posted by Zach Patton
From SFist comes this interesting tidbit about the commenting habits of San Franciso Mayor Gavin Newsom's communications director, Peter Ragone.
Apparently, SFist found some indications that Ragone had been using multiple aliases -- or sock puppets -- to comment on their blog, defending Newsom and blasting his critics.
Then the local ABC news affiliate checked their own blog, and it turned out that Ragone appeared to be using the same tactics there too. (You can watch the ABC News report here.)
What Ragone did isn't illegal or anything, although you could argue that it's a little...underhanded.
But now the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is suggesting that Newsom fire Ragone.
Aaron Peskin, president, SF Board of Supervisors: "If I were mayor, he would not be working for me. There's no question about it.... It smacks of kind of Nixonian political trickery, and it's just not leaving a good taste really in anybody's mouth."
The last big sock puppet incident I remember was a New Republic editor who called himself "brave" and "brilliant" under an alias: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/04/technology/04republic.html?ex=1315022400&en=cc629c6ec5d5805d&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Posted by: Josh | Wednesday, January 31, 2007 at 08:29 PM
Per the link to Wikipedia explaining "sock puppets", I have to say that anyone who has read/written the administration of that site will find things like this both incredibly annoying/irksome/infuriating, and simultaneously a little amusing in a strange way. Seeing the word "sockpuppet" on an external, semireputable site will just make some peoples day.
Posted by: Lurker | Friday, February 02, 2007 at 10:43 PM