It’s a really interesting phenomenon, is sock-puppeting. Most people on the internet are pseudonymous already, so you wonder what extra layer of anonymity is provided by adopting more pseudonyms.
I might be being a bit naive here, but I don’t think we tend to get them on here, do we? I used – a long while back – to suspect that one of our controversialists was actually another regular who used one name to be normal and one to wind people up, but then came to think I was almost certainly wrong. And in any case, stopped caring.
My favourite case of sock-puppeting was the (I used to think) none-more-loathsome Johann Hari who, as well as fabricating his interview quotes, used to use Wikipedia sockpuppet accounts to slag off anyone who’d given him a bad write-up. But then I read So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson and came to feel a bit of sympathy for the deluded little prick. (I wouldn’t put the same behaviour past Owen Jones, mind.)
Oh, I think we do have sock puppets on the afterword. I recently set a little bait for one and I believe that s/he obligingly picked it up (on another thread, I hasten to add).
‘Who’ they are is one thing, but the more interesting topic -I believe- is ‘why’ they do it.
So now I know what a sockpuppet is I’m starting to think you are ALL sockpuppets apart from me. In which case, who are you, why are you doing this to me and do I know you in real life?
Arthur, I just happened to follow Moosey to your house and I’m sitting in a car watching Moosey watch your house. It’s a complete coincidence that Moosey happened to end up outside your gaff. No need for paranoia!
I disagree about your gates though. Could do with a lick of paint.
So how does it work, then? Does one of the identities always sycophantically back up the other, or is it a Jeckyl and Hyde thing, with one nice and one nasty character?
In fairness to Rob, those weren’t sockpuppets so much as attempts to start again afresh. (But then accidentally signing off with a “hari om” or a reference to basilisks and mandrake jam.)
That’s the wonderful thing about you @RobC and I mean this as a compliment: you are instantly recognisable whichever nom de plum you might be using. No one writes like you.
The trail of boho chicks meandering with their mandrake jamjars towards your yurt gives you away every time!
Wanted: desperate for work thesps with a range extending from “baffled by life” to “why, oh why couldn’t the world have stayed in 1971 forever?” to play Internet bloggers at upcoming “mingle”. Fee: two slices of cake.
Now that’s an idea, actually. You could turn up at one of the meat-meets and say, Hi – I’m Bingo Little. See how much of his reputation you could shred over the course of eight pints.
OK, it’s ‘fess up time. I know it was widely suspected (amongst the three or four people who gave it as much as a passing thought) that I used sock puppet aliases back at the Auld Place. And a significant proportion of that demographic (maybe thirty per cent) believe I still do. I don’t. I post here under the rubrics “H.P. Saucecraft” and “Chiz” like I’ve always done, as many here know already. Neither is a sock puppet for the other. They are discrete identities, each with their own voice. The differences in “time zone”, ISP etc. are part of the construct.
It’s these crossover hours when both my characters are ‘awake’ that are hardest. I have to think of HP watching the sun sink into the Mekon after a hard day not writing anything, while Chiz struggles on his morning train to some dreary Whitehall desk job. I keep a post-it note on either side of my laptop to help me distinguish them. The one on the left is pink and says ‘caustic middle-aged misanthrope’. The one on the right is blue and says the same.
I keep the Afterword open in two tabs, which gives the the advantage of being able to jump seamlessly from one identity to the other, like this…
I’m a sock poppet in so far as I have two identities on here. This is me in an ‘official’ capacity for any technical/Admin issues and I post as Dr Volume when I’m just joining in with the discussion or posting stuff as ‘me’.
That said- if anyone should be tempted to post on here with multiple identities – be aware that I *do* know you’re doing it.
Something rather interesting happened here when the site crashed and those who so wished moved over and kept the AW flame alive on Facebook. Everything suddenly became a lot less anonymous.
I now know the real names of some of the contributors here and know a little about their life in the real world. Lots of really hilarious comments and observations that have brightened many a day.
It’s fun to interact with AWers about other kinds of stuff. Cuddly kittens, fluffy puppies, cake recipes, gardening tips etc.
And all that impacts positively on what goes on here.
Unfortunately I have forgotten some the AW pseudonyms of some of the cums I made there, and it’s not helped that I hardly use ghastly FB these days, I prefer TW, which doesn’t have the sinister obsequious machinations of the former, and I am also part of a TW discreet Gentlemen Head’s Club/Musical salon. Private and highly exclusive dontchaknow.
( Has he gone ? Not bookmarked. File under ‘unlistenable’ along withJames Taylor, the whinge hippy balladrear. The only man who can turn ‘Here Comes The Sun’ into the aural equivalent of pre-suicide lament.
You probably didn’t realise it at the time, but his/their finest role was as Gollum/Smeagol in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. He /They were on a percentage of the box office take and this funded the purchase of most of Thailand and a huge underground Whitehall bunker, which later featured as the Ministry of Magic in the Harry Potter films.
Fasts for a yuga via Easyportal timeshare, performs occult cleansing rituals, draws a Fabulous Furry Pentogram with magick crayons, cups nuts innit yo!, mwah mwah mwah widdershins thrice, summons forth Mellotron Elementals and Sitar Geni to banish the Joni/Taylor black stream boggarts, perfoms Tor top Fire Ritual and renders asunder astrologically themed sacred undercrackers in supplication to the Moon.
Satan’s very own elevator muzak. Goin’ down, baby !
(Utter tosh beloved of pseudo intellectuals, chinoed pony tailed lefties and oily cocktail lounge lizard sex pests)
It simply isn’t right that we go through an entire sockpuppet thread without tipping our hats to one of the originals. Although judging by this clip she has been hanging around with one or more of the less salubrious Afterworders.
That Ramsbottom character was in danger of becoming the Scrappy Doo of the show. Harry Corbett had retired but wanted to keep his hand in (!!!) so he was the voice for “Ramsbottom” – a plain-speaking Yorkshire-based snake. At live shows, Sweep got most of the laughs and Sooty and Butch (‘ello Tosh!) also got a few laughs. But Ramsbottom was faecal in appearance and this was hard to overcome. His tone was parental and prone to censure – as a result, the kids found laughter hard to come by when he was around. Sweep developed bitterness towards Ramsbottom because night after night he was required to rescue the show after “that fucking snake” stunk up the auditorium again with his casual racism and his kids-today-don’t-know-they’re-born patter. There’s no such thing as a likeable turd and it nearly cost The Sooty Show everything.
Raymond says
Should we care?
Sewer Robot says
What’s that Sooty? Raymond’s talking to himself..?
Jeff says
Oh nicely done. Have an up.
chiz says
It’s not their fault, Raymond. They’re being manipulated.
Leedsboy says
At the end of the day, they stink,
Black Celebration says
Air Supply did it because they were all out of gloves.
Moose the Mooche says
You’ll do pretty much anything if you’ve got somebody’s hand up your arse.
I’ve found.
JustB says
It’s a really interesting phenomenon, is sock-puppeting. Most people on the internet are pseudonymous already, so you wonder what extra layer of anonymity is provided by adopting more pseudonyms.
I might be being a bit naive here, but I don’t think we tend to get them on here, do we? I used – a long while back – to suspect that one of our controversialists was actually another regular who used one name to be normal and one to wind people up, but then came to think I was almost certainly wrong. And in any case, stopped caring.
My favourite case of sock-puppeting was the (I used to think) none-more-loathsome Johann Hari who, as well as fabricating his interview quotes, used to use Wikipedia sockpuppet accounts to slag off anyone who’d given him a bad write-up. But then I read So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson and came to feel a bit of sympathy for the deluded little prick. (I wouldn’t put the same behaviour past Owen Jones, mind.)
Dogbyte says
I think one of the main drivers for sockpuppetry is when there’s some tangible incentive. People posting reviews of their own books for example.
On a site like this there’s not so much reason to do it, other than – as you say – to adopt an alter ego to wind people up.
Bingo Little says
Or when people invest a bit too much of their self esteem into the place.
I reckon there are at least a couple on here.
H.P. Saucecraft says
OK it’s me again. For “real” this time.
Moose the Mooche says
Well, you might have warmed your hand first.
H.P. Saucecraft says
My Timex still works! That’s engineering for you.
Moose the Mooche says
Hmmm. I’m sensing a new business opportunity.
….And acute discomfort.
Raymond says
Oh, I think we do have sock puppets on the afterword. I recently set a little bait for one and I believe that s/he obligingly picked it up (on another thread, I hasten to add).
‘Who’ they are is one thing, but the more interesting topic -I believe- is ‘why’ they do it.
Lando Cakes says
I, for one, am intrigued.
JustB says
Me too. Spill, Raymond, you FIEND!
Sniffity says
Shall we all retire to the drawing room so that Raymond ie Raymond Of The Yard, can elaborate on his suspicions…?
DogFacedBoy says
*lights go out*
*there is a gunshot*
Everyone dies
Lando Cakes says
“I expect you’re wondering why I’ve gathered you all here today…”
Arthur Cowslip says
(Am I the only one who’s never heard of this? Hands up who else thought we were talking about actual sock puppets?)
Wayfarer says
Me. I’m so not down with the cool dudes (middle-aged men) on this forum.
Kaisfatdad says
I only know the expression as I googled it when there was a very lively and a rather scary discussion about this on the AW a year or two back.
Basically it is someone adopting a bogus Internet identity for the purpose of deception.
As we are all more or less anonymous here, in the context of the AW, it would probably mean someone having more than one identity here.
GCU Grey Area says
I’m salwarpe, and so’s my wife.
salwarpe says
Turn off the light and come to bed, darling.
Arthur Cowslip says
So now I know what a sockpuppet is I’m starting to think you are ALL sockpuppets apart from me. In which case, who are you, why are you doing this to me and do I know you in real life?
Moose the Mooche says
Arthur, I just happen to be sitting in a car outside your house. It’s a complete coincidence! No need for paranoia!
PS) Heyyyy, nice garden gates!
Arthur Cowslip says
Oh so it’s YOU. That’s all right then, I’m quite flattered.
pencilsqueezer says
Arthur, I just happened to follow Moosey to your house and I’m sitting in a car watching Moosey watch your house. It’s a complete coincidence that Moosey happened to end up outside your gaff. No need for paranoia!
I disagree about your gates though. Could do with a lick of paint.
Moose the Mooche says
I know just the feller. I can see him now in my rear view mirror.
ernietothecentreoftheearth says
Apparently, Lando Cakes is the alter ego of Disappointment Bob. Or is it the other way round ?
Wayfarer says
Bob was disappointed when someone told him there was no such place as a Land o’ Cakes.
Lando Cakes says
But there is!
Wayfarer says
Really? I’d have visited more often had I known
Sewer Robot says
Not sure this will stand up to close scrutiny. For example, in Scotland “marzipan” is when you plop a Mars bar into a pan of oil…
BigJimBob says
Psst, don’t tell anyone but I am BigJimBob’s sock puppet. in meat-time I am someone else.
Moose the Mooche says
The trousers will give you away.
BigJimBob says
Damn, and I would have got away with it, if it wasn’t for you kids.
chiz says
So how does it work, then? Does one of the identities always sycophantically back up the other, or is it a Jeckyl and Hyde thing, with one nice and one nasty character?
JustB says
I don’t really know.
And neither do I.
Jeff says
Ooh clever! A lovely little bit of mis-direction there Bur- CHIZ! Chiz! I meant Chiz of course!
Moose the Mooche says
Whoever’s doing this needs to have a word with himself.
Johnny Concheroo says
“Does one of the identities always sycophantically back up the other”
No, that’s the just the regulars of the Afterword mingles.
ianess says
There are a couple I have my suspicions about. They tend to be Mr Hyde and Mr Hyde.
niscum says
“No, that’s the just the regulars of the Afterword mingles.”
(-:
Spot on.
retropath2 says
I’m told the gap between Owsley and Man from Atlantis is as close as Rob Cs grasp on reality.
And don’t get me started on Burt Kokaine.
JustB says
In fairness to Rob, those weren’t sockpuppets so much as attempts to start again afresh. (But then accidentally signing off with a “hari om” or a reference to basilisks and mandrake jam.)
Kaisfatdad says
Good comment Bob.
That’s the wonderful thing about you @RobC and I mean this as a compliment: you are instantly recognisable whichever nom de plum you might be using. No one writes like you.
The trail of boho chicks meandering with their mandrake jamjars towards your yurt gives you away every time!
Rob C says
Am I that instantly recognisable ?
Bollox Drat Shanti _/\_ x
Rob C says
Thanks for clearing that up Bob.
( Hmm. The sign offs were perhaps a bit of a giveaway upon reflection).
chiz says
Torley Ponderer, another of the voices in Rob’s head
badartdog says
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r139/badartdog/klee-puppets-3_zpsxa5i1tf3.jpg
l-r Man from Atlantis, Rob C, Owlsley, Torley Ponderer.
Kaisfatdad says
Best laugh I’ve had all week. Have an enormous Up Mr Dog!
H.P. Saucecraft says
Wasn’t it Chorley Ponderer? Whatever, it was his best alias. “Rob C” too generic, like “Steve T”.
Rob C says
Distinct lack of luscious locks and I don’t rock the cord, and the turban needs to be purple.
Moose the Mooche says
Is anybody else looking at that and thinking it’s the result of a Limp Bizkit pre-tour thought shower?
Rob C says
I was channelling.
Rob C says
‘Man’ from Atlantis ? As if ! It was Dude From Atlantis ffs!
Moose the Mooche says
Backhanded compliment, dude. Patrick Duffy was buff in those Speedos.
Er, according to a woman I heard talking about it.
Rob C says
‘buff in Speedos’ ?
It’s a bit early, isn’t it ? Not quite midday here.
GCU Grey Area says
Buff in Speedos. TMFTL.
BigJimBob says
Keep up, we’ve discussed before. There are, in fact, only two people on this site. YOU and….me
Sewer Robot says
Wanted: desperate for work thesps with a range extending from “baffled by life” to “why, oh why couldn’t the world have stayed in 1971 forever?” to play Internet bloggers at upcoming “mingle”. Fee: two slices of cake.
chiz says
Now that’s an idea, actually. You could turn up at one of the meat-meets and say, Hi – I’m Bingo Little. See how much of his reputation you could shred over the course of eight pints.
Bingo Little says
In my case, I’d guess two pints should be more than sufficient.
Arthur Cowslip says
I’m going to hire a suave, gregarious Clooney clone to play me at the mingles.
DogFacedBoy says
Kaisfatdad says
WTF! Marvelous!
Whenever we discuss sock puppets on the AW, things start to get very weird indeed.
One more from them: Goatee.
H.P. Saucecraft says
We love it when you get down wiv the kidz and use hip internet lingo like WTF. Especially when you add a “marvelous!” to it.
mikethep says
Like my old Norwegian friend who was once, er, *back in the day*, heard to say, ‘Crumbs, man.’
H.P. Saucecraft says
WTF! Marvelous!
ernietothecentreoftheearth says
I understand they are appearing at Latitude this year.
DogFacedBoy says
Or their Scottish Doctor Who obsessed counterparts (NSFW)
Kaisfatdad says
Thanks DFB! Hilarious.
Kaisfatdad says
As we have at least one AWer in Adelaide, I can’t resist posting this one of the Scottish Socks in Australia.
H.P. Saucecraft says
OK, it’s ‘fess up time. I know it was widely suspected (amongst the three or four people who gave it as much as a passing thought) that I used sock puppet aliases back at the Auld Place. And a significant proportion of that demographic (maybe thirty per cent) believe I still do. I don’t. I post here under the rubrics “H.P. Saucecraft” and “Chiz” like I’ve always done, as many here know already. Neither is a sock puppet for the other. They are discrete identities, each with their own voice. The differences in “time zone”, ISP etc. are part of the construct.
I hope this clears things up.
mikethep says
You’re Chiz? I feel betrayed, somehow…
ruff-diamond says
Given HP’s well-documented admiration for the gorila of 3B, the curse of st custards, I suppose it should have been obvious really…
Jeff says
Well as this was a sockpuppet thread I gave it a passing thought yesterday at 18.24 (see above) and it seemed obvious to me.
As you’ll see, I just managed to stop myself Blurting it out.
mikethep says
Not to someone whose admiration for the gorila etc is equal to his, apparently…
chiz says
It’s these crossover hours when both my characters are ‘awake’ that are hardest. I have to think of HP watching the sun sink into the Mekon after a hard day not writing anything, while Chiz struggles on his morning train to some dreary Whitehall desk job. I keep a post-it note on either side of my laptop to help me distinguish them. The one on the left is pink and says ‘caustic middle-aged misanthrope’. The one on the right is blue and says the same.
I keep the Afterword open in two tabs, which gives the the advantage of being able to jump seamlessly from one identity to the other, like this…
Bingo Little says
Voila!
chiz says
Long shot, worth a punt.
H.P. Saucecraft says
I had to let Bingo in there. You know what he’s like.
Harold Holt says
As the sun sinks into the Mekon, I couldn’t resist. TMFTL
Tim The Admin says
I’m a sock poppet in so far as I have two identities on here. This is me in an ‘official’ capacity for any technical/Admin issues and I post as Dr Volume when I’m just joining in with the discussion or posting stuff as ‘me’.
That said- if anyone should be tempted to post on here with multiple identities – be aware that I *do* know you’re doing it.
mikethep says
Sock poppet – that’s a very intriguing variation!
Kaisfatdad says
Something rather interesting happened here when the site crashed and those who so wished moved over and kept the AW flame alive on Facebook. Everything suddenly became a lot less anonymous.
I now know the real names of some of the contributors here and know a little about their life in the real world. Lots of really hilarious comments and observations that have brightened many a day.
It’s fun to interact with AWers about other kinds of stuff. Cuddly kittens, fluffy puppies, cake recipes, gardening tips etc.
And all that impacts positively on what goes on here.
Rob C says
Unfortunately I have forgotten some the AW pseudonyms of some of the cums I made there, and it’s not helped that I hardly use ghastly FB these days, I prefer TW, which doesn’t have the sinister obsequious machinations of the former, and I am also part of a TW discreet Gentlemen Head’s Club/Musical salon. Private and highly exclusive dontchaknow.
Rob C says
‘chums’ ffs ! Can we PLEASE have an edit function ???……
nigelthebald says
Freudian slip if ever there was one 🙂
Rob C says
More like a Jungian Nightdress.
nigelthebald says
Anima rising? You be polite 😉
Rob C says
Er… Thanks !
( Has he gone ? Not bookmarked. File under ‘unlistenable’ along withJames Taylor, the whinge hippy balladrear. The only man who can turn ‘Here Comes The Sun’ into the aural equivalent of pre-suicide lament.
nigelthebald says
No he hasn’t, Philistine!
*excommunicates Rob, simultaneously pulling down his temple*
Rob C says
Blows raspberry, flips bird, and moons at Nigeldude, from a secret mountain cave deeps in the mountains of Tibet.
nigelthebald says
*blows kisses, puts food out for birds, sees Rob’s moon and raises with Uranus from the icy wastes of East Angular*
andielou says
Well, now. All this is news to me: I truly had no idea that people would even want to be arsed having double, or even triple, identities.
I can’t believe Chiz is Saucy! This is just crazy…
chiz says
I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together
andielou says
So, was Chiz once Cheesus? I hope so as he was always one of my favourites too!
chiz says
That was me too. Captain Underpants, Cheesus, Drakeygirl, and now Chiz.
H.P. Saucecraft says
I liked us best as Drakeygirl.
chiz says
Shut up, me!
No, YOU shut up!
andielou says
While we’re on the subject, Chiz: the fragrant Camille- was that you as well?
ernietothecentreoftheearth says
Don’t fall for it. Together with Niscum, they are all sock ‘poppets’ of Tim the Admin, wheeled out whenever there is a lull in posts.
ernietothecentreoftheearth says
You probably didn’t realise it at the time, but his/their finest role was as Gollum/Smeagol in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. He /They were on a percentage of the box office take and this funded the purchase of most of Thailand and a huge underground Whitehall bunker, which later featured as the Ministry of Magic in the Harry Potter films.
Rob C says
Fasts for a yuga via Easyportal timeshare, performs occult cleansing rituals, draws a Fabulous Furry Pentogram with magick crayons, cups nuts innit yo!, mwah mwah mwah widdershins thrice, summons forth Mellotron Elementals and Sitar Geni to banish the Joni/Taylor black stream boggarts, perfoms Tor top Fire Ritual and renders asunder astrologically themed sacred undercrackers in supplication to the Moon.
That should do it.
ernietothecentreoftheearth says
Amazing what you can achieve whilst waiting in the queue down the paper shop.
Rob C says
You actually….. queue… in ‘shops’…. amongst the hoi poloi, the great unpatchoulied ?…..
ernietothecentreoftheearth says
Well, no, of course not. But the man who delivers our provisions told one of the staff about it all.
Rob C says
Hmmm…….
nigelthebald says
‘Fraid not 😀
Rob C says
Pah !
INCOMING>>>>>>> kerBOOM kerSPLAZ !
ernietothecentreoftheearth says
nigelthebald says
Well played, sir!
nigelthebald says
Rob, you’re so predictable 🙂
xxx
Rob C says
Satan’s very own elevator muzak. Goin’ down, baby !
(Utter tosh beloved of pseudo intellectuals, chinoed pony tailed lefties and oily cocktail lounge lizard sex pests)
Yeah….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGSXnFNq6sw
Rob C says
_I_ baby !
ernietothecentreoftheearth says
It simply isn’t right that we go through an entire sockpuppet thread without tipping our hats to one of the originals. Although judging by this clip she has been hanging around with one or more of the less salubrious Afterworders.
ernietothecentreoftheearth says
Oops wrong clip
Vulpes Vulpes says
Enough of this bunch of arrivistes. I’m the original, admit it or the dog gets it.
Moose the Mooche says
“That’s what you get for squealing, you red-nosed bastard!”
ernietothecentreoftheearth says
Nah, sorry Vulps . Simply not a sock puppet.
ernietothecentreoftheearth says
If we are talking Sooty show, this was a sock puppet.
http://www.thesootyshow.org/introduction/ramsbottom1.png
Black Celebration says
That Ramsbottom character was in danger of becoming the Scrappy Doo of the show. Harry Corbett had retired but wanted to keep his hand in (!!!) so he was the voice for “Ramsbottom” – a plain-speaking Yorkshire-based snake. At live shows, Sweep got most of the laughs and Sooty and Butch (‘ello Tosh!) also got a few laughs. But Ramsbottom was faecal in appearance and this was hard to overcome. His tone was parental and prone to censure – as a result, the kids found laughter hard to come by when he was around. Sweep developed bitterness towards Ramsbottom because night after night he was required to rescue the show after “that fucking snake” stunk up the auditorium again with his casual racism and his kids-today-don’t-know-they’re-born patter. There’s no such thing as a likeable turd and it nearly cost The Sooty Show everything.
Kaisfatdad says
Scrappy Doo? Things must have been bad. A magnificently tragi-comic tale of an old trouper who doesn’t known when to stop, BC.
It sounds like an Alan Bennett monologue just waiting to be written,
hubert rawlinson says
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpXP8abAv_w
Moose the Mooche says
Sock puppets, a dollar or two
Just tell me, how many for you
This time?