Mikeki Wiki:Sockpuppeting



On the Mikeki and any of our sister wikis, sock puppetry, or socking, refers to the misuse of multiple accounts. To maintain accountability and increase community trust, editors are generally expected to use only one account. While there are some valid reasons for maintaining multiple accounts, it is improper to use multiple accounts to deceive or mislead other editors, disrupt discussions, distort consensus, ban evade, or otherwise violate community standards and policies.

Sock puppetry takes various forms:
 * Creating new accounts to avoid detection or sanctions
 * Using another person's account in a negative way
 * Reviving old unused accounts (sometimes referred to as sleepers) and presenting them as different users
 * Persuading friends or colleagues to create accounts for the purpose of supporting one side of a dispute, such as blindly supporting a person on our wiki (usually called meatpuppetry)

Misuse of multiple accounts is a serious breach of community trust. It may lead to:
 * a block of all affected accounts
 * a ban of the user (the sockmaster or sockpuppeteer) behind the accounts (each of which is a sockpuppet or sock)
 * on-project exposure of all accounts and IP addresses used across the Mikeki and our sister wikis
 * the (potential) public exposure of any "real-world" activities or personal information deemed relevant to preventing future sock puppetry or certain other abuses.

An editor using multiple accounts for valid reasons should, on each account's user page, list all the other accounts with an explanation of their purpose (see below). Optionally, the user and user talk pages of some of the accounts can be redirected to those of another. Editors who use unlinked alternative accounts, or who edit as an IP address editor separate from their account, should carefully avoid any crossover on articles or topics because even innocuous activities such as copy editing or linking might be considered sock puppetry in some cases and innocuous intentions will not usually serve as an excuse.

Inappropriate uses of alternative accounts
Editors must not use alternative accounts to mislead, deceive, disrupt, or undermine consensus. This includes, but is not limited to:
 * Creating an illusion of support: Alternative accounts must not be used to give the impression of more support for a position than actually exists.
 * Editing project space: Undisclosed alternative accounts are not to be used in discussions internal to the project.
 * Strawman socks: Creating a separate account to argue one side of an issue in a deliberately irrational or offensive fashion, to sway opinion to another side.
 * Evasion of sanctions: Sanctions apply to individual editors as people, not to accounts. Using a second account to edit in violation of an active block or community sanction will result in further sanctions, which may include removal of your contributions.
 * Contributing to the same page or discussion with multiple accounts: Editors may not use more than one account to contribute to the same page or discussion in a way that suggests they are multiple people. Contributing to the same page with clearly linked, legitimate, alternative accounts (e.g. editing the same page with your main and public computer account) is not forbidden.
 * Avoiding scrutiny: Using alternative accounts that are not fully and openly disclosed to split your editing history means that other editors may not be able to detect patterns in your contributions. While this is permitted in certain circumstances (see legitimate uses), it is a violation of this policy to create alternative accounts to confuse or deceive editors who may have a legitimate interest in reviewing your contributions.
 * "Good hand" and "bad hand" accounts: Using one account for constructive contributions and the other one for disruptive editing or vandalism.
 * Editing while logged out in order to mislead: Editing under multiple IP addresses, or editing under both a named account and as an IP, may be treated as the same level of disruption as editing under multiple accounts when it is done deceptively or otherwise violates the principles of this policy.
 * Misusing a clean start by switching accounts or concealing a clean start in a way that avoids scrutiny is considered a breach of our policies, if you have to create a new account to try and get another chance when banned, it is likely too late.
 * Role accounts: Because an account represents your edits as an individual, "role accounts", or accounts shared by multiple people, are as a rule forbidden and blocked. Many first time editors may sign up an account with a username that implies it is a role account or is being shared. Such accounts are permitted only if the account information is forever limited to one individual; however, policy recommends that usernames avoid being misleading or disruptive. Role account exceptions can be made for non-editing.
 * Posing as a neutral or uninvolved commentator: Using an alternative account to participate in a discussion about another account operated by the same person.

Legitimate uses
Alternative accounts have legitimate uses. For example, editors who contribute using their real name may wish to use a pseudonym for contributions with which they do not want their real name to be associated, or long-term users might create a new account to better understand the editing experience from a new user's perspective. These accounts are not considered sockpuppets. If you use a legitimate alternative account, it is your responsibility to ensure that you do not use it in an illegitimate manner according to this policy.

Valid reasons for an alternative account include:


 * Security: You may register an alternative account for use when accessing the Mikeki through a public computer, connecting to an unsecured network, or other scenarios when there's a risk of your account being compromised. Such accounts should be publicly connected to the main account or use an easily identified name. For example, User:Example might use User:Example (alt) or User:Test, and redirect that account's user and talk pages to their main account.
 * Privacy: A person editing an article that is highly controversial within their family, social or professional circle, and whose identity is known within that circle, or traceable to their real-world identity, may wish to use an alternative account to avoid real-world consequences from their editing or other actions in that area. Although a privacy-based alternative account is not publicly connected to your main account, it should not be used in ways outlined in the inappropriate uses section of this page, and if it is, the account may be publicly linked to your main account for sanctions. If you are considering using an alternative account under this provision, please read the notification section below.
 * Doppelgänger accounts: A doppelgänger account is an account created with a username similar to your main account to prevent impersonation. Such accounts should not be used for editing. Doppelgänger accounts can simply redirect to the main account's userpage.
 * Clean start under a new name: A clean start is when a user stops using an old account in order to start afresh with a new account, usually due to past mistakes or to avoid harassment. A clean start is permitted only if there are no active bans, blocks, or sanctions in place against the old account. Do not use your new account to return to topic areas, disputes, editing patterns, or behaviors previously identified as problematic, and you should be careful not to do anything that looks like an attempt to evade scrutiny. A clean start requires that you no longer use your old account(s), which should note on their user pages that they are inactive—for example, with the "retired" template to prevent the switch being seen as an attempt to sock puppet.
 * Username violations: If you are blocked for having an inappropriate username, and that is the sole reason for the block, you are permitted to create a new account with an appropriate username.
 * Compromised accounts: If you are unable to access your account because you have lost the password or because someone has obtained or guessed your password, you may create a new account with a clean password. In such a case, you should post a note on the user page of each account indicating that they are alternative accounts for the same person. If necessary, you should also ask for an admin to block the compromised account. You may want to consider using a committed identity in advance to help deal with this rare situation should it arise later.
 * Technical reasons:
 * Maintenance: An editor might use an alternative account to carry out maintenance tasks, or to segregate functions so as to maintain a user talk page dedicated to the purpose. The second account should be clearly linked to the main account.
 * Testing and training: Users who use a lot of scripts and other tools may wish to keep a second, "vanilla" account, for testing how things appear to others; or for demonstrating the wiki's default appearance when training new users. The second account should be clearly linked to the main account, except where doing so would interfere with testing or training, e.g. creating an account named "User:Example" to serve as an example account analogous to the website example.com.

Alternative accounts should always be identified as such on their Userpage(s), except where doing so would defeat the point of the account. Templates such as "User alternative account" may be used for this purpose.

Alternative account notification
Except when doing so would defeat the purpose of having a legitimate alternative account, editors using alternative accounts should provide links between the accounts. Links should ideally take the form of all three of the following:
 * 1) Similarities in the username (for example, User:Example might have "User:Example public".
 * 2) Links on both the main and alternative account user pages, either informally or using the templates made for the purpose. To link an alternative account to a main account, use the main account to tag any secondary accounts with  (using the main account shows it's genuine) or  if the account is being used to maintain security on public computers. The main account may be marked with {{User alternative account name.
 * 3) Links in the alternative account signature: if not linking to both the alternative and main account, link to the alternative account, and if necessary provide a note there requesting contact be made via the main account, or simply redirect the user talk page.

Editors who have multiple accounts for privacy reasons should consider notifying]] a heckuser or Miraheze stewards if they believe editing will attract scrutiny. Editors who heavily edit controversial material, those who maintain single purpose accounts are among the groups of editors who attract scrutiny even if their editing behavior itself is not problematic or only marginally so. Concerned editors should have the right to email any individual with checkuser rights. Editors who have abandoned an account and are editing under a new identity are required to comply with the clean start policy mentioned earlier.

Meatpuppetry
High profile pages being added to the wiki often bring new editors to the site. Some individuals may promote their causes by bringing like-minded editors to perhaps spread misinformation or vandalize, including enlisting assistance off-Wiki. These editors are sometimes referred to as meatpuppets. While we try everything possible to assume good faith, especially for new users, recruiting new editors to influence decisions on whether or not a page should be deleted for reasons such as inherent bias against the person added is prohibited. A new user who engages in the same behavior as another user in the same context, and who appears to be editing solely for that purpose, may be subject to the remedies applied to the user whose behavior they are joining. Sanctions have been applied to editors of longer standing who have not, in the opinion of our administrative bodies, consistently exercised independent judgment.

The term meatpuppet may be seen by some as derogatory and should be used with care, in keeping with civility. Because of the processes above, it may be counterproductive to directly accuse someone of being a "meatpuppet", and doing so will often only inflame the dispute.

Sharing an IP address
If two or more registered editors use the same computer or network connection, their accounts may be linked by a Miraheze steward with checkuser rights. Editors in this position are advised to declare such connections on their user pages to avoid accusations of sockpuppetry. Templates available for this purpose may come at a later date.

Closely connected users may be considered a single user for our purposes if they edit with the same objectives. When editing the same articles, participating in the same community discussion, or supporting each other in any sort of dispute, closely related accounts should disclose the connection and observe relevant policies such as edit warring as if they were a single account. If they do not wish to disclose the connection, they should avoid editing in the same areas, particularly on controversial topics.

Sockpuppet investigations
Eventually, there will be an article that speaks on signs of sock puppetry which will list some of the signs that an account may be a sock puppet. If you believe someone is using sock puppets or meat puppets, you should create a report to an administrator which should get escalated to a Miraheze steward, if enough evidence exists to support reason that an account may be a sockpuppet. In reporting suspected sock puppetry, you must obey the rules of outing with regard to disclosure of personal or identifying information. Only blocked accounts should be tagged as suspected sockpuppets and only upon sufficient evidence that would stand up to scrutiny.

Blocking
If a person is found to be using a sock puppet, the sock puppet account(s) should be blocked indefinitely. The main account may be blocked at the discretion of any uninvolved administrator. IP addresses used for sock puppetry may be blocked, but are subject to certain restrictions for indefinite blocks.

Proving you are not a sock
One possibility to prove that your account is not a sock puppet is to make your userpage and edits unique, don't appear to be "generic". It especially helps if your userpage and/or social profile isn't entirely blank or doesn't look like a near copy of somebody else's.