It's an interesting question raised here - we refuse to accept votes from anonymous people, so it shouldn't be surprising that people register specifically to vote. However, sock puppets obviously have the same behaviour.
Perhaps the right approach in a suspected sock puppet case is to temporarily disregard their vote, and leave a message like "You're acting like a sock puppet. Can you demonstrate otherwise?" on their talk page.
Steve
On 5/19/06, Eric McDonald eric@daveanderic.com wrote:
Hi Erik,
Thanks for believing me. It is a bit distressing to be accused of being something you aren't (a sock puppet) and being banned on something as "little" as voicing my opinion about the TFD controversy.
I do appreciate your words and those of the other admins here who believe me. My big mistake was contributing anonymously until the night it really mattered :)
On May 19, 2006, at 1:50 AM, Erik Moeller wrote:
On 5/19/06, MuscleNerd mnerd@musclenerd.com wrote:
I have apparently been accused of being a sock puppet by "Cyde". I believe he took this action because I have been voting against his TFD recommendations. And I don't think that's fair at all.
I don't think Cyde should have blocked you, given that he is the person who made the TFD requests which you disputed. However, please do understand that creating accounts apparently solely for the purpose of voting is generally frowned upon. I can also understand the suspicion of sock puppetry given that the issue you commented on, userboxes, is one which is dominated by a lot of trolling and noise, and is generally a highly Wikipedia-internal affair.
I am more inclined to believe that you are acting in good faith now that you have shared your identity. Where does your interest in commenting on this issue come from? Do you intend to contribute to Wikipedia beyond sharing your opinion on this issue?
Erik
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