Well, after reading a bunch of threads, I can sort of figure it out. Such a shame though, he/she/it was VERY entertaining.
So this brings me to my question: How can I get a list of all of the banned posters? I’ve tried searching already, but the status of a user doesn’t seem to be a parameter. Am I missing an easy way to find this?
Understand that I’m not sticking up for anyone- I just find it extremely amusing to read the things that people say to get kicked out.
One last thing- I think it would be a great idea to have a separate area for banned posters- maybe just as a warning/example to newbies (like me, I guess- though I’d like to think that I could figure out in advance if something was too stupid to say)
And if you’re reading this and don’t know what I’m talking about- do a user search for “peace” and enjoy!
“Trolls” are posters who hit a message board with the sole intention of provoking a (usually negative) response. “All black people are rapists” would be an example of a trolling post. Trolls get their giggles by pissing people off and being immune to any retaliation.
“Sock owners” (or “Sockpuppets”) are people who make multiple user names, usually so they can cause trouble without anybody else being the wiser. Also, Sockpuppets can be used to bolster a losing side of a debate… strength in numbers, that sort of thing.
Trolls are people who deliberately post inaccurately, simply to get a response. This ranges from slightly inaccurate stuff (a ‘subtle’ troll) to full blown flamebait.
A sock-puppet (‘sock’ for short) is an alternative userid, created by a user who already has one. This might be used to have a discussion with yourself (trollish behaviour) or if someone’s been banned, they can use it to pretend they’re a new user. These get spotted pretty quickly, and that’s why you might see a new user suddenly get banned without any apparant reason; they’re really an old banned user.
These are pretty generic descriptions that apply to most message boards (the term ‘troll’ goes back at least to Usenet), so SDMB official definitions may vary.
I’ve never seen sock used as a regular term on any other board. If you have a cite anywhere else, I’d love to see it.
The reason is simple: Most boards and chat rooms allow and even encourage “personalities”, even to the extent of having a pull down so you can select the right one.
The only one I know that wants a single name is ZDnet, an there they would ban any joke name like everyone posting here (except those with real-sounding names like Cecil Adams). But they won’t complain about multiple real-sounding names. You can sign up as C.Adams and Cecil B. Adams and post all three names on the same thread answering questions directed at the others, and no one cares.
So, there is no harm, no foul, and no term needed to describe it with a cute word.
The reason they aren’t allowed here, I have learned (and oldtimers please correct me if I’ve got the details wrong) is there was a flame war with another board.
Some SDMBer’s decided they’d had enough of religious threads about The Rapture, and went to a religious site to, basically, spam them. That site decided it was a game two could play and came here.
Ed decided he couldn’t ban by IP# but he could ban by multiple user names at similar IP#'s, so he chose that.
However, that Socks board has hilariously wrong information. As a general rule, anything you read on that board about the workings and/or policies of the SDMB is incorrect. Other than people saying “I was banned from the SDMB for being a sock!” That statement is probably correct.
Nope. Or at least, not entirely. We’ve had a couple of problem posters who used multiple SNs to agree with themselves, and generally cause trouble with the message board. I’ve seen the term “sockpuppet” used in other areas of the net/web, too. Before they were banned, I had humorous one, too, my “cousin Vinnie”, who is an…expeditor. This was a holdover from the old AOL boards, where I’d make references to him. I enjoyed him, and I think that most people thought it was funny. However, I retired Vinnie (not that I used him much) when we instituted the one-handle-per-customer rule. Several other people had funny socks, too. This was definitely a case of a few jerks ruining it for everyone.
Incidentally, I found quite a few sockpuppet (meaning an alternate persona) listings just by doing a Google search.
Just as a side note, the “interboard war” was the product of a link to a conservative-Christian board by a regular poster, which resulted in people going there and commenting (sometimes rather acidly) on the things said there in a GD thread. When somebody (allegations were that it was a former poster with a Platonic-dialogue screen name, but nobody ever verified that) spilled the beans to that board, a team of their members spammed this one.
After a bit, some of the more thoughtful members of that other board began posting here on a regular basis, and a few regulars here posted there. As their board underwent a management change and became mostly dysfunctional, some of them started a board of their own on a server belonging to one of them, and quite a few SD regulars (not exclusively Christian) also belong to that board, where they’re welcomed.
So some good did come out of the mess.
Question: At one time there was a screen name “Deceased Equine” who would add his comments to threads that were beginning to “beat a dead horse.” I always suspected that was an Admin. or Mod. having some fun. And presumably the name’s been retired based on the one-SN-per-individual rule. Just curious if anyone’s willing to say who that was?
And one wise-#@# remark re the OP topic: Obviously you ladies, Tuba and Lynn, don’t listen to John Lennon: “All we are saying…”
