Incidentally, CairoCarol, it’s nice to discuss this rule with someone who isn’t a sock. There have been some past instances where somebody would ask this kind of question and then it’d turn out that… you know. Same thing with Charter Membership, actually.
I hope it’s not out of line for me to ask this here Marley, but I didn’t think it merited a whole 'nother thread. Does the banning of the OP in the thread you linked to mean that he actually had 4 different socks?
From my own personal experience, it’s not inherently dishonest. I also post to the D&D messages boards, over at Wizards of the Coast. I post from work, and from home, and couldn’t remember one day which of my numerous email address I had used to create a user ID, so I created a new one using a different user name. I didn’t have access to home email, so I couldn’t have them send me a change-the-password link. My intention was to search the board, which you can’t do without signing in. Any comments I made or questions I asked would have been in the same voice, regardless of which ID I had used. I do not see this as inherently dishonest.
However, here at the SDMB, it’s a different story. My basic rule of thumb is that anything I see imposed as a rule is done so because somebody, somehow, was a jerk.
– Posting images
– Sock puppets
– User name choices
– Sig lines
– Editing quotes
– Links to various sites
– Site wars
– Graping
These rules aren’t because we’re all jerks, or because most of us are. It’s because a very few of the people here are jerks, and they mostly hide it very well. Sock puppets in particular actually help them hide the fact that they’re jerks.
Okay, at this point I guess I have a bit more insight into the sock phenomenon. It may not be something that bothers me personally, but I have a better feel for why people might say “socks are bad.”
Ignorance fought, and all that.
Yes, four. There’s a thread in ATMB about it. It’s about three more than most people need but we’ve seen worse. 
Ah, yeah I suspected as such with your last posting in that thread. Should have known that there would be a discussion about it going on in ATMB :smack:
Thanks!
Me too, except I was rushing in to defend them, the more the better, especially in Winter, especially the pink merino wool socks–ooh I love them…my feet are so warm!
Dumb question. What’s ATMB?
About This Message Board. It’s the first forum if you go to the front page of the board.
Yes, and that’s the reason we NEED to allow socks! I have often wanted to post something but couldn’t because it might hurt other people (or myself) if I revealed too much info.
So the answer is simple: we need a additional forum: called ,say, THS --“the sock forum”. Restricted to paid members, (or members with, say, 500 previous posts) who would be allowed to post there under names generated automatically as “anonymous1,” anon2, anon3 , etc…
We would still have our great little community on all the other boards. And most of the threads on the sock board would still be trustworthy, because we would know that the posters are part of our regular community, and most of us are not jerks.
My suggested sock forum would only solve the problem for Dopers who want to start new threads , not respond as socks to an existing thread on one of the regular forums. So you might not be able to respond to a ‘problem-at-work’ thread by saying “yeah, I work at XYZ company, too, and that manager is a real bastard”. But you would be able to start a new thread about it, and provide enough details (anonymously) that you might receive valuable answers to your problem.
I was being sarcastic. My point was that I don’t need input from the Boards on every possible element of my life.
Oh duh. 
OK! Thank you!
Words cannot describe how much this isn’t going to happen. 
The two other communities I’ve been most involved with have allowed multiple usernames. Both were communities associated with professions. For one, you logged in with your professional association member number and created an ID for each session. Many, perhaps most, people stuck to a consistent identity. The other just didn’t have a rule against creating a new user name if you wanted.
The rationale for these boards’ policies is that people are often posting about something work-sensitive, there’s a fair chance their boss might also be a member, etc. And these policies were well thought out by paid staff members of professional associations.
In spite of the sound rationale and the seemingly professional constituency of those boards, and my interest in professional issues, I no longer even read either of those boards because the snark is just too thick. Those communities can’t hold a candle to the Dope.
I’m somewhat intrigued by the “Sock forum for long-time members” idea. But in general, I applaud the mods for keeping us barefoot over here on the SDMB.
I keep hearing about this Cecil Adams fellow, yet he remains so… elusive?
I feel sorry for those posters with multiple personalities.
Elucidate? There have been several ATMB threads about such a thing, but I’ve never seen any moderator comment so specifically shooting it down.
Obviously if it’s a technical problem, that’s pretty understandable.
Yes, it’s funny - I hadn’t realized it until recently, but I am a sock on flickr!:eek: As a publications editor, I use it for professional reasons, and therefore need to have a photostream that doesn’t make me look like an idiot. As CairoCarol, I only post photos that are decent and give me some credibility. As Tambora, I’m a terrible photographer who posts pics from my son’s birthday party, photos for Doper picture threads, etc.
I hope flickr doesn’t mind.
And Flying Dutchman, there’s no need to feel sorry for me.
I forgot about this thread and had one last comment.
In order to make the “universal sock” account work, it has to be accessed via your own account. In the postt edit window there’d be a button that the poster would click indicating “Use the sock account”. The database would know it was you , but the post is anonymous. This prevents misuse because you could be traced by the mods if you used the “sock” to be a jerk/troll.
Also, exclude guest accounts from accessing the “sock”.
That is all.
Moving thread from IMHO to ATMB.