Sunday, December 30, 2007

Sock puppets and pseudonyms

Eli is a pseudonym, a cute one, but a pseudonym none the less. However, it has come to the attention of the legal department at Bunny Labs that ill mannered folk are calling Eli a sock puppet. A sock puppet is

1: A fake personality, usually a 'friend' or 'sister,' created by a drama queen/king for the sake of defending him/herself against others in an online forum.

2: Someone who might be an actual person but behaves like the above, defending someone who really deserves no defense.

After mskyootie44 left the board in a snit, she made a sock puppet claiming to be her sister that told us we should all be ashamed of how mean we were because mskyootie was cutting herself in the bathroom.

FWIW, a drama queen is

Someone who turns something unimportant into a major deal. Someone who blows things way out of proportion when ever the chance is given.

"Oh my god! You copied that without giving the other person credit! That is just mean. You're horrible, don't talk to me. Im gonna go tell everyone what a cruel person you are just so they will pay attention to me and think im cool.
Deltoid has nice examples of drama queens posing as sock puppets. Eli is neither


**Oh yeah for the drama queens, the bunny is from Save on Crafts

8 comments:

Horatio Algeranon said...

Do Rabetts even wear socks?

I know you are not one Eli, but if you were, I would think "Paw Puppet" -- or just "Pawpet" -- might be more apt.

Me thinks this theme has definite potential as the basis of another (even goofier) poem.

I've got to keep pushing the envelope, you know.

Keep your ears peeled.

Horatio Algeranon said...

As promised
Pets, Puppets and Pawpets

Dano said...

Dano, like Eli, is a nom d' e-, not a sock puppet.

Dano started doing this way back when at the old TCS, and found H.I. Miller using sock puppets, CEI lawyer Chris Horner (my great regret is not saving that evidence, and TCS wiped Horner's comments from the archive), and a number of ad agencies in SE Michigan using anonymouses to push their pro-car agendas (e.g. how to recall Gray Davis immediately after he offered a tailpipe emissions bill).

Anyway, before Dano I used my real name and e-m address, and received a virus attack at work. Fortunately, it was intercepted and no harm was done. One of the IT guys found the virus interesting and returned to sender. But that prompted my taking a nom d' e-, because I found that some folks don't like you pointing out certain things; apparently The Internets is for malinformation dissemination too, and the "right" to disseminate malinformation is vigorously guarded by some.

Best,

D

CapitalistImperialistPig said...

Sure. Right. But Ethon I'm not so sure about.

Horatio Algeranon said...

Ethon is a "clawpet".

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your work, professor Rabett, you really make a difference for many people.
And a good new year too.

Anonymous said...

Professor: pen name, yes; sock puppet, no. So drop the sock -- including any queens attached, of course.;~)

Anonymous said...

By what if my real name is actually Mus musculus anonymouse?


Mus musculus anonymouse