...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!
Sock Puppet
- 207 statements
- 37 feature instances
- 26 referencing feature instances
| Sock Puppet | type |
FeatureClass | |
| Sock Puppet | label |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet | page |
SockPuppet | |
| Sock Puppet | comment |
A secondary, pseudonymous Net identity created by an individual in order to give the impression that there are multiple people who agree with a given point, idea, or action, when in reality there's only one. Sock puppets are usually used to post follow-ups that praise their owner or echo their convictions, in the hopes that they will convince real people to pay attention to them and/or their agenda. Alternatively, they can be used to argue against the poster's real agenda, but in such a stupid or offensive manner as to discredit the opposition. Sometimes, they are used to evade bans. While the first Sock Puppets appeared on Usenet (i.e. they are pretty much as old as discussion on the Internet itself), they have long since spread to other electronic venues, most notably blogs. Sock puppeteers are not limited to individuals, though. Numerous groups — political, commercial, and religious — have attempted to manipulate public opinion on the Net using false identities that purported to be "real" people. And multiple Sock Puppets are a necessary part of any AstroTurf campaign. Fortunately, they tend to be fairly heavy-handed and reasonably obvious to most people. The term is a long-standing one in electronic media, dating back to the early days of the Net in the 1980s. It originated on Usenet and is still seen there, especially in the anti-spam groups. The term itself comes from the practice of creating a cheap puppet by pulling a sock over your hand, and then pretending to talk to it. One sub-category of the sock puppet is the "concern troll", in which a sock puppet pretends to be part of a faction but makes "concerned" derogatory comparisons to another faction for whom the troll is a sock puppet. This is one of the more popular "Internet Argument Techniques"◊ very common in forums and mainly used by trolls; this can be a source of frustration to users trying to have an honest debate. Can also be a source of laughs, not only for the trolls and others in on the ruse, but for other users following the argument. Once discovered, this is commonly used as another point against the user and/or another way to discredit their arguments.note Of course, someone could always create fairly obvious sock puppets claiming to agree with the opposition for this very purpose, if they were a particularly Magnificent Bastard. Sock puppets are banned in many online venues. Wikipedia is notoriously plagued with them; its "anyone can edit" philosophy makes it hard to keep them out, while its bureaucratic processes provide incentives for their creation. Ad Hominem can occur if someone on the internet accuses another of being a sock puppet when the accused is actually providing an honest opinion of dissent and asking an honest question about accountability and credibility. This might be done by either trolls or as an example of Fan Dumb or Hate Dumb to not have to answer to a criticism or dissenting opinion while still discrediting the person that dissented. Compare Internet Mimic, when someone online mimics the talking/typing style of a celebrity. Contrast AstroTurf and the second definition of Meat Puppet. Not to be confused with an actual Hand Puppet made from a sock. For when you're not sure whether the person is sincere or not, that's Poe's Law. |
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| Sock Puppet | fetched |
2024-04-05T21:17:28Z | |
| Sock Puppet | parsed |
2024-04-05T21:17:28Z | |
| Sock Puppet | processingComment |
Dropped link to ArtificialIntelligence: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Sock Puppet | processingComment |
Dropped link to DoingItWrong: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Sock Puppet | processingComment |
Dropped link to Fanfic: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Sock Puppet | processingComment |
Dropped link to GirlfriendInCanada: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Sock Puppet | processingComment |
Dropped link to Griefer: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Sock Puppet | processingComment |
Dropped link to KnowNothingKnowItAll: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Sock Puppet | processingComment |
Dropped link to Lampshaded: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Sock Puppet | processingComment |
Dropped link to MMORPG: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Sock Puppet | processingComment |
Dropped link to PlayfulHacker: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Sock Puppet | processingComment |
Dropped link to SeriousBusiness: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Sock Puppet | processingComment |
Dropped link to StarWars: Not an Item - CAT | |
| Sock Puppet | processingComment |
Dropped link to StrawmanPolitical: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Sock Puppet | processingComment |
Dropped link to SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Sock Puppet | processingComment |
Dropped link to ThePolice: Not an Item - IGNORE | |
| Sock Puppet | processingComment |
Dropped link to VanityPublishing: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Sock Puppet | isPartOf |
DBTropes | |
| Sock Puppet / int_13679a09 | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_13679a09 | comment |
The sequel Ward reveals several other cases: one character has over thirty different accounts he cycles through on a daily basis (because he has people after him and he's paranoid). Another, very lonely character is shown to have created several dozen chatbots to populate their chats and give them someone to talk to. In both cases the moderators contact them asking what's up. | |
| Sock Puppet / int_13679a09 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_13679a09 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Ward | hasFeature |
Sock Puppet / int_13679a09 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_1367cea0 | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_1367cea0 | comment |
In Worm: The Parahumans Online forums are very well moderated because Dragon is several of the moderators. The sequel Ward reveals several other cases: one character has over thirty different accounts he cycles through on a daily basis (because he has people after him and he's paranoid). Another, very lonely character is shown to have created several dozen chatbots to populate their chats and give them someone to talk to. In both cases the moderators contact them asking what's up. |
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| Sock Puppet / int_1367cea0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_1367cea0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Worm | hasFeature |
Sock Puppet / int_1367cea0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_203fc617 | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_203fc617 | comment |
In The Talos Principle's DLC "Road to Gehenna", the character of Lamb is one of these, controlled by Admin in order to encourage the rest of the bots to go along with their decisions. | |
| Sock Puppet / int_203fc617 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_203fc617 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Talos Principle (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Sock Puppet / int_203fc617 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_261c8d3f | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_261c8d3f | comment |
In The Simpsons episode "Lisa Goes Gaga", Lisa is voted to be the most unpopular student at school and this is reflected on the school's forums until Lisa's family shows her someone is posting positive comments about her. The kids at school then believe Lisa is cool because someone else thinks so, until Bart discovers that Lisa had a notepad with posts on the forum Lisa planned to write. Bart then exposes Lisa as the sock puppet on the forum, causing all the kids to make fun of her. (It takes the help of Celebrity Star Lady Gaga to restore her self-esteem.) | |
| Sock Puppet / int_261c8d3f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_261c8d3f | featureConfidence |
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| The Simpsons | hasFeature |
Sock Puppet / int_261c8d3f | |
| Sock Puppet / int_2b727723 | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_2b727723 | comment |
Ben Eisenkop, better known on Reddit as Unidan, was a well known member of the site's community... until he got caught for blatant vote rigging using alternate accounts, often upvoting himself and downvoting his opponents (due to how the site works, having votes just below 0 means your post is hidden. He basically silenced the people he argued against this way). He was shadowbanned in July 2014. | |
| Sock Puppet / int_2b727723 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_2b727723 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Reddit (Website) | hasFeature |
Sock Puppet / int_2b727723 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_33726f29 | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_33726f29 | comment |
The Ink Black Heart: Towards the end, Cormoran and Robin figure out that a lot of the Twitter users responding to internet troll Anomie online are actually Anomie sock puppets. And the big twist is that Paperwhite, one of the "Drek's Game" moderators who has been carrying on an internet romance with Morehouse, is also an Anomie sockpuppet, used by him to keep tabs on Morehouse. | |
| Sock Puppet / int_33726f29 | featureApplicability |
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| Sock Puppet / int_33726f29 | featureConfidence |
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| The Ink Black Heart | hasFeature |
Sock Puppet / int_33726f29 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_3a38519 | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_3a38519 | comment |
Dungeon Keeper for iOS systems managed to get 5000 5 / 5 star reviews by people, with quotes in said reviews ranging from "This game is trash" to "EA has another smash hit!", despite all of them rating the game 5 / 5 stars. It wasn't until actual gaming sites and magazines started to come out with 1 / 5 reviews that the contrast became evident, seeing as its reliance on being an Allegedly Free Game tries to get you to pay up to 80 dollars for the largest amount of "crystals". | |
| Sock Puppet / int_3a38519 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_3a38519 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Dungeon Keeper (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Sock Puppet / int_3a38519 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_3b34143f | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_3b34143f | comment |
In the Harry Potter fandom, an individual using the handle Msscribe famously created a whole zoo of sock puppets over a period of years in order to increase her popularity and become friends with Fandom VIP Cassandra Claire. She was eventually unveiled in very long and epic chronicle of her misdeeds by... a sock puppet. The event is referred to as Puppetgatenote In case any of the links on the web archive are broken, there is also a YouTube video detailing everything. Due to this, the phrases "Maybe they're Msscribe" and "Maybe I'm Msscribe" became memetic in the fandom. (It's been theorized that Charlotte Lennox is in fact multiple people, given the staggering amount of work that went into chronicling the whole thing.) | |
| Sock Puppet / int_3b34143f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_3b34143f | featureConfidence |
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| Harry Potter | hasFeature |
Sock Puppet / int_3b34143f | |
| Sock Puppet / int_3f4a104b | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_3f4a104b | comment |
Scott Adams, creator of the Dilbert newspaper strip, got caught using a sockpuppet called PlannedChaos to defend himself (and promote himself as a "certified genius") on Metafilter. | |
| Sock Puppet / int_3f4a104b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_3f4a104b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Dilbert (Comic Strip) | hasFeature |
Sock Puppet / int_3f4a104b | |
| Sock Puppet / int_410c7225 | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_410c7225 | comment |
One of the murder suspects in Bimbos of the Death Sun turns out to be a Sock Puppet created by some guys who wanted to yank the chains of Fan Dumb. | |
| Sock Puppet / int_410c7225 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_410c7225 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Bimbos of the Death Sun | hasFeature |
Sock Puppet / int_410c7225 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_4dc4fbf5 | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_4dc4fbf5 | comment |
There were persistent rumors during the Jericho (2006) Nuts! campaign that CBS was using paid trolls to break up the movement. Whether or not that was even possible, several sock puppets were discovered in the later days of the fandom. One person was caught having as many as seven handles, all used to spread their socio-political viewpoint (right-wing religious conspiracy theories) on the same board. There was an extreme amount of trolling going on in the fandom at the end of the second season. Some put it down to the show's Broken Base; others thought the campaign may have attracted a certain personality type; but some still point that a rather large number of those trolls were very web-savvy, very organized and rather literate compared to your usual flame-baiters. | |
| Sock Puppet / int_4dc4fbf5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_4dc4fbf5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Jericho (2006) | hasFeature |
Sock Puppet / int_4dc4fbf5 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_4e45b093 | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_4e45b093 | comment |
The Big Bang Theory: When Leonard and Sheldon's research paper comes under fire by an internet troll who is actually Stephen Hawking, Raj tries to back them up with praising comments posted by various fake researchers from around the world - each acting like overblown national sterotypes. It's clearly not fooling anyone. | |
| Sock Puppet / int_4e45b093 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_4e45b093 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Big Bang Theory | hasFeature |
Sock Puppet / int_4e45b093 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_6418fc5 | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_6418fc5 | comment |
.hack//Roots, the anime prequel to .hack//G.U., features a stocky feline humanoid named Naobi and his assassin right hand, Ender, who antagonize our heroes for the first half. Midway, it's revealed (only to the audience) that they are two of the game's Mission Control characters, Yata and Pi, respectively, who created those accounts to investigate the anomaly within the character model of the heroes' then-leader, Ovan. | |
| Sock Puppet / int_6418fc5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_6418fc5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| .hack//G.U. (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Sock Puppet / int_6418fc5 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_68d7b51d | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_68d7b51d | comment |
/b/, the haven of trolls that it is, thrives on socks, especially when one is trying to direct another poster to a questionable link or delete his own hard drive. They're charmingly referred to as samefags, though accusations like this generally get thrown around regardless of whether or not they actually think the other anons are sock puppets. | |
| Sock Puppet / int_68d7b51d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_68d7b51d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| 4chan (Website) | hasFeature |
Sock Puppet / int_68d7b51d | |
| Sock Puppet / int_6f734712 | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_6f734712 | comment |
One lone, particularly fanatical Smallville fan had 28 separate socks, each with different opinions and writing styles. And had them fight. It was apparently related to her spontaneous proposal to actor Tom Welling (who in Real Life is happily married to someone else). | |
| Sock Puppet / int_6f734712 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_6f734712 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Smallville | hasFeature |
Sock Puppet / int_6f734712 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_7336205a | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_7336205a | comment |
One of the worst offenders is the Molly Holly stalker. He has over 40 accounts on YouTube (most notably one called "noragreenwaldisacunt") plus many more on Blogspot and Dailymotion. His posts are all suspiciously similar in style. Word of God is he fell in love with her but went over the Despair Event Horizon when she got engaged to her now-husband. | |
| Sock Puppet / int_7336205a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_7336205a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Molly Holly (Wrestling) | hasFeature |
Sock Puppet / int_7336205a | |
| Sock Puppet / int_765cd538 | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_765cd538 | comment |
''Ultraheroes: Cloverleaf (Gladstone Gander) sets one up to beef up his public image. Naturally, it doesn't work. | |
| Sock Puppet / int_765cd538 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_765cd538 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Ultraheroes (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Sock Puppet / int_765cd538 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_7aed4b41 | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_7aed4b41 | comment |
Meanwhile, games involving players divided into factions tends to have some sort of restriction that prevents you from interacting with anyone who doesn't pick the same side you do (Outside of PVP modes, of course). Most games let you create more than one character, but some, like Dynasty Warriors Online, don't let you create any more than a few, or even one character, keeping things like Trading impossible with most people without a second or third account. | |
| Sock Puppet / int_7aed4b41 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_7aed4b41 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Dynasty Warriors Online (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Sock Puppet / int_7aed4b41 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_7c1e7982 | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_7c1e7982 | comment |
Halt and Catch Fire: Lev, one of Mutiny's coders, converses with a gay user on the Community BBS; however, the user turned out to be fake, and when Lev attempts to meet up with said fake user, a homophobic gang beats him up to the point where he is hospitalized. | |
| Sock Puppet / int_7c1e7982 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_7c1e7982 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Halt and Catch Fire | hasFeature |
Sock Puppet / int_7c1e7982 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_7fbf9019 | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_7fbf9019 | comment |
In Steins;Gate many of the posters on @Channel assume Okabe’s account, Houoin Kyouma, is this to JOHN TITOR. | |
| Sock Puppet / int_7fbf9019 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_7fbf9019 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Steins;Gate (Visual Novel) | hasFeature |
Sock Puppet / int_7fbf9019 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_803f56b2 | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_803f56b2 | comment |
9 Chickweed Lane has had a week of Thorax and his pal Sphinxter, The Internet Comment Sock Puppet, but Shinxter's just an example of the numerous idiots who dare to mock his high-class strip about the beauty of music and ballet (and the orgasms induced by said beautiful arts). Then again, he does exist to make the author look good compared to the Internet, which is dumb and so goddamn crazy. | |
| Sock Puppet / int_803f56b2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_803f56b2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| 9 Chickweed Lane (Comic Strip) | hasFeature |
Sock Puppet / int_803f56b2 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_8a2d6820 | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_8a2d6820 | comment |
Kongregate allows anyone over the age of 13 have as many accounts as willing. The practice is used even by the moderators, some of which have their moderator status on a separate, alternative account with no post count and no points, used to moderate while the main account is used for actual fun. Many users, including some moderators, have a main account holding all the pizazz, and multiple "alt" accounts acting precisely as sockpuppets. Sometimes, due to no accounts-per-email limit and the fact the registration takes about a minute and the account is active immediately after, new accounts are created just for a single purpose of having a fitting name to answer a discussion. This system, however, causes people to be practically unbannable - anyone banned can just make another account and resume whatever was he or she was doing. | |
| Sock Puppet / int_8a2d6820 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_8a2d6820 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Kongregate (Website) | hasFeature |
Sock Puppet / int_8a2d6820 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_9d2168b3 | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_9d2168b3 | comment |
In 2003, a Price is Right fan site known as Golden-Road.net was spammed by one of the show's substitute announcers following the death of Rod Roddy. The person in question (Daniel Rosen) created numerous sockpuppet accounts which bantered back and forth about how great his voice work was... when in fact he was almost universally despised by both the legit members and the show's staff. Nobody was amused. | |
| Sock Puppet / int_9d2168b3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_9d2168b3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Price Is Right | hasFeature |
Sock Puppet / int_9d2168b3 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_ada547f3 | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_ada547f3 | comment |
An interviewer for Harper's magazine, trying to get in touch with The Room (2003) auteur Tommy Wiseau, first had to arrange an interview through a man named "John," allegedly the "administrator" of Wiseau Films. (John is the same guy who sent cease-and-desist letters to Channel Awesome for reviewing his film.) Judging by John's peculiar brand of broken English, the writer theorized that John may in fact be Tommy Wiseau himself. The promo material for The Room included enthusiastic blurbs from alleged publications/websites called Entertainment Today and Beverly Hills 90210 (not that one), that just happen to have the same shaky command of English and odd obsessions of Wiseau himself. The Disaster Artist seemingly confirms that "John" is a pseudonym of Wiseau. | |
| Sock Puppet / int_ada547f3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_ada547f3 | featureConfidence |
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| The Room (2003) | hasFeature |
Sock Puppet / int_ada547f3 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_afc86b0a | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_afc86b0a | comment |
In Ender's Game, pre-teens Peter and Valentine Wiggin set up anonymous accounts called "Locke" and "Demosthenes" on the online adult political forums (which serve much the same purpose as the blogosphere in real life). They then use Sock Puppet accounts to comment on their main posts in order to quickly gain notice/influence. Quite notable as the book pre-dated fora as a large part of internet culture, and in fact pre-dated the World Wide Web (but not Usenet). | |
| Sock Puppet / int_afc86b0a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
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| Ender's Game | hasFeature |
Sock Puppet / int_afc86b0a | |
| Sock Puppet / int_b0766f14 | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_b0766f14 | comment |
In one arc of Detective School Q, a student was murdered after using this for Cyberbullying. His target was a girl who was doing better than him academically, and after an extended period of bullying on the school's chat system, the target declared she'd kill herself. When the girl disappeared immediately after, an admirer assumed she'd really committed suicide. | |
| Sock Puppet / int_b0766f14 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_b0766f14 | featureConfidence |
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| Detective School Q (Manga) | hasFeature |
Sock Puppet / int_b0766f14 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_b0fba5f1 | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_b0fba5f1 | comment |
One episode of Kitchen Nightmares had a restaurant owner adding ridiculously positive reviews of his own restaurant at various websites, claiming his restaurant was even better than Gordon Ramsay's. Ramsay was not amused, to say the least. | |
| Sock Puppet / int_b0fba5f1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_b0fba5f1 | featureConfidence |
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| Kitchen Nightmares | hasFeature |
Sock Puppet / int_b0fba5f1 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_d7c4626a | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_d7c4626a | comment |
The Sandman (1989): During the 'Cereal Convention', one participant's efforts to promote a magazine on their twisted occupation is one of several things that flag him to the others as a gate-crasher. They then show that they really don't care for gatecrashers. | |
| Sock Puppet / int_d7c4626a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_d7c4626a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Sandman (1989) (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Sock Puppet / int_d7c4626a | |
| Sock Puppet / int_d805ebd7 | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_d805ebd7 | comment |
In the Dean Koontz novel False Memory, pop psychology writer Derek Lampton and his son spend hours posting negative reviews of a rival writer's books on Amazon, using false names and e-mail addresses. | |
| Sock Puppet / int_d805ebd7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_d805ebd7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| False Memory | hasFeature |
Sock Puppet / int_d805ebd7 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_daed3636 | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_daed3636 | comment |
In Great Pretender during the "Singapore Sky" arc, Makoto does this to the group's mark, Clark Ibrahim, having different phones accounts to trash talk him about his upcoming race and that he's a Boring Invincible Hero. | |
| Sock Puppet / int_daed3636 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_daed3636 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Great Pretender | hasFeature |
Sock Puppet / int_daed3636 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_ddc476b4 | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_ddc476b4 | comment |
An absolutely massive problem on GameFAQs supposedly, with no real rules to stop people making/using multiple accounts to the point some users had over 500 of them. More to the point, after some people using sockpuppets failed to fool others on the forums, they've been known to mass suicide the lot, aka post offensive/illegal content with all the alts. | |
| Sock Puppet / int_ddc476b4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_ddc476b4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
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Sock Puppet / int_ddc476b4 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_e01d98a9 | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_e01d98a9 | comment |
Dennis R. Upkins, author of Hollowstone, got caught◊ writing a review of his own book on Amazon under an assumed name. In particular, it was noted that his sock pretended to be a bisexual woman who praised the book for its female characters (his book has been criticized on some forums for poor depictions of said characters). He was caught because his sock account was linked to his real credit card, so Amazon displayed his real name next to his assumed identity. | |
| Sock Puppet / int_e01d98a9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_e01d98a9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Hollowstone | hasFeature |
Sock Puppet / int_e01d98a9 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_e8cd02cd | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_e8cd02cd | comment |
Hypnospace Outlaw, being an Affectionate Parody of the Internet in The '90s, has several. You can view if different accounts are sock puppets if they have the same Headband ID. Zane and Corey, a pair of teens who have a feud with each other, both make pages pretending to be their totally real girlfriends. Zane uses his to boost his own ego, not giving her any personality besides loving him, while Corey uses his to pretend that more than one person is in his "Zane Sucks Club". Playful Hacker group m1nx is known to have done this on several occasions for the purpose of playing pranks. Jezz0 has multiple known ones: "Dr. m1nx, Ph. D" is the one who spread the hoax about a condition called "Beefbrain", scaring people into putting obtrusive graphics on their pages as a "shield", and Counselor Ronnie Porter, the community leader of the Teentopia zone posting Blatant Lies that somehow still get Hypnospace awarded a federal education grant. Others are known to exist; at one point, they comment that infiltrating the Open-Eyed zone is particularly easy because their fake accounts seamlessly blend right in. CPColdSnap, a Know-Nothing Know-It-All of a music snob, is guilty of some extremely vile harassment towards Hypnospace musicians that he doesn't like, whether it be putting them on a wall of shame page or celebrating their death and disfigurement. Unfortunately, he does all of it on an alternate account, CPColdSnap2. He isn't at all secretive about it unlike most examples; he just knows that, due to how the system works, the Enforcers are powerless to put him in his place. |
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| Sock Puppet / int_e8cd02cd | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_e8cd02cd | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
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Sock Puppet / int_e8cd02cd | |
| Sock Puppet / int_e9732f44 | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_e9732f44 | comment |
StarDestroyer.net gives each admin and some of the moderators one sockpuppet account. One account is their "everyday use" account, the other is the account they use when making administrative decisions. For example, site owner Mike Wong goes by Darth Wong normally and switches to AdmiralKanos when he needs to (for example) ban someone. Apart from that, sockpuppeting is a bannable offense. | |
| Sock Puppet / int_e9732f44 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_e9732f44 | featureConfidence |
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Sock Puppet / int_e9732f44 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_eedac02b | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_eedac02b | comment |
In Durarara!!, before the Dollars genuinely became a huge group, the founders posted under different handles to give the impression they were; and stationed in Ikebukuro. Apparently effective, exhibited when a number of people (actually just one person: Mikado) agreed they should do good things like cleaning graffiti; and amazingly, a large prominent one, thought impossible to remove especially if alone, was wiped clean overnight. May also be a reason so many people of different ages and backgrounds join after the password is leaked to them by Izaya; because no matter how big the group is getting, or how ordinary you are, someone would always reply. It's also known that Izaya has a number of sockpuppet accounts (most notably Nakura). Volume 9 notes that these aren't just internet handles, but entire dummy identities with addresses, pre-established histories (he bought them off of people), and sometimes even faces (He gets his secretary Namie to play Kanra in offline meetings, for example). | |
| Sock Puppet / int_eedac02b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_eedac02b | featureConfidence |
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Sock Puppet / int_eedac02b | |
| Sock Puppet / int_f14e1069 | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_f14e1069 | comment |
In AI: The Somnium Files, Ota Matsushita makes several To-Witter accounts bashing his favorite internet idol, A-Set/Iris Sagan, so he can "defend" her and get into her good graces. Special agent Kaname Date gets Ota to cooperate with a serial killing investigation (in which Iris is at one point a suspect) by threatening to inform her of his sock puppeteering. | |
| Sock Puppet / int_f14e1069 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sock Puppet / int_f14e1069 | featureConfidence |
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| Sock Puppet / int_fd8221d2 | type |
Sock Puppet | |
| Sock Puppet / int_fd8221d2 | comment |
Another notable incident in Wikipedia sock puppetry is the deletion debate for the article on Starslip Crisis, a Webcomic by Kris Straub. The discussion overwhelmingly favoured deleting the article, which a passing admin then enacted. At this point Straub revealed he had been the nominator. And ten of the user accounts arguing for deletion. From the same IP. Using factually incorrect arguments. It's bad form to misbehave on the Wikipedia to make a point, but everyone seemed to be too busy gaping in astonishment at Straub's brilliant execution of the plot to notice. By way of background: one of Wikipedia's criteria for article existence is that the subject be Notable in its field, which is subjective and open to interpretation at the best of times and an absolute minefield when it comes to things which exist solely on the internet. "Webcomics vs. Wikipedia" had been a growing debate for years before Straub's experiment. Considering Wikipedia itself mainly resides on the net, this suggests the somewhat ironic question of its own notability. Wikipedia's own rules specifically say that deletion debates are not a vote, and thus that simply having a majority in favor of either keeping or deleting an article doesn't carry the day. The closing admin is supposed to to weigh the quality of both sides' arguments, not just the quantity. Thus, the admin was clearly Doing It Wrong, though given Wikipedia's well-known systemic bias toward deletion in such debates that's hardly a surprise. |
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1.0 | |
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Sock Puppet / int_fd8221d2 |
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