Are you good at recognizing people's writing style?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

I suck at it. Almost everyone can spot a sockpuppet before I can. I think if lisa created a sockpuppet, I wouldnt recognize it.

(PS: this is not a callout to anyone as a sockpuppet or anything like that). I am just realizing that I really really cant recognize people's posting style.

[Wapsie B]

1. I'm not good at it either.

Damn, where's an english major when you need one?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

3. i dont think it has to do with language skills. I think it has more to do with pattern recognition

which i suck at anyway

[Wapsie B]

7. I would think that someone who's trained to read volumes and volumes of literature

every semester would be adept at picking out the writing styles of various authors, thereby making them better able to discern the writing patterns of people here. That's all I'm saying.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

8. ahh! good point.

[Richardo]

2. I can't

Someone will identify an 'obvious' sockpuppet and I'm like "Huh?"

[La Lioness Priyanka]

4. exactly. sometimes it will be of people i know REALLY well

and i will still not notice.

[Silent3]

6. Some people who think such things are "obvious"...

...may often be basking in nothing more than the glow of their own over-inflated impression of their personal talents. They might be completely off base in their accusations of sock puppetry, but in the absence of proof either way, they smugly assume themselves to be correct.

This applies to a wide variety of accusations made by self-styled internet mind readers.

[guitar man]

5. you're not alone

I have no idea how to spot someone's writing style either. :(

[Gormy Cuss]

9. I can't be bothered to try,

but sometimes I do pick up on it. It's not only phrasing and vocabulary choices but keyboard tics. For example, I have a habit of leaving extra spaces between words.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

10. what are my tics? i should know, in case i get TS'd and have to resurrect

[Gormy Cuss]

13. Lower case only is one.

Being angry and lacking manners are two others. :P

[La Lioness Priyanka]

15. yes, the lower case thing is a problem. i dont know that i could EVER respect

an internet forum enough to use proper case or correct punctuation

[JVS]

16. You don't capitalize properly!

[rug]

11. My dear La Lioness Priyanka,

I can't, they all blend together.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

12. ok. peggy's my dear even i would recognize.

[rucky]

19. I concur, sir!

[Blue Diadem]

14. No. I really don't pay much attention to writing style.

I read so many posts that most of the time I don't even know whose post I'm reading.

[Deep13]

17. Sometimes.

My assistant uses sentences beginning with conjunctions and conjunctive adverbs to make his point. The boss uses a lot of run-on sentences. My wife always ends her notes with "Luv you XXXXX" and a cartoon drawing of herself. Another assistant DA in the office writes in passive voice.

[Chan790]

18. No, but...

I've been told I have a very distinct writing and speaking style...I assume it comes through in my posting style as well:

*Very stream-of-consciousness...lots of parenthetical references and ellipsis(when writing).
*Frequency of choosing not-necessarily-fancy-words as simply-uncommon-ones over more likely terms.
*Meditating at length on strange topics often peripheral to the topic at hand before coming back to the subject at hand. Not off-topic, just peripheral and esoteric.
*My roommate says I pontificate and speak like an academic. I think that means I lecture.
*Oh and I use salty language like a stevedore.

No, never had a sockpuppet.

[ccharles000]

20. no

[Shell Beau]

21. No, I am terrible at it myself.

That is one reason why I could never create a sockpuppet even if I wanted to. I wouldn't be able to change up my style enough because I can't even recognize my own style. Stupid, I know.

[Posteritatis]

22. Few friends created one to drive a point home to someone we knew once

We tended to talk in the same place on IRC and one of them was getting a little too annoying, so we convincingly replaced him with a bot script for a few weeks based on his writing style and discussion topics.

He got the hint and smartened up, which was really bonus points after the initial project.

[Strong Atheist]

23. No. I am very unobservant... nt.

[Kali]

24. I'm way better at seeing trolls than sock-puppets

and that isn't saying much! I don't know that I have ever seen one, actually - although I know about the famous padraig (spelling?) pair.