A SockPuppet is a false identity created by someone to give the illusion of having support, or having someone against whom to excel in debate. In a medium such as a wiki without access controls, sock puppets can be created at will to try to create the impression of overwhelming support for an otherwise unpopular proposal.

See the JargonFile: http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/S/sock-puppet.html

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'''S''''''ockPuppetingYourWayToSuccess'''

''A'': Daddy daddy can you take me to the concert next month by "The Fluff"?

''B'': That folk-punk band on breakout rotation on Viacom?

''A'': Natalie said to read their website, and it had a link to a MySpace blog, where this guy said that they were awesome, and Natalie told Tabitha to write about them because she saw them when -

''B'': Hold on. Tabitha is blogging about "The Fluff"?

''A'': Yeah! and there's another blog on MySpace called "rallythefluff", and it's run by their fans, right? And I said the video for their hit song "Earnestly Derivative" was disappointing, and then someone said they might make another one, and ...

''B'': Honey, how do you know that "someone" wasn't paid by Viacom's humongous marketing department to pretend to ''like'' The Fluff?

''A'': Because it's ''MySpace''!

''B'': So... the naivete of the medium lends it street-cred?

''A - vigorous head bob''

''B'': I need to increase my MySpace presence, huh?

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'''And, finally, the Ultimate...'''

God's Gift To (Viral_Marketing) is now following your updates on Twitter!
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See:SupraMan
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CategoryAntiPattern