Atheists go to Heaven too

[Godscreated]

---

You acted as though I didn't know, I did before I logged out that night.
That last post shows I knew something was up and I was finished with PP. I knew someone here, who I didn't know, was being a trickster and as soon as I figured it out I alerted Fr0d0 so we could shut down the Christians from arguing with PP. That's all I'm saying.

---

That's nice, GC, but it misses the point of what I was trying to say. I occasionally have suspicions that a person is arguing in bad faith, being disingenuous, or manipulative or whatever. In such cases, them being a sock puppet or not being a sock puppet doesn't really affect how I need to deal with them, nor does it change what options are open to me.

I agree with you, that's what I did as you pointed out, but one being a sock is always disingenuous IMO. In an open forum as this one is, a sock takes away valuable time and disrupts. I'm not upset with what happen and still do not believe it started out as an action against me. No one could have known I would respond to PP at any time, but when I did, I believe things were deliberate. PP may have been enjoying it but, at this point my time was being wasted, not only mine but everyone involved, to me this was the unacceptable part, and I warned Fr0d0 so that it would not continue.

If PP had not turned out to be a sock, or the moderators hadn't found out — you'd have had to deal with him using the ordinary tools of discourse. Aside from examples where socks are used to gang up on people, which this may be a case of, the account being a sock puppet doesn't give them special powers over you that any other ordinary user doesn't have.

You're correct, but I hate to deal in 'ifs', they are not the reality of a situation, I would rather deal with what's at hand, speculation IMO brings in misdirection to a situation like this and could disrupt the real things that need to be dealt with.
I'm not sure it was intended to be a way to gang up, BWS did not interact in the conversations with PP if I remember correctly. The ganging up comes when others get involved because someone starts to aggravate a situation and being a sock makes them feel a sense of freedom to do so, though I find some here do it well without being a sock.

People seem to recoil as if a member using a sock puppet means that the sock owner is taking advantage of the people they're interacting with, and my point is, aside from ganging up or using them as shills, it doesn't provide them any real opportunities that any other non-sock member doesn't have. (Matter of fact, you make my point for me, as you were already using normal social processes to deal with the situation by "alerting" other Christians of your suspicions.)

Like I said above I believe they can feel a freedom to take advantage if the opportunity arises. I can't be sure that was the intention here, but it became the result and in the end that's the reality and that is what has to be dealt with. I think it's much more difficult to take advantage of a person when one has to account for their action. I felt that BWS was taking advantage in this situation but, not just me others also. Like I said all's well now and I have no hard feelings about the situation, time to move on, but not to forget the lesson.