To ask what this term means

[DragonMummy1418]

Sockpuppeting.

Saw it as an explanation on a recently deleted thread and have no idea what this is!

Somebody namechanging within a thread for negative reasons.

ShowOfHands is beautiful and right and anybody who disagrees is a nincompoop.

I thought it was when one person set up multiple accounts pretending to be different people.

Ha ok showy / showofhands - I get it now! Lol. 😂
So basically replying to yourself in another name to fuel an argument?

Yes, or to support yourself.

You can sock puppet with one account or multiple accounts. Sometimes replying to the same thread with two different names is warranted but if you're doing it to mislead, goad, troll etc, it's sockpuppeting.

People do it to add strength to a lie or to appear supported or to attack other people. It is always a bad thing. Done for the right reasons, it's just namechanging.

in RL its when someones saying something to you (usually a grievance) but you know its someone elses words but theyve put a 3rd party up to saying it

It's using an alias (or two) on a forum to agree with yourself, ensuring that you always look amazing and right about everything, and leading the thread/discussion in the way you want it to go.