The Apple Dopplin' Gang
01-07-2007, 05:48 AM
I was moved to write this article after observing a great deal of sloppy use of alternate accounts. I don’t mean to point fingers at anyone, but it seems like a basic principle is commonly overlooked. Namely, that if you’re going to go to the trouble to create an extra mouthpiece, it makes sense to pay some attention to its care and feeding. Otherwise, the effort of the additional logging in and out of a site is altogether wasted, or worse, becomes a means of embarrassing oneself. I also thought this was a particularly good place for this guide, since neither overt nor covert sockpuppetry is prohibited here.
Scope and Goals
First, I’ll outline what this article will not attempt to accomplish. I personally have no interest in violating a message board’s terms of service. Therefore, I will not spend much time on artificial aids to sockpuppetry, such as IP randomizers, proxies, and the like. However, in case you do wish to avail yourself of such tools, I’ll mention a couple of common-sense principles on when to use which tool, but not so much as a guide to subverting a website’s goals, but rather just in the spirit of, “For Heaven’s sake, do be bright about it.” Personally, I prefer to be up front with a site’s administrators. I tell them who I am, what I’m doing, and why. I ask them whether they object, and request that they not give the game away. If they don’t like it, I go elsewhere. This practice virtually eliminates the risk of being exposed to the membership at large.
There are various reasons to use sock-puppets, which I’ll attempt to detail here.
Getting around a banning. As I mentioned, I’m not particularly interested in helping you with this, but here are a few pointers for those who insist. First, decide what you’re going to accomplish with the new account. If you just want to get one last dig in, and you’re “hard-banned” (i.e., you are not allowed to register an account from your IP address), then an IP randomizer is the way to go. I personally favor Hide IP Platinum (http://www.hide-ip-soft.com/), although I use it for reasons other than circumventing a banning (such as visiting untrustworthy sites that might be fronts for crackers). If you’re in the US, this program has the benefit of using US servers, while pointing to IPs all over the globe. However, if you want a longer-term alter ego, a random IP looks awfully suspicious. A proxy that points toward a single or finite subset of IPs is more advisable in this case. If you think you can keep your new account for the long haul, it would be best to avoid the specific thread or discussion that resulted in your banning in the first place. If you don’t have the self-control for that, at least have the presence of mind not to leap back in and immediately pick up the exact same point of argument you left off with. In any event, if you don’t at least use a separate e-mail to register your new mouthpiece (some sites make this impossible anyway, but not all), you’re too stupid to succeed at the most elementary techniques of sockpuppetry, so you might as well stop reading this and go enjoy the Arcade. I would suggest Maeda Path ( http://www.freethought-forum.com/forum/arcade.php?do=play&gameid=19), or perhaps Karts ( http://www.freethought-forum.com/forum/arcade.php?do=play&gameid=43). :wink:
Backing yourself up in an argument. Another goal I’m not particularly fond of, this is generally employed by insecure users who feel unfairly ganged up on. Sure, you can create your own invisible army of the undead this way, but if you create all of the soldiers at roughly the same time, it will be so transparent that you’ll just end up tipping your hand, and demonstrating your inability to handle a debate. So, if you think you need such an army, conscript them at staggered intervals, keep them in reserve, and do your best to give each a consistent voice, as I will discuss later. If the site’s Terms of Service prohibit multiple accounts, you probably should disregard my previous advice and use an IP randomizer for this. Even if the site (like this one) doesn’t prohibit multiple accounts, any suspicious administrator or moderator can look up your IP with extreme ease, and might “out” you just for being an annoying drip.
Playing “Guess Who?” This is self-explanatory. The main reason I don’t go in for this, usually, is that the game tends to be short-lived, and when it’s done, the alternate account is usually consigned to the trash heap.
Performing for the audience. This, finally, is the goal of sockpuppetry that I support and encourage. It’s what informs the Sock Puppeteer’s Code.
[B]The Sock Puppeteer’s Code
I view using sock-puppets as a form of online theater. Usually, creating an alternate account is akin to creating a character. It’s a combination of screen/playwriting and acting – the puppeteer is simultaneously writing the character and speaking with his/her/its voice. Making that voice consistent is an artistic endeavor, and as such, it’s a shame to waste that effort by making a muddle of your creation through laziness or inattention to detail. Please don’t misunderstand the intent of this “Code”; I am not making any sort of moral statement, just an aesthetic one. If you don’t want to follow these principles, I for one won’t view it as a moral failing. After all, it’s just the Internet. I will call it what it is, however: sloppy and pointless.
That said, there comes a point when some amount of seriousness is called for. At the risk of repeating myself, this is the core principle of the Code: If you can’t be bothered to pay a little attention to detail, there was no point in creating the alternate account in the first place. A sock puppeteer is, essentially, a liar (although I prefer the term “actor”). If your lies are inconsistent, you’re a bad liar. So, if you forget everything else I say in this article, at least remember this: Preview the post. Review, assess, and revise. If you’re an unrepentant, heart-on-the-sleeve type, either keep that impulse in check or give it up. Also, another obvious yet often-neglected point: Double-check the username you're logged in as before you hit the Submit button. Make it part of your posting routine. Posting from the wrong account is especially dangerous if you've been on a message board for awhile already; a great deal of the elements to posting have become an automatic process, and you'll need to reprogram your habits.
[B]A few words about self-image
It’s difficult for a severely insecure person to become a great actor, or puppeteer. This is not always the case (as many interviews with successful actors bear witness to), but it’s a disability that can cripple one’s technique. I encountered this when trying to direct amateur actors; many would flat-out refuse to play the character as written, not because they didn’t know what I wanted, but because what I wanted them to do or say wasn’t “cool” enough. Not every character is a superhero. In fact, characters are more believable if they have faults. Try to remember that the whole point of creating an alter-ego is that the character is NOT you. If every one of your alters is a form of wish-fulfillment for you, embodying what you yourself want to be, then none of them will seem the slightest bit real. Eventually, you’ll be found out, and embarrass yourself. So, put away your ego when you log on as an alter-ego.
[B]Strategies for Consistency and Continuity
Continuity is, in a way, a thankless task: nobody notices it when it’s successfully accomplished (how many times have you read a movie review that praises a film’s fantastic continuity?), but when it’s lacking, it often stands out like a glowing neon sign. Even worse, all it takes is one person to notice a gap. Then that person tells others, often in a public post, and the whole game is off. This can be obvious, such as starting a character out as a married man and suddenly making a post as an unmarried female, or forgetting what city you claimed to be from. There are other, subtler errors, such as objecting to someone’s use of profanity and later making a post with the word “fuck” in it. Sure, maybe your character is just a hypocrite, but if so, then deliberately make the character consistently hypocritical, rather than allowing the hypocrisy to creep in haphazardly.
Biography. Even before you register the account, you should have some idea of who the character is. Some outlining is advisable, and the same principles that apply to good writing apply to sockpuppetry. One principle that I’ve found quite useful is depth of background: the character should have more background than you actually reveal. That way, you run less risk of appearing to make it up as you go along, and the character looks more like a real person than a cardboard cut-out. What sex is the character? What age, race, religion? Where does he/she live? What does his/her family look like? What is important to the character, and what is not? What makes him/her angry, and what would make him/her laugh?
Voice. A consistent “voice” is probably the most difficult aspect to incorporate into a sock-puppet, and is one of the hallmarks of a truly well-formed character. Even with a consistent biography, a sock-puppet can often be ferreted out because he/she has a posting style that’s identical to someone else’s. Not everyone will notice, but if you post from two accounts enough, someone will. Decide whether he will be curt and abrupt, or loquacious. Perhaps your character is a poor speller, or has bad grammar. Perhaps he tends to be redundant, or preachy, or self-important. The Voice is particularly important for the next technique.
Differentiation: If you have one primary account that is essentially “you,” it will be useful to make some deliberate choices on how the sock-puppet differs from you. This requires that you engage in some self-examination. Go back and reread your posts, and try to make an honest assessment of your posting style. Then, make a conscious effort to post as your character in a different manner. Do you constantly use curse words? Consider making your sock-puppet more prudish – either don’t let it swear at all, or consistently censor its swearing: “f***,” “sh*t,” “s*mpr*ni,” etc. Do you use “lazy” formatting techniques, such as using *asterisks* to emphasize words, or perhaps ALL CAPS? Then let the sock-puppet be more diligent, always using formatting code. These are fairly obvious examples of the differentiation technique. If you can draw subtler distinctions, you will make the subterfuge much more difficult to detect. As I mentioned under Voice, if you tend toward being wordy, you might make a careful effort toward making your alter-ego more abrupt. Obviously, some idiosyncrasies of posting style and voice are more difficult to overcome (and notice) than others. If you can’t deconstruct it, move on to aspects that you can.
Another trick of differentiation is username choice. The name I’ve chosen here is too obvious for most uses, other than the one-off I’ve employed, or perhaps for a Guess Who game. Obviously, the username is part of the planning/biography process, and the character should dictate a suitable name. One way to differentiate is to use opposing styles: one using capitals and spacing, mimicking a first and last name (“Jack Sprat”), the other using no capitals or spaces (“georgieporgie”); or, one using spacing, the other using underscores (jack sprat vs. georgie_porgie). I’ve noticed that most users tend to pick the same naming style every time, so this could be an effective differentiation technique. I haven’t used it much myself, preferring to rely upon purely character-driven naming.
[B]Schizoid Dialogues
The worst examples I’ve seen of sloppy sockpuppetry have involved some poor schlub trying to talk to himself via his alternate accounts. I’ve already gone over the basic means to distinguish between characters, but creating a back-and-forth dialogue adds an extra level of complexity. It means you have to perform in a one-(wo)man show, which looks great when the actor pulls it off, but many actors just … don’t.
As I mentioned above, this is definitely not the time to boost your ego. If you feel compelled to have your alter praise you to the rooftops, you’re probably not cut out for this sort of thing. It would be more believable to engage in a flame war with your alter, or at least a disagreement. Better yet, just have a real conversation.
If you want to try to create a dialogue, keep in mind my earlier admonition: Preview, Preview, Preview. Also, take a step back with every logout/login. Refresh your memory as to which character you’re playing. Remember the medium you’re using. Sometimes a dialogue in a thread occurs rapid-fire, with a few minutes or less between responses, and at other times, the thread develops more slowly. Maintain some variation in the posting intervals, to prevent the appearance that the whole conversation is contrived, which it of course is.
I hope someone finds this essay useful. I don’t profess to be the Internet’s foremost authority on this topic. However, I have used these techniques successfully on more than one site. At least, no one here has unraveled my own shenanigans, or any who have are keeping it to themselves. :quiet:
Scope and Goals
First, I’ll outline what this article will not attempt to accomplish. I personally have no interest in violating a message board’s terms of service. Therefore, I will not spend much time on artificial aids to sockpuppetry, such as IP randomizers, proxies, and the like. However, in case you do wish to avail yourself of such tools, I’ll mention a couple of common-sense principles on when to use which tool, but not so much as a guide to subverting a website’s goals, but rather just in the spirit of, “For Heaven’s sake, do be bright about it.” Personally, I prefer to be up front with a site’s administrators. I tell them who I am, what I’m doing, and why. I ask them whether they object, and request that they not give the game away. If they don’t like it, I go elsewhere. This practice virtually eliminates the risk of being exposed to the membership at large.
There are various reasons to use sock-puppets, which I’ll attempt to detail here.
Getting around a banning. As I mentioned, I’m not particularly interested in helping you with this, but here are a few pointers for those who insist. First, decide what you’re going to accomplish with the new account. If you just want to get one last dig in, and you’re “hard-banned” (i.e., you are not allowed to register an account from your IP address), then an IP randomizer is the way to go. I personally favor Hide IP Platinum (http://www.hide-ip-soft.com/), although I use it for reasons other than circumventing a banning (such as visiting untrustworthy sites that might be fronts for crackers). If you’re in the US, this program has the benefit of using US servers, while pointing to IPs all over the globe. However, if you want a longer-term alter ego, a random IP looks awfully suspicious. A proxy that points toward a single or finite subset of IPs is more advisable in this case. If you think you can keep your new account for the long haul, it would be best to avoid the specific thread or discussion that resulted in your banning in the first place. If you don’t have the self-control for that, at least have the presence of mind not to leap back in and immediately pick up the exact same point of argument you left off with. In any event, if you don’t at least use a separate e-mail to register your new mouthpiece (some sites make this impossible anyway, but not all), you’re too stupid to succeed at the most elementary techniques of sockpuppetry, so you might as well stop reading this and go enjoy the Arcade. I would suggest Maeda Path ( http://www.freethought-forum.com/forum/arcade.php?do=play&gameid=19), or perhaps Karts ( http://www.freethought-forum.com/forum/arcade.php?do=play&gameid=43). :wink:
Backing yourself up in an argument. Another goal I’m not particularly fond of, this is generally employed by insecure users who feel unfairly ganged up on. Sure, you can create your own invisible army of the undead this way, but if you create all of the soldiers at roughly the same time, it will be so transparent that you’ll just end up tipping your hand, and demonstrating your inability to handle a debate. So, if you think you need such an army, conscript them at staggered intervals, keep them in reserve, and do your best to give each a consistent voice, as I will discuss later. If the site’s Terms of Service prohibit multiple accounts, you probably should disregard my previous advice and use an IP randomizer for this. Even if the site (like this one) doesn’t prohibit multiple accounts, any suspicious administrator or moderator can look up your IP with extreme ease, and might “out” you just for being an annoying drip.
Playing “Guess Who?” This is self-explanatory. The main reason I don’t go in for this, usually, is that the game tends to be short-lived, and when it’s done, the alternate account is usually consigned to the trash heap.
Performing for the audience. This, finally, is the goal of sockpuppetry that I support and encourage. It’s what informs the Sock Puppeteer’s Code.
[B]The Sock Puppeteer’s Code
I view using sock-puppets as a form of online theater. Usually, creating an alternate account is akin to creating a character. It’s a combination of screen/playwriting and acting – the puppeteer is simultaneously writing the character and speaking with his/her/its voice. Making that voice consistent is an artistic endeavor, and as such, it’s a shame to waste that effort by making a muddle of your creation through laziness or inattention to detail. Please don’t misunderstand the intent of this “Code”; I am not making any sort of moral statement, just an aesthetic one. If you don’t want to follow these principles, I for one won’t view it as a moral failing. After all, it’s just the Internet. I will call it what it is, however: sloppy and pointless.
That said, there comes a point when some amount of seriousness is called for. At the risk of repeating myself, this is the core principle of the Code: If you can’t be bothered to pay a little attention to detail, there was no point in creating the alternate account in the first place. A sock puppeteer is, essentially, a liar (although I prefer the term “actor”). If your lies are inconsistent, you’re a bad liar. So, if you forget everything else I say in this article, at least remember this: Preview the post. Review, assess, and revise. If you’re an unrepentant, heart-on-the-sleeve type, either keep that impulse in check or give it up. Also, another obvious yet often-neglected point: Double-check the username you're logged in as before you hit the Submit button. Make it part of your posting routine. Posting from the wrong account is especially dangerous if you've been on a message board for awhile already; a great deal of the elements to posting have become an automatic process, and you'll need to reprogram your habits.
[B]A few words about self-image
It’s difficult for a severely insecure person to become a great actor, or puppeteer. This is not always the case (as many interviews with successful actors bear witness to), but it’s a disability that can cripple one’s technique. I encountered this when trying to direct amateur actors; many would flat-out refuse to play the character as written, not because they didn’t know what I wanted, but because what I wanted them to do or say wasn’t “cool” enough. Not every character is a superhero. In fact, characters are more believable if they have faults. Try to remember that the whole point of creating an alter-ego is that the character is NOT you. If every one of your alters is a form of wish-fulfillment for you, embodying what you yourself want to be, then none of them will seem the slightest bit real. Eventually, you’ll be found out, and embarrass yourself. So, put away your ego when you log on as an alter-ego.
[B]Strategies for Consistency and Continuity
Continuity is, in a way, a thankless task: nobody notices it when it’s successfully accomplished (how many times have you read a movie review that praises a film’s fantastic continuity?), but when it’s lacking, it often stands out like a glowing neon sign. Even worse, all it takes is one person to notice a gap. Then that person tells others, often in a public post, and the whole game is off. This can be obvious, such as starting a character out as a married man and suddenly making a post as an unmarried female, or forgetting what city you claimed to be from. There are other, subtler errors, such as objecting to someone’s use of profanity and later making a post with the word “fuck” in it. Sure, maybe your character is just a hypocrite, but if so, then deliberately make the character consistently hypocritical, rather than allowing the hypocrisy to creep in haphazardly.
Biography. Even before you register the account, you should have some idea of who the character is. Some outlining is advisable, and the same principles that apply to good writing apply to sockpuppetry. One principle that I’ve found quite useful is depth of background: the character should have more background than you actually reveal. That way, you run less risk of appearing to make it up as you go along, and the character looks more like a real person than a cardboard cut-out. What sex is the character? What age, race, religion? Where does he/she live? What does his/her family look like? What is important to the character, and what is not? What makes him/her angry, and what would make him/her laugh?
Voice. A consistent “voice” is probably the most difficult aspect to incorporate into a sock-puppet, and is one of the hallmarks of a truly well-formed character. Even with a consistent biography, a sock-puppet can often be ferreted out because he/she has a posting style that’s identical to someone else’s. Not everyone will notice, but if you post from two accounts enough, someone will. Decide whether he will be curt and abrupt, or loquacious. Perhaps your character is a poor speller, or has bad grammar. Perhaps he tends to be redundant, or preachy, or self-important. The Voice is particularly important for the next technique.
Differentiation: If you have one primary account that is essentially “you,” it will be useful to make some deliberate choices on how the sock-puppet differs from you. This requires that you engage in some self-examination. Go back and reread your posts, and try to make an honest assessment of your posting style. Then, make a conscious effort to post as your character in a different manner. Do you constantly use curse words? Consider making your sock-puppet more prudish – either don’t let it swear at all, or consistently censor its swearing: “f***,” “sh*t,” “s*mpr*ni,” etc. Do you use “lazy” formatting techniques, such as using *asterisks* to emphasize words, or perhaps ALL CAPS? Then let the sock-puppet be more diligent, always using formatting code. These are fairly obvious examples of the differentiation technique. If you can draw subtler distinctions, you will make the subterfuge much more difficult to detect. As I mentioned under Voice, if you tend toward being wordy, you might make a careful effort toward making your alter-ego more abrupt. Obviously, some idiosyncrasies of posting style and voice are more difficult to overcome (and notice) than others. If you can’t deconstruct it, move on to aspects that you can.
Another trick of differentiation is username choice. The name I’ve chosen here is too obvious for most uses, other than the one-off I’ve employed, or perhaps for a Guess Who game. Obviously, the username is part of the planning/biography process, and the character should dictate a suitable name. One way to differentiate is to use opposing styles: one using capitals and spacing, mimicking a first and last name (“Jack Sprat”), the other using no capitals or spaces (“georgieporgie”); or, one using spacing, the other using underscores (jack sprat vs. georgie_porgie). I’ve noticed that most users tend to pick the same naming style every time, so this could be an effective differentiation technique. I haven’t used it much myself, preferring to rely upon purely character-driven naming.
[B]Schizoid Dialogues
The worst examples I’ve seen of sloppy sockpuppetry have involved some poor schlub trying to talk to himself via his alternate accounts. I’ve already gone over the basic means to distinguish between characters, but creating a back-and-forth dialogue adds an extra level of complexity. It means you have to perform in a one-(wo)man show, which looks great when the actor pulls it off, but many actors just … don’t.
As I mentioned above, this is definitely not the time to boost your ego. If you feel compelled to have your alter praise you to the rooftops, you’re probably not cut out for this sort of thing. It would be more believable to engage in a flame war with your alter, or at least a disagreement. Better yet, just have a real conversation.
If you want to try to create a dialogue, keep in mind my earlier admonition: Preview, Preview, Preview. Also, take a step back with every logout/login. Refresh your memory as to which character you’re playing. Remember the medium you’re using. Sometimes a dialogue in a thread occurs rapid-fire, with a few minutes or less between responses, and at other times, the thread develops more slowly. Maintain some variation in the posting intervals, to prevent the appearance that the whole conversation is contrived, which it of course is.
I hope someone finds this essay useful. I don’t profess to be the Internet’s foremost authority on this topic. However, I have used these techniques successfully on more than one site. At least, no one here has unraveled my own shenanigans, or any who have are keeping it to themselves. :quiet: