that poster. However, in other cases, especially trolling, it’s best to ignore it.

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**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2020, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answer-a-q-from-a-banned-sock-or-ignore-it/923540/4 "2020-10-22T21:57:51Z")

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Thank you.