Sock Puppet Accounts

What are ‘Sock Puppets’?

We define Sock Puppets as secondary accounts used to circumvent bans/blocks, spoof, or attack another member of FetLife. Members are allowed to have secondary accounts, but only as long as they don't use them as Sock Puppets.

What is in violation of this guideline?

Examples include, but are not limited to, members using a secondary account to:

• Get around a block that you or another member made
• Contact someone who has them blocked
• Join a group they are on a timeout from and/or banned from
• Impersonate someone else to harass them
• Spy on or investigate someone with whom they have an FLRO with
• Get around a site time-out or account lock
• Access another member's account to get around a block and/or ban
• Circumvent a FetLife Guideline e.g. to avoid penalty on the main account
• Attack themselves for attention i.e. main account appears to other members as the victim

What is not in violation of this guideline?

Examples include members with secondary accounts:

• That has not been used to mock, spoof, or attack someone
• That has not been used to get around a block or time-out

How do I report a potential violation of this guideline?

You can report potential sock puppet accounts as follows:

1. Visit the page with the potentially offensive material
2. Select "...", “more”, or “options”, then select “Report”
3. Select "Content Not Permitted"
4. Select "Next"
5. Provide any additional information that can help the person reviewing the report
6. Select "Report"

For more information, you can refer to Submitting a Report.

Who can report a potential violation of this guideline?

Anyone who comes across an account they believe might be a sock puppet account.

What happens if someone violates this guideline?

If we believe a member is using a secondary account as a sock puppet, they are given an instant one-day timeout on their main account, and all of their secondary accounts are deleted.

If a sock puppet account is used to break another guideline then we will instead apply the longest of the two applicable time-out lengths.

For each subsequent violation, the member's timeout increases in length, up to a maximum of a two-week timeout. Any current secondary accounts are deleted, and they also risk losing their main FetLife account.