TGSE, apparently some Authors use them for book reviews.

i thought you were talking about the string cult

wiki

A sockpuppet is an online identity used for purposes of deception.

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.

[1] The term now includes other uses of misleading online identities, such as those created to praise, defend or support a third party or organization,

[2] or to circumvent a suspension or ban from a website. A significant difference between the use of a pseudonym

[3] and the creation of a sockpuppet is that the sockpuppet poses as an independent third-party unaffiliated with the puppeteer.

and that sock puppet up there gave me a fright!:_|

i thought you were talking about the string cult

I'm talking about the definition of the expression 'sock puppet.'

I always assumed it meant having more than one posting ID.  Is that not the case?

Thanks Az. that's more or less what I meant - I just didn't put it nearly as clearly.:-x

actually thats who i thought the OP was referring to when i first saw the heading, TGSE, and btw, your comments in #7.. funnily enough.. does describe them perfectly.

I think they can be used to troll and bully too 

actually thats who i thought the OP was referring to when i first saw the heading, TGSE, and btw, your comments in #7.. funnily enough.. does describe them perfectly.

Which 'them' did you think I was referring to Joz? When I said 'a single poster' I meant ANY single poster who creates extra IDs

I did hear that one master pupeteer was rumoured to have dozens (if not hundreds) of sock puppets, but that was a long time ago and I don't think he/she/it posts here any longer,

Thats funny joe, 

Does anyone still remember the puppeteer who published his 'last will and testament' on the old RT board and had it witnessed by two of his sock puppets. As someone commented at the time, it was a case of the Holy Trinity - three posters in one Pod.:^O