I participated in a thread in IMHO about dodgeball and the subscription was ticked on. I followed the link this morning only to get the following message:
Hmm, I thought did I say something wrong? No, my post was pretty much innocuous. So then, maybe the link is broken, I went to the IMHO board and didn’t see it out there. How about User CP to see if I’m still subscribed? Nopers, that’s gone too. And this thread has gone through, so my posting privileges are still intact.
Did the thread disappear or was it something I said? (I promise, I’ll make sure I’ll wash my gym socks next time!)
Correct. When we find “socks”, we ban them and delete their posts and threads. It can be annoying for others, we know, but then socks are annoying – that’s their raison d’etre. We have discussed this often amongst the mods, but we’re pretty much uaninmous. If we don’t delete their posts, then we’re rewarding their efforts. We want to convey the message that, if you try sock-hood, your user name will be banned and your posts deleted.
“Sock” is short for “sock puppet” - a fake identity concealing a real one - like you could make a hand puppet out of a sock. Let’s say I post as “AOne.” Maybe I don’t feel that my ideas are being appreciated, so I create “Bill,” who amazing enough endorses my ideas. Some people even create socks to oppose their ideas, just to keep a topic going. Here, I think, a “sock” can also refer to someone who was banned under one name and reappears under another name. See also sock puppet.
