Today I saw the appearance of (what I would bet money is) a sock puppet in the forums here. Specifically one "Lady Jane".

Now, while I don't have a major problem with sock puppets in the context of discussion groups and forums, I do have concerns about the ease with which anyone can create multiple memberships of GAGB. I've just created one myself to be sure.

Multiple membership IDs means multiple votes in any poll or election. This is unacceptable.

I'm disappointed that membership of GAGB can be gained merely by provision of a username, password and working e-mail address. Why don't we have to provide our real names and postal addresses plus the username(s) we geocache by (and on which listings sites)? In my view there's a big difference between membership of a representative organisation and simple access to an on-line discussion group.

I've reservations too about whether candid and meanigful discussion can take place in public forums but let's leave that for the moment.