sockpuppetry

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From sock puppet +‎ -ry, under influence from puppetry.

Pronunciation

  • Audio (UK):(file)

Noun

sockpuppetry (uncountable)

  1. The use of sock puppets.
  2. (Internet, derogatory) The use of pseudonymous online accounts for abuse.
    • 2007, Jonathon Keats, Control + Alt + Delete: A Dictionary of Cyberslang, →ISBN:
      The facelessness of the internet makes sockpuppetry all too tempting for many.
    • 2008, Jonathan Zittrain, The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It‎[1], →ISBN:
      Could a user simply award herself a pile of barnstars the way a mega-lomanical[sic] dictator can adorn himself with military ribbons? Yes, but that would defeat the point—and would require a bit of prohibited “sock puppetry,” as the user would need to create alter identities so the page's edit history would show that the stars came from someone appearing to be other than the user herself.
    • [2014, “Sockpuppetry”, in Timothy R. Levine, editor, Encyclopedia of Deception‎[2], volume II, →ISBN:
      On the Internet, the new form of false identities is termed sock puppetry […] the term came to be applied to people who would assume a false identity and then join an Internet group. The term has been extended to include people who use false identities on the Internet in order to deceive others.]
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