Serious Case of Sock Puppetry: Member Banned

[Cran]

Recently, a very serious breach of forum etiquette came to the attention of staff. Because it affects the entire WF membership, and some members directly, we feel it is necessary to forgo normal protocol and make it public knowledge.

After some commendable work by our moderation team, we discovered that the member going by the username 'Hemlock' created ten multiple accounts, or sock puppets, in order to assign extra votes to his/her entries in numerous WF challenges. This is not only an underhanded and inexcusable practice, it also violates a number of rules regarding the use of more than one account. The sock puppets have been destroyed, and Hemlock has been permanently banned from WF and stripped of all victories in the challenges. They have now been awarded to the rightful victors.

We apologise to the members who frequent the challenges, the judges who give of their time voluntarily, and the moderators who work sedulously to tally the votes. Rest assured that future violations akin to this will be swiftly and mercilessly rooted out and the perpetrators punished accordingly. We do not tolerate cheating at WF.

On behalf of WritingForums, Admin wishes to thank the moderator who first discovered this cheat, and our entire moderation team for its swift and decisive resolution of this messy debacle.

[Sam]

Apologies to the members who were wrongly cheated out of their victories because of this person. Yes, it has been rectified and the records now indicate otherwise, but that doesn't make it any less unfair. I hope this will seriously dissuade people from trying devious things like this in future challenges.

[Cran]

In the wake of this bit of nasty, Admin will look at strengthening the rule. A reminder of the multiple account rule as it currently exists:

Multiple Accounts: Multiple accounts (sock puppets) are not permitted. Only sign up for one account. If you share a computer or internet connection with a room mate or partner, please inform us or we may suspect you of having duplicate accounts and all but one will be deleted.

[Olly Buckle]

Sedulously is a seriously good word Cran. Seriously, cheating to win a competition where the prize is recognition of ones ability is seriously sad, it is like being able to shout loudest with nothing to say. Let's get it in perspective, we have one cheating scum and a whole bunch of people who give their time for free to see a decent, level playing field. Well spotted you Mods, more power to your elbow.

[Bloggsworth]

To call it sock puppetry is to cast aspersions on Lamb Chop and the wonderful Shari Lewis...

[Kevin]

Such...deviousness...wow. I know I shouldn't be, but I'm blown away.

I suspect that potty and lasm are the same person. I also suspect that they don't know about each other, so shhh....

[JosephB]

This is even worse than another notorious member who was banned for having multiple user names. Directly afterward, I realized there had been a thread where he had been having a rather congratulatory conversation in which he was wholeheartedly agreeing with himself. It really does take all kinds.

[Whisper]

Wow, there must be some serious prizes for these things. Guess I better take a look at these. I could use a 10 day Pacific Cruise.

[Whisper]

Sockpuppets. Somewhere, Bevis and Butthead are laughing.

[Kevin]

This is even worse than another notorious member who was banned for having multiple user names. Directly afterward, I realized there had been a thread where he had been having a rather congratulatory conversation in which he was wholeheartedly agreeing with himself. It really does take all kinds.

That's classic. Someone should edit it and put it in the humour section.