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Sock Puppet Account-Holders Need New Hobbies


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...I recently stumbled upon two artificial members in the Portland OR area when I rec'd notification of a find on one of my archived caches. The impostor, under the monikers Maxwell6336 and mxwhite484, just recently logged an inordinate number of sudden finds, all of which were post-dated to a one-week period in August of 2012. I can't imagine why anyone would go through so much trouble to set up a ghost-cacher, but it's occurred to me that the threshold of absurdity in this little hobby of ours has been crossed, and that it might be time to re-assess the ways in which we waste our time...

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Some people share an account because they cache together and when that situation changes they suddenly log large amounts of caches on a new account. It is not strange or against the rules, so I wouldn't worry about it.

 

Yep, I've done that - split one account into 4 for the wife & kids so lots of retrospective logs suddenly appeared on many of our previous finds - although I did explain what was going on in the logs.

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...I recently stumbled upon two artificial members in the Portland OR area when I rec'd notification of a find on one of my archived caches. The impostor, under the monikers Maxwell6336 and mxwhite484, just recently logged an inordinate number of sudden finds, all of which were post-dated to a one-week period in August of 2012. I can't imagine why anyone would go through so much trouble to set up a ghost-cacher, but it's occurred to me that the threshold of absurdity in this little hobby of ours has been crossed, and that it might be time to re-assess the ways in which we waste our time...

 

There have been no-life users who create accounts and phony log caches (all over the world in the same day, usually), but as you can see from the other responses, I'm going to bet that is not the case here. People break off from teams (often kids who want their own account), and do this all the time. I'm even aware of a relationship break-up that resulted in someone having to start a new account and backlog over 10,000 finds. And yes, of course someone started a thread about it. :P

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...I rec'd notification of a find on one of my archived caches.

Since I can't see any find logs for those accounts on your lone archived cache, I'm going to assume you've already deleted their logs. Did you attempt to contact them before deleting the finds, to find out what the story is? I just took a look at both accounts, and I don't see anything in either that would suggest to me that they were bogus logs. The mxwhite484 account was created last summer and logged caches in Oregon around that time (ie. not logging today and back-dating them). The Maxwell6336 account was only created two days ago, but it looks to me like they were just going back and logging caches they found with mxwhite484. As Mr.Yuck said, phony-loggers will usually log significant or widespread caches (ie. one cache in each of many countries), often with the same find date. These two accounts have logged caches only in Oregon, and have dated them with varying dates that look to me like regular caching behaviour.

 

I don't see a problem with either account, and (IMO) deleting their find logs is unwarranted.

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I find that true sock-puppet accounts love attention. If had reason to suspect improper logging I would report it to my reviewer who would have far more resources to clarify the situation. That way if didn't have all the details at least I didn't accuse someone in a public forum first.

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...I rec'd notification of a find on one of my archived caches.

Since I can't see any find logs for those accounts on your lone archived cache, I'm going to assume you've already deleted their logs. Did you attempt to contact them before deleting the finds, to find out what the story is? I just took a look at both accounts, and I don't see anything in either that would suggest to me that they were bogus logs. The mxwhite484 account was created last summer and logged caches in Oregon around that time (ie. not logging today and back-dating them). The Maxwell6336 account was only created two days ago, but it looks to me like they were just going back and logging caches they found with mxwhite484. As Mr.Yuck said, phony-loggers will usually log significant or widespread caches (ie. one cache in each of many countries), often with the same find date. These two accounts have logged caches only in Oregon, and have dated them with varying dates that look to me like regular caching behaviour.

 

I don't see a problem with either account, and (IMO) deleting their find logs is unwarranted.

 

IF this is the case, the logger's only mistake was not stating what they were doing (and why) in the log.

 

I have seen this (backlogging finds for an account split) happen many times.

 

If I were suspicious, I would send a message to the logger to get an indication of their intent before deleting anything.

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wait a minute... I'm a sock puppet!

some sock puppet accounts are created for good reasons with no malice intended.

myself, as well as many others have these accounts to do good deeds like gift geocoins annonimously.

remaining behind the scenes and keeping identities a mystery to the masses through sock puppet accounts, allows us to spread good cheer to geocachers without recognition or being publicly stalked by those that seek our kind gestures.

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You ain't the boss of me, or my hobbies.

 

And you might want to check and see if they are splitting a team account into individuals, like pointed out above, before you assume that they're a bunch of stinkin cheaters. Because my money is on that.

 

And then you might want to apologize for essentially calling them a bunch of stinking cheaters on the geocaching forums, in front of their mom and everyone.

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Yup I pasted something like "retro-logging this for OS Junior in case he wants his own account when older" for about 20 caches, but now always try to put distinct comments for each of us when we go caching together (he's not quite 4). Worth making this sort of thing clear, isn't it - I can quite understand a CO wondering what on earth is going on but it will usually be one of the innocent reasons above, I'd imagine.

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wait a minute... I'm a sock puppet!

some sock puppet accounts are created for good reasons with no malice intended.

myself, as well as many others have these accounts to do good deeds like gift geocoins annonimously.

remaining behind the scenes and keeping identities a mystery to the masses through sock puppet accounts, allows us to spread good cheer to geocachers without recognition or being publicly stalked by those that seek our kind gestures.

 

Ditto. Not all sock puppets are meant for bad.

Edited by bflentje
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Ok , I'll ask for all those newbies who won't...

 

Whats a "Sock Puppet" and why would you want to be one?

 

Seems like a smelly occupation.

 

A "Sock Puppet" (SP) is a second account created by a user, usually for some devious purpose. E.G. some people create SPs to go on forums and slag people off so it can't be traced back to the real poster's ID.

 

I think the consensus here is that the accounts mentioned in the OP aren't SPs but are probably genuine accounts created where a family/couple have decided to create separate accounts for each member.

 

Edit to add: Sock Puppets aren't a Geocaching thing, they're an Internet phenomenon that have been around for many more years than Geocaching.

Edited by MartyBartfast
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A "Sock Puppet" (SP) is a second account created by a user, usually for some devious purpose. E.G. some people create SPs to go on forums and slag people off so it can't be traced back to the real poster's ID.

 

This account sees things as a PM. I created a sock so I could see what a Basic Member sees.

 

Nothing devious in that.

 

 

B.

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And some socks even tread the thin green line. When ALR's (Additonal Logging Requirements) were still permitted a few years back we had a new hider with an unusual and flawed idea. He thought that the best way to level the playing field for newer cachers to get a FTF was that anyone with more than 100 finds couldn't be among the first 10 finders of his caches. Since ALR's were permitted back then, the reviewer had to publish them against his better judgement.

 

I don't care a fig about FTF, but worked in the area where these hides were being placed. So I created a sock to fill up the 2-10 slots a bit faster and point out the absurdity of that hider's position on limiting the access to his caches. That sock is rolled up in the back of my drawer for now, but would be used again if I felt the need to wear it.

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Yeah, okay. Whatever...

I tried to contact the so-called acct. holder with no response. There was no clarification of intent, nor were those names ever scrawled into the logs of the cache in question. I understand that it's possible that someone was just splitting & backlogging, and realize that there's some potentially less-devious intentions at play. Fine. Cool.

My initial reaction to what appeared to be a false log was to ask the "cacher" what they were up to and to delete the logs. I didn't hear back, either way. Admittedly, I got a little worked up about it at first, but really, it's pointless. I'm not too concerned about it.

 

Anyway, thanks for the feedback. I appreciate the different points of view.

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You ain't the boss of me, or my hobbies.

 

And you might want to check and see if they are splitting a team account into individuals, like pointed out above, before you assume that they're a bunch of stinkin cheaters. Because my money is on that.

 

And then you might want to apologize for essentially calling them a bunch of stinking cheaters on the geocaching forums, in front of their mom and everyone.

 

 

...your mom! http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/public/style_extra/post_icons/icon12.gif

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And some socks even tread the thin green line. When ALR's (Additonal Logging Requirements) were still permitted a few years back we had a new hider with an unusual and flawed idea. He thought that the best way to level the playing field for newer cachers to get a FTF was that anyone with more than 100 finds couldn't be among the first 10 finders of his caches. Since ALR's were permitted back then, the reviewer had to publish them against his better judgement.

 

I don't care a fig about FTF, but worked in the area where these hides were being placed. So I created a sock to fill up the 2-10 slots a bit faster and point out the absurdity of that hider's position on limiting the access to his caches. That sock is rolled up in the back of my drawer for now, but would be used again if I felt the need to wear it.

 

Been there, done that.

 

Had a cache not so very close by that required finders to be 'n00bs', or caching with a 'n00b'.

I created a sock so I could find the cache without having my log deleted.

I logged all my finds for that day with both accounts, and it was actually fun giving myself grief for the difficulty I had finding some of the caches.

 

Schizophrenia CAN be fun! :lol:

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check this out: This "Sock Puppet" joined yesterday and has now acquired a number of souvenirs! His Profile name gives away what he's up to though:

http://www.geocaching.com/profile/default.aspx?guid=15b2b8cb-09a7-4533-8e71-1279b6099eeb

I could do some of them one at a time. but how did he do so many in one day? And where does one find all the souvenirs available and how did you know about this?

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check this out: This "Sock Puppet" joined yesterday and has now acquired a number of souvenirs! His Profile name gives away what he's up to though:

http://www.geocaching.com/profile/default.aspx?guid=15b2b8cb-09a7-4533-8e71-1279b6099eeb

 

Needs to be reported to Groundspeak.

 

How does one get all those souvenirs without any "found it" or "attended" logs?

 

 

B.

By posting a log...then deleting it.

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check this out: This "Sock Puppet" joined yesterday and has now acquired a number of souvenirs! His Profile name gives away what he's up to though:

http://www.geocaching.com/profile/default.aspx?guid=15b2b8cb-09a7-4533-8e71-1279b6099eeb

 

Needs to be reported to Groundspeak.

 

How does one get all those souvenirs without any "found it" or "attended" logs?

 

 

B.

By posting a log...then deleting it.

That's probably it. If so, some Cache Owners received mystifying "Found It" notifications.

 

[EDIT] I'm guessing the Cache Owner would have logged his sock logs on his own caches.

Edited by kunarion
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check this out: This "Sock Puppet" joined yesterday and has now acquired a number of souvenirs! His Profile name gives away what he's up to though:

http://www.geocaching.com/profile/default.aspx?guid=15b2b8cb-09a7-4533-8e71-1279b6099eeb

 

Needs to be reported to Groundspeak.

 

How does one get all those souvenirs without any "found it" or "attended" logs?

 

 

B.

By posting a log...then deleting it.

That's probably it. If so, some Cache Owners received mystifying "Found It" notifications.

 

[EDIT] I'm guessing the Cache Owner would have logged his sock logs on his own caches.

 

Not likely because all kinds of provinces of European countries, and many countries. Would also have to know the bounderies of districts in Europe

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check this out: This "Sock Puppet" joined yesterday and has now acquired a number of souvenirs! His Profile name gives away what he's up to though:

http://www.geocaching.com/profile/default.aspx?guid=15b2b8cb-09a7-4533-8e71-1279b6099eeb

 

Needs to be reported to Groundspeak.

 

How does one get all those souvenirs without any "found it" or "attended" logs?

 

 

B.

By posting a log...then deleting it.

That's probably it. If so, some Cache Owners received mystifying "Found It" notifications.

 

[EDIT] I'm guessing the Cache Owner would have logged his sock logs on his own caches.

 

Not likely because all kinds of provinces of European countries, and many countries. Would also have to know the bounderies of districts in Europe

Or use the map and select any cache at random. (of course, I had all cache types turned off to collect that link...). Yes, it would take some effort to get everything, but they certainly seem to have plenty of time on their hands already.

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I was at first thinking that it may have been someone who was just particular about their souvenirs. They set up a sock account to log caches, with correct dates, that they had actually already gotten souvenirs from. They then deleted the caches which left the souvenir page for them to look at or link to. Seems a bit of work if that was the case.

 

However, from the above responses, it looks like i may be totally off with this idea.

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I could do some of them one at a time. but how did he do so many in one day? And where does one find all the souvenirs available and how did you know about this?

 

I found out about this "sock puppet" because I had a watch on an Event that this guy logged and so I got curious and checked their account.

 

You are receiving this email because this listing is on your watch list. Visit the web site to change your watchlist settings.

 

Location: Texas, United States

souvenir_collector attended Texas Challenge XI (Archived) (Mega-Event Cache) at 8/7/2013

 

Log Date: 8/7/2013

.

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I could do some of them one at a time. but how did he do so many in one day? And where does one find all the souvenirs available and how did you know about this?

 

I found out about this "sock puppet" because I had a watch on an Event that this guy logged and so I got curious and checked their account.

 

You are receiving this email because this listing is on your watch list. Visit the web site to change your watchlist settings.

 

Location: Texas, United States

souvenir_collector attended Texas Challenge XI (Archived) (Mega-Event Cache) at 8/7/2013

 

Log Date: 8/7/2013

.

 

I'm supposing some of you know something i don't because i still say that this could be a person who actually attended TCXI. He attended under his normal caching name. Is it possible that he wants to cache in August, but doesn't want any of the August souvenirs? To solve this, he made up his souvenir collector account to go back and log caches and dates he's already found. He's only doing this for the souvis so deletes the caches after the souvis appear on the page. Doing this, he could pick the one's that are important to him. He'd then have a souvenir page with just the souvis he wants, albeit, under another name. I haven't tried anything like this but i figure it should work.

Edited by Mudfrog
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I could do some of them one at a time. but how did he do so many in one day? And where does one find all the souvenirs available and how did you know about this?

 

I found out about this "sock puppet" because I had a watch on an Event that this guy logged and so I got curious and checked their account.

 

You are receiving this email because this listing is on your watch list. Visit the web site to change your watchlist settings.

 

Location: Texas, United States

souvenir_collector attended Texas Challenge XI (Archived) (Mega-Event Cache) at 8/7/2013

 

Log Date: 8/7/2013

.

 

I'm supposing some of you know something i don't because i still say that this could be a person who actually attended TCXI. He attended under his normal caching name. Is it possible that he doesn't want any of the August souvenirs? To solve this, he made up his souvenir collector account to go back to caches and dates he's already found. Doing this, he could pick the one's that are important to him. He'd then have a souvenir page with just the souvenirs he wants, albeit, under another name. I haven't tried anything like this but i figure it should work.

He doesn't have the souvenir page anymore. The user account is locked, and all the souvenirs are gone. I saw the page earlier, and it looked like every souvenir available was there. I suppose it would be theoretically possible for someone to qualify for every one, but extremely unlikely.

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i figure it should work.

...for a couple of days, til the account gets locked. :ph34r:

 

I once found a sock puppet where a cacher stores his archived caches. That was a little scary at first glance... all the caches are archived (one I had found previously), his name is something ominous like "Joe_Terminated" :blink:. That was a Geocide that came right out of the blue! Nope, turns out, it's just a plan to organize caches.

Edited by kunarion
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I could do some of them one at a time. but how did he do so many in one day? And where does one find all the souvenirs available and how did you know about this?

 

I found out about this "sock puppet" because I had a watch on an Event that this guy logged and so I got curious and checked their account.

 

You are receiving this email because this listing is on your watch list. Visit the web site to change your watchlist settings.

 

Location: Texas, United States

souvenir_collector attended Texas Challenge XI (Archived) (Mega-Event Cache) at 8/7/2013

 

Log Date: 8/7/2013

.

 

I'm supposing some of you know something i don't because i still say that this could be a person who actually attended TCXI. He attended under his normal caching name. Is it possible that he doesn't want any of the August souvenirs? To solve this, he made up his souvenir collector account to go back to caches and dates he's already found. Doing this, he could pick the one's that are important to him. He'd then have a souvenir page with just the souvenirs he wants, albeit, under another name. I haven't tried anything like this but i figure it should work.

He doesn't have the souvenir page anymore. The user account is locked, and all the souvenirs are gone. I saw the page earlier, and it looked like every souvenir available was there. I suppose it would be theoretically possible for someone to qualify for every one, but extremely unlikely.

 

Thank you! I didn't get a chance to see the page. It sounds like this person was trying to cheat the system somehow. Nevermind my other posts.

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Hello, I am both Maxwell6336 and mxwhite484.

 

I read through some of the replys and most of them are correct. i geocach with a bunch of different people under this account, (4 at the moment) A lot of the time when school gives me time off ill spend the entire week dedicated to geocaching. ill set a goal of sometimes 30 caches and wont go home untill as late as midnight. ive held a whole bunch of finds in my Explorest-GC GPS and usually wait till i have 30 or so finds before i upload so the dates matched up.. thats about it for now. but i just wanted to assure you that i am 100% real.

 

Have a nice Day ~Maxwell White~

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I could do some of them one at a time. but how did he do so many in one day? And where does one find all the souvenirs available and how did you know about this?

 

I found out about this "sock puppet" because I had a watch on an Event that this guy logged and so I got curious and checked their account.

 

You are receiving this email because this listing is on your watch list. Visit the web site to change your watchlist settings.

 

Location: Texas, United States

souvenir_collector attended Texas Challenge XI (Archived) (Mega-Event Cache) at 8/7/2013

 

Log Date: 8/7/2013

.

 

I'm supposing some of you know something i don't because i still say that this could be a person who actually attended TCXI. He attended under his normal caching name. Is it possible that he doesn't want any of the August souvenirs? To solve this, he made up his souvenir collector account to go back to caches and dates he's already found. Doing this, he could pick the one's that are important to him. He'd then have a souvenir page with just the souvenirs he wants, albeit, under another name. I haven't tried anything like this but i figure it should work.

He doesn't have the souvenir page anymore. The user account is locked, and all the souvenirs are gone. I saw the page earlier, and it looked like every souvenir available was there. I suppose it would be theoretically possible for someone to qualify for every one, but extremely unlikely.

 

Thank you! I didn't get a chance to see the page. It sounds like this person was trying to cheat the system somehow. Nevermind my other posts.

 

I don't know why, but I'm not all that bothered by this. Suppose "souvenir_collector" just wanted to see a page with every souvenir on it? They wouldn't be able to get the older date based souvenirs and a few of those "special" souvenirs in Seattle like the Marination souvi by by posting find/attended logs then deleted them they could have a page which had most of them on it. It's not like they're trying to claim souvenirs for their real account and anyone else that wanted to see, for example, what all the souvenirs in Australia look like would have a easy place to go to see them. Actually, Groundspeak should create a "Geocaching_Souvenirs" account and put all souvenirs on it so that Geocachers would have an official place to go see all of them. A-Team has created a nice web page that has links for all of them but considering how much GS has been promoting the August souvenirs they ought to have a page what shows all of the different souvenirs they've released.

 

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