Recently yet another case of someone using a second identity to promote their own work has presented itself on a major tech writing listserv. This act is apparently known as sock-puppeting (I'll admit, I had to look it up). As an example, Joe Smith wrote an article, and John Jones (aka Joe Smith) is promoting it as a supposed third party.
I'm not going to name names or cite the list in question, as I'm frankly tired of this behavior. It's the same person that's done it several times before on this list, and has been caught in the act before as well.
Has anyone else seen such behavior? Any logical, productive reason for acting in this manner?
I'm genuinely asking here. The person in question is of course avoiding the direct line of questioning and turning question on their heads in response. Note though that this person has never denied that these very different identities are theirs.
Thoughts on this?
Sunday, August 12, 2007
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4 comments:
Name 'em and shame 'em. If I were the listmom, I would add this information to the list FAQ.
Hi Bill,
What sock-puppeting tells me is that the person's work isn't good enough to attract attention on its own. If you have to resort to pretending to be someone else to promote your own work, you and your work are sad specimens.
Fortunately in this case, it caught up to the person because he couldn't keep his various identities straight. Now he doesn't have credibility under any name, and the very people who he was trying to impress think he's a schmuck.
Do you think he's picked out his next identity yet? Maybe he'll try masquerading as a female the next time. (Or maybe it really is a woman posing as a man???)
Donna
(whose first name has stayed the same even though the last name has changed over the years!)
farfetched - I actually think it's covered in the list rules for the list this took place on... I read them over the weekend and a few clauses in the TOS agreement seem to fit here. Don't know if the list owner will take action or not.
Donna, thanks for your thoughts. I agree, the hole has been dug. And, given everything is archived publicly, it's also indexed for web-wide search. Poor choice of action on his part.
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