Coming out, and a mild apology
I am the one responsible for the MediumIsTheMessage "sock puppet" account. I am sorry to see that people were offended or suspicious of it; I assure you my motives were decent and, though I did vote from the account 5 times (usually after having forgotten which account I was logged in with), it was never with an agenda, such as voting my own posts up (I never did that). I submitted a video because I thought I had to get off probation before I could post to sift talk. I was attempting to be as up-front as possible by giving disclaimers and explaining what I was doing. I really wasn't trying to trick anybody, so accusations of dishonesty really make me feel the depth of my failure. The ban was totally fair and I hold no grudge, but I am a bit embarrassed. I'm not much of a social scientist, I know, but hey, the first time you try to do something, you are pretty much guaranteed it'll blow.
16 Comments
schmawyHahaa. Nice avatar. Well that will surely add an interesting twist to a paper about online communities! Thanks for coming clean.
siftbot*ban
Farhad2000Siftbot is unforgiving.
joedirtIt was obvious to me there wasn't some big sock puppet conspiracy and ZOMG he submitted a video. People really need to relax. I didn't even see the discussion because it was ban hammered quickly and buried under like 7 stickies.
This is awesome. I can't wait to see who is banned next.
Oh yeah..
FIRST
MarineGunrock*unban
DeanoWhy did you bother creating a separate account? Why not make those posts using your real id?
wazant>> ^Deano:
I thought it would help keep things more impartial. I didn't want responses that might be somehow influenced by my previous video posts or especially my (often under-informed) comments. I figured it would be OK so long as I was upfront about it. In retrospect, not a great idea.
BillOreillyDon't worry, you'll get the hang of sock-puppet accounts, I have dozens.
The trick is keeping them under the radar. I do this by naming all of my other accounts "Choggie", that way it won't arouse any suspicions.
EklekAhaaaa!:)
I think every sifter should be allowed to have a secondary lurk account for social science research, just to promote such endeavours as yours and social science as a whole!
BTW Next time don't make me think of McLuhan when I have to type answers of questionnaires, better name your sockpuppet "neutral" or something..
he has m(e/a)ss(ag)ed my brain enough already, thank you;)
UsesProzacAnd the moral of this story is to keep your sockpuppet accounts on the down low.
gwiz665My sock puppets are hidden and sticky.
I may be sharing too much with you guys...
doogleMy sockpuppet is inconspicuously named notdoogle.
Been working so far.
doogleMarshall McLuhan fan, eh? The message is not the medium, the medium is the message.
With the SiftTalk post titled "Coming out and a mild apology" I came here thinking you were gonna tell us you're gay, and then apologize for it.
I still feel robbed. Or as Marshall McLuhan 'coming out' would say: "Rob feeled me".
burdturglerNothing personal, hope there's no hard feelings. Thanks for "coming out". I have to tell you, if only as food for thought for your project, I actually received several private pm's thanking me because people felt uncomfortable not knowing who was asking them questions. Honestly, I didn't care about that, but being the anal retentive douche bag I am, I felt the rules applied to everyone, even though I understand you personally weren't using it as a sock puppet. In any event, you're certainly not as big an asshole as I am, and people still talk to me, so you should feel free to continue posting your questions from the account you have. Be honest with the sift and trust the sift to be honest with you.
bleedingsnowmanI feel bad for the whole bannation thing, too. If you want to ask any questions to me, despite my jerkitude, go right ahead.
wazant^-- thanks people, I feel a better now.
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