Wikipedia:Sockpuppetry

[[Category:Wikipedia {{{1}}}s|Sockpuppetry]]

A sock puppet on Wikipedia.

This page describes a type of Wikipedia account. For puppets made out of socks, see sock puppet.

A sock puppet is an additional username used by a Wikipedian who edits under more than one name. The Wikipedian who uses a sock puppet may be called a sock puppeteer. Use of sock puppets is discouraged in most cases; Jimbo Wales has said, "There's no specific policy against it, but it's generally considered uncool unless you have a good reason."

The reason for discouraging sock puppets is to prevent abuses such as a person voting more than once in a poll, or using multiple accounts to circumvent Wikipedia policies. Some people feel that second accounts should not be used at all.

See also MeatBall:SockPuppet for information on how this affects other online communities.

A person using multiple accounts legitimately must refrain from using the different accounts in any way prohibited to sock puppets and from using one account to support the position of another, the standard definition of sock puppetry. Where the use makes it practical it is recommended that you provide links between the accounts, so it is easy to determine that one person is using them all.

Using a second account abusively is not a legitimate use and may lead to the link to your first account being revealed.

Prohibited uses of sock puppets

Voting

Wikipedia uses a "one person, one vote" principle for all votes and similar discussions where individual preferences are counted in any fashion. Accordingly, sock puppets are not permitted to vote in any Wikipedia election, nor are they allowed to participate in any similar procedure, such as polls and surveys or the discussions at Wikipedia:Votes for deletion and Wikipedia:Requests for adminship. Proven sock puppets may be permanently blocked if used to cast double votes.

Deception and impersonation

In addition to double-voting, sock puppets should not be used for purposes of deception, or to create the illusion of broader support for a position. This kind of behavior is disruptive and unnecessary for any potentially legitimate use of sock puppets. In particular, accounts that are used to maliciously impersonate another Wikipedian should be blocked permanently.

Circumventing policy

Policies apply per person, not per account. Such policies as 3RR are for each person's edits. Similarly, using a second account for policy violations will cause any penalties to also be applied to your main account.

Users who are banned from editing or temporarily subject to a legitimate block may not use sock puppets to circumvent this. Evading a ban in this manner causes the timer on the ban to restart.

Characteristics of sock puppets

sock puppet

Not surprisingly, sock puppet accounts usually show much greater familiarity with Wikipedia and its editing process than most newcomers. They are more likely to use edit summaries, immediately join in edit wars, or participate vocally in procedures like Votes for deletion or Requests for adminship as part of their first few edits.

When questions arise

In some cases it may not be completely clear whether an account is a sock puppet, as the purpose is usually to avoid detection. Similarities in interests and editing style can be noted, but not everyone may be familiar enough with the user to understand the evidence.

If it appears that sock puppets are being used as part of an edit war or to distort the outcome of a vote or survey, one possible rule of thumb is the 100-edit guideline. This suggests that any account with more than 100 edits is presumed not to be a sock puppet. If there are unusually many accounts with few edits participating, you may want to check if they are sockpuppets, by looking at IP addresses or times that edits were made. However, simply having made few edits is not evidence of sockpuppetry on its own, and if you call a new user a sockpuppet without justification, they will probably be insulted and get a negative impression of Wikipedia.

Keep in mind there can be multiple users who are driven to start participating in Wikipedia for the same reason, particularly in controversial areas such as articles about the conflict in the Middle East, cult figures, or Wikipedia:Votes for deletion. Some have suggested applying the 100-edit guideline more strongly in such cases, assuming that all accounts with fewer than 100 edits are sock puppets. Generally, such beliefs have been shown not to be well founded.

If there is doubt, a developer can easily check to see whether accounts are related. Experience has shown that on article talk pages, including polls, the linkage is usually not supported by the information available to developers, so self-restraint in making such accusations is usually the right course.

If you have been accused incorrectly of being a sock puppet, don't take it too personally. Your best bet would be to make more edits, so that the 100-edit guideline will presumably clear your name.

Tagging identified sock puppets

If an account has been shown to be a sock puppet used for policy violations, then it should be identified as such. For instance, the following text may be added to the user page of the sock puppet account, replacing the two instances of "SOCKPUPPETEER" with the name of the sock puppeteer:

::''This user is a [[Wikipedia:Sock puppet|sock puppet]]
of [[User:SOCKPUPPETEER]], as established by
[[Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/SOCKPUPPETEER/Evidence]].''

The sock puppeteer may prefer other text; the clear identification is the important thing.

File:Reithysocky.gif

Note that this should only be done if the account has been shown beyond reasonable doubt to be a sock puppet of the user by either:

• the user's own admission;
• matching of IP addresses or similar strong technical evidence;
• by a ruling on Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration.

The above text should not be added in the cases of accusations of sockpuppetry which have not been proven. Instead, add Template:Sockpuppet to the page.

Multiple accounts

Multiple accounts have legitimate uses. For example, prominent users may wish to experience Wikipedia to understand how the community functions for those new to the community. In particular, some have suggested that Jimbo should get, and edit from, a sock puppet account. Perhaps he does.

Other users employ multiple accounts to segregate their contributions for various reasons. A user making substantial contributions to an area of interest in Wikipedia might register another account to be used solely in connection with developing that area.

Users with an expertise in mathematics, for example, might not wish to associate their contributions to detailed mathematical articles with contributions to articles about less weighty subjects. Others might use different accounts in talk pages to avoid extending conflicts about a particular area of interest into communitywide political conflicts related to user identity rather than to article content. A person participating in a discussion of an article about abortion, for example, might not want to allow other participants an opportunity to extend that discussion by engaging a particular user in unrelated but philosophically motivated debate outside of that discussion.

Multiple accounts also serve to protect identity. Someone who is known to the public or within a particular circle may be identifiable based on their interests and contributions; dividing these up between different accounts might help preserve the person's anonymity.

Role accounts have been used on the French Wikipedia without any opposition, but their use is not officially sanctioned at this time.

Note: Wikipedians who operate bots are encouraged to create separate accounts so the automated edits can be filtered out of recent changes.