Forum:Sockpuppetry policy revision

What's this? A policy proposal from Star Wars Fanon's most infamous and lacking of Star Wars Fanon:Administrators. Even if you dislike me, something of grave importance has come to my attention. Odysseas-spartan-53, formerly known as Spartan-53, has recently been banned by Darth tom for Sockpuppetry. All Spartan-53 wanted to do was to rename his account; however, renaming an account on Wikia is impossible for us at this moment.

Does this make Odysseas-spartan-53 a sockpuppet? According to the present Sockpuppet policy, Sockpuppetry is the creation of an alternative account to make it look like another user. Odysseas-spartan-53 never wanted to look like another user. In fact, he told me about it on my my talk page. This to this, his second account doesn't follow the Sockpuppet policy's definition of sockpuppetry. Also, Odysseas-spartan-53's old account was blocked by Drewton in order to ensure that it could never be used as a sockpuppet. As a result, Odysseas-spartan-53 never had the ability to practice sockpuppetry, so he was blocked for something he could not do. Due to this, I suggest this:
 * 1) We unblock Odysseas-spartan-53 since he isn't a sockpuppet according to the current policy's own words.
 * 2) We should adopt the new sockpuppetry policy that I wrote. This also includes a new section on users wishing to rename their accounts.

If you wish to suggest changes of your own, feel free to do so on the "Comments" section of the page or at User talk:Michaeldsuarez/Sockpuppetry policy. Due to the Voting policy, you must have 100 mainspace edits in order to vote, but anyone wishing to leave comments may do so. The voting for whether Odysseas-spartan-53 will end once his block ends, and voting for the new policy will last until until September 30th. If there's overwhelming support for one or two of the proposals, then ending the voting early will be considered.

Support

 * 1) As proposer. -- Michaeldsuarez [[Image:Sabersmilygreend.jpg|20px]] ( Talk ) ( Deeds ) 20:23, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
 * 2) *Definitely. --  Joe Butler (Obi Maul12)  (Chow) 20:27, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
 * 3) He did something he didn't realize was wrong, he should just get a warning and move on.-- Nightmare975 21:01, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
 * 4) He would never do something wrong if he knew it could get him banned. I have been helping this user a lot and he to me, he is new. He loves this place and enjoys writing articles. I will assume good faith that he had not read or known the Sockpuppet policy. He just wanted to change his name. --Arav the Undersith (Contact Me ) (My contributions ) 22:53, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
 * 5) Yeah, I guess we can unblock him. -- Knowledge the Article Writer talk 02:00, 14 September 2008 (UTC)
 * 6) Of course. Drewton  [[Image:Era-old.png|20px]] ( Drewton's Holocron ) 02:27, 14 September 2008 (UTC)
 * 7) Yah! Now someone understands! Jonn1234 (Talk) 02:53, 14 September 2008 (UTC)
 * 8) Please do.--Mattkenn3 (Talk) 03:03, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

Neutral

 * 1) I'm staying out of this one. -MPK (MPK's Talk Page)|undefined 01:31, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

Oppose

 * 1) I've taken the Sockpuppet policy as it reads, to the very letter, and it reads that only a bot can escape from this rule. As such, the 'new account' doesn't 'escape' these clauses. He counts as a sockpuppet. My decision was to do this, as I believe that the policy says what the policy means. This is also exactly the same as when Victor Dorantes banned Anti-Formal, the 'new' Darth rayze. Although this had no bearing upon my decision, it's something that needed to be pointed out. I took the policy by the letter, and, as such, he remains banned. --[[Image:Darthtomsig.png|163px]] (talk) (contributions) 20:33, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
 * 2) *Obviously not. As I've said below, the policy is explicitely said to be a the creation of an alternative account to make it look like another user, a vandal, or user trying to use both accounts at the same time. This is not related to a user switching to another account at all. Also, simply because another administrator did something doesn't make it right. Drewton  [[Image:Era-old.png|20px]] ( Drewton's Holocron ) 03:08, 14 September 2008 (UTC)
 * 3) For now. &mdash;  JM ' 76 ' Ask Archives [[Image:Sabersmilyjm76.jpg|18px]] 21:59, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Yes, that first line is flawed, but it doesn't change what the rest of it says. The policy clearly says "Due to extreme abuse by some people in the past, sockpuppetry on this wiki is forbidden". Before you say "well he didn't know he was being a sockpuppet", the policy does say: "Sockpuppets can be created by vandals to evade blocks or legitimate users to create an extra facet of interest in the community." I'd classify this under that second bolded one. Not only that, but there are exceptions to the policy listed in exceptions policy, and "I want to create a new name" isn't one of them. You can use the Title template to change what your user page title says, you can create a new signature so long as it somehow still contains at least part of your most common name, etc. Because of all this, I oppose the unblocking. Do we need a new Sockpuppet policy? Yes, we do. I have yet to read your proposed policy, Michael, so I don't yet know if yours is the right course. - Brandon Rhea (talk) (contribs) 01:56, 14 September 2008 (UTC)
 * 1) *Not only that, but there are exceptions to the policy listed in exceptions policy, and "I want to create a new name" isn't one of them. The policy doesn't say anything whatsoever about a user creating a new account, so therefore there's no reason to block a user for such. Drewton  [[Image:Era-old.png|20px]] ( Drewton's Holocron ) 02:59, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

Comments
I just want to point out something Arav said: "I will assume good faith that he had not read or known the Sockpuppet policy". No offense, but that's just too bad. Every time a new user registers here, we slap a giant template on their user page that essentially says OMG READ OUR POLICIES OR BE BANNED KTHXBYE. There's not really an excuse for not reading policies. - Brandon Rhea (talk) (contribs) 01:56, 14 September 2008 (UTC) We're not here to test people. Users and administrators can help them if they have questions, but the downside to them not reading policies is also that Administrators are here to catch them and ban them when they do screw up. That's just the way it works. - Brandon Rhea (talk) (contribs) 02:06, 14 September 2008 (UTC)
 * True. Most users don't even read em'. Mabey there should be a sort of test questions that have to be answered that we ask new users. I know that would be a big task but it might help. Thats just my opinion. --<font color=#00416A>Arav the Undersith <font color=Blue>(<font color=#C3B091>Contact Me ) <font color=#00416A>(<font color=#C3B091>My contributions ) 02:03, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

As I said on my talk page, the sockpuppet policy says nothing of the sort. Per the policy, sockpuppetry is the creation of an alternative account to make it look like another user. Sockpuppets can be created by vandals to evade blocks or legitimate users to create an extra facet of interest in the community. It says nothing of users switching accounts being considered sockpuppets. Drewton  ( Drewton's Holocron ) 02:26, 14 September 2008 (UTC)


 * This is aimed to Tom, Drewton and MSD: Either block him for 3 days or not. Stop unbaning him and baning him, thanks. --<font color=#00416A>Arav the Undersith <font color=Blue>(<font color=#C3B091>Contact Me ) <font color=#00416A>(<font color=#C3B091>My contributions ) 10:30, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

I agree with Arav. You guys aren't going very far in the interest of Administrative solidarity. - <font color="#1A2BBB">Brandon Rhea <font color="#1A2BBB">(talk) <font color="#1A2BBB">(contribs) 11:20, 14 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Like I said on my talk page, I was unaware that there was a discussion going on when I unblocked him. I wouldn't have if I'd known that there was. Drewton  [[Image:Era-old.png|20px]] ( Drewton's Holocron ) 14:39, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

Support

 * 1) As proposer. -- Michaeldsuarez [[Image:Sabersmilygreend.jpg|20px]] ( Talk ) ( Deeds ) 20:23, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
 * 2) *I agree. It's never made sense that we can't create alternative accounts here simply to change our username because of a disliking of the previous one. -- Joe Butler (Obi Maul12)  (Chow) 20:30, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
 * But, if someone wants to make a new account, we shouldn't let him keep the mainspace edit points from the old account for voting. That way, there's incentive to NOT make a million different accounts upon every whim, and there's a way of making sure of users not abusing their multiple accounts during elections and votes. I could've sworn some forum we had a couple years ago made a point like this, but somehow it wasn't applied to the project page. --C3PO the Dragon Slayer 6,000,000 forms of communication 21:14, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
 * 1) After some careful though, I must say yes. Per above. -- Knowledge the Article Writer talk 22:04, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

Neutral

 * 1) I honestly can't decide. Both sides' arguments strike my vote right down the middle. -MPK (MPK's Talk Page)|undefined 01:31, 14 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Oh, Tom has made some very good points, but I don't see anything that bad about making an alternate account. That is, if the account isn't used for any vandalism.Mattkenn3 (Talk) 03:07, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

Oppose

 * 1) This isn't Facebook or MySpace, MSN or Y!M, where you can change your name on sporadic impulse. We're a Wiki, and, as such, we should maintain a degree of pride and professionalism in what we do. This new allowing to 'change accounts' would be so open to abuse it's untrue, and there's absolutely no need to 'change accounts' either. Why do we need to do this? We most definitely do not. This isn't a social networking site, and your 'account name' isn't important, and so you shouldn't be allowed to mess it around. Next thing you know, we'll have 'Social userpages' and a 'point system' like Halopedia. That's something I'll leave before I allow to happen here, and so I'm in complete opposition of this, as there's no need, it's open to abuse, and turns this Wiki into little more than a social networking site in the username respect. --[[Image:Darthtomsig.png|163px]] <font color="#1A2BBB">(talk) <font color="#1A2BBB">(contributions) 20:38, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
 * 2) You can just change it in your signature so it says something else. Simple as that.
 * 3) Per Darth tom. There is no reason to go about changing your username at a whim. &mdash;  JM ' 76 ' Ask Archives [[Image:Sabersmilyjm76.jpg|18px]] 21:59, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
 * 4) I would have to oppose this policy. If I hated my long name, I would change my sig to Arav (Talk) (Contributions). This bit is a bit off topic: I think with Spartan, he should of notified someone about his change, and they told him not to and why. Spartan-54 is a kind and friendly user, he just wanted to change his name. He would never want another account to vandalise or to evade bans (my opinion because I am assuming good faith). --<font color=#00416A>Arav the Undersith <font color=Blue>(<font color=#C3B091>Contact Me ) <font color=#00416A>(<font color=#C3B091>My contributions ) 23:03, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
 * 5) *I struck some of my comments above because I have read some users talk pages, I fully get it now and it is off topic. Sorry about that. --<font color=#00416A>Arav the Undersith <font color=Blue>(<font color=#C3B091>Contact Me ) <font color=#00416A>(<font color=#C3B091>My contributions ) 23:16, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
 * 6) Per Tom. Drewton  [[Image:Era-old.png|20px]] ( Drewton's Holocron ) 03:12, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

Comments
Joe, I'm assuming you meant to vote, but put that "*", since that doesn't count as a vote, I changed it for you. If that was wrong, Moderators can change it back.-- Nightmare975 21:01, 13 September 2008 (UTC) JM76: He did it because he wanted a new name. See this.--<font color=#00416A>Arav the Undersith <font color=Blue>(<font color=#C3B091>Contact Me ) <font color=#00416A>(<font color=#C3B091>My contributions ) 23:17, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Actually, Joe did it because he can't vote, per the voting policy. I changed it back. --[[Image:Darthtomsig.png|163px]] <font color="#1A2BBB">(talk) <font color="#1A2BBB">(contributions) 21:15, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Oh, okay, sorry about that. *looks at unsigned comment* NOT AGAIN!-- Nightmare975 22:45, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
 * So, did he create the sockpuppet because he wanted a new name, or because he forgot the password to his old one? &mdash;  JM ' 76 ' Ask Archives [[Image:Sabersmilyjm76.jpg|18px]] 21:59, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
 * If you really want to change your name, you can just change it in the signature, unless fully changing it is against rules. If so, the sig was just an example, although I'm thinking of keeping it.-- Lord Bender 00:07, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

There needs to be more in here than what's already there. First, I believe that there should be a limit of one new account creation for the purpose of having a new name per user without any questions asked. If they want to do it a second time, they need to provide a legitimate reason other than "well I want a new name". Also, please specify whether or not we're using the current Blocking Policy way of blocking people who fail to follow those procedures or whether or a new set of guidelines for blocking need to be established in terms of this policy. Finally, you need to include a part in the policy that says what to do in the event that a user has lost their password, and I believe that needs to be as follows: Once this all is sorted out, I will support this unless I think of something else. - <font color="#1A2BBB">Brandon Rhea <font color="#1A2BBB">(talk) <font color="#1A2BBB">(contribs) 02:28, 14 September 2008 (UTC)
 * 1) Use the "Forgot password" feature on the log-in screen. This will email your password to you.
 * 2) If the email does not reach you, or if you did not provide an email address upon registration, you must contact Wikia staff and see if they can help you.
 * 3) If Wikia staff is unable to help you or you are unable to contact them, register a new account and them immediately contact an Administrator to let them know about the situation. They will block your old account and allow you to remain on your newly created one.