# How do you spot socks? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 27, 2020, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spot-socks/847054 "2020-01-27T16:21:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spot-socks/847054/61 "2020-01-28T16:17:34Z")
You know, I’ve been wondering a while (and this is as good a thread as any to raise it): What’s the Dope policy if two people living in the same home - let’s say, a married couple who are both Dopers - are logging in under the same geographical location, using the same Internet, maybe even same computer? Are they suspected of being 1 person under 2 names? ---
**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:** [January 28, 2020, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spot-socks/847054/62 "2020-01-28T16:31:03Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > I got a mod note if I recall, and fair enough thems the rules. Your memory is faulty on that as well. Your posts were not moderated. In fact, no mod posted in that thread at all. > [@](#): > > Though I was hardly the only one in that thread to make the connection. To your credit, you at least reported it. No one else did. > [@](#): > > It was not the “same politics”, it was literally the same posts.:smack: Your report just said “talks only about Scottish Independence.” Again, if you had more definite evidence, you should have reported it. If you want to be helpful, then be helpful. Mods can’t read every single post, and don’t just assume we’ve done so. ---
**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:** [January 28, 2020, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spot-socks/847054/63 "2020-01-28T16:34:03Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > As an aside, if I made a Sock!AK84 (which as mods would know [I **have**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php)😉 I can easily think of ways to ensure that I never raise suspicion. Log on in different places (work versus home or LTE), so surely there has to be more to a final decision than just “inconclusive”. As I said, you can change your name but you can’t change who you are. We rely on many lines of evidence besides just IPs, which I am not going to go into here for obvious reasons. ---
**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:** [January 28, 2020, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spot-socks/847054/64 "2020-01-28T16:37:53Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > You know, I’ve been wondering a while (and this is as good a thread as any to raise it): What’s the Dope policy if two people living in the same home - let’s say, a married couple who are both Dopers - are logging in under the same geographical location, using the same Internet, maybe even same computer? > > Are they suspected of being 1 person under 2 names? We have a white list of posters who are known to share a computer or internet connection. If we see such activity between posters who don’t seem to have nefarious intent, we will generally ask them what the situation is. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spot-socks/847054/65 "2020-01-28T16:38:00Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > At least these socks don’t masquerade as horny chicks wanting to meet hot nerds. I won’t say ‘hot nerds’ is an oxymoron, but it’s gotta be pretty close. 😛 ---
**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:** [January 28, 2020, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spot-socks/847054/66 "2020-01-28T16:43:25Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > As I said, you can change your name but you can’t change who you are. We rely on many lines of evidence besides just IPs, which I am not going to go into here for obvious reasons. And we’ve banned literally thousands of socks. Saying that we “don’t to jack” about socks is absurd. We’ll ban them if we can establish enough evidence. If you can help with that, great. But don’t complain that we’re not interested in catching and banning socks because a single report wasn’t acted on. ---
**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:** [January 28, 2020, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spot-socks/847054/67 "2020-01-28T16:54:19Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > As an aside, if I made a Sock!AK84 (which as mods would know [I **have**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php)😉 I can easily think of ways to ensure that I never raise suspicion. Log on in different places (work versus home or LTE), so surely there has to be more to a final decision than just “inconclusive”. > [@Colibri](#): > > As I said, you can change your name but you can’t change who you are. We rely on many lines of evidence besides just IPs, which I am not going to go into here for obvious reasons. I just looked at a bunch of your posts. I’m pretty sure I could nail you within a hundred posts, even if you didn’t post on your usual political interests. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spot-socks/847054/68 "2020-01-28T17:15:48Z")
Aisle 9. Since I work in the store, I get a 10% discount. ---
**Author:** ![steatopygia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steatopygia/32/3132_2.png) [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spot-socks/847054/69 "2020-01-28T17:19:02Z")
You’re right Annie. Those are your tells. I could identify your sock in well less than a hundred posts. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spot-socks/847054/70 "2020-01-28T17:32:27Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I just looked at a bunch of your posts. I’m pretty sure I could nail you within a hundred posts, even if you didn’t post on your usual political interests. 😃 😃 ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spot-socks/847054/71 "2020-01-28T17:41:49Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Aisle 9. Since I work in the store, I get a 10% discount. I usually spot mine by dripping food on them while I eat standing at the kitchen counter. ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spot-socks/847054/72 "2020-01-28T17:42:11Z")
Caught a [plagiarist](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=614889) before, but never a sock. When someone is repeating another person’s sentences word-for-word and badly fitting it into present context that can be easily recognizable. Ask anyone TAing a first year University course. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spot-socks/847054/73 "2020-01-28T18:07:25Z")
> [@orcenio](#): > > Caught a [plagiarist](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=614889) before, but never a sock. When someone is repeating another person’s sentences word-for-word and badly fitting it into present context that can be easily recognizable. Ask anyone TAing a first year University course. There are actually people who feel the need to plagiarize in order to take part in a conversation in a thread? That’s truly sad. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spot-socks/847054/74 "2020-01-28T18:09:20Z")
On Wikipedia, sock puppets investigations (SPIs) are all done on a page anyone can view. I don’t believe there are any “private” spaces on that site. There are places that restrict editing, but not reading. So everyone can see the results of an investigation. But that’s tough for people doing the investigation. Because when I give my conclusions, I need to say why I arrived at my decision. How do I do that? If I say “this guy always uses single quotes” then he’ll skip doing that in the future. So I try to be vague saying something like, “there are distinctive communication patterns shared between known socks”. It’s always a balance between how much info you disclose to justify your conclusions, or giving the person tips on how to evade detection. That’s why I think it’s good that moderators here have a “mod loop” where they can coordinate between each other without letting too much info out to the public. I wish I’d had that luxury. The best I could do is bounce emails off other admins. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spot-socks/847054/75 "2020-01-28T20:06:47Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > **Chronos** first raised the possibility that **Okrahoma** was a sock of **Terr** on Oct. 21, 2017, and he was banned the following day after investigation. Of course no one reported him as a troll after that since he was banned. There were a number of Pit threads about **Okrahoma** in which he was accused of being a troll and a sock, but no one correctly identified him. I definitely remember posts where he was accused of being Terr. Admittedly, they were much more recent the other accusations, but I don’t think they were just the day before. The thing for me is that mods [del]yell[/del]express extreme frustration at people for repeatedly incorrectly identifying socks or trolls (even to the point of making special GD/Election “guidelines” about it) so I don’t usually like to report my suspicions before I’ve brought it up to other posters first. So that’s what I use the Pit thread for. It’s both a sanity check and so I have more people to back me up so it doesn’t look like I just have a personal beef with a poster. Heck, often I assume someone else will report because they are clearly more sure than I am. (Plus the mods clearly read that bread and react to it.) Perhaps that’s a bystander effect situation. Ever since you voiced your frustration at me that one time, I’ve put barriers in front of reporting for myself, to discourage doing it too much. Until recently, for example, I only PM’d, adding an extra barrier, until Chronos told me he’d rather I report. Point is, if you want more reported suspicions, I can do that. I just think there might be reasons people feel more comfortable posting their suspicions in the troll thread first beyond “showing off.” ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spot-socks/847054/76 "2020-01-28T20:29:34Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > I won’t say ‘hot nerds’ is an oxymoron, but it’s gotta be pretty close. 😛 You’re not thinking like a catfisher then. They wouldn’t use that term overtly. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spot-socks/847054/77 "2020-01-28T20:36:14Z")
“I think intelligence is sexy, tee hee!“ ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spot-socks/847054/78 "2020-01-28T20:43:01Z")
If you report suspicions, we might roll our eyes at you if you’re wrong. But we will investigate it. And sometimes, you just might be right. It’s a lot easier to compare two people, than to compare _everyone_. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spot-socks/847054/79 "2020-01-28T21:28:48Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > “I think intelligence is sexy, tee hee!“ Is that a pocket protector or are you just happy to see me? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spot-socks/847054/80 "2020-01-28T22:29:24Z")
When a sock account is discovered, do they ban the original account as well as the sock account? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spot-socks/847054.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-spot-socks/847054.md?page=5)