but the female audience won’t be.
It isn’t required, when asking a question, to inform the Teeming Millions of exactly why you want to know. If you feel a need to explain, all you have to do is say something neutral like, “The question came up at this end…” or “A bunch of us were discussing this…” and the Teeming Millions will have to be content with that.
Of course, they may speculate to their heart’s content. But then again, they can speculate about why you say anything at all on these boards, so…
But it’s nobody’s business but your own exactly why you wanna know about, say, genital herpes, or pain during intercourse, or child support laws, or parking tickets, or how to get rid of cockroaches, or any of the hundreds of other slightly touchy subjects that come up here. And if you’re so paranoid that you’re afraid to even mention the subject, say, of coming out as a bisexual because you’re afraid that someone here might think, or know, that you were the one who was thinking about coming out, then you should go somewhere else for your information, where people don’t know you. There’s a whole Internet out there chock-full of information and Google-groups and other MBs, and the SDMB certainly isn’t the only place to find things out and discuss touchy personal subjects.
And yes, Gazpacho, although I certainly can’t speak for all 30,000 members, whenever I see a question posted as “on behalf of my friend”, I always assume that the poster is telling the truth, and is simply asking on behalf of his friend. Because after all, it’s none of my business why he’s asking. YMMV.
If it’s not inappropriate to ask:
What was the question posed by the sock? was the question itself offensive or did the fact that it was a sock automatically merit deletion?
Hmm…I’m of two minds on this. I did happen to read the offending post so I can understand why they were looking for anonymity.
I can see where there would be a benefit in anonymity, but rather than having ‘official’ socks which would be greatly prone to abuse, why not a ‘Dear Dopers’ column where the asker is not identified at all, or is listed simply as ‘guest’?
On the other hand, posting to a message board is fairly anonymous in and of itself, unless you choose to make yourself known by your posts.
The fact remains that this is a public message board, and once you’ve posted here 1000 times, you’ve probably left enough tracks for any determined investigator to establish your true identity. I long ago gave up any thoughts of anonymity.
Some of us have already tried that and been told no.
cough
How can it be abused if you have to go through the mods each time you wanted to use a sock?
Not that our mods would ever abuse a system such as this, but I can see where the possibility exists that someone would feel edgy knowing that another human soul knew the identity of the poster.
It seems to me that if anonymity were important due to the question itself, it would be important to try to maintain complete anonymity.
If the sock puppets existence were for the sole and express purpose of asking an important but potentially embarresing question then I could understand.
But if it’s just for flaming someone? No way.
I think that if you have something embarassing to ask then just ask it. Or find some other board and ask it. The SDMB may be convient, but you can find a board for almost anything. Authorized sock puppets would just be extra work on the mods.
Besides its not like it is very difficult to make an undetectable sock puppet.
All sock posts qualify for deletion. Sometimes we don’t delete, because there’s too much discussion already.
Spam posts are AUTOMATICALLY deleted, and I wish y’all wouldn’t respond to them. I do appreciate those posters who hit the “report” button, rather than responding to spam or troll posts. Sure, sometimes I get 36 reports on a single spam, but don’t let that stop YOU from reporting it. I like to know that you CARE.
Muad’Dib asks:
Because there are people who would want to ask a zillion sock questions. Quite frankly, I already have ENOUGH to do on this message board, and I am not looking to increase my workload. I don’t know how the other mods feel about this, though.
Instead of a authorized sock policy, how about a way to submit questions anonymously in one specific forum? That way, creating false accounts is still discouraged in all instances, and someone can still get their ignorance eroded a tiny bit (maybe) by getting answers to questions they don’t want their name associated with.
Though some of the questions seen on this board would suggest otherwise, sometimes people won’t look for help or information out of embarrassment.
I never said it was clever… I was just offering it as a possible solution. But yes, I think many people would shift from thinking “He’s definitely talking about himself” to “He’s probably talking about himself.” The latter being better than the former, of course.
I’ve seen enough TMI threads here from OPs talking for and about themselves to the extent that I tend to give the benefit of the doubt to folks who say they aren’t speaking for themselves–especially if it’s from an established poster whom I respect.
Damnit! We already went through this. There are no bean, beef, AND cheese frozen burritos! 
Enjoy,
Steven
You know, if we could have sock puppets I might have someone who would agree with me. With my luck, however, my own sock puppet would find some flaw in my argument and drag me into the Pit, denouncing its own creator of an ill informed and deluded moron. My kids do it. :rolleyes:
You’re lucky SG, my sock puppet would completely ignore my flawed arguments.