Handling users with multiple accounts?

[a5cent]

Spammer accounts are instantly banned, but how do we deal with normal members that we suspect of opening a second account? It's my understanding that we'd normally:

• send a PM referring them to the forum rules.
• cooperatively determine if the forum rules are actually being broken.
• potentially close one of the accounts if necessary.

However, how do you guys coordinate that effort? How do I know one of you good folks isn't already looking into that particular issue?

Example: to me it looks like Angy Ortiz1 and ortizang may be the same person.

 

[HeyCori]

Looks like he has a third. IP check brings up all three accounts.

http://forums.windowscentral.com/members/angy-ortiz.htm

Looks like he mainly posts on ortizang. He could just be an ***** and doesn't keep track of his other accounts. None the less, his spare accounts will be banned and a PM will be sent informing him of what will happen if he makes another account.

 

[a5cent]

Looks like he has a third. IP check brings up all three accounts.

http://forums.windowscentral.com/members/angy-ortiz.htm

Looks like he mainly posts on ortizang. He could just be an ***** and doesn't keep track of his other accounts. None the less, his spare accounts will be banned and a PM will be sent informing him of what will happen if he makes another account.

Good catch... learned something ;-) Thx!

Still, how can we know these accounts aren't just two family members using WPC from the same computer? Based on the names I think that unlikely, but it is theoretically possible. From what I understand, that is why we should strive to talk it out instead of going straight to the ban option. Am I wrong?

If we are to talk it out, then how can I know if another mod is already dealing with it (sent off a PM and possibly engaged in dialog), or not?

 

[HeyCori]

Three different users with similar usernames and posting styles does seem like a bit of a stretch. If he can someone prove otherwise then he's welcomed to argue his case.

 

[a5cent]

Three different users with similar usernames and posting styles does seem like a bit of a stretch. If he can someone prove otherwise then he's welcomed to argue his case.

Okay. Got it. Am I to take from this that we don't generally talk this out, and thus the need has never arisen to coordinate which accounts are being looked into by whom?

BTW: Just found this account (xankazo) which has also posted from the same IP as ortizang (181.36.0.6), although they don't seem related to me.

 

[HeyCori]

xankazo looks clean as far as I can tell. All of Ortiz's accounts came up under the same IP (plus the AE Detector which Laura said not to worry about for now). And xankazo doesn't have all the terrible misspellings in his post like the ortizs.

 

[a5cent]

So, anybody got a comment on this part:

Am I to take from this that we don't generally talk this out, and thus the need has never arisen to coordinate which accounts are being looked into by whom?

???

 

[Laura Knotek]

So, anybody got a comment on this part:



???

I will check AE Detector, but I never use it as the only tool. I look at grammar, spelling, posting style.

Many of the duplicates actually are developers working for the same company or family members in the same household. If I see something that looks questionable, I will PM the member and ask him/her what the circumstances happen to be. Sometimes members create accounts and then forget about those accounts. Then they create new accounts months/years later, since they completely forgot they even had accounts previously. In that case, I'll ask them which account they prefer to keep and refer them to accounts@mobilenations.com for support.

 

[a5cent]

If I see something that looks questionable, I will PM the member and ask him/her what the circumstances happen to be.

Okay, that's what I got from Beverly too. So, that again brings me back to my question: If you sent a PM to a suspect, and I then see the same thing, how do I know you've already engaged that person? How do we prevent that one member getting essentially the same PM from Cori, you and myself (just as an example)?

 

[Laura Knotek]

Okay, that's what I got from Beverly too. So, that again brings me back to my question: If you sent a PM to a suspect, and I then see the same thing, how do I know you've already engaged that person? How do we prevent that one member getting essentially the same PM from Cori, you and myself (just as an example)?

That is a good question.

Currently, we do not have any method of determining if another mod already contacted a member about questionable accounts.

I will make a note of this and ask at the next Team Leader meeting, since I believe this issue is applicable on the other Mobile Nations' forums as well as on WPCentral.

 

[Pete]

On another forum I moderate on, the use of User Notes is used to log activity against a particular user. Here, the same function is kind of used by way of infractions, but that doesn't allow for general comments.

What about adding an infraction type for multiple accounts, since it is technically an infraction of the rules...?

 

[Muessig]

On another forum I moderate on, the use of User Notes is used to log activity against a particular user. Here, the same function is kind of used by way of infractions, but that doesn't allow for general comments.

What about adding an infraction type for multiple accounts, since it is technically an infraction of the rules...?

There is one if you check the community rules and guidelines:

Multiple Usernames Permanent Ban Never NO

This is something I've brought up with Laura as something to discuss in our mod meeting, but it's probably good to discuss it wider, too. As you say we don't currently have a system in place to check what actions are being looked into or taken by another mod. This is an example and so are the reported posts.

As per multiple accounts specifically it's banned under the guidelines. If we know a user is definitely using multiple accounts and we know they still want to be a valid contributor to the forum I think we'd probably get them to choose an account to use and then ban the other one. At least I think that's what's happened in the past. Using the AE Detector and other means of trying to find out if they are someone using multiple accounts in the first place is something we can and probably should discuss if we're not sure at all and come to a group decision over.

 

[a5cent]

On another forum I moderate on, the use of User Notes is used to log activity against a particular user. Here, the same function is kind of used by way of infractions, but that doesn't allow for general comments.

What about adding an infraction type for multiple accounts, since it is technically an infraction of the rules...?

Infractions are applied to posts. This type of infraction wouldn't have anything to do with posts. Would we arbitrarily choose a post to infract? Would we infract a single post, or one made from every account we think suspicious? What if the member made a new account but hasn't yet posted from it, so there isn't yet a post to infract?

Furthermore, infractions are applied when rules have been broken. This type of infraction would be the first that is applied based merely on suspicion. Would we want two potentially unrelated members to receive infractions, before it's been established that they actually violated the rules?

I may be misunderstanding you, but to me it doesn't sound like the infraction system is the right tool for this job. At the very least, I'd suspect the required modifications would cause the tech staff a lot of work...

I think you are right that it would require some mechanism of attaching information to accounts however. That would probably have to include:

• Which accounts are suspected of belonging to the same person
• Has it been looked into/Who is looking into it
• A note explaining the findings if it turns out the suspect accounts are unrelated.