Sock puppet
A Sock puppet is an online identity assumed in order to manage perceptions. The term— referring to a simple hand puppet made from a sock—originally referred to a false identity assumed by a participant in an internet community who addressed or wrote about her/himself while pretending to be another person.[1] The term now includes other uses of misleading online identities, such as those created to praise, defend, support or criticise, attack or oppose a third party or organization,[2] or to circumvent a suspension or ban from a website or other online space. A significant difference between the use of a pseudonym and the creation of a sockpuppet is that the sockpuppet poses as an independent or partially independent third-party unaffiliated with the puppeteer.
Resources
- For Wikipedia policy on sockpuppets, see Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Sock puppetry
Notes
- ↑ Definition of sockpuppet WordSpy.com, accessed 15 August 2012
- ↑ Brad Stone The Hand That Controls the Sock Puppet Could Get Slapped New York Times July 16, 2007, accessed 15 August 2012.
