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Members please read Rule 16:
When a member is found to using a duplicate account they will be banned for 7 days for the first infraction. The member will be permanently banned for the second penalty.
This rule has become necessary because members have been creating new accounts to bump their Ads to get around the 7 day bump rule.
Sockpuppets are one of the rudest offenses a member can commit against an online community
16. No member is to create or use more than one account.
No member is to have more than one account. No member is allowed to use the account of another member for any purpose. We're having a serious issue with people creating secondary accounts in order to bump threads, generate interest in a topic or item, create false trade ratings, and for other nefarious purposes.
Penalty: 10 points
When a member is found to using a duplicate account they will be banned for 7 days for the first infraction. The member will be permanently banned for the second penalty.
This rule has become necessary because members have been creating new accounts to bump their Ads to get around the 7 day bump rule.
Sockpuppets are one of the rudest offenses a member can commit against an online community
Sockpuppet
A sockpuppet is an online identity used for purposes of deception within an online community. In its earliest usage, a sockpuppet was a false identity through which a member of an Internet community speaks with or about himself or herself, pretending to be a different person,[1] like a ventriloquist manipulating a hand puppet.
In current usage, the perception of the term has been extended beyond second identities of people who already post in a forum to include other uses of misleading online identities. For example, a NY Times article claims that "sock-puppeting" is defined as "the act of creating a fake online identity to praise, defend or create the illusion of support for ones self, allies or company."[2]
The key difference between a sockpuppet and a regular pseudonym (sometimes termed an "alt" which is short for alternate, as in alternate identity) is the pretense that the puppet is a third party who is not affiliated with the puppeteer or acting under their control for their benefit.
The earliest known[1] usage of the term was on July 9, 1993 by Dana Rollins in a posting to bit.listserv.fnord-l,[3] but the term was not in common usage in USENET groups until 1996.