@DanielFischer I should say that I am the one highly suspective of the user Dodsy. They have been acting erratic since they joined the site. Users got serial flagged (actually it was more like general flag overuse) a whole bunch and they kept accusing me to the point that it started flamewars. I did end up being supposedly the one doing it according to the staff but regardless they had no reason to suspect me. They simply kept accusing me simply because "they didn't like me".

Last wednesday before all this started, they were complaining about a closure from amWhy. I think that prompted them to go on a crusade to annoy the crap out of him and I.

(it's working)

@amWhy I'm taking this to whatever main SE chat I can locate. I'm sick of inaction.

@amWhy Nevermind, there is no staff chat. >:(

i need someone with enough popularity to summon a staff member to handle a sockpuppet

on Math Stack Exchange

in fact, help deal with this if you all could

the mods aren't responding. It's been a week.

if everyone could please report this post, i would be grateful

and so would the real amWhy be

this is bridging on harrassment

serial downvoting, impersonation, rude comments, sockpuppets....

that's what is going on

@Typhon double eek :/ sorry about that nightmare in math.se

you can help by downvoting and flagging the post

:-)

you all can

I'd be 100 rep there, so can't downvote

@daze413 you can still flag it

pass the message along

we need to get staff on this, otherwise it will just keep happening

mods cannot detect sockpuppets

@Typhon done and done!

thank you!

@Typhon I meant to ask, have you used the Contact Us?

oooh

good thought

@Typhon Stop raising these chat mods flags please, more than one just clutters up the system.

@ACuriousMind I'm trying to see if anyone is online?

@ACuriousMind are you a staff member? if you could please come to MSE chat that would be helpful.

we really are getting frustrated.

@ACuriousMind we need to know who is making the sockpuppets. surely you can look this up? Or at the very least ban the current sock?

the user who is being impersonated as well as I have been waiting for a week for help on this

the user already impersonated them once and we were basically told to "drop it. Nobody gives a shit."

@Typhon I have no powers beyond my own site (physics.SE) and the chat system. And the rpg.SE chat is really not the place to discuss this.

even when we said they were being rude they said "this is the internet. They can say and do whatever they feel like."

that's why I'm asking you to come to the math mod chatroom...?

@Typhon to quote that guy in LotR, "he has no power there!"

@ACuriousMind do you at least have a direct line to the SE staff?

← 38 messages moved from RPG General Chat

uuh

:p

@ACuriousMind @amWhy hopefully you two can have a chat about this...?

i'm mostly a somewhat concerned third party

I have no idea what's going on and if it is about something on math.SE itself I also have no ability to do anything

it's about a sockpuppet

impersonating amWhy

called "AmWhy."

Yeah, I can't do anything about that unless they're doing it in chat.

no... we need them banned from the network

:p

surely you have that power?

No, not at all

darn

do you know of any staff members or where to contact them via chat?

i mean, other than the contact link. I'm hoping it doesn't come to that.

Well, if this is about a problem on math.SE, you should be raising flags on math.SE, not on chat.

@Typhon Seriously, start with the Contact Us link - this sort of thing is what it's for.

If for some reason you do not think flags will accomplish what you need to be accomplished, use the "Contact Us" link.

@Miniman yeah, but I'm not being impersonated so I can't legally make that complaint. It would be illegal for me to do so...?

But chat flags are not the way to do this.

@Typhon Wha~at?

@ACuriousMind the math.se mods might as well be on hiatus.

they won't respond

they've even refused to deal with it. Claimed it was "in good faith"

@Typhon If you feel it needs to be reported, report it.

but then I'd be claiming to be amwhy, wouldn't I?

isn't the contact us only for legal complaints?

@Typhon No. You just say "this has been happening, please look into it".

@Typhon There is no "legality" involved here. If you think the moderators are handling this wrongly, the official guidance is to use the "Contact Us" link so an SE employee will look at it if your complaints have merit.

@Typhon No.

alrighty

Also, none of what you're talking about is illegal in any way, merely rude.

But yeah, tracking down a staff member who happens to be hanging out in a chat is really not a good way to try to resolve this.

@Miniman except that we firmly believe it to be a sockpuppet. Also, you miss my point. Can I legally report a post through the contact link that isn't harming me in any legal fashion?

anyways

i will do that

You're not doing anything "legal" - this is not a court of law, and an accusation of sockpuppetry or "impersonation on SE" is not a criminal charge

@Typhon The worst you'll get is a slap on the virtual wrist, so why not? (And even then it'd be a soft slap, because you;re acting in good faith)

:-)

good point!

@ACuriousMind fair enough. I didn't know if the contact link was a direct line to SE lawyers... like for copyright infringment.

It is done.

@Typhon (and anyone else who's interested) I'm on vacation with the family this week, so will rarely be around. I agree with everything said above: flags are good for when a single message/post needs attention, moderator or CM intervention for when a user (even if you don't know who it is!) needs attention. If math mods aren't responsive you should definitely include details of that in your contact to the CMs. Good luck, and sorry I wasn't around!

@amWhy Unfortunately, things happened at about the worst possible time. It was weekend, and in Europe it was night. So none of us was around to deal with it right then. We've looked into things and sent out messages today. Maybe some time off makes them cool down. If they're very determined to be a nuisance, we must expect more iterations though.

@DanielFischer I was frustrated with the user(s), not with the mods. I fully expected not to hear back until no earlier than today. So thanks for the prompt message back to me (sincerely).

2

@DanielFischer Apparently, one hour ago, I received three consecutive downvotes; I'll flag one if you suggest I do so, or else wait.

@amWhy Wait for the script first. I'm not sure whether it'll pick them up, but we should give it a chance. I'll try to remember to look tomorrow whether they were reverted.

There's a comment left by "Doctor" (sarcastic) left to (one?) of my answers at the same time I received the downvote.

There's a nonzero probability that it's connected. If so, there won't be anything to do right now if the script reverts them.

I do see that the user Doctor has been suspended for a month. So, I suspect Doctor was in the midst of a downvoting ... when suspended ... Well, Yes, I will certainly wait another day.

Yes, let's wait for the script to run. Thanks, @DanielFischer!

@Typhon Please cool it down in tone, and try to moderate your feelings when voicing your complaints. You comments can sometime be inflammatory. Any way, I assure you, the mod's are acting and taking the situation seriously. And anyway, If you need to rant about mods or anything else, don't do it in the mod's chat; ranting here will only alienate you from avenues of help, should it be needed again.

I will say no more, Typhon, regarding this. I fear you're making the situation worse, than better.

Hello, @amWhy. I saw through the whole episode of impersonation today. I am happy that whoever was behind it was banned.

As a slightly unrelated qustion, was there any friction between you and math.stackexchange.com/users/406086/aryabhatta or math.stackexchange.com/users/354073/albert-einstein ?

hi @DanielFischer

Hi

Please note, too, @DanielFischer The user waiting on the sidelines here in this chat, just joined MSE today. No prof pic, currently.

@amWhy Users without the necessary reputation to chat can join chatrooms, but they cannot post, and they don't have their avatar shown, just the default silhouette.

@amWhy I hope you did not interpret my words wrongly. The users I have mentioned had been involved in a few heated exchanges, which I have seen myself. I did not mean anything negative by asking if "there was friction among ...". I only wanted to enquire.

@DanielFischer I understand that; I've probably become a bit wary of brand new users...and plan to stay away from those for the next few days.

@AnanthKamath I appreciate your concern. I do recognize the latter, in terms of a couple of questions I've contributed to closing. Don't particularly remember or recognize the former. Thanks.

The only reason I asked about them is that they have been rude couple of times and I suspected that they may be targeting users they dont like. Thanks for taking my words positively, @amWhy .

@amWhy I am not at all being inflammatory towards moderators. It seemed like you were dissatisfied last time the whole thing went down, so I went and tried to get some help. Plus, if it is a sockpuppet account, we kind of need a staff member. Only they can actually check the IPs.

by all means, the mods are doing a great job. I was just trying to find someone who was currently online, that's all. I figured mod powers were transferable.

:p

@Typhon That's fine. No, I wasn't dissatisfied: both "impersonator" accounts were very readily handled. And, by design, the "script" that catches serial voting (as in the first case) worked beautifully. When it comes to online activity, speaking off the cuff, too quickly, and a bit too fired up, it can undermine your efforts to be taken seriously. I'm not saying I don't take you seriously, but others might.

@amWhy perhaps I missed something, but what did I do that was so fired up? I just went and got help...

and made a staff request after getting said help

I figured a mod on another site I was on might be able to at least give some input and/or place a ban. Primarily, I was trying to see if anyone had a direct channel to a staff member so they could determine the maker of these sockpuppets.

@Typhon I appreciate your concern, and I'm answering the last of your comments.

fair enough

I think they got it handled from here

though apparently the mods didn't like it that i asked for a staff member. :/

weird

I try to think of it like this: every site has its own "police force" who engage in community policing...attending to calls from community members, taking report, examining a potential "crime site", and examining "trails of actions that provide circumstantial evidence. Along the way, when there is enough evidence to support a charge, the DA uses that evidence, and works with the police in order to cover all bases. Those arrested upon strong reasons for doing so,

can be held over to arraignment (after the police have given the DA sufficient reason to charge a suspect,) in which a judge oversees, and/or a Grand Jury, prior to the continuation..... And so it goes....

uuuh ok

i just figure that moderation is taken care of by whomever can handle it

So any victim or friend of the victim, if they first report to the DA, and not to the police, will be told by the DA to file a complaint with the Police Department....etc

true

¢_¢

but that's not really the case here

staff members will respond if it serious enough

and the case here was that we needed one no matter what to see whether it was a sockpuppet. So it isn't "please come here to moderate the post". It's "please come over here and check if this is a sock to make sure the situation is actually dealt with."

the police can arrest and put anyone in jail

that doesn't mean they don't need someone to see who actually needs to go to jail

some serious discussion going on here, methinks

besides, a few weeks back dodsy got a staff member in to see who was "abusing" flags cause he thought the number was a bit too much. If he could get a staff member for something that trivial, I think it is reasonable to ask for a staff member for a possible series of sock accounts.

@Avantgarde well it is the mod's office

yep

@Avantgarde I agree; someone isn't recognizing an analogy/anecdote for what is was meant to express.

@amWhy Are you a mod at MathSE?

cause I don't think of mods as police and SE as a DA.

I think of mods as lords and kings and the staff members as omniscient gods needed for whenever secrets need to be revealed or when people are hiding stuff. Besides, it certainly shouldn't prompt a warning from the MSE mods simply for sending an email request.

@Avantgarde No, I'm not a mod here, but the mods are doing their jobs nicely, and it does not help matters when there are semi-vigilantes determined to bring charges.

im not a semi-vigilante. I was just trying to get ahold of the staff to see who was making duplicate accounts. I was in the thread as well and got my head bit off. I have just as much a right to complain as you do.

@Avantgarde Were you responding to a flag here?

Please, @Typhon, stop. I'll have to cut you off, or render you ignored if you don't stop trying to justify yourself.

@amWhy What's a flag? I just came here to see what this room is about.

I'm not much in tune with how the administration/modding goes around in SE. I'm too old (mentally) to worry about that :P I just like me some physics and math

@amWhy well you keep making semi-rude remarks about me... If you're wanting me to go away, why do you keep making rude remarks about me?

@Avantgarde Okay, well first of all, Welcome! I wasn't sure if you were a moderator of a another site, called into address chat flags.

@amWhy Thanks. Nope, I'm not a mod. Just another user.

This is usually, and should be, a chat room where users can address concerns with a mod who stops in here and there. Occasionally, it gets flooded by extraneous chat unrelated to questions asked here.

There are a bunch of chats to look into, for conversation, support with math, etc. Of course, there's the main math (mathematics chat room) which gets pretty busy at times, but you might also want to stop in to check out, to start: This is the Realm of SimplyBeautifulArt. Fewer regulars, but deeper connections.

I would definitely second that recommendation.

@amWhy actually, the mods didn't care about me asking for mods and whatnot. They don't mind that. They were upset because I had posted some fairly rude comments towards the sockpuppet.

And I suppose that is quite fair.