Strangest Story Never Told - help with a sock puppet?

**clovenhooves** · 12-27-2018, 12:15 AM

Sorry, the title is slightly misleading. I'm not going to tell the story, just that when I was listening to "Whiskey in the Jar" on the birthday of Lars Ulrich (yesterday), I realized it's almost that twisted (but less violent and almost entirely online). It's so strange people would say I made it up. It's not catfishing. Once upon a time it was a light, friendly acquaintanceship, then it got dark.... I thought it was mostly over, by unspoken mutual agreement, but maybe not.

Someone's new, fake online identity just popped into my life. I don't know if it is the same person, but it concerns the same famous company, the person seems to live and work in that area, be about the same age, have some of the same interests, etc. Weirdly interested in reaching out to and talking to me on social media - almost nobody else is - and has already been a little intrusive and creepy. Original person did something extremely creepy this spring, maybe as payback, and knows something about me that shouldn't be known.

New 'friend' is very possibly a mole within the company, and the person has already spilled some dirt. I'd like the dirt to keep coming and don't want to alienate that person by pushing much on who he/she is.

The person that I sort of knew, real legal identity and so on, is strange and multilayered, including admitted manipulative tendencies and a belief that imitation and lying are funny. One of the last things I directly said to the person was about getting therapy. I'd also said some things about working on being more real with others.

The current person does seem more real in opinions. I'd even said the original person was free to talk directly, rather privately with me by making an alternative ID, but I didn't mean hiding the real identity from me. However, nobody in that situation should be open about real identity with someone online who is as anonymous as I am. It could be career-killing.

This drives me nuts, basically why I got fed up in the first place. If it's an alias of the original person, do you think there's a way to get an admission, maybe using disposable email? What I especially want to know is why take part in the strangest story/why want to be tangled up in that with me? Just to ignore the past and talk about whatever the new identity wants to talk about might be nice but never be satisfying.

**pajeff02** · 12-27-2018, 02:21 AM

***doberman 152*** · 12-27-2018, 02:53 AM

**clovenhooves** · 12-27-2018, 08:08 AM

What does that gif mean?

I could set up my own fake ID, contact the original person, and urge more transparent communication, but there are many reasons for me not to do that, including that it's childish and ridiculous to make up fake IDs in 99% of situations.

Hey, it's the Internet. People act crazy online. Just hoping there are some members around who have stepped in it and know to clean it up.

**pajeff02** · 12-28-2018, 02:36 AM

Not knowing the source, not knowing the validity of the information, and not knowing the ultimate goal or position of the source, I would simply ignore it.

***doberman 152*** · 12-28-2018, 04:17 AM

sounds like a confession to me, is someone feeling guilty.

**clovenhooves** · 12-28-2018, 08:43 AM

That person isn't feeling guilty about anything, I'm 99% sure. I think the main motivation is anger at that company, with talking to me possibly a secondary purpose.

Some info is from a company email, according to my source. The information given to me gradually has been validated by events. In a few weeks, almost all of it will be confirmed. I'm trying to coax more info out (beyond the specific department under discussion), along with signs the line of work matches the other person's type of work. I prefer to let the new 'friend' feel relaxed and carelessly disclose than indicate I'm suspicious. That way I can almost know whether or not it's the someone from my past even if I never get an admission. If it's a different person, it's probably the individual who leaked something to the media earlier this year. I hope the account remains active, because it would be easy to forget about it this time of year.

***doberman 152*** · 12-28-2018, 09:31 AM

Hope you find what you're looking for whichever one you are.

**clovenhooves** · 12-31-2018, 12:55 PM

Still talking. I'm increasingly sure it's the same person. Also, I got a little dirt that would mildly interest some forum visitors, about how dysfunctional that company is, but I can't name it.

It's the strangest story for reasons I can't really share, but one part of the weirdness is that a while after it began, I found out I have a relative who had worked elsewhere (in a smaller space, I think) with that same person at the start and was high-ranked there. Soon I'll ask about that relative (who I've never talked with), with an offer to explain why (everyone likes a good story), and if that person remembers and shares, the step after that will be to discuss the identity of the sock puppet.

**clovenhooves** · 01-09-2019, 05:41 PM

I tried that tactic and got shut down. I'm getting shut down on anything nearing territory of the real identity that I increasingly believe it is, from, for example, weird hatred of a beverage brand and a request for a favor similar to an action I'd quietly performed before. I think my old acquaintance is upset about work-related events that keep coming true and wants to vent to a sympathetic ear and also be a little gamey as a distraction. Might be looking to switch employers, too. Pushing someone in that state would only backfire on me. I got some ugly gossip about a famous woman while chatting, so from that and other topics, I'm being rewarded for my patience. I've meanwhile set a little third-party trap that should increase my confidence it's an extension of the years-old story. After that, I don't know, maybe I'll just say I'm frustrated and ready for whenever that person wants to discuss the point of it all. Actually, since I'm not a toadie and said I wasn't ready to do that vaguely malicious favor (publicly reporting unofficial news that makes the employer look bad), maybe I'll do it later this month and then use that as leverage to be spoken to more honestly.

**pajeff02** · 01-10-2019, 02:33 AM

I'm lost.

**Zapper2003** · 01-10-2019, 03:25 AM

yeah, sounds like a soap opera script

**0rion** · 01-10-2019, 07:52 AM

Zapper knows nothing about sock puppets....only sock babies. He's made a bunch of those.

**clovenhooves** · 01-10-2019, 08:25 AM

I don't watch soap operas - I'm a man. I'm making it funny, though. I am poking fun at my conversation partner by alluding to similar work the real person has done and that I'm spying.

The famous woman sleeps around for a specific purpose, that's what I was told.

***doberman 152*** · 01-10-2019, 12:43 PM

sock puppets constantly have to EDIT their posts you do the math

**clovenhooves** · 01-10-2019, 12:48 PM

Me? No, that's a habit of mine everywhere I post; I have many trains of thought I try to coordinate. Maybe it is a habit of sock puppets, but the sock puppet is mentioning things privately to me. Private conversations don't get edited. I'd have almost no evidence of the deception without the private statements. My opponent is nearly a pro at deception, while complaining of dishonesty in and beyond the company

**Zapper2003** · 01-10-2019, 01:10 PM

Originally Posted by 0rion

Zapper knows nothing about sock puppets....only sock babies. He's made a bunch of those.

Nothin' wrong...I like kickin' it with my kids..

**KahanaReef** · 01-10-2019, 06:59 PM

Originally Posted by pajeff02

I'm lost.

I'm right there with you...

***doberman 152*** · 01-11-2019, 02:48 AM

**clovenhooves** · 01-11-2019, 08:52 AM

Heh. Yes, I'm being cryptic, and that person does sometimes talk like a sphinx, in random pronouncements and challenges.

But I'm lost too. Mind games for so long ('met' that person years ago), never sure what's happening or the end game, can hardly turn to anyone for help, because I know I'd be disbelieved or blamed. Sometimes I cannot fully avoid that person, even if we're not communicating, which is why there's not much helpful advice anybody can give me. Plus, I keep wishing that person would be more normal, because then we'd probably get along fine. At the core, it's not funny at all to me. It's more like an interaction of existential sadness. I even mentioned to the person about a year ago that there must be something very wrong in our lives for us to be doing this.

The sock puppet seems fixated on career-related issues, just as the real person would sacrifice almost in anything in life for that, except for an inner circle and some basic morals. I'm testing if I can steer things away from industry talk and if the goal of talking goes beyond using me for venting and favors. Sock puppetry is acting, and I guess if the third wall gets broken, the real person surfaces and possibly chooses to open up and stop causing trouble. I'm choosing to be real and somewhat open with the sock puppet, to lead the way. By the way, with the pro-LEO climate around here, any actual detective members on LS1? Maybe I'm using you (the audience) to get this off my chest, but I hope for myself I find some anti-sock puppet tactics that work and maybe others can use.