Chewtobacca said:

Ric was an entertaining sock because he seemed to have a personality of his own, like a good ventriloquist's dummy. Other socks achieved this in the short term, but Ric remained amusing in the long term, partly because we all knew that he was a sock who wouldn't be overused or used negatively: it was a running joke. The fact that Frink was allowed him for this reason (and because he slipped through the net) made the forum a brighter place. It's a shame that he was a casualty of the recent activity, and I would respectfully ask that he be reinstated.

^Seconded.