Admin Alts

[Azareal]

I think we've all been on one of those sites where people conveniently appear out of nowhere, talk in the same way, always flock to the admin's defence, sometimes cover really generic topics everyone knows supposedly only for the purpose of SEO, and have suspiciously activity patterns to that of the admin.

Sometimes, the administrator will even go as far as assigning different personalities to them and will have one talk like his eight and another talk as if he's a bit more educated. It can be a bit of a rabbit-hole, as I've seen with some administrators.

Alts on the other-hand are probably one of the best choices for bootstrapping a new forum, along with bringing in friends, etc. as-long as the alts disappear gradually as real members take their place and they're not used in really obvious ways all of the time.

Sad to say, I've never really used alts, although the results from seeing other people use them almost makes me wish I had 😛 lol
Has anyone here used alts? Has anyone seen alts? How often? Are they really obvious or more subtle?

 

[JoelR]

I use an alt account, but for a very specific purpose of posting community announcements and content.

 

[Bluezone777]

I don't believe in intentionally deceiving people by using alt accounts to pose as someone else. The way I figured is if you can't have a decent forum without deceiving people then perhaps the days of having a decent forum are over. The only good reason I found for using an alt was to test permissions to ensure they worked properly.

 

[Azareal]

The only good reason I found for using an alt was to test permissions to ensure they worked properly.

I have a few alts like that for testing features. Plural because testing registration and anti-spam involves making a new account lol

I usually don't call them alts though, just test accounts and they're usually labelled as such (if only so I don't confuse myself on what is real and what is not 😛).

 

[Bluezone777]

That's what I normally called them(Test accounts) as I usually named mine "Test" without the quote marks and even gave it its own user group named test account which it sat in when not in use.

 

[Oblivion Knight]

I admitedly use a couple of alts.. One for similar reasons to those previously mentioned for testing purposes named "Debug". I also grant this account administrator status and provide it for third-party support if needed, rather than my own and/or them having to sign-up which understandably they tend not to like doing. I obviously change the password each time I give it out.

The second I use for activity purposes because otherwise the forum would be dead (and I'm not going to confess to which).. I've been struggling to get new sign-ups and/or people posting regularly. I know I need to focus more on the content side, but it can be difficult not to get disheartened.

 

[Eussbig]

Nope, never use alts.