# What happened to PinGear? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 29, 2004, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-pingear/282030 "2004-12-29T00:52:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-pingear/282030/1 "2004-12-29T00:52:02Z")
I saw that he was banned… why? I did notice he had a habit of making drive-by additions of random/irrelevant/incorrect/argumentive information to a lot of threads but occasionally he had something useful to add. ---
**Author:** ![Berkut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@Berkut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Berkut)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-pingear/282030/2 "2004-12-29T01:40:44Z")
I’ve noticed when a fairly new poster gets banned, it’s usually because they were a sock or troll. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-pingear/282030/3 "2004-12-29T03:58:20Z")
> [@Berkut](#): > > I’ve noticed when a fairly new poster gets banned, it’s usually because they were a sock… What’s a ‘sock’? ---
**Author:** ![Berkut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@Berkut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Berkut)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-pingear/282030/4 "2004-12-29T04:09:09Z")
It’s short for “sockpuppet”. It’s someone who has more than one account, usually for the purpose of causing trouble. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-pingear/282030/5 "2004-12-29T04:21:58Z")
Thanks. I’ve seen the expression a few times and tried to nut it out myself. Unsuccessfully, needless to say. Such individuals are by no means rare on message boards but you have to wonder about people who’d pay a subscription fee more than once, just to be a pest. Still, it takes all kinds they say. ---
**Author:** ![Berkut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@Berkut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Berkut)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-pingear/282030/6 "2004-12-29T08:17:36Z")
By the way, does your username have anything to do with the Jabiru aircraft engine? Is that where you got it or does it have some other meaning? ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-pingear/282030/7 "2004-12-29T09:51:28Z")
Factual answer to original question, anyone? ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-pingear/282030/8 "2004-12-29T13:01:52Z")
He had signed on under two different screen names, and failed to respond to private email asking him what was going on. The action of banning produced the desired result of an email response and explanation; he has been re-instated as **spingears** and the posts under **Pingear** were merged under that name. We’re understanding of honest errors, we’re not sympathetic to deliberate violations of the rules against duplicate screen names. When you get an email from a Moderator asking a question, please respond. We consider failure to respond as an indication of guilt.