Hey man, it’s a rebuilding year! 
The first seventy six were given trombones. Then they started handing out the cornets…
Unless you switched ISPs, threw out your phone, and changed jobs, your posts would still show up as coming from those three IP addresses. There are easier (if more technical) ways around that, but then there’s the hockey. People who get banned from here are often banned because they’ve got some behavior they cannot or will not modify in order to stay. Usually, they’re not any better able to control themselves when they make a sock. So, if we had to ban you because you just wouldn’t stop posting “GO LEAFS!” in every single thread, when some guy named MapleEnthusiast shows up and posts, “YAY TORONTO!” in every single thread… well, it’s not exactly a Sherlockian deduction, you know?
Thanks.
I don’t think I’ll be posting much about the Leafs for a couple of years though. 
Wait, you mean you’re two different people?
There are other direct methods besides ISP, which I’m not going to discuss. But as we’ve been saying, socks often have “tells” that they are probably not even aware of. Some are obvious, with others it may take some detective work.
Nah, same person, just one’s a sock of the other. :dubious:
One can’t get banned for comments in the ban thread, right? Right???
So, banning seems to be kind of fatal.
But, at least I get a warning first. Then I know when to reel it in. Sounds fair.
Cause, I rather like hanging out here with you folks. Thanks for letting me play here.
Are banned posters still eligible for posthumous admission to the Straight Dope Hall of Fame?
There’s a Straight Dope Hall of Infamy too. Some people confuse it with the HoF. Banned posters get a bye for the early rounds for HoI.
It is said that in years past, a poster was banned but was so widely admired for his warm charm and generous nature that he returned afresh that very day! Might just be a legend…
Mods are not gods. If this is true, I am glad they realized the error, and there was a resurrection for the banned poster
Many of the more well adjusted go through the standard Kübler-Ross stages of grief; denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.
However, sadly, most of the banned go into a downward spiral of anger, despair, drug use, loss of home and family, homelessness, suicide attempts but ultimately an agonising and painful death from non-posting induced stress.
[Moderator Note - spoiler tags added due to NSFW content (link to image of extreme violence)]
Is there something going around in the air? I think that’s twice this week that’s happened.
I don’t think it’s been explained yet in this thread exactly why sock puppets are called sock puppets, except that they are started for purposes of deception.
Picture yourself putting on a play with two sock puppets, one on each hand, and they are having a dialog with each other. (Peanuts fans will remember that Snoopy was fond of staging War And Peace with at least three or more puppets.)
Users sometimes create multiple accounts with different names, for the purpose of posting conversations or debates with themselves to have the appearance of multiple actual different people having a debate. That where the phrase “sock puppet” comes from to signify message board users doing that.
Yes, it’s a widely used phrase on various message boards that I’ve seen.
You know, that’s just going to keep happening. You should embrace it! (by banning everyone on the board for a few hours)
Since when is Giraffeboards “nice?”
Why, they’re taken to a farm! Yes, that’s it… a lovely farm, with big green fields where they can run and bark and play with other banned users, all the livelong day!
Well, it’s more of a cornfield actually. But it’s a good life.