# Why so many socks/trocks? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [August 21, 2023, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-socks-trocks/988871 "2023-08-21T17:21:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2023, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-socks-trocks/988871/21 "2023-08-21T19:48:49Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > How would they know “things are better” if they are new? Alright, how about through Cecil’s columns and some text explaining what the SDMB is about and, more importantly, what won’t be tolerated here and the reason for more stringent access? Would that work? If it’s not worth pursuing, I’ll drop it. Just thinking out loud, in case it’s useful. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2023, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-socks-trocks/988871/22 "2023-08-21T19:49:05Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Okay, I’ll ask the obvious: what’s a “trock”? The glossary of SDMB-specific terms is here. You can also get to it through the Registration, Rules, and FAQ post pinned to the top of ATMB. > [@Beginner's Guide to Glossary of Terms on Straight Dope Message Boards](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beginners-guide-to-glossary-of-terms-on-straight-dope-message-boards/307442): > > There are a number of terms commonly used on the Straight Dope Message Boards, that are basically “in-jokes” or references. There are several threads listing such, I have tried to compile them all into one post here. If anyone has additions or corrections, please email me – I’m going to keep this locked, so it doesn’t become too long and rambling, but remains fairly focused and easy to use. I have taken these descriptions from various threads and posts by various members. This thread isn’t upda… > [@](#): > > **Trock** - A serial sock and troll. We have several of these. Some have been with us for many years. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2023, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-socks-trocks/988871/23 "2023-08-21T19:57:00Z")
> [@alovem](#): > > Alright, how about through Cecil’s columns and some text explaining what the SDMB is about and, more importantly, what won’t be tolerated here and the reason for more stringent access? Would that work? Other than the brief run of new SD columns which Cecil did here a few months ago (and which, I don’t think, were ever publicized beyond the SDMB), there hasn’t been a Straight Dope column which appeared in newspapers (or even on the Straight Dope website) since 2018. ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2023, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-socks-trocks/988871/24 "2023-08-21T19:58:03Z")
I meant the published columns. The ones that drew us to this site. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2023, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-socks-trocks/988871/25 "2023-08-21T20:00:18Z")
There aren’t any anymore, as I noted. The only place they exist is in archive form, on [StraightDope.com](http://StraightDope.com). ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2023, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-socks-trocks/988871/26 "2023-08-21T20:02:50Z")
Well, I don’t want to insist. Obviously, I’m suggesting an overhaul of this place, but, as I’ve said, I’m really just thinking out loud. I’m not here to raise a fuss. If there’s not really a reason to complain about socks/trocks, there’s no reason for a big change. Unless it wouldn’t really be so big and would attract new users. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2023, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-socks-trocks/988871/27 "2023-08-21T20:09:55Z")
> [@alovem](#): > > Obviously, I’m suggesting an overhaul of this place, but, as I’ve said, I’m really just thinking out loud. … Man, we’re just getting used to Discourse here. No overhauls for like ten years or something. Minimum. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2023, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-socks-trocks/988871/28 "2023-08-22T00:56:21Z")
I spent over a decade dealing with socks over on Wikipedia as an administrator. I was a very active sock puppet investigator. (Yes, SPI is a real thing there.) The SDMB is nothing special in that regard. The question in the OP is like asking why a house is so vulnerable to rain since the roof keeps getting wet. The reason why it’s vulnerable to socks is the same reason every other site is just as vulnerable to them. They will always exist as long as we allow for anonymity. And that is necessary if we actually want, you know, people participating here. > [@alovem](#): > > So, if anyone wants to respond, feel free to provide that explanation, but I think it’d be better to **interpret this post as a suggestion** (from a tech-ignorant poster) **to implement more stringent access requirements**. Verification or something. This is like taking the metaphor of a roof getting wet, and proposing you keep it dry by setting it on fire. ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2023, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-socks-trocks/988871/29 "2023-08-22T06:49:59Z")
A roof is more like a hat than a golf ball is like an egg. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2023, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-socks-trocks/988871/30 "2023-08-22T10:23:23Z")
And time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2023, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-socks-trocks/988871/31 "2023-08-22T12:20:41Z")
Well, art is art, isn’t it? Still, on the other hand, water is water. And east is east and west is west, and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce, they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2023, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-socks-trocks/988871/32 "2023-08-22T12:57:35Z")
I’d like to see the OP outline what they think should change and how the proposed change will affect our results for the better. So far I see a couple of vague oblique suggestions about fixing a problem we don’t really seem to have. I’m not trying to be a jerk here; there may genuinely be some good ideas here and I’m trying to tease them out. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2023, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-socks-trocks/988871/33 "2023-08-22T13:11:11Z")
Thanks. I figured it was a portmanteau, but a brief web search yielded nothing useful. ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2023, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-socks-trocks/988871/34 "2023-08-22T15:47:10Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I’d like to see the OP outline what they think should change and how the proposed change will affect our results for the better. It’s all in the OP, including my acknowledgement that I don’t know enough about the technology to understand what can be done. It’s also been established that the consensus is that socks/trocks aren’t actually a problem on this message board, so I’ll consider the matter resolved, unless you’ve got something to say. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > I’m not trying to be a jerk here; there may genuinely be some good ideas here and I’m trying to tease them out. I was hoping the thread would lead to conversation among those of you who do understand the technology and are able to contribute something. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2023, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-socks-trocks/988871/35 "2023-08-22T16:12:10Z")
We are a **Marketplace Of Ideas**. Ideas **offend** _certain people_. Mystery solv-ed. Selah. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2023, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-socks-trocks/988871/36 "2023-08-22T16:14:37Z")
“The technology” to do _what_ exactly? To my mind you’ve still utterly failed to state a case for what you find problematic or given even a vague notion of what a better outcome (not process; outcome) would look like. If you’re of the habit of using the boards mostly between, say, midnight and 3am central USA time, that’s when all the spammers show up. Who are duly slaughtered at first light by our USA-based mods. Understanding that the automated spammer filters already stop WAG 90+% of the attempts and all the mods see are the fairly few leakers. Those of us who use the Dope during the US business day can go months between seeing spam posts. If your problem is trolls, well, it’s darn hard to detect someone’s intent ahead of giving them an opportunity to act on their intent. Even if you enacted some sort of kiddie pool where they had to play nice with others for, say, a month before being allowed out with the adults, that would simply slow down the impatient trolls, not the extra aggressive targeted trolls. One of the things they teach in the software design industry is that you can’t propose a technological solution to a social problem. It’s usually phrased in terms of trying to use automation to impose a disciplined workflow process on a chaotic organization, or to reign in rogue salesmen by using rigorous approvals, or … It. Just. Doesn’t. Work. To fix the chaotic human process you must engage in human-to-human management to remove the incentives and therefore the desire to operate chaotically. Then automate the resulting non-chaotic reliable bureaucratic process people are already willingly using. As applied to the publicly-supplied content of social media in general and the Dope in particular, that suggests the way to stop undesirable behavior is to make it unrewarding on a human-to-human level. When trolls and their handiwork simply disappear without a trace, that works. They don’t get their jollies and soon they’re off to more inviting pastures. Yes, it cedes them the first move. But the alternative is to ban everyone until they’ve somehow proven they’re nice. Which is farcically illogical. ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2023, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-socks-trocks/988871/37 "2023-08-22T16:19:43Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I’m not trying to be a jerk here;… > [@LSLGuy](#): > > To my mind you’ve still utterly failed to state a case for what you find problematic or given even a vague notion of what a better outcome (not process; outcome) would look like. Uh-huh. Keep not trying. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2023, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-socks-trocks/988871/38 "2023-08-22T16:46:16Z")
Ok. Sorry to be a bother. Cheers! ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2023, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-socks-trocks/988871/39 "2023-08-29T22:32:37Z")
> [@alovem](#): > > If it weren’t for The Pit, I’d tell more people about this message board. I think it’s an embarrassment. If it weren’t for The Pit, we’d not have a significant % of the current membership here and that would be an embarrassment. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2023, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-socks-trocks/988871/40 "2023-08-30T00:19:47Z")
I don’t think so, but it would be easy enough to test. Just shut down The Pit for “maintenance” for about a week and see what happens. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-socks-trocks/988871.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-socks-trocks/988871.md?page=3)