Unmask the Puppets

[SeaBee]

i got some troubles regarding the IP on another forum - the mods found 5000 different people from different countries with the same IP! how's that possible, i don't know, i can barely set up my operating system from time to time.

Some internet service providers use a system called dynamic IP and they have an allocation of IPs in a range of numbers and you get a new IP address every time you log on to the web. I'm on BTopenworld and they use this system and a check will show I have probably 500 addresses against my name. But there are other ways to find out who is who and sort out the socks.

[Skydiver]

I'm not going to tell everyone just how we track the socks down. All that'll do is give the 'bad' folks more info to continue to break the rules.

Heck, I personally have hundreds of IP"s since i've logged into the forum from 3 different countries, several states and many cities in my own state

That's not the issue. It's people that we know have multiple personalities to either cause trouble, cheat at games or escape moderation. Those are the folks that we're concerned about.

[Skydiver]

One idea that's been put forth, which I think is a good idea, is for role play participants to have a 'cast list' so to speak for all involved.

'The role of ______ is being played by _______' for example.

[Greg]

Wait. Those with bad socks are going to find socks AND originating account locked? That'd be great... as far as it goes. But won't they just keep creating more accounts/socks? If one of the reasons they (or some of them) do it is to circumvent moderation then blocking their accounts isn't really going to change much, they'll just start over with a whole new batch.

Or will you now be scrutinizing the IPs of troublemakers to see if they tie back to a banned user and will be quicker to ban them if the details match up?

Everytime you visit a webpage (regardless of if it is Google, Gateworld, Youtube or whatever) your web browser sends information about itself and your PC to the webserver/site you are visiting.

This information includes (but is not limited to) your PC name, your windows account name, your IP address (which CAN be tracked right down to your ISP account), your local timezone, your web browser + version (i.e. Firefox 3.0.11), your screen resolution and more.

Without going into more specifics how we (can) use this to track down sock puppets, all I will say is that the mods are purely trying to root out troublemakers who really waste the (free) resources provided by Gateworld and it's (unpaid) staff. We will reserve the right starting as low and gentle as a nice warning via PM all the way up to contacting your ISP or further - if matters continue to persist.

Later in the year, vBulletin 4 will be coming out - and within that it will contain a special type of cookie/user system that will be able to automatically detect and report sock puppets in a much faster and easier manner in much greater detail - which will avoid threads such as this, however for now - Its not hard to play nice - all of the Mods all the way up to and including Darren are kind and fair people so if you have created socks before for sinister reasons then you are on notice - if you have them for legitimate reasons - then either feel free to PM the details to Skydiver or you can post them here.

[Lucylee]

I am wondering about multiple users at one computer?
I know I use the same computer as my sister, so would we show up as one person?

[TameFarrar]

I am wondering about multiple users at one computer?
I know I use the same computer as my sister, so would we show up as one person?

All you would need to do is send a quick PM and let us know both user names so we know this. If we have any issues we can and will discuss it with anyone on a private basis

[Arielle]

One idea that's been put forth, which I think is a good idea, is for role play participants to have a 'cast list' so to speak for all involved.

'The role of ______ is being played by _______' for example.

In the Wraith Worshippers Anonymous Thread another player gave me the permission to RP some of her characters. Is that a problem? Do i need to PM a Mod or post the character names? I mean the borrowed ones?
And we do have a cast list in the WWA, the OOC thread and Ciannwn's site.

[Colonel Sharp]

In the Wraith Worshippers Anonymous Thread another player gave me the permission to RP some of her characters. Is that a problem? Do i need to PM a Mod or post the character names? I mean the borrowed ones?
And we do have a cast list in the WWA, the OOC thread and Ciannwn's site.

No.

I believe what Sky and Tame are referring to here is different accounts used for roleplaying. Those of us who don't have a second login account to Gateworld don't have to worry about this.

[ShadowMaat]

Bill was harassing other users and got put on moderation, so Bill created the sock puppet Bob so he could keep harrassing people. HE WILL GET BURNED. Bob's cloth heart will be ripped out on a sacrificial altar and his stringy entrails will be fed to the dark god of mod-dom.

Gina got sucked into the RPG and created the sock puppet Lord Kinbote. Gina tells Skydiver about Lord Kinbote. SHE IS FINE. Lord Kinbote survives the purging of the ranks and continues to terrorize the other RPG players.

Tom is obsessed with making Character A the most popular character in an elimination game, but Character A is proving unpopular, so Tom creates Character A-mazing, Zippydoodah and Frank in order to bump up the votes for Character A. HE WILL GET BURNED. Character A-mazing, Zippydoodah and Frank will be chopped to bits and remade into a Giger-esque sculpture (and hat stand) that will decorate the mod lounge.

Hope that clarifies it for people.

[Frostfox]

Bill was harassing other users and got put on moderation, so Bill created the sock puppet Bob so he could keep harrassing people. HE WILL GET BURNED. Bill's cloth heart will be ripped out on a sacrificial altar and his stringy entrails will be fed to the dark god of mod-dom.

Gina got sucked into the RPG and created the sock puppet Lord Kinbote. Gina tells Skydiver about Lord Kinbote. SHE IS FINE. Lord Kinbote survives the purging of the ranks and continues to terrorize the other RPG players.

Tom is obsessed with making Character A the most popular character in an elimination game, but Character A is proving unpopular, so Tom creates Character A-mazing, Zippydoodah and Frank in order to bump up the votes for Character A. HE WILL GET BURNED. Character A-mazing, Zippydoodah and Frank will be chopped to bits and remade into a Giger-esque sculpture (and hat stand) that will decorate the mod lounge.

Hope that clarifies it for people.

Works for me.

FF who has enough trouble remembering who she is without pretending to be someone else too

[Skydiver]

and folks have this week to let the mods know, either here or, if you'd prefer, privately, who's who.

People that made an account 3 years ago, lost the password and e-mail, then made a new one and have been using account 2 and not one, no issue.

The accounts that we're going to lock are those that are and have been behaving inappropriately with their multiple accounts.

[Colonel Sharp]

Bill was harassing other users and got put on moderation, so Bill created the sock puppet Bob so he could keep harrassing people. HE WILL GET BURNED. Bob's cloth heart will be ripped out on a sacrificial altar and his stringy entrails will be fed to the dark god of mod-dom.

Gina got sucked into the RPG and created the sock puppet Lord Kinbote. Gina tells Skydiver about Lord Kinbote. SHE IS FINE. Lord Kinbote survives the purging of the ranks and continues to terrorize the other RPG players.

Tom is obsessed with making Character A the most popular character in an elimination game, but Character A is proving unpopular, so Tom creates Character A-mazing, Zippydoodah and Frank in order to bump up the votes for Character A. HE WILL GET BURNED. Character A-mazing, Zippydoodah and Frank will be chopped to bits and remade into a Giger-esque sculpture (and hat stand) that will decorate the mod lounge.

Hope that clarifies it for people.

Well said.

(Lord Kinbote? We'll send him over to the wraith RPs...)

[tombombadil]

One idea that's been put forth, which I think is a good idea, is for role play participants to have a 'cast list' so to speak for all involved.

'The role of ______ is being played by _______' for example.

the role of TameFarrar is being played by Mapp.

[Serapis]

Hi, I'm an account that was created by Schrodinger's Cat many years ago when he temporarily forgot his password.
I ceased to be in use after Schrodinger's Cat remembered his old password, and changed it to match his new password.

My last visit was apparently on December 7th, 2005 at 10:55 AM.

Please delete me, as I am no longer in use.

PS: I thought it would look better coming from the sock that got lost in the wash. Send any PM's to Schrodinger's Cat.

[Schrodinger's Cat]

For the record, the above post by Serapis was written by me.