geni wrote:
On 4/16/05, Theo Clarke wiki@tignosis.com wrote:
Whatever the normal operating procedure might be, and I confess I had forgotten that only >developers can see the IP addresses of registered users) accusations of sockpuppetry are >likely to offend the accused. We should be wary of making such accusations and we should >refrain from making them on 'public' pages without first posting to the user's talk page.
There is no reason why someone's first edit should be to VFD. 9 times out of 10 they turn out to be a sock pupet. VFD has ended up with it's methods and procedures through long experimentation. A low level attack from a single forum is not a reason to change them.
Usually that's true, but in cases such as this I can understand that many new users would flock to Wikipedia in an attempt to rally votes. If they are not sock puppets, it is entirely understandable that they would be frustrated when their vote is simply dismissed.
Perhaps, as a beginning, we should at the very least create a template that can be throw onto the user page of newcomers that head directly into a voting situation, to let them know of our common practice, and why it is so. Something along the lines of:
"Welcome, {{PAGENAME}}! We noticed that you placed a vote on {{{1}}}. Community activity is encouraged, of course, but your status as a brand new user means that your vote ''might not'' be counted if the administrator that tallies your votes believes that you might be another user logged in under a second account (a so-called "sock puppet"). Please understand that this is the common practice on Wikipedia, and that it is necessary to prevent deliberate "loading" of our votes. "
I am going to create this template under the name {{newvoter}}, and I will also report this email to the Admin board.
(Of course, this would be a moot point if we had a way to distinguish genuine newcomers from sockpuppets, but until then we'll just have to use our best instincts.)
-ClockworkSoul