Alter Ego - The dark Side

[+CapeDoc]

Have any of you created a geocaching Alter Ego to let you express yourself anonymously?

 

So, you have been geocaching for a while, been to a few event caches, and are known to the geocaching community in your area. Then something crops up with a topic on the forums, or around a cache and you want to express yourself anonymously. Perhaps you want to be a little "dark" but don’t feel it fits in with your geocaching "image".

Do you create a new Geocaching profile to let you achieve this?

 

(Please don't assume I have, it was just a thought that may be interesting to discuss)

[+hydnsek]

You're new around here, aren't ya?

 

 

 

 

Why, there are so many alter egos (we call 'em "sock puppets") that there's even a sock puppet (Captain Clorox) to clean up the sock puppets.

 

I betcha you'll see a few of 'em replying any time now....

 

Some folks set up sock puppet accounts to create caches as a different persona. We have many of these in the Pacific Northwest, and their caches are clever and fun (and sometimes 'evil'). Examples: Fen Dweller, Miss Goody Two Shoes, fiendorfoe.

 

Other folks knit socks to - as you say - express themselves 'anonymously' in the forums.

 

As for me, I've thought about it, but still only got the one account.

Edited September 23, 2008 by hydnsek

[Captain Kenton]

No. I only post using this account. If I don't want somebody to know my opinion on something I'll just keep it to myself. Posting annonymously is cowardly or mean spirited.

 

I do have an alter ego but only because I live in two seperate geographical areas and want the email about new caches and events for both places. If I ever decide to try to place a geocache it will also make it easier.

[+Rockin Roddy]

No, anything I have to say can be said by "myself", no need to hide who I am!

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

Have any of you created a geocaching Alter Ego to let you express yourself anonymously?

 

So, you have been geocaching for a while, been to a few event caches, and are known to the geocaching community in your area. Then something crops up with a topic on the forums, or around a cache and you want to express yourself anonymously. Perhaps you want to be a little "dark" but don’t feel it fits in with your geocaching "image".

Do you create a new Geocaching profile to let you achieve this?

 

(Please don't assume I have, it was just a thought that may be interesting to discuss)

First, as others have noted, we call such accounts "sock puppets", and that tends to be the most common nomenclature for such accounts (particularly if created for malicious or hostile reasons) on the Interweb. And, the reality is that some sock puppet accounts are created for very benign and practical reasons, and others (perhaps the majority) are created because the person is not able/not willing to take a stand under their real name/identity and wants to hide behind a pseudonym, or even because they want to go trolling.

 

sigh...

 

Having said all that, there is something I want to tell you, which although it is not widely-known, it is hardly a well-kept secret either. . .

 

You see....

 

sigh....

 

Well, you see, if you were to spend a couple of hours browsing the posts on this forum, and review posts going back a few months as well....

 

You will notice that there are some pretty well-known posters, and, in fact, a number of very active posters who often seem to end up on opposite sides of any of a number of various forum debates and arguments. Some of them argue with each other incessantly, over almost anything.

 

Well, you see...

 

The sick reality is...

 

The reality is... ...that the vast majority of the better-known accounts that post frequently to this forum are my sock puppet accounts. In fact, almost ALL of the accounts which seem to often engage in vociferous arguments with each other, well, they are all sock puppet accounts which I have created. And, the vast majority of the accounts which tend to try to stat REALLY strange and bizarre threads, well, most of them are mine as well.

 

What I have created is sometimes known as a "sock farm".

 

Some folks have estimated that if my sock farm were abolished, that is, if all my sock puppet accounts were eliminated, the activity level on this forum would fall to perhaps 18% of the current "normal" level.

 

Sorry! But, I do not do it to be mean, but rather, just to entertain myself and other people!

 

.

Edited September 23, 2008 by Vinny & Sue Team

[+Sioneva]

Have any of you created a geocaching Alter Ego to let you express yourself anonymously?

 

So, you have been geocaching for a while, been to a few event caches, and are known to the geocaching community in your area. Then something crops up with a topic on the forums, or around a cache and you want to express yourself anonymously. Perhaps you want to be a little "dark" but don’t feel it fits in with your geocaching "image".

Do you create a new Geocaching profile to let you achieve this?

 

(Please don't assume I have, it was just a thought that may be interesting to discuss)

First, as others have noted, we call such accounts "sock puppets", and that tends to be the most common nomenclature for such accounts (particularly if created for malicious or hostile reasons) on the Interweb. And, the reality is that some sock puppet accounts are created for very benign and practical reasons, and others (perhaps the majority) are created because the person is not able/not willing to take a stand under their real name/identity and wants to hide behind a pseudonym, or even because they want to go trolling.

 

sigh...

 

Having said all that, there is something I want to tell you, which although it is not widely-known, it is hardly a well-kept secret either. . .

 

You see....

 

sigh....

 

Well, you see, if you were to spend a couple of hours browsing the posts on this forum, and review posts going back a few months as well....

 

You will notice that there are some pretty well-known posters, and, in fact, a number of very active posters who often seem to end up on opposite sides of any of a number of various forum debates and arguments. Some of them argue with each other incessantly, over almost anything.

 

Well, you see...

 

The sick reality is...

 

The reality is... ...that the vast majority of the better-known accounts that post frequently to this forum are my sock puppet accounts. In fact, almost ALL of the accounts which seem to often engage in vociferous arguments with each other, well, they are all sock puppet accounts which I have created. And, the vast majority of the accounts which tend to try to stat REALLY strange and bizarre threads, well, most of them are mine as well.

 

What I have created is sometimes known as a "sock farm".

 

Some folks have estimated that if my sock farm were abolished, that is, if all my sock puppet accounts were eliminated, the activity level on this forum would fall to perhaps 18% of the current "normal" level.

 

Sorry! But, I do not do it to be mean, but rather, just to entertain myself and other people!

 

.

 

Just for the record... I am not Vinny's sock puppet. In fact... he's mine. That's the darkest secret of all. Well, nearly.

 

You see, this sock form he mentions... it's where socks are bred and released into the wild to do all sorts of mischief. Haven't you ever heard of the Sock of Rome in 476? That was one of our greatest successes!

 

So if you have ever wondered where missing socks go when they vanish from the laundry... be assured that they will live out interesting, prodestructive lives as forum sock puppets and be consoled!

[AZcachemeister]

 

What I have created is sometimes known as a "sock farm".

 

 

A 'sock farm'?

 

I guess that's OK for flimsy 'street shoe' cotton/polyester type sock puppets...

 

If yer gonna raise big, burly 'hiking boot' 100% wool type sock puppets, it would be a 'sock RANCH'!

 

To the OP: Nope, never done that!

[Captain Clorox]

Please don't make fun of my sock farm. That makes me cry.

 

Thank you,

Vinny

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

As an interesting side note, sock puppets are a VERY big phenomenon on sites such as Wikipedia, where apparent popular consensus across users/accounts is often needed to effect changes/edits to pages, and on social blog/network sites such as LiveJournal. In fact, on some of the larger and busier sites and forums which are heavily plagued by sock puppets, there are super admins (that is, admins with powerful system privileges that allow them to snoop behind the scenes) and super hackers (that is, mere forum or list members who use their skills and special software for the task) who specialize in exposing sock puppets.

 

Some of these "sock puppet hunters" simply expose the sock puppet by linking it to the original user account name, as the Groundspeak admins did to me, I mean, to Ringbone, years ago when the user named Ringbone started creating a slew of sock puppet accounts to agree with his position in a forum discussion -- all of a sudden his sock posts showed his original account name, which was Ringbone. And, we also see Captain Clorox (one of my socks) gently "out" sock puppets at times on the forum, when their antics get too annoying.

 

But, on some of the sites which are plagued really big time by sock puppets, some sock puppet hunters go a step further, and for the really obnoxious sock farmers, such as manipulative site users who may maintain a farm of hundreds or thousands of socks, the sock hunter will announce the person's real name (that is, their real world real name) online, along with a list of all their sock puppet accounts! This practice of outing and shaming sock farmers by exposing their real name is actually disallowed on some sites such as LiveJournal, supposedly for reasons connected with protecting the privacy of users.

[+climbstuff]

Have any of you created a geocaching Alter Ego to let you express yourself anonymously?

 

So, you have been geocaching for a while, been to a few event caches, and are known to the geocaching community in your area. Then something crops up with a topic on the forums, or around a cache and you want to express yourself anonymously. Perhaps you want to be a little "dark" but don’t feel it fits in with your geocaching "image".

Do you create a new Geocaching profile to let you achieve this?

 

(Please don't assume I have, it was just a thought that may be interesting to discuss)

 

Have you read the forum guidelines?

 

"4. Sock puppet accounts are not permitted. A sock puppet is an account made on an internet message board by a person who already has an account for the purpose of posting anonymously. Use your own account for posting personal opinions. Posts from known sock puppet accounts will be deleted and both the puppet and actual account may be banned from using the services of Groundspeak."

[CachingUlysses]

I don't know of what you speak!

[Billy KAOS]

I don't know of what you speak!

Newbies.

[+MarshMonsters]

You know the socks that go missing in the dryer? They end up on here.

[+StarBrand]

Nope - just me. I am who I am and I am not ashamed of it.

 

 

Of course there is a running theory that all posts here in the forums are made by just 24 different people and the 17,000 sock puppets they have created...........

Edited September 23, 2008 by StarBrand

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

Nope - just me. I am who I am and I am not ashamed of it.

 

Of course there is a running theory that all posts here in the forums are made by just 24 different people and the 17,000 sock puppets they have created...........

For the record, while my socks do include a good number of the high-post-count posters on the forum, I own fewer than 130 sock puppet accounts. I dunno about the other claimed 16,900 sock puppets, and I doubt that the projection is accurate.

[+KBI]

Posting annonymously is cowardly.

'Nuff said.

[+Team ButrflyMac]

I made a sockpuppet account once. It didn't work out so well... for some reason nobody was fooled by it.

[+DavidMac]

Why does my post say ringbone?

 

(I created a second account for other legitimate purposes- some day I'll want to pull 10 PQ's in one day, for example. I wouldn't make one for nefarious reasons).

Edited September 23, 2008 by DavidMac

[+wimseyguy]

I accept your apology.

[+hydnsek]

What I have created is sometimes known as a "sock farm".

 

A 'sock farm'?

 

I guess that's OK for flimsy 'street shoe' cotton/polyester type sock puppets...

 

If yer gonna raise big, burly 'hiking boot' 100% wool type sock puppets, it would be a 'sock RANCH'!

And here I always thought it was called a sock drawer. I guess with Vinny's load of socks, though, a drawer would be too small...

 

(I created a second account for other legitimate purposes- some day I'll want to pull 10 PQ's in one day, for example.)

Dang! That's the single best reason I've ever heard for having a second account. I'm close to using up my quota of PQs, so thanks for this brilliant idea. You should run for president or sumthin.

Edited September 23, 2008 by hydnsek

[Mr.Yuck]

What I have created is sometimes known as a "sock farm".

 

A 'sock farm'?

 

I guess that's OK for flimsy 'street shoe' cotton/polyester type sock puppets...

 

If yer gonna raise big, burly 'hiking boot' 100% wool type sock puppets, it would be a 'sock RANCH'!

And here I always thought it was called a sock drawer. I guess with Vinny's load of socks, though, a drawer would be too small...

 

 

A sock farm is nothing. I was once accused of being the Commander-in-chief of a sock puppet Army. Of course I wasn't guilty, so it was an imaginary sock puppet army in someone's head.

 

Why does DavidMac's sockpuppet say DavidMac's sockpuppet?

[bogleman]

as for the OP's original question - yes I do have multiple accounts and yes I was going to hide caches under those accounts but I never did. I gave 1 to my son who could care less about logging anything and the other 2 I guess are for the other kids if they decide to do anything later down the line.

 

I have posted on the forums with the various accounts but that was to set the avatar. I have a hard time understanding why someone would use a sock puppet, they are easy to spot (for the most part) - underpants puppets are harder to catch but that would belong in the OT thread

[+Renegade Knight]

...Do you create a new Geocaching profile to let you achieve this?...

 

I am the sock puppet. My good twin preferse to keep a low profile.

[+TotemLake]

Sorry... I felt the force ripple a little bit and stepped into this... thread. You may continue.

[+markandsandy]

Have any of you created a geocaching Alter Ego to let you express yourself anonymously?

 

 

The reality is... ...that the vast majority of the better-known accounts that post frequently to this forum are my sock puppet accounts.

 

Just for the record... I am not Vinny's sock puppet. In fact... he's mine. That's the darkest secret of all. Well, nearly.

 

 

It's such a dark secret, Vinny doesn't even realize he's a puppet.

[+flask]

Posting annonymously is cowardly.

'Nuff said.

 

there can be legitimate reasons for wanting to post anonymously. the "prayer concerns" thread in OT leaps to mind.

 

perhaps if one wants to ask a question about a thing that happened without identifying the people or caches involved it might be appropriate.

 

where posting anonymously would be the gracious thing to do, it's probably all right. where posting anonymously gives you a soapbox, an invisible ally or gives you an excuse to be less civil than you would be if you had to use your real account, it's probably a very bad idea.

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

Have any of you created a geocaching Alter Ego to let you express yourself anonymously?

 

 

The reality is... ...that the vast majority of the better-known accounts that post frequently to this forum are my sock puppet accounts.

 

Just for the record... I am not Vinny's sock puppet. In fact... he's mine. That's the darkest secret of all. Well, nearly.

 

 

It's such a dark secret, Vinny doesn't even realize he's a puppet.

Hey! Why did the account name on my previous post say "markandsandy"? What the heck?

Edited September 24, 2008 by Vinny & Sue Team

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

What I have created is sometimes known as a "sock farm".

 

A 'sock farm'?

 

I guess that's OK for flimsy 'street shoe' cotton/polyester type sock puppets...

 

If yer gonna raise big, burly 'hiking boot' 100% wool type sock puppets, it would be a 'sock RANCH'!

And here I always thought it was called a sock drawer. I guess with Vinny's load of socks, though, a drawer would be too small...

 

 

A sock farm is nothing. I was once accused of being the Commander-in-chief of a sock puppet Army. Of course I wasn't guilty, so it was an imaginary sock puppet army in someone's head.

 

Why does DavidMac's sockpuppet say DavidMac's sockpuppet?

If you read some of the tales at some of the websites, apparently one overly-deranged and over-zealous member at Wikipedia had over 3,000 sock puppets at one time before getting caught, and apparently one puppeteer at LiveJournal had 9,000 socks, each "aged" at least 4 months, before getting caught and outed. Those, I think, qualify as automated sock factories!

[+markandsandy]

Have any of you created a geocaching Alter Ego to let you express yourself anonymously?

 

 

The reality is... ...that the vast majority of the better-known accounts that post frequently to this forum are my sock puppet accounts.

 

Just for the record... I am not Vinny's sock puppet. In fact... he's mine. That's the darkest secret of all. Well, nearly.

 

It's such a dark secret, Vinny doesn't even realize he's a puppet.

Hey! Why did the account name on previous post say "markandsandy"? What the heck?

[+Hunter of Sock Monsters]

You know the socks that go missing in the dryer? They end up on here.

 

WHAT!?!?! THERE ARE SOCK MONSTERS HERE!! LET ME AT THEM!!!

 

[Clan Riffster]

Back to the original question: I have a second account, which I created for work related caching stuff.

This account has not been on the forums.... that I know of.

[+va griz]

So a large portion of the threads here are schizophrenic people talking to themselves?

 

HEY…who said that???

 

Shut up !!!

 

Psssssstt, did any of you hear that?

[+KerBear]

Back to the original question: I have a second account, which I created for work related caching stuff.

This account has not been on the forums.... that I know of.

 

I have a second acct for my dog to keep track of caches she's been to. she doesn't post on the forums-she's very opinionated and tends to bark at most everyone.

[+Colonial Cats]

Have any of you created a geocaching Alter Ego to let you express yourself anonymously?

 

So, you have been geocaching for a while, been to a few event caches, and are known to the geocaching community in your area. Then something crops up with a topic on the forums, or around a cache and you want to express yourself anonymously. Perhaps you want to be a little "dark" but don’t feel it fits in with your geocaching "image".

Do you create a new Geocaching profile to let you achieve this?

 

(Please don't assume I have, it was just a thought that may be interesting to discuss)

 

Unfortunately, it's all me.