December 21, 2009 05:05 PM UTC

Question to ColoradoPols: Outing Anonymous Posters: What's the policy?

• 0 Comments
• by: JO

Below is a recent comment by Middle of the Road:

As to ballot stuffing, were you in a coma the other day or did you miss Pols banning of Triguardian who nominated you and himself for the Front Page? You were logged in pretty much all day, JO, so I can’t quite figure out how you missed it. Did you miss that Triguardian is [xxxxxxx xxxxxx], a volunteer for Andrew Romanoff who is working as Romanoff’s [xxxxxxxx xxxxxxx]? Making a dozen sockpuppets to stuff the ballot box is, in fact, a violation of the rules here, which is why he was banned.

Is outing anonymous posters now acceptable on this site? Did ColoradoPols do so in this case? (Well, obviously not, IF this was the first “outing.” It’s the first such outing that I have seen. For the record once again: I have no role in the Romanoff campaign, not even as a volunteer. My attacks on Bennet are entirely of my own invention. AND, for the record, I did read ColoradoPols say that (a) he had removed the votes from the sockpuppets created by triguardian and (b) had determined no contravention of sockpuppet rules had taken place by anyone who voted for me.)

Some blogs–I had thought this was one, but perhaps no longer–allow anonymous posting and take steps against those who reveal their identity. There is a good reason for this: anonymity allows some people to make posts without jeopardizing their employment. Taking drastic action, such as banning, against people who “out” them seems reasonable to protect the integrity of the site.

For all of us: What is the policy here with regard to posters who “out” anonymous posters? Specifically, (a) is this a bannable offense? (b) who “outed” triguardian first? (c) what is the policy re repeating the original post “outing” a user? And while we’re at it, what do you mean when you say “Be excellent to one another … or else.” Or else what? Whatever it means, does it apply to editors too?