Just to toss out an idea: one thing I've seen on some blogs to discourage this sort of sock-puppetry is to display a hash of the posting IP along with either all posts or just those from unregistered / anonymous commenters. That way you know that the "dazzling witty" comment that 4 "different" commenters are all "independently" praising all came from the same source.

The cake is a lie.
The cake is a lie.
The cake is a lie.

In reply to Re^3: monastery mark-upedness (trolling) by Fletch
in thread monastery mark-upedness by my_nihilist

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