Another thread in ATMB got me thinking: Is it ever OK to post with a sock puppet?
Lots of posters on the SDMB know other posters personally, IRL. Some posters have family members or spouses that also post. What if a poster like this wanted to get advice on a personal issue such as a possible divorce, cheating, or something of that nature?
Would it ever be OK to make a username just for the sake of anonymity? I’d compare it to when someone does an interview for the news and has their identity hidden by shadows and a voice changer. Could doing this be OK as long as they were honest about it, and kept the new “sock” username limited to one particular thread?
There have been cases of posters having trouble logging in and unable to contact an administrator who have registered a temporary sock to post here for help. In these cases, they’ve made it clear that they are posting as a sock and why. I don’t know how the staff feels about these occurrences, but if I had to guess, I’d say they were tolerated but frowned upon.
…Especially since if one clicks “View Forum Leaders” on the SDMB top page, a page pops up with the e-mail addresses of everyone one would need to rectify the situation.
My suggestion is to remember TUBADIVA@aol.com and keep that little nugget of information somewhere handy. That way there’s no way you tick off the staff, and you know how to get into contact with the person you need to talk to.
I’ve thought periodically about emailing the admins for just this reason. I have a question about a family member’s activities, and this MB is probably my best shot at getting info about what this person is associated with. Unfortunately, if I posted details under a name easily traceable to me, I suspect this person would find out. (And no, there is no immediate danger.)
If I have a friend IRL who is also a member, could I use their user name, if I make it clear to the boards that it is someone else posting with their permission and clear to the mods who it is?
I think the simple answer is that if you want anonymity, you should have been anonymous right from the start. There are some members here who have taken pains never to reveal any potentially identifying information under their main (and presumably only) username, so it is possible. But if you didn’t take such pains at secrecy to start with, that’s the situation you have to live with.
I don’t know what you meant by this, but don’t read to much into my OP. I’m not married (yet) and was just trying to come up with an example of why someone might want to use a sock puppet.
I’ve tried to be careful, but I’m a conservative who lives in Massachusetts. There’s only about a half dozen of us, so you shouldn’t have any trouble tracking me down.
I’ve discussed this briefly with TubaDiva, but not with the rest of the Mods, and we’ve agreed that it would be OK to ask a Moderator to post for you, if you had a compelling, honest reason for wanting anonymity. “An undisclosed member has asked me to post the following…” (Obviously, you’d need to be clear about forum etc.)
Note the word “honest.” We’re not about to allow trickery or chicanery in this fashion.
And I have to say that I can’t think of many honest reasons for wanting to hide your identity. My opinion is that if you need advice on something like divorce, a Message Board is not a good place to get it. Besides, the spouse you’re trying to screw may be a member as well, and I don’t know that friends on the boards would feel comfortable at having been tricked into giving advice to one party over the other.
I’m assuming that cases like this would be few and far between. If I’m wrong, and people are abusing the system or there’s just more such situations than I imagined, we certainly reserve the right to rescind this offer if the added workload on Moderators becomes annoying.
