This topic is so right on. I never heard of the terminology Puppet Master/Sock puppet before. Just from my experience with globalfight, it seems that there are more of those kind of accounts on there than on Allfighters.
I find it wild that someone with actual fight experience would also create a sockpuppet account but I think worse are the cyber profiles with photos clearly stolen from some young guys MySpace/Facebook account lol.
Having been mulling it over, I think I agree with thetallwrestler. The wrestling world we live in is full of fakes, and people who spend a lot of time talking but let you down at the last minute. One of the many strengths of this site is the Recommendations system, where people can post comments on how genuine/helpful other members have been. Sockpuppets undermine that aspect of the site; if they are dealt with firmly and publicly then that should prevent this problem spreading.
I noticed on the Globalfight site last year a 'genuine' and 'respected' UK member was almost certainly using a 'sockpuppet' (I didn't know that term at the time). The 'sockpuppet' was, needless to say, young, muscular attractive etc. Globalfight even alerted people to the 'sockpuppetry' after they caught the person out. The genuine and 'respected' member is still active, albeit clearly has some 'issues', mental or otherwise. I won't bore you with the details of denials etc. Whether or not the original person is ggenuine is beside the point - for whatever reason, they lied outrageously, and wasted significant amounts of other people's time.
So the key issue is - why should you delete the sockpuppet but not the actual profile? You really should delete BOTH, AND with an explanation for other members of why (e.g. 'this person has created false profile/s so ahs been deleted'). That is essential to maintain integrity on a site like this, and is done very commionly on other social networking sites.
It is also necessary to provide a proper deterrent to anyone else doing it, whereas merely quietly deleting the sockpuppet profile would not be any deterrent.
I think, first of all, that most users of this site are internet-savvy enough to be aware that by using the net to meet people they are running certain risks, including fake profiles (of which sock puppets in my view are an interesting sub-category.)
Since you have developed a mathematical way of detecting them, you might as well use it to periodically locate sock puppets, contact their puppet masters and delete the sock puppet accounts straightaway and without warning.
I wouldn't go into witch-hunt mode though. For example, I would certainly not post the names of sock puppets or make their owners confess / apologize publicly. I actually think an Inquisition-style atmosphere would be more detrimental to the community than having a few sock puppets around (especially if they can be taken around the back and shot quietly without anyone knowing about it.) Another reason why I wouldn't post sock puppets' names is that they might resemble REAL members' names, and the sock puppet's name could end up 'contaminating' a whole set of names. For example, if there was a sock puppet named "outdoor12" the word "outdoor" is automaticallly going to set off alarm bells in people's heads and legitimite users called, for example, "outdoor23" or "outdoorreykjavik" are going to be suspect.
Long story short: don't have a witch-hunt; take sock puppets around the back and shoot them, then dump their bodies where they can't be seen.
This post is on a topic that potentially affects us all. It might be a little long, and a bit technical, but I urge you to read it and join the discussion.
Today's post is about a special kind of fake that I call sockpuppets. A sockpuppet is an online identity used for purposes of deception within an online community. Simply put, it is a "secondary" (or, in some cases, tertiary) profile created by a member, that poses as a different person. The reasons for creating a sock puppet usually are:
Adding to the credibility and legitimacy of the master profile by marking it as a past opponent, occasionally with a stellar recommendation, or just mentioning how great they are in correspondence and chat.
Gathering personal information about other members without giving away any.
Simply messing with people. One typical form is creating a sock puppet that is far sexier than the average, and using it to "reject" people who have previously rejected the master profile. I guess this is a form of revenge or faux self-validation.
Cybering, possibly with potential future opponents, to learn more about them.
(There are probably more. Some fakes' minds are more twisted than others.)
The one thing in common in all these reasons is that they are deceptive and are detrimental to any online community.
== The First Incident ==
The first sock puppet incident on our site happened about a year ago. What made it particularly interesting was the fact that the puppet master was a respected member, with lots of real matches, past opponents, and a long list of recommendations. Still, he felt the need for a sockpuppet, and "they" gave each other glowing recommendations, and the sockpuppet was frequently gushing about how great a guy the other one was. It went so far that the real guy was talking about the sockpuppet in real life conversations. Clearly, it was a lie that went too far, spiraled out of control and took on a life of its own.
I was a bit unsure what to do about it. Granted, I could've closed both accounts, informed everyone who was deceived by the sockpuppet and be done with it. However, since the guy was actually genuine and had many matches, and as such was a "good" member, I decided not to rush it. When I confronted the puppet master, I had three requests:
Confess to all the members he has come into contact with using the sock puppet.
Post a public apology to our members for your conduct in his blog.
Delete the sock puppet account.
The following lengthy messaging and finally a telephone conversation I had with him, funnily enough, followed the Five Stages of Dying:
Denial. It wasn't me. You have no proof.
Anger. I will sue you for "Defermasion of charactor" (sic!).
Bargaining. Can't I just slowly "retire" the sockpuppet, maintain the illusion and make him go away?
Depression. OK, that was maybe not so, but the rest fit so well.
Acceptance. In the end we compromised: he could skip the public apology, but had to explain himself to everyone he deceived on this site, and delete the sockpuppet.
== The Scientist Takes Over ==
The way I found the first sock puppet was kind of simple: someone ratted him out. Not taking the word of one over the other in such a sensitive matter, I started thinking about how sockpuppets can be detected on a site like AllFighters.
Finally I decided to use something called Pearson's correlation formula, using certain "traits". I chose a bunch of traits based on the site logs that characterized the way someone used the site. In the interest of not giving a formula for getting away with sock puppetry I will not describe the exact traits I chose, but sufficient to say that when I ran them through the correlation formula, they showed the sockpuppet and the master to be the same person. (I would like to note that even if I was to describe these traits, it would be difficult to evade detection.)
To put the formula in simple terms, it says that, two things are the same if they
Commonly share traits that are otherwise uncommonly shared among the rest of the population.
The traits observed on a given time period predict shared traits on another time period (extrapolation).
For example, two people sharing a unique browser is a strong correlation, but sharing a very common browser is not, because there are many others who are using it. Or, logging in from the same AOL proxy is not correlation because AOL proxies are typically shared by a whole region of people.
Long story short, the first puppet master was found with what satisfied me as mathematical accuracy. At the time, my little correlation algorithm hasn't identified any other sockpuppets, so I put it to rest.
== Which Brings Us to the Present! ==
Fast forward one year and about 2000 members. This morning I found a message from a concerned member, asking me if "ultimatewrestler" was real or not. Imagine my unsurprise when I found that "he" wasn't. I dusted off the aging sockpuppet detector, ran it, and was a little shocked to find that things have deteriorated significantly in the past year. It found about a dozen of sockpuppets right away.
My question to you, as a community is this: :How do you think I should deal with them?
Please, no knee-jerk reactions. Think this through. No throwing out babies with bathwater.
ricantarzan (5)
2011-09-15 06:17This topic is so right on. I never heard of the terminology Puppet Master/Sock puppet before. Just from my experience with globalfight, it seems that there are more of those kind of accounts on there than on Allfighters.
I find it wild that someone with actual fight experience would also create a sockpuppet account but I think worse are the cyber profiles with photos clearly stolen from some young guys MySpace/Facebook account lol.
FairUndHart (1)
2010-08-23 12:13Good action! Kill them!
Admin
2010-08-21 13:52The first iteration of the sockpuppet hunt is over. Read more about it here.
Admin
2010-08-16 10:58First, thanks everyone for reading and commenting on this forum post! I'm asking you to continue to participate, but do it on this blog post instead.
Thanks!
Tyger (106)
2010-08-15 21:35Having been mulling it over, I think I agree with thetallwrestler. The wrestling world we live in is full of fakes, and people who spend a lot of time talking but let you down at the last minute. One of the many strengths of this site is the Recommendations system, where people can post comments on how genuine/helpful other members have been. Sockpuppets undermine that aspect of the site; if they are dealt with firmly and publicly then that should prevent this problem spreading.
thetallwrestler (42)
2010-08-14 19:33I totally disagree with gutpuncher33.
I noticed on the Globalfight site last year a 'genuine' and 'respected' UK member was almost certainly using a 'sockpuppet' (I didn't know that term at the time). The 'sockpuppet' was, needless to say, young, muscular attractive etc. Globalfight even alerted people to the 'sockpuppetry' after they caught the person out. The genuine and 'respected' member is still active, albeit clearly has some 'issues', mental or otherwise. I won't bore you with the details of denials etc. Whether or not the original person is ggenuine is beside the point - for whatever reason, they lied outrageously, and wasted significant amounts of other people's time.
So the key issue is - why should you delete the sockpuppet but not the actual profile? You really should delete BOTH, AND with an explanation for other members of why (e.g. 'this person has created false profile/s so ahs been deleted'). That is essential to maintain integrity on a site like this, and is done very commionly on other social networking sites.
It is also necessary to provide a proper deterrent to anyone else doing it, whereas merely quietly deleting the sockpuppet profile would not be any deterrent.
StrikeFighter (77 )
2010-08-14 14:06I think, first of all, that most users of this site are internet-savvy enough to be aware that by using the net to meet people they are running certain risks, including fake profiles (of which sock puppets in my view are an interesting sub-category.)
Since you have developed a mathematical way of detecting them, you might as well use it to periodically locate sock puppets, contact their puppet masters and delete the sock puppet accounts straightaway and without warning.
I wouldn't go into witch-hunt mode though. For example, I would certainly not post the names of sock puppets or make their owners confess / apologize publicly. I actually think an Inquisition-style atmosphere would be more detrimental to the community than having a few sock puppets around (especially if they can be taken around the back and shot quietly without anyone knowing about it.) Another reason why I wouldn't post sock puppets' names is that they might resemble REAL members' names, and the sock puppet's name could end up 'contaminating' a whole set of names. For example, if there was a sock puppet named "outdoor12" the word "outdoor" is automaticallly going to set off alarm bells in people's heads and legitimite users called, for example, "outdoor23" or "outdoorreykjavik" are going to be suspect.
Long story short: don't have a witch-hunt; take sock puppets around the back and shoot them, then dump their bodies where they can't be seen.
Admin
2010-08-14 11:45This post is on a topic that potentially affects us all. It might be a little long, and a bit technical, but I urge you to read it and join the discussion.
Today's post is about a special kind of fake that I call sockpuppets. A sockpuppet is an online identity used for purposes of deception within an online community. Simply put, it is a "secondary" (or, in some cases, tertiary) profile created by a member, that poses as a different person. The reasons for creating a sock puppet usually are:
The one thing in common in all these reasons is that they are deceptive and are detrimental to any online community.
== The First Incident ==
The first sock puppet incident on our site happened about a year ago. What made it particularly interesting was the fact that the puppet master was a respected member, with lots of real matches, past opponents, and a long list of recommendations. Still, he felt the need for a sockpuppet, and "they" gave each other glowing recommendations, and the sockpuppet was frequently gushing about how great a guy the other one was. It went so far that the real guy was talking about the sockpuppet in real life conversations. Clearly, it was a lie that went too far, spiraled out of control and took on a life of its own.
I was a bit unsure what to do about it. Granted, I could've closed both accounts, informed everyone who was deceived by the sockpuppet and be done with it. However, since the guy was actually genuine and had many matches, and as such was a "good" member, I decided not to rush it. When I confronted the puppet master, I had three requests:
The following lengthy messaging and finally a telephone conversation I had with him, funnily enough, followed the Five Stages of Dying:
== The Scientist Takes Over ==
The way I found the first sock puppet was kind of simple: someone ratted him out. Not taking the word of one over the other in such a sensitive matter, I started thinking about how sockpuppets can be detected on a site like AllFighters.
Finally I decided to use something called Pearson's correlation formula, using certain "traits". I chose a bunch of traits based on the site logs that characterized the way someone used the site. In the interest of not giving a formula for getting away with sock puppetry I will not describe the exact traits I chose, but sufficient to say that when I ran them through the correlation formula, they showed the sockpuppet and the master to be the same person. (I would like to note that even if I was to describe these traits, it would be difficult to evade detection.)
To put the formula in simple terms, it says that, two things are the same if they
For example, two people sharing a unique browser is a strong correlation, but sharing a very common browser is not, because there are many others who are using it. Or, logging in from the same AOL proxy is not correlation because AOL proxies are typically shared by a whole region of people.
Long story short, the first puppet master was found with what satisfied me as mathematical accuracy. At the time, my little correlation algorithm hasn't identified any other sockpuppets, so I put it to rest.
== Which Brings Us to the Present! ==
Fast forward one year and about 2000 members. This morning I found a message from a concerned member, asking me if "ultimatewrestler" was real or not. Imagine my unsurprise when I found that "he" wasn't. I dusted off the aging sockpuppet detector, ran it, and was a little shocked to find that things have deteriorated significantly in the past year. It found about a dozen of sockpuppets right away.
My question to you, as a community is this:
:How do you think I should deal with them?
Please, no knee-jerk reactions. Think this through. No throwing out babies with bathwater.
Your insight comes here: