Patience of a Saint

Mick Fealty has to be the most tolerant blog-proprietor out there. Not only does he spurn the option of permanently banning persistently offending commenters in favour of a two week spell in the sin bin (after a yellow card warning to boot!), now I learn that he even tolerates the use of sockpuppets and will only ban the sockpuppet "false false identity" but allow the "real false identity" to keep posting!

One of the sad things about Internet discussion is the reluctance of people to use their real names. In the context of Northern Ireland it is eminently understandable why people choose to remain annonymous. However, Sockpuppets take annonymity a step further. They are false, false identities if you like, often used by someone who is already posting under a 'proper' identity.

They can be fun and entertaining. Occasionally they can be vicious, often being used as an attack vehicle: ie, not merely for anonymity. In the context of Slugger, sockpuppets are not against the rules. However should a sockpuppet character be seen to serially play the man not the ball, you may find that your alter ego is suddenly (and without warning) curtailed from play.

While we are at it, I'll just confirm my own policy. My view on anonymous posters is that anonymity comes at a cost to credibility. I have no problem with anonymity but I will tend to be more tolerant of those posting under real names. Hitherto, I've only had to ban or delete spammers, but I reserve the right to delete and (permanently) ban anyone guilty of persistent trolling. Sockpuppetry will only be tolerated, a) for satirical purposes or b) if the purpose is not to simulate ersatz agreement or disagreement with something already written by the puppeteer.

Comments

[Eulick McGee]

How do you know if someone is using a real or fake name? ;))

Agree about Mick, the man's a champion.

[Abiola Lapite]

Isn't it pathetic that there are people out there who are willing to resort to astroturfing to simulate (dis)agreement with their own views? Talk about having too much time to kill ...

[Frank McGahon]

Well, I can't be 100% sure, Ulick, although I'd say it's a racing certainty that if that was your real name, a) You would know how to spell Magee and Ulick and b) If your parents had saddled you with such an unfortunate pairing you might contrive a slightly different first name, perhaps Ulee?

Seriously, most of the real names track out. Of course I can't be bothered tracing down everyone's cv but with the false names the trail goes cold pretty quickly. If you were bothered, you could construct a real-sounding identity with a real-sounding email address and plausible cv but to be honest most don't bother. As for sock-puppets, you can usually tell from the IP address if it is someone pretending to be a different person.

[Frank McGahon]

Isn't it pathetic that there are people out there who are willing to resort to astroturfing to simulate (dis)agreement with their own views...

One of the gnxp-ers commented here using two different identities (each different from the one he uses at gnxp!), although in this particular case he wasn't astroturfing as the different identities were six months apart, although I think he was trying to conceal or at least play down the gnxp connection at the beginning.

[Abiola Lapite]

"One of the gnxp-ers commented here using two different identities (each different from the one he uses at gnxp!)"

He is large, he contains multitudes ...

[Belfast Gonzo]

Damn, just as I was getting into this blog!

[Frank McGahon]

Mr Gonzo, you are always welcome here. In fact I think I'll award you honorary non-anonymous status! (along with J. Cassian aka C. Bloggerfella!)

[Jimmy Sands]

You definitely should not compromise on this Frank.

[Frank McGahon]

and of course, the bould Jimmy Sands..

[Frank McGahon]

speak of the devil!

[Young Oirlander]

We must ban all sockpuppets!

[Madradin Ruad]

God bless Mick, he even resists the temptation to name and shame the guilty ! The man is a saint I agree, a saint.

[Bran]

As we learn on (http://barcepundit.blogspot.com/) Barcepundit
"George Orwell wasn't George Orwell; Franco Alemán isn't Franco Alemán"
And, of course, Soren Kirkegaard was the original astroturfing sockpuppet.

Bran

[J.Cassian]

In fact I think I'll award you honorary non-anonymous status! (along with J. Cassian aka C. Bloggerfella!)

No one must ever know my true identity but here's a clue: I'm a professor of linguistics at well-known institute of technology maybe in Massachussetts and my name rhymes with "Choam Nomsky".

George Orwell wasn't George Orwell; Franco Alemán isn't Franco Alemán" And, of course, Soren Kirkegaard was the original astroturfing sockpuppet

Don't forget Brian Ó Nualláin a.k.a Flann O'Brien a.k.a Myles na Gopaleen (apparently Irish civil servants weren't allowed to use their own names for their published work) and multiple-personalitied Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa a.k.a. Alberto Caeiro, Alvaro Campos and Ricardo Reis.

Famous historical anonymous political pundit: "Junius", a bitter opponent of Lord North in the mid-18th century, whose identity has never been revealed. His moniker was later re-used for the solo blog of Chris Bertram now of Dishonest Dendritic Matter fame.