# What Are Sock Puppets and Trolls? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [October 17, 2001, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-sock-puppets-and-trolls/88024 "2001-10-17T18:15:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Shera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shera)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2001, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-sock-puppets-and-trolls/88024/1 "2001-10-17T18:15:00Z")
What Are sock puppets and Trolls? Is there some list somewhere to tell me what the defining characteristics are? I fell like such an idiot becuase I don’t know what they are, but I would feel even stupider if I did something that was Trollish, and didn’t even know it. ---
**Author:** ![Hombre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecb155/32.png) [@Hombre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hombre)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2001, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-sock-puppets-and-trolls/88024/2 "2001-10-17T18:24:08Z")
Quick answers: Sock puppet -a second user-name for an existing member or a new name for a banned poster. Not permitted on these boards. Troll - A poster saying things just to get a rise out of everyone. Usually a returning sock puppet. For a long in-depth discussion, look at the ‘search’ link in the top right-hand corner of your screen. There have been many threads about these two subjects. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2001, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-sock-puppets-and-trolls/88024/3 "2001-10-17T21:33:19Z")
What is a troll? What is trolling? [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtroll.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtroll.html) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=49235](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=49235) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=47221](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=47221) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=38617](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=38617) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=66683](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=66683) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=29111](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=29111) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=52737](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=52737) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=50668](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=50668) ---
**Author:** ![Shera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Shera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shera)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2001, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-sock-puppets-and-trolls/88024/4 "2001-10-17T21:57:02Z")
Thanks **UncleBeer**. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2001, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-sock-puppets-and-trolls/88024/5 "2001-10-17T22:09:05Z")
Eh. Don’t thank me. Thank, Jodi. She dug up all those message board links and posted 'em just the other day. All I did was peek at the threads and copied the URL’s. But, on Jodi’s behalf, you’re welcome. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-sock-puppets-and-trolls/88024/6 "2001-10-18T03:52:46Z")
Oooooohhh! Pretty! Thanks Jodi! Isn’t Jodi swell? ---
**Author:** ![Shera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Shera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shera)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-sock-puppets-and-trolls/88024/7 "2001-10-18T05:00:29Z")
She most certainly is. Thank you Jodi!