A sockpuppet at work
Sock puppetry is the act of creating one or more alternate accounts that a user may use to create confusion, deception, or disruption. Such alternate accounts are known as sockpuppets, and are forbidden on this wiki. Scenarios include:
- Block evasion - If a user created a new account in order to evade a block, or a ban from chat, the sockpuppet account would be banned indefinitely and, depending on the situation, the perpetrator's main account may have the already existing block extended.
- False consensus - The creation of an alternative account to skew or disrupt discussions involving voting is also prohibited, and would result in the permanent ban of the sockpuppet account, and the main account receiving a block.
- Circumventing policies - All violations of policy apply to the editor, not just the account. The normal punishments for any offenses committed with a sockpuppet account will be applied to the main account in addition to the indefinite ban of the sockpuppet account.
Regardless of the circumstances, the general rule is one editor, one account, although rare exceptions may be made to users who wish to open a bot account.