What if someone has multiple accounts

What do you do if someone has multiple accounts but is not spamming? From time to time, I have realized that someone has more than one account. Of course, there are times when someone does this to spam or if they have been banned. But I have had a person or two who simply has two accounts but provides good posts. I am not sure why they would do this and what I should do.

 

Well, what would I do in this situation? First off, PM the user and ask them which account they'd like to use - and merge them both together. The user might get pissed, but I've done it before and the user never said anything about it.

If its in your rules that multiple accounts aren't allowed, then you have all the obligation to merge the accounts.

 

I use a multiple account detector and watch to see what the person is doing with the accounts. On one of my forums there are many husband and wifes each with their own accounts so I add them to the exception list. Otherwise somebody with multiple accounts is nothing but trouble waiting to happen.

 

I'd start with a PM like cpvr said. You need to determine if it is a dupe account or just two account holders using the same IP as that's pretty common; husband and wife is an example like BarelyHangingOn mentioned.

If it turns out it's just a dupe account, merge them and if it's already in your rules that dupe account aren't allowed then give them a warning; if not, add it.

 

I actually don't have a problem with them having multiple accounts so long as they're not doing anything inappropriate. Maybe they want to use one more business-like and the other more personal, for example, or maybe they wanted to ask a question on the second account without it being tied to the first name.

If they're only actively using one name and the other hasn't been touched since they switched names, I'd contact them to see about merging, though. Sometimes that happens when a person forgets a password or can't get into the old account....they'll start a new one without any intent of causing issues.

 

I don't think one should have a problem with this except they are using the accounts for dubious purpose or to scam.
On large forums people usually have double accounts, one attached to them, the other(s) to ask certain questions or to make just any post they don't want to be attached to their normal self.
We shouldn't have a problem with this cause basically people go on forums cause of the anonymity involved.

 

I allow multiple accounts if they're using one of them to represent their game and one for personal use. Other than that, multiple accounts aren't allowed on my forum.

 

On our forum multiple accounts are banned immediately. We just dont tolerate it.