[WikiEN-l] Quitting Wikipedia and wanted you to know why.

[Jimmy Wales]

Parker Peters wrote:
> Ok, here's a basic question. One we should all be able to agree on.
> 
> Should a "suspected sockpuppet" (new username) of a username block be
> blocked for being a sockpuppet?
> 
> It's a simple enough question. Yes or no?

Doesn't this properly depend on more context than the question provides?

My answer is: sometimes, it depends on the full context of the situation.

Example: a totally blatant vandal is blocked under one name, and comes 
back 5 minutes later under an obvious variant of the same name, and does 
the same vandalism again, and is blocked again.  And again.  And again. 
  And finally under the Nth variant name, instead of starting with the 
vandalism, the user makes a user page stating an objective of correcting 
the horrible censorship on article X, the very article he has been 
vandalizing.  I think blocking this suspected sockpuppet is fine.

Example: Someone shows up and makes a couple of lame but non-vandalism 
edits to a page which has been the favorite of a longtime sockpuppeteer. 
  I say, in this sort of case, it can be possible to give the benefit of 
the doubt to find out if the newcomer is really a sock.

It just depends.