Sock Puppet

Posted on July 16, 2003 in Roach-B-Gone

Update: Mary Beth Williams writes in email:

And now having spoken to someone else using the same IP address, I think
you really do need to retract any statements asserting unethical behavior
on my part. Unless you are that being married to someone makes you
responsible for their actions.

I retract the allegation that Mary Beth Williams is using a sock puppet as stated below. What is happening is that her husband Eric — who is a Blackfoot/Cherokee by descent and Abenaki by marriage — posted under a false identity.

She’s right. She is not responsible for what Eric does unless she herself goads him to do it. I do not believe this to be the case. I’ve known both of them over the net since the days when we fought genuine racists in soc.anthropology. Like many loving husbands (including myself), Eric jumped in over-enthusiastically in the defense of his wife or so it appears.

It remains that Eric broke a rule: He used false email to identify himself.

The wrong person got outed and for this I am sorry, but I also offer that given the matching DNS, it was not so wild a jump to make. Mary Beth has cleared up matters to my satisfaction.

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I hate to do this to a friend, but Mary Beth Williams both broke a rule of my comments AND has been using a sock puppet to make it appear that there are more who share her views.

She was caught by the DNS which is: 24.198.19.83

For those who don’t know what a sock puppet is: it is when you invent an additional identity to create the impression that there is more than one person spouting a point of view.

Per my long established policy on this blog, I deleted the comments that used the false email address. I will out anyone, friend or foe, who uses a sock puppet.

Mary Beth Williams is married to a white man. If this is Eric who posted, he has still violated the rules of my site.

Eric is free to speak as Eric or whatever nickname he chooses, as long as he observes the rules of my site. My site, my rules.

There is no site ban happening because of this nor am I bringing this to Mary Beth’s blog, but I am exposing the behavior as it happened here and hoping we can nip it so that honest dialogue may occur.

The alledged nameless Abenaki who has been posting in the comments at Mary Beth’s blog may well be this sock puppet. It’s a pity because Mary Beth does do fine statistical work and is a valued voice on the left. I will continue to read her blog and point others to it. But I find her antics where Howard Dean and the territoriality issue are concerned to be histrionic and erratic.