Earlier today, I posted about my telephone conversation last night with Nate Noy, and the whole Jean Schmidt marathon photo controversy. I did not mention a certain side issue which arose, because it was quite tangential to the topic of that post. This side issue is “sock puppetry,” and I must mention it here, because it reflects on the honesty and reliability of Nate Noy, and to withhold this part of the story would be less than forthright on my part.

Many persons on the Internet write anonymously, or under a nom-de-plume, but a “sock puppet” is an assumed identity used duplicitously, to act as a shill for its maker. For instance: if I were to write about poker under the name “Wyatt Q. Earp,” it would simply be a pseudonym. But if I made “Wyatt” write, “I have met Sean Gleeson, and can testify to his scrupulous character,” this would be sock puppetry.

On Aug. 26, and again on Aug. 29, Nate Noy commented in this venue under the guise of “Statman,” a sock puppet alias. In the Aug. 29 comment, “Statman” wrote:

I know Nate and I have actually read the complaint he filed with the OEC… Plus I think Nate has a photo that proves Jean did not wear the cloths [sic] from the picture during the actual race. He’s bating [sic] the Schmidt camp into numerous felonies by lying to the OEC. I think this board should hold back on blasting Nate until after September 7. When he wins this case there will be a ton of people that look mighty foolish for questioning him without all of the facts in hand.

The originating I.P. address for both “Statman” comments matches the originating I.P. address of eight e-mails Noy sent me on Aug. 31, indicating that they all came from the same computer, or at least the same household.

And yet, on Aug. 31, in a comment on another blog, Noy rebuked someone who accused him of commenting anonymously:

If I AM going to post, I’ll do it under my own name. I don’t hide behind an “Anonymous” label

And so, when we spoke last night, near the end of our conversation, I asked Noy point-blank: “Say, did you leave comments on my blog, as ‘Statman’?”

To his credit, Noy admitted it right away. I never even had to mention the I.P. addresses. He came clean with no hesitation. “Yeah, I did that,” he said. “That was dumb.”

Noy explained, in an e-mail after our conversation, that his advisors had warned him to “stay off of the blogs,” but he couldn’t bear to “see people rip me up without all of the facts.” So he thought he could inject the facts anonymously, so as to avoid being scolded by his own advisors.

Hopefully this will be a fairly inexpensive lesson. I detest deception and I’m not pleased with myself for this, thanks for pointing it out. If you blast me then I deserve what’s coming and I’ll openly admit to having posted as statman.

I’m not going to blast Nate Noy, just record the facts. Among bloggers, sock puppetry is frowned upon, and its practitioners are usually ridiculed. I don’t think there is any law against it, unless it is done to abet a commercial fraud. But if a candidate for a federal office assumes a false identity to publish statements about his opponent, I honestly have no idea what regulations might cover such activity. Maybe none. Still, my gut tells me it’s a bad idea.

Last night, Noy also left a new comment on that other blog, where he had previously rebutted charges of anonymous commenting:

I want to clarify a previous misstatement here. In regards to an “Anonymous” label nothing in this thread that does not contain my name was written by me. I have previously posted on other blogs under an alias. I plan to handle my future responses via phone conversations or direct e-mails with the authors of the various blogs or journalists.

It seems that Noy’s foray into sock puppetry has ended. He has freely confessed the deed, apologized, and resolved not to do it again. It might be easy — and proper — to criticize him. But since he has already criticized himself as harshly as I would have, it takes the sting out. After tasting the slime of Glenn Greenwald’s stonewalling and bluster about how it could have been some other guy with his I.P. address, Noy’s “Yeah, I did that” was a deep drink of pure spring water. The way the man displays remorse for what is truly a minor misdeed tells me as much about him as the misdeed itself.

The most important lesson here is: If you’re running for Congress, read my blog! You’ll learn a lot here.