QUOTE(Aloft @ Mon 19th November 2007, 12:06am)
It would appear that "!!" really is the sockpuppet of someone. Evidently there was some previous arrangement that Durova was not privy to. I wonder who?
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=...oldid=172393052
Ultimately, this (apparently) good user will have his cover blown due to Durova's incompetence. Hmmm. I disagree. I think it was someone who changed his name for personal reasons (maybe he got outted before) and she went and announced his old login to the world, pronouncing it as another sockpuppet scalp.
I repeat my assertion that
sockpuppetry is not as big of a problem as she's making it. (Don't even get me started on WP Admin sockpuppetry, which is a real phenomenon). The problem is really vandalism, and trollism. If someone is a troll, then treat them as a troll. Same for vandals. She's too hung up on the "I'm smarter than you Mr. Troll/Vandal" which is totally not the point. The point is to improve the encyclopedia and protect it from harm. Throwing big fits about recidivist socks is really not terribly helpful to anything. In "competing" with the "sockpuppet army" she claims to exist, she raises their importance.
Some banned users use socks a lot, and just contribute normally. Some banned users vandalize. But I don't think that many "share information with each other". It is not a sockpuppet conspiracy, as she hopes.