Members with many accounts

[Moneroman88]

There are folks on Bitcointalk who have 2,3,5,10 or even 15 accounts and more. There are many reasons to have a bunch of accounts, fun, propaganda, signature campaigns, schizophrenia &c., you name it.

This forum is very liberal. Do you supports the forum's decision to allow this practice?

[ndnh]

Do you supports the forum's decision to allow this practice?

It is complicated.

1. The forum does not support this practice. (carries a little more weight than 2.)
2. The forum does not oppose this practice.
3. The forum does not ban or restrict the practice.

1. I support the forum's decision of not supporting the practice. (carries a little more weight than 2.)
2. I neither support nor oppose the forum's decision of neither supporting or opposing the practice.

[Lauda]

I don't support the people who have many accounts for any reason (there's practically no good reason to have more no matter how you view it [1]), nor do I support the current forum policy (I would prefer that account sales were disallowed). There are already a few threads about this very topic, so those might be worth reading if you want more insight.
[1] - Profit (via spam, manipulation of own auctions and such) counts in the 'bad reasons' group.

[notlist3d]

There are folks on Bitcointalk who have 2,3,5,10 or even 15 accounts and more. There are many reasons to have a bunch of accounts, fun, propaganda, signature campaigns, schizophrenia &c., you name it.

This forum is very liberal. Do you supports the forum's decision to allow this practice?

If your goal of having multiple accounts is to do bad.  You will get caught it all depends on your reason for multiple account's.  And when you get to a point I honestly cannot find a reason for it.   

The big red flag I see is you mention "signature campaigns" if you are using more then 1 account for this I think chances of leading into spam are very good.  Espically if you use multiple.  It leads to spam eventually I think for almost all that do it.    And this leads to ban... which some think they can beat then leads to ban evasion.  It's kinda a slippery sloap.

And Lauda is right on look a few threads down someone learned the hard way just sit a minimum bid don't use shill accounts to bid - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1436577.msg15108910#msg15108910 . If caught it leads to instant negatives almost.   And I would guess most get caught there are many who enjoy looking for scams/cheaters.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

I like--with limits--how we police ourselves here and that things like being able to have multiple accounts are allowed.   Having said that, I agree fully with Lauda that there basically is no legit reason to have multiple accounts.   I think account sales are absolutely scummy and even if your intentions aren't to scam yourself,  you enable people who do want to scam.  Especially when green-trusted accounts are sold.

Edited for grammar error.

[Blazed]

I think it sort of sucks, but also I see why some have them. If you want to voice an unpopular concern and do not want your main account attacked maybe? For the record, I have 2 accounts here...the 2nd has never posted though.

Edit: Make that 3 accounts (never posted on any but this one). The others were registered in 2013 in case I got locked out of this one)

[botany]

I guess this is the official line on alt accounts.

I don't have a problem with alt accounts as long as they're not used for evading bans. If you're hesitant to say something controversial because you don't want it to be associated with your name, please create an alt account and say it.

[Lauda]

If you want to voice an unpopular concern and do not want your main account attacked maybe?

Okay, fair point. However, that account should not:
1) Join signature campaigns.
2) Engage in any kind of shady business or trades (since it is only used for the opinion itself).

Keep in mind that we are talking about a secondary account which is just the minimum of having 'many'.

[awesome31312]

There are folks on Bitcointalk who have 2,3,5,10 or even 15 accounts and more. There are many reasons to have a bunch of accounts, fun, propaganda, signature campaigns, schizophrenia &c., you name it.

This forum is very liberal. Do you supports the forum's decision to allow this practice?

What does schizophrenia have to do with owning multiple accounts on a Bitcoin forum? I am schizophrenic and I own only one Bitcointalk account

[The Sceptical Chymist]

There are folks on Bitcointalk who have 2,3,5,10 or even 15 accounts and more. There are many reasons to have a bunch of accounts, fun, propaganda, signature campaigns, schizophrenia &c., you name it.

This forum is very liberal. Do you supports the forum's decision to allow this practice?

What does schizophrenia have to do with owning multiple accounts on a Bitcoin forum? I am schizophrenic and I own only one Bitcointalk account

People mistake schizophrenia with multiple personality disorder all the time.  That's my guess.   Hope you're in remission.

[robelneo]

I guess this is the official line on alt accounts.

I don't have a problem with alt accounts as long as they're not used for evading bans. If you're hesitant to say something controversial because you don't want it to be associated with your name, please create an alt account and say it.

I think that makes sense,this could be the reason that so many newbie accounts are the ones announcing a new coin and the real account is the support team I have seen so many altcoins being announce by newbies and that is the practice..

[Moneroman88]

There are folks on Bitcointalk who have 2,3,5,10 or even 15 accounts and more. There are many reasons to have a bunch of accounts, fun, propaganda, signature campaigns, schizophrenia &c., you name it.

This forum is very liberal. Do you supports the forum's decision to allow this practice?

What does schizophrenia have to do with owning multiple accounts on a Bitcoin forum? I am schizophrenic and I own only one Bitcointalk account

People mistake schizophrenia with multiple personality disorder all the time.  That's my guess.   Hope you're in remission.

I'm sorry if I was being offensive by including schizophrenia on the list but I too suffer from this condition.

I don't mistake it with multiple personality disorder as The Pharmacist has kindly suggested here.

I don't operate a multitude of accounts either, I happen to have only 2.

Personally I don't mind people having plenty of accounts - problem is not quantity but quality.

Some people only post crap - that's all they ever do. Several accounts of those people and toxicity bubbles up.

On the other hand, some people are like genuine sunshine. Several accounts of those people make life brighter for all of us.

[awesome31312]

There are folks on Bitcointalk who have 2,3,5,10 or even 15 accounts and more. There are many reasons to have a bunch of accounts, fun, propaganda, signature campaigns, schizophrenia &c., you name it.

This forum is very liberal. Do you supports the forum's decision to allow this practice?

What does schizophrenia have to do with owning multiple accounts on a Bitcoin forum? I am schizophrenic and I own only one Bitcointalk account

People mistake schizophrenia with multiple personality disorder all the time.  That's my guess.   Hope you're in remission.

I'm sorry if I was being offensive by including schizophrenia on the list but I too suffer from this condition.

Thank you for this. It is extremely rare to find an example of something like this happen on the internet.

[dogie]

I guess this is the official line on alt accounts.

I don't have a problem with alt accounts as long as they're not used for evading bans. If you're hesitant to say something controversial because you don't want it to be associated with your name, please create an alt account and say it.

The problem with that rule set is that you absolutely can use alt accounts to evade bans because the burden on proof is on the accuser, apparently. Take this guy, a prolific troll that used 27 accounts to attack specific people and companies for months on end. The initial group of accounts were permabanned, and many subsequent ones were nuked.

However even though I've provided extensive evidence that this permabanned guy is using new accounts, and using these accounts to both attack and troll, they remain unbanned even after reporting. Even when they post doxes to troll in the same thread - which is also something explicitly against the rules - they and their posts are left untouched.

[botany]

I guess this is the official line on alt accounts.

I don't have a problem with alt accounts as long as they're not used for evading bans. If you're hesitant to say something controversial because you don't want it to be associated with your name, please create an alt account and say it.

The problem with that rule set is that you absolutely can use alt accounts to evade bans because the burden on proof is on the accuser, apparently. Take this guy, a prolific troll that used 27 accounts to attack specific people and companies for months on end. The initial group of accounts were permabanned, and many subsequent ones were nuked.

However even though I've provided extensive evidence that this permabanned guy is using new accounts, and using these accounts to both attack and troll, they remain unbanned even after reporting. Even when they post doxes to troll in the same thread - which is also something explicitly against the rules - they and their posts are left untouched.

I personally thought that once suspected ban evasions are highlighted, admins can easily verify it using IP information and do act on it.
Seems like that is not the case.

[awesome31312]

There are folks on Bitcointalk who have 2,3,5,10 or even 15 accounts and more. There are many reasons to have a bunch of accounts, fun, propaganda, signature campaigns, schizophrenia &c., you name it.
This forum is very liberal. Do you supports the forum's decision to allow this practice?

What does schizophrenia have to do with owning multiple accounts on a Bitcoin forum? I am schizophrenic and I own only one Bitcointalk account

People mistake schizophrenia with multiple personality disorder all the time.  That's my guess.   Hope you're in remission.

I'm sorry if I was being offensive by including schizophrenia on the list but I too suffer from this condition.

Thank you for this. It is extremely rare to find an example of something like this happen on the internet.

If it's not too personal, would you describe your most surreal episode ? How does it manifest for you ?

It's like lucid dreaming, but not like how other people think (It's not like drugs, for instance). Really hard to explain it.

[DarkThrones]

I guess this is the official line on alt accounts.

I don't have a problem with alt accounts as long as they're not used for evading bans. If you're hesitant to say something controversial because you don't want it to be associated with your name, please create an alt account and say it.

The problem with that rule set is that you absolutely can use alt accounts to evade bans because the burden on proof is on the accuser, apparently. Take this guy, a prolific troll that used 27 accounts to attack specific people and companies for months on end. The initial group of accounts were permabanned, and many subsequent ones were nuked.

However even though I've provided extensive evidence that this permabanned guy is using new accounts, and using these accounts to both attack and troll, they remain unbanned even after reporting. Even when they post doxes to troll in the same thread - which is also something explicitly against the rules - they and their posts are left untouched.

They neither support or oppose it. I think it's good to allow people freedom for accounts. I mean obviously after like 2 or 3 there may be malicious intent. Anything malicious gets reported and banned in time. Plus there are multiple people in a household so..

[awesome31312]

I guess this is the official line on alt accounts.

I don't have a problem with alt accounts as long as they're not used for evading bans. If you're hesitant to say something controversial because you don't want it to be associated with your name, please create an alt account and say it.

The problem with that rule set is that you absolutely can use alt accounts to evade bans because the burden on proof is on the accuser, apparently. Take this guy, a prolific troll that used 27 accounts to attack specific people and companies for months on end. The initial group of accounts were permabanned, and many subsequent ones were nuked.

However even though I've provided extensive evidence that this permabanned guy is using new accounts, and using these accounts to both attack and troll, they remain unbanned even after reporting. Even when they post doxes to troll in the same thread - which is also something explicitly against the rules - they and their posts are left untouched.

They neither support or oppose it. I think it's good to allow people freedom for accounts. I mean obviously after like 2 or 3 there may be malicious intent. Anything malicious gets reported and banned in time. Plus there are multiple people in a household so..

He wasn't talking about multiple people on the same IP. He was talking about one person having multiple accounts.

[Quickseller]

It is trivial for someone to avoid detection of being an alt of another account, even by an experienced administrator with access to IP/browser information. Without going into detail as to how to avoid detection, all you probably will need is a single VPN subscription and the ability to use multiple browsers. I believe that any attempt of banning alt accounts would do nothing more then promote a false sense of security. Of course this also ignores the fact that the forum encourages things like free markets, and freedom of speech, both of which are supported by the potential for use of alt accounts.

Attempting to enforce any kind of ban/limit on alt accounts would only help the most dangerous of scammers, who would quickly learn how to cover their tracks from the administration.

There are a very large number of very highly trusted people, and people with large amounts of reputation who I believe to have alt accounts that they have either kept secret, or have attempted to keep secret. I believe the many of the moderators, including at least one admin (and I suspect that the other as well) uses at least one alt account (that is not publicly known) they post from when they are not moderating. If I were to assume that satoshi is sill alive, then I would say that satoshi more likely then not has multiple (secret) alt accounts that he has posted from (or at least has browsed the forum from).

[awesome31312]

It is trivial for someone to avoid detection of being an alt of another account, even by an experienced administrator with access to IP/browser information. Without going into detail as to how to avoid detection,

Please, everybody knows how to use a VPN, we're on Bitcointalk, for Christ's sake.