UDWiki:Moderation/Policy Discussion/Adopt Wikipedia's Sockpuppeteering Policy/v2

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A sock puppet is an additional username used by a UDWiki user who edits under more than one name. The UDWikian who uses a sock puppet may be called a sock puppeteer. Use of sock puppets is discouraged in most cases. Jimmy Wales has said: "There's no specific policy against it, but it's generally considered uncool unless you have a good reason," and " ... multiple usernames are really only a problem if they are used as a method of troublemaking of some sort. For example, to generate an appearance of consensus, or to vote more than once, or to hide from public scrutiny." See http://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2003-October/007398.html

The reason for discouraging sock puppets is to prevent abuses such as a person voting more than once in a poll, or using multiple accounts to circumvent Wiki policies or cause disruption. Some people feel that second accounts should not be used at all; others feel it is harmless if the accounts are behaving acceptably. Many feel that alternate accounts are useful for representing the different points of view of their alternate characters, particularly when role-playing in the group pages.

Multiple accounts may have legitimate uses, but you must refrain from using them in any way prohibited to sock puppets, and from using one account to support the position of another, the standard definition of sock puppetry. If someone uses multiple accounts, it is recommended that he or she provide links between the accounts, so it is easy to determine that they are shared by one individual.

Dealing with violations

Accounts operating in violation of this policy should be blocked indefinitely; the main account may be blocked at the discretion of any administrator. Non-sysops smay list the accounts at UDWiki:Administration/Vandal_Banning. Any actions taken by administrators will be listed in UDWiki:Administration/Vandal_Data.

Difficult cases where the nature and extent of sockpuppetry is unclear and where there is an ongoing problem may be listed at UDWiki:Administration/Vandal_Banning for investigation. Please see that page for detailed policy.

Forbidden uses of sock puppets

Voting and other shows of support

UDWiki uses a "one person, one vote" principle for all votes and similar discussions where individual preferences are counted in any fashion. Accordingly, sock puppets may not be used to give the impression of more support for a viewpoint. This includes voting multiple times in any policy vote, or using more than one account in a discussion at Suggestions, UDWiki:Administration/Deletions, UDWiki:Administration/Promotions, or any other UDWiki activity that requires voting.

In addition to double-voting, sock puppets should not be used for the purpose of deception, or to create the illusion of broader support for a position than actually exists.

Avoiding scrutiny from other editors

Multiple accounts should not be used as a way of avoiding the scrutiny of your fellow editors by ensuring you leave no audit trail. Using sock puppet accounts to split your contributions history means that other editors can't detect patterns in your contributions. While it may be legitimate to do this from time to time (for example, by creating a special account to make edits that might serve to identify you in real life), it is a violation of this policy to create multiple accounts in order to confuse or deceive editors who may have a legitimate interest in tracking your contributions.

"Good hand, bad hand" accounts

The use of alternate accounts for deliberate policy violations is specifically proscribed:

  • All users, but especially sysops and potential sysop candidates, are proscribed from operating a "bad hand" account for the purpose of policy violations or disruption.
  • Sysops are also proscribed from operating a "bad hand" account for the purpose of engaging in editing disputes while at the same time appearing to be a neutral sysop dealing with page protection or reversion issues on the same articles. Cases that come to light have resulted in loss of sysopship in the past.

Circumventing policy

Policies apply per person, not per account. Using a second account for policy violations will cause any penalties to be applied to your main account. Users who are banned or blocked from editing may not use sock puppets to circumvent this. Evading a block or ban causes the timer on the block to restart, and may further lengthen it.

Administrative sock puppets

The community has strongly rejected users having more than one username with moderator powers. If you leave, come back under a new name and are nominated for moderator, it is expected that you will give up moderator powers on your old account. (You may do this quietly with your old account and not have to show a link between accounts.) You should have only one account with powers greater than those of a regular editor.

Legitimate uses of multiple accounts

Multiple accounts have legitimate uses. For example, prominent users might create a new account in order to experience how the community functions for new users. Another common usage is Role playing accounts created for the purpose of reporting activities in different groups or suburbs. Such usage is deemed legitimate so long as the restrictions set forth in this policy are not violated.

Segregation and security

Other users employ multiple accounts to segregate their contributions for various reasons:

  • A user making substantial contributions to an area of interest in UDWiki might register another account to be used solely in connection with developing that area.
  • Since public computers can have password-stealing trojans or keyloggers installed, some users may use an alternate account when editing under these conditions in order to prevent the hijacking of their main accounts.
  • Someone who is known to the public or within a particular circle may be identifiable based on his/her interests and contributions; dividing these up between different accounts might help preserve the person's anonymity. Users with a recognized expertise in one field, for example, might not wish to associate their contributions to that field with contributions to articles about less weighty subjects.
  • A person editing an article which is highly controversial within his/her group, family, social or professional circle may wish to use a sock puppet so that readers unfamiliar with neutral point of view policy will not assume his/her information edits are statements of personal belief.

Keeping heated issues in one small area

Some editors use different accounts in talk pages to avoid conflicts about a particular area of interest turning into conflicts based upon user identity and personal attacks elsewhere, or to avoid harassment outside of UDWiki. A person participating in a discussion of an article about PKing, for example, might not want to allow other participants an opportunity to extend that discussion or engage them in unrelated or philosophically motivated debate outside the context of that article.

Multiple user accounts

Accounts which are used by multiple people are prohibited.

Robot Account

Editors who operate robots (or bots) programs that edit automatically or semi-automatically) are encouraged to create separate accounts (and mark them as {{Bot account|User Name}} via the account's userpage).

Doppelganger accounts

It is acceptable to pre-emptively create another account with a username similar to one's own, with the purpose of pre-emptively preventing impersonation by vandals. Such accounts are called doppelganger accounts, should be marked with the {{doppelganger}} tag (or simply redirected to one's own userpage), and should not be used for editing.

Meatpuppets

A related issue occurs when multiple individuals create brand new accounts specifically to participate in, or influence, a particular vote or area of discussion. This is common in requests for deletion and policy votes. These newly created accounts, or anonymous edits, may be friends of another editor, may be related in some way to the subject of an article under discussion, or may have been solicited by someone to support a specific angle in a debate. Such user accounts are called single-purpose accounts, because whereas committed UDWikians are usually active on a range of articles, and their aim is to see a balanced growth in articles and in the wiki as a whole, single-purpose accounts come to UDWiki with one agenda.

These accounts are often described as "meatpuppets". They are often difficult to distinguish from real sock puppets and are treated similarly. Neither a sock puppet nor a single-purpose account holder is regarded as a member of the UDWiki community. Requests for arbitration may treat meatpuppets and sockpuppets as one individual for the purpose of dispute resolution.

Advertising and soliciting meatpuppets

It is considered highly inappropriate to ask friends or family members to create accounts for the purpose of giving additional support. There is a difference between encouraging others to become involved in the UDWiki community and soliciting meatpuppet activity. Encouraging others to create accounts just to support your position on a single issue should be avoided.

The arrival of multiple newcomers, with limited UDWiki background and predetermined viewpoints arriving in order to present those viewpoints, rarely helps achieve neutrality and most times actively damages it, no matter what one might think. UDWiki is not a place for personal attacks and harassment. Controversial articles often need more familiarity with policy to be well edited, not less.

If you feel that a debate is ignoring your voice, then the appropriate action is not to solicit others outside UDWiki. Instead, avoid personal attacks, seek comments and involvement from other UDWikians, or pursue arbitration. These are well tested processes, and are designed to avoid the problem of exchanging bias in one direction for bias in another.

Identification and handling of suspected sock puppets

Characteristics of sock puppets

Not surprisingly, sock puppet accounts usually show much greater familiarity with UDWiki and its editing process than most newcomers. They are more likely to use administration services, immediately join in edit wars, or participate vocally in procedures like requests for deletion or requests for promotion as part of their first few edits. They are also more likely to be brand new or a single purpose account when looking at their contributions summary.

Straw man sock puppet

One type of sock puppet is sometimes referred to as a "straw man sock puppet." They are created by users with one point of view, but act as though they have an opposing point of view, in order to make that point of view look bad, or to act as an online agent provocateur. They will often make poor arguments which their "opponents" can then easily refute. This can allow them to essentially make straw man arguments. Such sock puppets thus become a personification of the straw man argument which their creators argue against. They often act unintelligent or uninformed, and may behave in an overtly bigoted manner. The effect is often to obfuscate the debate and prevent a serious discussion of the arguments from each side. Suspicion of such sock puppets is often harder to verify though, as there are often people who naturally behave in such a manner with the same effects.

When questions arise

In some cases it may not be completely clear whether an account is a sock puppet, as the purpose is usually to avoid detection. Similarities in interests and editing style can be noted, but not everyone may be familiar enough with the user to understand the evidence.

If it appears that sock puppets are being used as part of an edit war or to distort the outcome of a vote or survey, one possible rule of thumb is the so-called 100-edit rule. This suggests that any account which already has more than 100 edits across a range of other articles, or has been active more generally on UDWiki, can often be presumed not to be a sock puppet. If there are unusually many accounts with few edits participating, you may want to check if they are sock puppets, by looking at IP addresses or times that edits were made. However, simply having made few edits is not evidence of sock puppetry on its own, and if you call a new user a sock puppet without justification, he or she will probably be insulted and get a negative impression of UDWiki.

Keep in mind there can be multiple users who are driven to start participating in UDWiki for the same reason, particularly in controversial areas such as articles about the conflict between Zombie Groups and Human Groups, cult figures, or requests for deletion. Some have suggested applying the 100-edit guideline more strongly in such cases, assuming that all accounts with fewer than 100 edits are sock puppets. Generally, such beliefs have been shown to be not well-founded.

Where it is unclear whether or not sock puppetry is in progress, server log information (CheckUser) can be consulted. To comply with UDWiki privacy policy, this is limited to a handful of users and only done in serious cases, with reasonable cause, to check if user A is the same as user B based upon some evidence. "Fishing" – or general trawling of users in a debate for possible sockpuppets – is not supported and requests for such checks are unlikely to be agreed to. Requests may be made to a sysop. Personal information, such as IP addresses, will not be disclosed under any circumstances.

If you have been accused incorrectly of being a sock puppet, don't take it too personally. New users are unknown quantities. Stay around a while and make good edits, and your record will speak for itself.

Difficult-to-detect sockpuppets

If you think that someone is using sockpuppets abusively and wish to get further people's comments on the matter, you should create a report at UDWiki:Administration/Vandal_Banning and follow the instructions there.

Templates

Several templates are available for marking user pages and talk pages of sock puppet accounts. The templates serve as a convenient shorthand only and are not part of this policy.

Tagging identified sock puppets

If an account has been shown to be a sock puppet used for policy violations, then it may be identified as such, by adding {{Altban|User Name}} template to the user page. The evidence used to conclude that an account is a sock puppet will be available at UDWiki:Administration/Vandal_Banning.

The original or best-known account of a user that operates sock puppets may be tagged with {{Sockpuppeteer}}. If the sockpuppeteer has at least one proven sockpuppet, tag the user page with {{SockpuppeteerProven}} instead. Note that these tags are intended for abusive sock puppets and should not be used on the pages of people whose legitimate multiple accounts have not been blocked.

Alternate accounts

Users of alternate accounts are encouraged to mark their user pages appropriately to avoid the appearance of sock puppetry.

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