Randrew Posted September 7, 2004 Report Share Posted September 7, 2004 Just out of curiosity: What's to stop an individual on this forum from creating multiple users, each with a different "personality," and then having them "argue" against one another? The reason I thought of this is that, while an undergraduate, I was on a Philosophy discussion listserv, and a guy on the discussion list named Earl decided to create an alternate personality for himself ("Pearl," a woman much older than himself), and had the two argue against one another. It took the rest of us a while to find this out (and only because someone he had told spilled the beans.) I think he was trying to emulate an idea of Kierkegaard. What do you guys think of this (esp. administration)? I doubt anyone on *this* forum would do such a thing, as it would run contrary to the Law of Excluded Middle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DPW Posted September 7, 2004 Report Share Posted September 7, 2004 What's to stop an individual on this forum from creating multiple users, each with a different "personality," and then having them "argue" against one another? Honesty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AwakeAndFree Posted September 8, 2004 Report Share Posted September 8, 2004 Too be honest, trolls are known to do this exact thing, and there are some couples here under the same suspicion. Gladly, it's not easy to do this without getting caught. If we suspect someone, we can track his IP, and usually his location - and compare it with any other user's IP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inspector Posted September 8, 2004 Report Share Posted September 8, 2004 We got that all the time over on a board I administrate. There are ways of finding people out... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prae Posted September 8, 2004 Report Share Posted September 8, 2004 Gladly, it's not easy to do this without getting caught. If we suspect someone, we can track his IP, and usually his location - and compare it with any other user's IP. i do not understand why this is necessarily a bad thing. its just some people having fun and unless it somehow hurts people (?) i dont see why it would be bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khaight Posted September 8, 2004 Report Share Posted September 8, 2004 i do not understand why this is necessarily a bad thing. its just some people having fun and unless it somehow hurts people (?) i dont see why it would be bad. The problem is that the "fun" violates a key presumption of the forums -- participation in discussion in good faith. If someone is simply interested in constructing a philosophical argument in dialogue form, they should do so on their own. Doing so in a public forum, while concealing the fact that one is doing so, suggests that the goal is injecting ideas into the public forum under false pretenses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randrew Posted September 9, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2004 We got that all the time over on a board I administrate. There are ways of finding people out...Inspector, eh? Go, Gadget, go! i do not understand why this is necessarily a bad thing. its just some people having fun and unless it somehow hurts people (?) i dont see why it would be bad. The anecdote I mentioned was quite amusing for the entire group involved, and no one was mad when we found out. I wasn't thinking about doing this myself, but I was curious to see if anyone had pulled it off successfully here or elsewhere (if so, then I've caught you!), and I was also wondering what the administration here thought about it (e.g. dislikes it, doesn't care, etc.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capitalism Forever Posted September 9, 2004 Report Share Posted September 9, 2004 I was also wondering what the administration here thought about it (e.g. dislikes it, doesn't care, etc.) I have put my opinion into the topic title. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inspector Posted September 9, 2004 Report Share Posted September 9, 2004 Inspector, eh? Go, Gadget, go! I'm surprised you didn't mention a certain clumsy Frenchman... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randrew Posted September 9, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2004 I'm surprised you didn't mention a certain clumsy Frenchman... That's because he's no ordinary inspector: "That's CHIEF Inspector Clouseau!" OK, I guess this thread is done. You win again, Excluded Middle! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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