I love that quote, David. :)
I think that brevity is important here, and the purpose is just to tell
them that their vote may not be counted, and not to take it personally.
Here is the exact text I used, which I think makes the point adequately:
Welcome, {{PAGENAME}}! We noticed that you placed a vote on
[[{{{1}}}]]. Participation in the community is encouraged, of
course, but your status as a brand new user means that your vote
''might not'' be counted if the administrator that tallies the votes
believes that you might be another user logged in under a second
account (a so-called "[[Wikipedia:Sock puppet|sock puppet]]").
Please understand that this is a common practice on Wikipedia, and
that it is necessary to prevent deliberate "loading" of our votes.
Of course, it's subject to change, but I really think that it should be
kept short.
-ClockworkSoul
David Gerard wrote:
Don't forget to note that "Votes" for
deletion aren't "votes" per se -
they're an attempt to ascertain whether there is community consensus to
delete. If you've made your first-ever Wikipedia edit to VFD, and were
there only because of a call to arms on another site, you might reasonably
be considered not (yet) part of the community in question. That would need
noting.
(This is similar to the Calvinball rule of Wikipedia policy, i.e. "if you
think you've come up with a stunningly clever hack of our rules which will
get your way against our community wishes, good for you! The rule just
changed.")
- d.