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> A great example of someone looking at both sides of an argument. I don't think so, we now call that kind of behaviour a sock puppet account. Why the deceptio

> A great example of someone looking at both sides of an argument. I don't think so, we now call that kind of behaviour a sock puppet account. Why the deception?

nickkell 5y ago
They weren't doing it to support their original position, but rather arguing against it.
caslon 5y ago
It was pretty obvious what was happening; naming your fictional debate partner after the most famous pseudonym of all time is as transparent as you can get. There's a long history of people doing exactly this in a variety of fields; it's not deception.
chalst 5y ago
The name was "Nickieben Bourbaki", a reference to the collective pseudonym "Nicholas Borbaki" of the French mathematician collective. RPG had the idea that other people at Lucid would be interested in participating under this collective name, but that didn't happen.
recursivedoubts 5y ago
these were simpler times mapping today's online behavior onto them is misleading
jhgb 5y ago
> we now call that kind of behaviour a sock puppet account Maybe it was a Socratic puppet.
- recursivedoubts 5y ago
  the most underrated post in the history of hacker news
  - yellowapple 5y ago
    How would you know? You can't see how many points someone else's comment gets. ...that is, unless you have access to the account that posted it.
coldtea 5y ago
>I don't think so, we now call that kind of behaviour a sock puppet account. Why the deception? When did "looking at both sides of an argument" fall out of favor? It's a practice advised by science, philosophy, politics, all the way back to Plato's dialogues and earlier (which also used different names to present the views) all the way to "Godel, Escher, Bach". >a sock puppet account Sock puppet accounts are fake accounts made to seem as many people are in favor of a specific point X. They're meant to amplify X's perceived adoption. It's not about a single person debating both sides of an argument (X and -X). In fact, debating also for the opposite of your point, would be close to an opposite of a sock puppet account.
- mek6800d2 5y ago
  Wait a minute! Douglas Hofstadter predates Plato??!! I learn something new everyday! :)
  - coldtea 5y ago
    That would be "all the way to Plato and earlier -and from there- all the way to Hofstadter". That said, there are probably several senses in which Douglas Hofstadter predates Plato, even more if you believe in reincarnation...

> A great example of someone looking at both sides of an argument. I don't think so, we now call that kind of behaviour a sock puppet account. Why the deception?

nickkell 5y ago

They weren't doing it to support their original position, but rather arguing against it.

caslon 5y ago

It was pretty obvious what was happening; naming your fictional debate partner after the most famous pseudonym of all time is as transparent as you can get. There's a long history of people doing exactly this in a variety of fields; it's not deception.

chalst 5y ago

The name was "Nickieben Bourbaki", a reference to the collective pseudonym "Nicholas Borbaki" of the French mathematician collective. RPG had the idea that other people at Lucid would be interested in participating under this collective name, but that didn't happen.

recursivedoubts 5y ago

these were simpler times mapping today's online behavior onto them is misleading

jhgb 5y ago

> we now call that kind of behaviour a sock puppet account Maybe it was a Socratic puppet.

recursivedoubts 5y ago
the most underrated post in the history of hacker news
- yellowapple 5y ago
  How would you know? You can't see how many points someone else's comment gets. ...that is, unless you have access to the account that posted it.

coldtea 5y ago

>I don't think so, we now call that kind of behaviour a sock puppet account. Why the deception? When did "looking at both sides of an argument" fall out of favor? It's a practice advised by science, philosophy, politics, all the way back to Plato's dialogues and earlier (which also used different names to present the views) all the way to "Godel, Escher, Bach". >a sock puppet account Sock puppet accounts are fake accounts made to seem as many people are in favor of a specific point X. They're meant to amplify X's perceived adoption. It's not about a single person debating both sides of an argument (X and -X). In fact, debating also for the opposite of your point, would be close to an opposite of a sock puppet account.

mek6800d2 5y ago
Wait a minute! Douglas Hofstadter predates Plato??!! I learn something new everyday! :)
- coldtea 5y ago
  That would be "all the way to Plato and earlier -and from there- all the way to Hofstadter". That said, there are probably several senses in which Douglas Hofstadter predates Plato, even more if you believe in reincarnation...