Allow multiple user accounts?

MrDawn

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Do you ever allow your members to have more than one account on your forum?
 
Do you ever allow your members to have more than one account on your forum?
Typically I never allowed that because if we didn't know they had multiple accounts such as if they used a different IP / VPN if they got banned on one we would have to ban the other if we found out about it but if we didn't they would basically be ban evading. Plus I think it looks bad because it inflates your membership numbers when in reality it isn't that high.
 
Typically I never allowed that because if we didn't know they had multiple accounts such as if they used a different IP / VPN if they got banned on one we would have to ban the other if we found out about it but if we didn't they would basically be ban evading. Plus I think it looks bad because it inflates your membership numbers when in reality it isn't that high.
I agree with both of these arguments- makes banning harder and inflating isn't good either.

I typically would never allow dual accounts without very good purpose.
 
Nope, why do you need more than one account? Yet site owners and even I made more than one account 😛

It's understandable if they make another account then sent a PM stating that they have forgotten their passwords or email address to their old account and wanted it back, then they get it back and their new account gets merged rather than removing it or banning the account.

On that note, far bigger sites are hard to keep on the same page and no idea that some people have many accounts. VPN tp different email address. Yet smart staff can always tell at the end of the day by how they talk and post.
 
I, for one, take a hard-line approach. One account per household. I don't want your mom on my forum anyway.
 
I was on staff at a really large forum where the Admins encouraged a "sock account" and the reason was that members didn't take kindly to the staff since they were more like policemen just handing out warnings. So the sock accounts allowed those moderators to participate in conversations without that staff bias against them.

On CH we only allow multiple accounts for special occasions. We can't go by IP since we have couples who post on the board.
 
Currently I haven't set any rules against it, and nor do I have any measures that monitor it.. but I don't encourage it either.

If/when behaviour starts to become an issue, then I'll likely take a tougher stance.
 
I do not allow multiple accounts. I did a decade ago when I first started out, but now I don't because it messes up our stats. This is why I always say no multiple accounts allowed when requesting services that require staff to register on the forum. I don't even make this exception in post exchanges.
 
It’s up to the webmaster running the forum whether multiple accounts are allowed. I do know some website owners that pay posters to create 5 profiles and spread 100-150 posts out between them just to make the forum look active. Thats a big no no from me, but it’s preference at the end of the day. Why should you try and fake traffic? It’ll bite you in the ass sooner rather than later. I would opt for allowing members to change there username if required but not to a excessive level
 
I was thinking about allowing multiple accounts but then I came to a situation. What if a member creates a thread and he comments on the thread by using another account. This will be an artificial discussion.
 
No. There's no reason for someone to have multiple accounts on my board. For RPG boards I'd get it because each account may be a different character, but that's one of the only board genre's that comes to mind where it makes sense to do it.
 
For the general concencus - no.

For a long time on my Transformers we had an active RP section and in the the very very early days we allowed it, but over time in later years members just used there main accounts for multiple characters anyway, including myself. Outside of RP forums however; then no. I don't believe there is any reason too. One account and one account only.
 
I don't support them and if I found a user just making 15 accounts to post with themselves I would take action on it. Overall, I don't really care too much as it isn't a problem and doesn't seem to be a common occurrence to the point I need to go in and search out IPs to match accounts and such. It just doesn't seem to be worth the trouble to tell when two accounts might be from the same household, a work computer, the same VPN, etc.

Obviously using a second account to bypass a ban or something would be a different story.
 
it’s against my site rules, on a social media site maybe but on a forum it’s not needed and there’s no reason to do that.
 
I do not approve that a single member using another username on the same board. Mainly because that is going to cause more problems than good.

I do not see any good intention associated with it either. Not yet.
 
How many times a year that people do members cleanup on your forum?
 
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