The Cheater's Guide to Winning Online Arguments
Let's say you're having a conversation with some guy in a chat room. You're talking about something totally innocuous, like let's say, your favorite homemade enema recipes. But throughout this entire conversation, you've got no way of knowing whether you're talking to some old dude in a basement or a Tibetan monk or a room of third graders learning computer skills. This is just basic Internet anonymity, and we're usually pretty comfortable with it. And indeed, about 95 percent of the Internet hinges upon it. But what if you're talking with someone you already know, who's hiding their identity? That feels a little weird, doesn't it? Is this person using a second persona -- called a sock puppet -- to further some secret agenda of theirs? There's something a bit seedy about that. It's an act we're much less likely to condone."Wait," I hear you saying. "I have agendas! And I don't have any sock puppets at all! Help me Bucholz! Please, help show me what sock puppets can be used for, and also, if you can, please use this staged dialog to segue neatly into the body of your column."Well. All right. Since you asked so nicely ...
Things You Can Use a Sock Puppet For
After consulting with a team of spies, Internet con artists and duplicitous seamstresses, I've compiled the following list of things sock puppets can be used for:To Support Your ArgumentOften you may find yourself arguing with morons on the Internet, who, because of head injuries and our decaying public school system, fail to see the merit of your arguments. A sock puppet can be used in this case to publicly agree with you, making your position look more popular than perhaps it really deserves to be.
To Spar With Your Critics
If you're a public figure or otherwise have people talking about you when you're not present, you can use a sock puppet to promote yourself or provide defense against your critics.
To Sell a Product
To Have a Friend
Sock Puppeting Techniques
If I know you (and for the last time, I don't, not really), you'll now be drooling at the possibilities open to you and your new puppet. But before you dive on in there fist first, please take the time to read up on these basic techniques on sock puppet maintenance and care.Establish Your Sock PuppetPeople are far less inclined to listen to new people in a community than they would with established veterans, in no small part because of miscreants like you and, I guess, myself. To make your sock puppet's words carry more weight, I'd advise you to lay some groundwork, and establish your puppet's reputation in the community first.
Offer a Suspiciously Useful Anecdote
With this technique, your sock puppet wanders in to a heated conversation you were having and offers an anecdote that perfectly illustrates the point you were trying to make.
Flirt With Yourself
Disagree With Yourself Sometimes
Make Friends Out Of Enemies
In any community, there are going to be people you get along with more than others, and for the ones that you don't get along with, there is a 100 percent chance they are talking about you right now.
Advanced Techniques
There's a small problem lurking in the background of all this advice, and I've been struggling to come up with a delicate way of broaching it. Basically, if you're seriously going to spend time holding up two ends of a conversation, if you have night-terrors at the thought that people might speak about you when you're not present, there's a small chance you're completely insane. Here's a little psychological experiment I want you to try. It should illuminate how you'll be able to handle multiple personalities.Put on a blindfold. Take a deep breath, then slowly reach down your pants and play with yourself a bit. Really get in there. After a minute or so, take off the blindfold and answer the following multiple choice question. This experience felt:A) OKB) UncomfortableCheck out more from Bucholz in How To Train An Army of Animals To Do Your Bidding and Everything I need to know I learned from He-Man.
