Wikipedia:Sockpuppetry

A sock puppet is an additional username used by a Wikipedian who already has one or more accounts. The Wikipedian who uses a sock puppet may be called a sock puppeteer.

Use of sock puppet or alternate accounts is strongly discouraged.

The reason for discouraging sock puppets is to prevent abuses, such as a person voting more than once in a poll; circumventing Wikipedia policies; causing disruption; avoiding scrutiny; or misleading others by making controversial edits with one account, and non-controversial ones with another. It is never acceptable to use alternate accounts to stir up controversy.

Although not common, there are some situations where the use of multiple accounts would be legitimate; for example, using an alternate account to edit an article if the edits might otherwise reveal your real world identity. In these cases, users must refrain from using them in any way prohibited to sock puppets — for example, using one account to support the position of another. If someone uses multiple accounts, it is recommended that he or she provide links between the accounts, so it is easy to determine that they are shared by one individual.

How to respond to violations

If a person is found to be using multiple accounts in violation of this policy, the sock puppet accounts should be blocked indefinitely. The main account may also be blocked at the discretion of any administrator. IP addresses used for sock puppetry may be blocked temporarily but not indefinitely.

Cases of suspected sock puppetry should be reported at Wikipedia:Suspected sock puppets. In some cases, it may be appropriate to list the accounts at Wikipedia:Administrator intervention against vandalism or Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents.

Difficult cases where the nature and extent of sockpuppetry is unclear and where there is an ongoing problem may be listed at Wikipedia:Requests for checkuser for investigation. Please see that page for detailed policy.

Forbidden uses of sock puppets

Voting and other shows of support

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 may not be used to give the impression of more support for a viewpoint. This includes voting multiple times in any election, or using more than one account in discussions such as Wikipedia:Deletion debates, Wikipedia:Requests for adminship, or on talk pages.

In addition to double-voting, sock puppets should not be used for the purpose of deception, distraction, or to create the illusion of broader support for a position than actually exists.

Avoiding scrutiny

Multiple accounts should not be used to edit in ways that would be considered improper if done by a single account. Using sock puppet accounts to split your contributions history means that other editors cannot detect patterns in your contributions. While this may occasionally be legitimate (see below under legitimate uses), it is a violation of this policy to create multiple accounts -- or to edit anonymously without logging in to your account -- in order to confuse or deceive editors who may have a legitimate interest in reviewing your contributions.

"Good hand, bad hand" accounts

The use of alternate accounts for deliberate policy violations or disruption is specifically proscribed:

• All users are proscribed from operating a "bad hand" account for the purpose of policy violations, disruption, or stirring up controversy. It is never acceptable to keep one account "clean," while using another account to engage in controversial behavior.

• Admins are also proscribed from operating a "bad hand" account for the purpose of engaging in editing disputes while at the same time appearing to be a neutral admin dealing with page protection or three-revert rule issues on the same articles.

Circumventing policy

Policies apply per person, not per account. Policies such as 3RR are for each person's edits. Using a second account for policy violations will cause any penalties to be applied to your main account. Sock puppets may not be used to circumvent any Arbitration Committee or community sanctions, including blocks, bans, probations, and paroles. Evading sanctions will cause the timer to restart, and may lengthen the duration of the sanctions.

Administrative sock puppets

The community has strongly rejected users having more than one username with admin powers. If an administrator leaves, comes back under a new name and is nominated for adminship, it is expected that they will give up the admin access of their old account (this may be done by the old account without showing a link between accounts). As a general rule, only one account with access greater than that of a normal user account should be operated. There have been three users known to have legitimately used a secondary account with administrative powers. Danny used the account Dannyisme for Foundation work until his resignation in March 2007. Similarly, Bastique now uses the account Cary Bass for Foundation purposes. RedirectCleanupBot is currently the only approved bot with administrator rights.

Legitimate uses of multiple accounts

Multiple accounts have legitimate uses. For example, prominent users might create a new account to experience how the community functions for new users.

Segregation and security

Some editors use 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.

• Since public computers can have password-stealing trojans or keyloggers installed, some users may use an alternate account when editing under these conditions to prevent the hijacking of their main accounts.

• Someone who is known to the public or within a particular circle may be identifiable based on his/her interests and contributions; dividing these up between different accounts might help preserve the person's anonymity. Users with a recognized expertise in one field, for example, might not wish to associate their contributions to that field with contributions to articles about less weighty subjects.

• A person editing an article which is highly controversial within his/her family, social or professional circle may wish to use a sock puppet so that readers unfamiliar with NPOV policy will not assume his/her information edits are statements of personal belief.

'Role' accounts

Role accounts, accounts which are used by multiple people, are only officially sanctioned on Wikipedia in exceptional cases. The one currently permitted role account on en: is Schwartz PR, the account for a public relations firm working closely with the Foundation. If you run an account with multiple users, it is likely to be blocked.

Bots

Editors who operate bots (programs that edit automatically or semi-automatically) are encouraged to create separate accounts (and request they be marked as bot accounts via Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval), so the automated edits can be filtered out of recent changes. (See Wikipedia:Bot policy for bot procedures and policies)

Doppelganger accounts

See also: Wikipedia:Doppelganger account

It is acceptable to pre-emptively create another account with a username similar to one's own, with the purpose of pre-emptively preventing impersonation by vandals. Such accounts are called doppelganger accounts, should be marked with the {{doppelganger}} or {{doppelganger-other}} tag (or simply redirected to one's own userpage), and should not be used for editing.

Clean start under a new name

See also: m:Right to vanish

If you have a negative track record and you have decided to make a genuine, clean and honest new start, and do not wish it to be tarnished by your prior conduct, you can simply discontinue using the old account, and create an unconnected new account which becomes the only account you then use, and is used in a good manner.

If you start under a new name, you should be aware that the new account will be noticed:

• If you continue on the same articles or your writing style is so distinctive it will quickly be noticed, then it is likely a connection will be made, and the perceived concealment may only cause it to be seen negatively when discovered. (If you change your behavior, and the articles you work on, there is no reason for a connection to be made between the two accounts.)

• If identified by checkuser or accused of being a sockpuppet later on: Checkuser is only used when there is a suspected breach of policy. If you don't use the old account, there is no reason a request would be made.

See this clean start under a new name as a courtesy extended to you; do not abuse this courtesy by engaging in disruptive behavior again or to mislead others.

Meatpuppets

Some users begin editing on Wikipedia because another user has recruited them to push a certain agenda. Though such users are distinct people, it is difficult to tell them apart from sock puppets. These users are sometimes called meatpuppets, and are a kind of single purpose account.

Do not recruit meatpuppets. It is considered highly inappropriate to advertise Wikipedia articles to your friends, family members, or communities of people who agree with you, so that they come to Wikipedia and support your side of a debate. If you feel that a debate is ignoring your voice, then the appropriate action is to avoid personal attacks, seek comments and involvement from other Wikipedians, or pursue dispute resolution. These are well-tested processes, designed to avoid the problem of exchanging bias in one direction for bias in another.

Wikipedia has policies and processes to mitigate the disruption caused by meatpuppetry:

1. Consensus in many debates and discussions is not based upon number of votes, but upon policy-related points made by editors. Newcomers are unlikely to understand Wikipedia policies and practices, or to introduce any evidence that other users have not already mentioned.
2. In votes or vote-like discussions, new users tend to be disregarded or given significantly less weight, especially if there are many of them expressing the same opinion.
3. For the purposes of dispute resolution, the Arbitration Committee has ruled that when there is uncertainty whether a party is one user with sock puppets, or several users acting as meatpuppets, they may be treated as one entity.

As opposed to sock puppets, meatpuppets are actual newbies, and it is important to not bite the newbies. Users who are recruited as meatpuppets have presumably never seen the editing side of Wikipedia before, and some of them may broaden their interests and turn into productive editors. If meat puppets are disrupting a discussion that you are involved in, it is better to disregard them than to get angry at them or call them "meatpuppets" to their face.

Identification and handling of suspected sock puppets

Characteristics of sock puppets

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 existing edit wars, or participate vocally in procedures like Articles for deletion or Requests for adminship as part of their first few edits. They are also more likely to be brand new or a single purpose account when looking at their contributions summary.

Straw puppets

One type of sock puppet is sometimes referred to as a "straw man sock puppet." They are created by users with one point of view, but act as though they have an opposing point of view, to make that point of view look bad, or to act as an online agent provocateur. They will often make poor arguments which their "opponents" can then easily refute. This can allow them to essentially make straw man arguments. Such sock puppets thus become a personification of the straw man argument which their creators argue against. They often act unintelligently or appear uninformed, and may behave in an overtly bigoted manner. The effect is often to obfuscate the debate and prevent a serious discussion of the arguments from each side. Suspicion of such sock puppets is often harder to verify though, as there are often people who naturally behave in such a manner with the same effects.

Handling

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. 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 articles for deletion.

Where it is unclear whether or not sock puppetry is in progress, server log information can be consulted. To comply with Wikimedia Foundation privacy policy, this is limited to a handful of users and only done in serious cases, with reasonable cause, to check if user A is the same as user B based upon some evidence. Requests may be made at requests for checkuser. "Fishing" – or general trawling of users in a debate for possible sockpuppets – is not supported and requests for such checks are unlikely to be agreed to.

You may also wish to post a report at Wikipedia:Suspected sock puppets.

If you have been accused incorrectly of being a sock puppet, do not take it too personally. New users are unknown quantities. Stay around a while and make good edits, and your record will speak for itself. That is generally the only way to really prove you are not anyone's puppet; even CheckUser cannot give anything beyond a negative confirmation.

Difficult-to-detect sockpuppets

If you think that someone is using sockpuppets abusively and wish to get further people's comments on the matter, you should create a report at Wikipedia:Suspected sock puppets and follow the instructions there.

Checkuser

In certain cases, Wikipedia operates a process known as Checkuser to identify some sockpuppets. It is important to note that checkuser cannot ever confirm with certainty that two accounts are not connected. It can only confirm they are connected, or that at the time of checking there is no obvious machine-identifiable evidence of connection.

Templates

Several templates are available for marking user pages and talk pages of sock puppet accounts. The templates serve as a convenient shorthand only and are not part of this policy.

Tagging identified sock puppets

If an account has been shown to be a sock puppet used for policy violations, then it may be identified as such, by adding {{SockpuppetProven}} to the user page and {{sockblock}} to the talk page of the sock puppet account. There are four tags available, one for violations confirmed by Checkuser, another for other forms of confirmed sockpuppet use, a third for suspected violations, and the fourth is the suspected IP addresses:

• {{SockpuppetCheckuser|Username|Optional name of CheckUser case (what is after Wikipedia:Requests for checkuser/Case/)}}
• {{SockpuppetProven|1=Username|evidence=[[EvidenceLink]]}}. "EvidenceLink" can be replaced with something such as "[[Wikipedia:Suspected sock puppets/Username]]":
• {{Sockpuppet|1=Username|evidence=[[EvidenceLink]]}}
• {{IPsock|1=Username|evidence=[[EvidenceLink]]}}

The original or best-known account of a user that operates sock puppets may be tagged with {{Sockpuppeteer}}. Note that this tag is intended for abusive sock puppets and should not be used on the pages of people whose legitimate multiple accounts have not been blocked.

Alternate accounts

• Editors who wish to publicly display a link on an alternate account to their primary account may do so by tagging the "secondary" ones with {{User Alternate Acct|MAIN ACCOUNT}}
• Primary accounts may be marked with {{User Alt Acct Master}}

See also

• Sockpuppet (Internet)
• Wikipedia:Single purpose account
• Wikipedia:Doppelganger account

External links

• Sock puppet policy on MeatBall wiki