Sock account

sock account (also called "sock puppet account" and commonly "sockpuppet") refers to one user having more than one account and pretending to be multiple users. Usually seen when someone is trying to gain respect on a forum, so they create a second fake account that replies to their first account's post. Also done when an account has been banned for breaking rules and a second account is created pretending to be another person. It is all tracked by the user's unique IP address.

The term—a reference to the manipulation of a simple hand puppet made from a sock—originally referred to a false identity assumed by a member of an internet community who spoke to, or about, himself while pretending to be another person. The term now includes other misleading uses of online identities, such as those created to praise, defend or support a person or organization, or to circumvent a suspension or ban from a website. A significant difference between the use of a pseudonym and the creation of a sockpuppet is that the sockpuppet poses as an independent third-party unaffiliated with the puppeteer. Many online communities (including JumanjiCraft) have a policy of blocking sock accounts.