They are, however, avoiding scrutiny, as evidenced by widespread disapproval of their actions. That is not a permissible use of socks. The community expects to place more scrutiny on paid editors, not less. On Jan 6, 2014 6:23 AM, "Andreas Kolbe" <jayen...@gmail.com> wrote:
> That doesn't follow to me from that wording, Nathan. The English Wikipedia > for example allows socking to enable contributors to contribute to articles > that they would rather not have their real-life name or normal Internet > persona associated with. > > User:John Smith is allowed to create an account named > User:ColourfulCharacter to edit those articles. In doing so, he is not > using "the username *of another user* with the intent to deceive". > > There is no other user of that name. (The only exception would be if there > were a user called User:ColorfulCharacter, say, and Smith's intent was to > create confusion between the two accounts.) > > User:John Smith is using a secondary screen name to obscure the fact that > both accounts are operated by the same person. And that is allowed. > > I don't even see that Wiki-PR infringed the letter of that section, as a > normal person would read it. Just like John Smith, they did not use the > name of some other user. They created multiple accounts. There was no other > user whose username they used, or whom they tried to impersonate. > > > On Mon, Jan 6, 2014 at 1:07 PM, Nathan <nawr...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > On Mon, Jan 6, 2014 at 8:01 AM, Andreas Kolbe <jayen...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > > > > Nathan, > > > > > > I am unable to find a mention of sockpuppetry in the Terms of Use, > > whether > > > in Section 4 or elsewhere. > > > > > > http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Terms_of_Use > > > > > > I don't think there could be such a mention, really, given that project > > > policies recognise a number of legitimate uses of socks. > > > > > > A. > > > > > > > > The term isn't used, but the behavior is clearly encompassed by the > > prohibition described in the "Engaging in False Statements, Impersonation > > or Fraud" - specifically "using the username of another user with the > > intent to deceive." > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list > > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>