Every blog above a certain size has them: sockpuppets. On Daily Kos, the term is defined as follows:
A sock puppet is an additional account of an existing member pretending to be a separate user. This may be used to mimic community support in an argument or for acting without consequence to one's 'main' account. It is considered dishonest, trollish behavior.
At The Daily Kos the term 'sock puppet' is also commonly applied to non-authorized accounts of previously banned users.
There are several known, habitual repeat sockpuppets that conform to this second definition. This diary provides a semi-serious, semi-systematic overview of a good number of them. Follow me over the fold into the arcane world of sockpuppetry.
The FAQ supplies the outlines of an approach to identifying sockpuppets, or users who have been banned previously, only to return under an alias. Quite a few of the identifiable Daily Kos sockpuppets, coincidentally and along with other banned users, now inhabit My Left Wing.
Identifying a Sock Puppet
Typically, the user has more knowledge than would be expected of a newcomer regarding the site's methods, rules, and community members; takes part in similar discussions and has mostly same opinions as the user's main account; and sometimes has an account name similar to those of other suspected sock puppets.
On reviewing the known rogues' gallery of repeat sockpuppets, it becomes apparent that they can be classed by typical beliefs and/or actions.
Based on a representative sample, we can identify several types of sockpuppets. Many combine several of these characteristics, which are:
1. | | | Hates Jews |
2. | | | The common asshole |
3. | | | People who are better, more enlightened, more left than you'll ever be, you sniveling sellout |
4. | | | Guests from the right |
5. | | | The issue prophets |
6. | | | The bearers of grudges |
Every single one of the repeat sockpuppets described below - I think I got most of them - fits into this grid on at least one point; many on several. The numbers after the relevant handles indicate which category of this typology the relevant sockpuppet can be assigned to. Note that you won't run into them under the handles used here; these accounts are all blocked, needless to say.
ErrinF (A,L,G)
ErrinF is famous as the author, no, the creator of the platonic ideal of the GBCW diary - Delete my fucking account, Kos - but contrary to that expressed wish, seems to come back every so often. Per Warren Terrer, an entire gaggle of such sockpuppets was discovered once. A review of ErrinF's oeuvre – available here - reveals a classic, angry purity troll. You are not, simply put, good enough for ErrinF, you mealy-mouthed little sellout worm of a Democrat. Signature phrase: Fuck You. ErrinF recently returned with a diary titled Delete the f****** Democratic Party, Kos. ErrinF is to be credited with creating the Kosism of [verb] my fucking [noun], Kos!
Nativealien (J,A)
Simply put, this puppet hates Jews. Instantly recognizable by use of the phrase 'Zio Boy'. Appeared some time ago as Never forget USS Liberty, for which discovery I claim partial credit; likes to characterize his detractors as Jewish, regardless of actual religious beliefs or ethnic heritage. If you come across a brand-new user ranting uncontrollably about Jews, you're probably looking at nativealien. Unless you're looking at...
Hartford for Lamont (J,L)
...who also rants about Da Jooos, though that's not necessarily his only defining characteristic. The other is this: Hartford for Lamont simply loathes the Democratic Leadership Council or DLC(1), specifically its more prominent members, including Hillary Clinton and Joseph Lieberman. Mixed in with the leftier-than-thou-ness is, of course, rabid anti-Semitism; because it's all the Jews' fault that Progressives don't yet run the entire country. Also showed up as, God help us, Edwards for President and Anybody But Hillary. If a brand-new user shows up who lambasts Joe Lieberman and the DLC and AIPAC and Hillary and the evil, perfidious Jews, usually all in one breath, you can be fairly certain that it's Hartford for Lamont come to pay a visit.
Pure Cynic (R)
Most recently returned as Amoral American, this sockpuppet, characterized by a certain horsey-set-ness of the language – many 'indeeds' – can be fairly described as a rightwingish concern troll. Generally poses as a Democrat put off by whatever practical compromises the party makes on a given day, moving from there swiftly to doubt the usefulness of all of this sordid partisan scrimmage.
Paul Gaskin (A,L)
The purity troll from hell. Rants about impeachment, war crimes trials, fascism, and is firmly convinced that in the big scheme of things, unless you share his exact views in the exact same intensity and pitch, you might as well sign up as an interrogator at Guantanamo Bay. Most recently returned as Suckas Get Dissed, Paul Gaskin's particular flavor can be deduced from this comment:
Lucius Voranus [sic], you don't "get it". (6+ / 0-)
theyrereal can offer to leave because he's at the heart of "the party".
When he offers to withdraw his solidarity to avoid being compromised, it's the sell-outs within our party who must change, or they will become irrelevant.
You can give attitude to theyrereal, but ultimately, he's more valuable to the party than you are because he has his priorities straight - principles over party loyalty.
Note the typical catchphrases: sellout, solidarity, principles.
Blue Sky CoOp (J,A,L)
The thing to remember about BSC is this: BSC is simply, hands down, a better, more Progressive, more worthwhile person than you are. Per Ahianne, "Hates Texans, Jews, Southerners, rural people"
TruthOfAngels writes here:
Seems to me that we're dealing with a poster that has a huge sense of entitlement, as in - if he/she says something confrontational, it's indicative of their principled sense of dissent and justice, but anybody who rebuts them is automatically bad and apparently, according to the poster, guilty of ratings abuse (since the poster obviously hasn't read the FAQ, how are they defining ratings abuse? Any trollratings against Blue Sky CoOp? Interesting theory, that we should allow people to decide themselves whether they are trolls or not) and worthy of banning.
An incomplete overview of Blue Sky CoOp's various identities can be found in this comment thread.
Shergald (J,A,L,I,G)
The godfather of issue trolling. Shergald is a rabid Israel-hater; there's really no other way to describe him. Shergald is an atypical zombie sockpuppet, in that his roughly a dozen or more reincarnations have tended to usually post diaries rather than comments. The subject is always the same: Israel. When he does post comments, however, an absolutely dead giveaway is one of the following phrases: Right-wing Zionist, Hasbara (2) troll, GIYUS (3) operative. Shergald is easy to recognize, as he consistently uses the same diary format: A headline evoking Israeli perfidy is followed by one or two paragraphs (at best) of introduction, after which follows a blockquoted article from some other source. Shergald has carried sockpuppetry into new dimensions by actively recruiting other individual posters to this site; these, of course, are not sockpuppets, and Shergald has earned the active resentment of Kossacks who post diaries critical of Israel for his trollish tactics. It is permissible and immediately understood to refer to him as 'Trollgald'.
Ben Heine (J,A,I,G)
A Belgian cartoonist and raving anti-Semite, Heine first popped on to Daily Kos at the invitation of Shergald – see above, link here - and proceeded to post a diary with an astonishingly hateful anti-Semitic graphic (referred to by some as 'the Heine incident'), returning some time ago amusingly enough in the guise of an Italian architect, Luciano Praiano. Ben's diaries are, given that there are only two relevant examples to go by, recognizable by the use of his own artwork, an obligatory equation between the Third Reich and Israel, and a tendency to mangle English, as he is not a native speaker of the language. Posting his artwork in an affirmative way, given the history, is the functional equivalent of torching a cross on someone's front lawn. An example can be found here.
The BevBots (L,I,G)
The online defenders of Beverly Harris, known to every sentient leftist being as the driving force behind Black Box Voting dot org(4). A representative comment is here. BevBots – there are seemingly several – are recognizable by their defense of Beverly Harris, who got kicked off this site (and Democratic Underground) after descending into increasingly baroque conspiracy theories. Other than this commonality, they seem to branch out into various other conspiracy theories, in which the words globalization, North American Union, ZOG, corporate drone, and similar figure prominently; the unifying characteristic is the belief that the individual is caught in a web spun by secretive, dark forces beyond comprehension or control, of which only they know and you don't, you poor sucker. It might be interesting, certainly entertaining, to validate the various conspiracies of a BevBot by assuring them that they're correct, and you know because you're in on the conspiracy.
Ed Encho (L)
Here's a sample from this user's current Recommended diary on My Left Wing:
Let it be heard loud and clear, from sea to shining sea that the newly empowered Democrats are poseurs, fakes and rank cowards and after the latest dishonorable capitulation of a president and his failed policy run amok let them forever be affixed with a scarlet letter of shame. The ugly little secret despite all of the big talk about change and accountability is that the jackass party is just as much an accomplice in creating the catastrophe that is America’s political system as their more overtly fascist and assertive counterparts.
A purity troll with a gift for literary allusions (and run-on sentences), who returns on occasion to the Great Orange Satan to enlighten the teeming mass of resident drones.
hrh (L,I)
Capably described here, hrh is possessed of a hair trigger for language which may or may not be objectionable, sexist or demeaning to women; the classic example of taking a good thing, namely a feminist critique of language and the way it shapes power dynamics and social relationships, several steps too far.
Update: Commenters note that it's unclear whether hrh actually had sockpuppets.
Liber (R)
Most recently returned as Libby42, this troll comes to us courtesy of Little Green Footballs or a similar source.
Miss Devore (A,G)
As best I can tell, Miss Devore - a representative hidden comment is here - took the personal animosity thing too far with the wrong people. Her statements from the time she was officially here are typically terse one-liners, often enough containing the word b***h or comparable expressions of misogyny. Miss Devore hates front-pagers and is somewhat ambivalent about herself; but one thing is clear, if you disagree with her, it means you're just not a very good person.
Update: Commenters note that it's unclear whether Miss Devore actually had sockpuppets.
Maryscott O'Connor (G)
It's incredibly difficult to write this, because I'm a longstanding admirer of her prose and many - not all - of her positions, but Maryscott O'Connor, a prolific early Kossack with a unique gift for the well-timed incendiary, was recently banned (for copyright violation) and subsequently returned with several sockpuppet accounts, documented here and a few days later, here. It's not entirely clear what her purpose is, but she's here, much to the cringing embarrassment of folks, like myself, who think she's potentially a valuable voice.
Christopher King (A)
Via this thread in comments comes news of Christopher King, another revenant. Other handles included Reporter Guy and NH Dems, says ek hornbeck. Per Warren Terrer,
He was a litigant in a law suit against 'powerful' people. All he ever did was post diary after diary of excruciating detail about his ongoing lawsuit. He was truly obsessed with it and thought the rest of us would be every bit as fascinated by the whole thing as he was. But we weren't.
SLouise 217 (L,G)
From comments, by Eternal Hope:
For a long time, she was one of the more effective voices in getting rid of trolls and debunking the 911 CT's and BevBots. She was actually pretty rational for a long time. But then, she got more and more belligerent, started using the all caps, and started picking fights with people like Do Tell and Kimberly Stone, and calling people who disagreed with her liars.
There was a big war at the time called the Troll Wars, back when we had unlimited ratings. Some saw it as a necessary tool to get rid of the trolls, and some wanted to get rid of it altogether, seeing it as simply a form of censorship. Finally, Delaware Democrat wrote a peace diary asking all of the community to make peace with each other, and most of us did. There was a lot of discussion after I left and finally, after about 1500 comments, it was decided that she had to go.
In the meantime, slouise and Kim Stone and a bunch of their allies were duking it out in dead threads and slouise was getting more and more belligerent, getting KS and several of her allies' ratings ability taken away. Not only that, slouise was bragging about her access to Kos and her ability to get people's ratings ability taken away.
Finally, right after Yearly Kos, Kos announced that he had banned a "certain well-loved poster" for sockpuppetry, and a few days later, all three of them were gone.
Here are some examples of her:
LIAR! I only call people that if they lie!
You should NOT have been DOING THAT! You were warned.
Stop stalking me!
She claimed to respect Kos, but she acted passive-aggressive towards him after he refused to ban Kimberly Stone and the rest of her allies and spawned the three sockpuppets that I mentioned.
Notes
(1) Not to be confused with the DLC or Democratic Lawyers Council, online here, an organization that does election protection work and is recognized as one of the most valuable political organizations in New York.
(2) Hasbara, online at Hasbara.us, is a pro-Israel NGO dedicated to correcting what it sees as anti-Israel slant in the Western media. Yes, I'm posting this specifically to annoy Shergald, who has an uncanny ability to know when his name is mentioned on Daily Kos. Progressive friends of Israel will find it too right-wing for any actual use, and its descriptions of Arabs border on racist.
(3) GIYUS, an acronym for Give Israel Your United Support, is an online advocacy and rapid-reaction web site, here, similar to Hasbara, with the goal of responding to perceived biases against that country in the Western media. Nyah Nyah Nyah, Shergald.
(4) Not to be confused with Black Box Voting dot com, which disavows Bev Harris here.
Credits
The brilliant Shergald Sockpuppets image by Bouwerie Boy, found here.
The octosockpuppet by catnip, found here.
Special thanks to Warren Terrer, the site's true expert on sockpuppets, and to everyone who commented in this thread some days ago, when I first thought of doing this.