Sock Puppets

Who are they? How do you ferret them out? Why isn't more done on this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_sock_puppet

Sockpuppet (Internet)

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Literal sockpuppet.

For information on sock puppets in Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:Sock puppetry.

A sockpuppet is an online identity used for purposes of deception within an Internet community. In its earliest usage, a sockpuppet was a false identity through which a member of an Internet community speaks while pretending not to, like a puppeteer manipulating a hand puppet.^[1]

In current usage, the perception of the term has been extended beyond second identities of people who already post in a forum to include other uses of misleading online identities. For example, a NY Times article claims that "sock-puppeting" is defined as "the act of creating a fake online identity to praise, defend or create the illusion of support for one’s self, allies or company."^[2]

The key difference between a sockpuppet and a regular pseudonym (sometimes termed an "alt" which is short for alternate, as in alternate identity) is the pretense that the puppet is a third party who is not affiliated with the puppeteer.

The first known usage of the term was on July 9, 1993 by Merciful Lee Dickens in a posting to bit.listserv.fnord-l, but was not in common usage in USENET groups until 1996.

Notable public examples

Notable examples involving public figures in recent years include:

• John Lott, author of More Guns, Less Crime, who, between 2000 and 2003, posted under the "sock puppet" name of "Mary Rosh",^[3] praising Lott's teaching, and arguing with Lott's critics on Usenet. The name was also used to post outstanding reviews of his books, and panning books of rivals on online book sites. Lott admitted he had frequently used the name "Mary Rosh" to defend himself, but claimed the book reviews by "Mary Rosh" were written by his son and wife.
• Lee Siegel, writer for The New Republic magazine, was suspended for defending his articles and blog comments using the user name "Sprezzatura". One such comment, defending Siegel's bad reviews of Jon Stewart: “Siegel is brave, brilliant and wittier than Stewart will ever be.”^{[4] [5]}
• In 2006 a top staffer for then-Congressman Charlie Bass (R-NH) was caught posing as a "concerned" supporter of Bass's opponent Democrat Paul Hodes on several liberal NH blogs, using the pseudonyms "IndieNH" or "IndyNH". "IndyNH" was "concerned" that Democrats might just be wasting their time or money on Hodes, because Bass was unbeatable. ^[6]
• In January 2007, the press secretary of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, John Ragone, admitted that he posted pro-Newsom comments to the blog SFist from his computer variously as "John Nelson" (a friend) or as "Byorn." The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Ragone stated that "he answered Newsom's critics using others' names because being online 'was fun—it's where people are having fun.'" ^[7]
• In 2007, the CEO of Whole Foods, John Mackey, was discovered to have posted on the Yahoo Finance Message Board, extolling his own company and predicting a dire future for their rival Wild Oats Markets while concealing his own relationship to both companies under the screen name "Rahodeb". ^[8]