How would you deal with a multi-accounter?

I was curious on what do you guys do with Multi-accounts, people that register more than 1 account on the same IP. Honestly I really don't like multi accouter because it makes me feel like they're up to something, but then again it could be a family member. I have one of my current forum right now and I can't decide if I'm going to IP ban him or give him a warning, he could be up to something. So what do you guys think about multi-accouters what do you usually do when you find one? Hope someone gives me some good info, thanks.

 

I'd drop them a friendly note saying you noticed the multiple accounts and asking if they intended to do that or had changed their mind on the username. (Sometimes people just don't realize that asking for a name change would probably be preferable to you.) This also lets them know that you've noticed them, in case their plans were nefarious.

 

Honestly i dont like it at all most of the time they are up to something!! I love fb and its a big problem most of the times, i do notify them and ask them why do they have 2 accounts but never gets an answer from them i just delete them and block them because then i know they are up to something and i dont wanne be part of it

 

It depends usually. First I contact them as they could have a relative within their household using the forum and if they say that isn't the case I usually merge their two accounts. I am not too strict as long as they are not ban evaders, they are one of the worse, I usually just ban a ban evader and increase the ban time on their main account.

 

This discussion reminds me of a forum like site that allowed family accounts. In case they got such multi accounts, they contacted back before approving or disapproving of such accounts - and asked if the other (new) account was from a family member or there was an issue. I was also reading on the threads on the forum, that a few users had in fact forgotten their usernames and as such could not log back in and that made them opt for the second account. In my opinion, to counter such things, on the login page or elsewhere, there should a "Forgot My Username" link too to retrieve the forgotten username. Or better, use the registering email ID as the username as many people tend to forget the Username in case they dont log in for a while.

 

Usually multi accounts means someone is up to no good, I don't see why a family member would join a forum with another because most of my family doesn't even know what I do online most of the time. If family members do join together on very rare occasions they should at least be the first to let the Administrator and Staff know so that their accounts aren't being flagged as someone who spams. Personally I don't like the multi accounts and if they are questioned about it they should answer open and honestly, however half of them probably won't respond as to why they have more then one user account to the forum they have signed up to. If I forget my account information I will simply make a new account and then notify the staff to delete the other one and give them details like email so they can find it easier and delete it or some how reset your password.

 

One account per IP. Even two computers at the same address have different IPs.
If they're trying to claim they have more than one person sharing the same computer they can also share the same account.
I don't have time for guessing games as to who is being honest and who is looking to cause trouble.

 

The issue is, IP checking is inreliable due to the dynamic nature of IP's nowadays.

What if two people from the same college/school/university joined - they would have the same IP...

 

I think my primary thing would be sending them a notification that the rules prohibit multiple accounts then take it from there. I do agree with a few of you , if someone has more than one account it leaves you to think the person is up to no good and you want to find out what their true intentions are but it all depends. I can easily do the mean thing and disable both accounts until we get it figured out but I'd ask which they wanted to keep before I permanently deleted the other account. I really wish there weren't such dishonest people roaming around the internet but there are quite a few who try to find profit or ways of getting around the rules in the most despicable ways and it influences a domino effect that hurts even the good " apples".

 

I don't care too much about multiple accounts? Two or three accounts? I'm fine with that, as long as you don't break any rules or use them to become a nuisance.

Tons of accounts (like the 500 one person had on a site I won't name)? Yeah, then I'd probably tell them to knock it off and ban the extra ones.

 

I generally just ask them to use one or the other. If they don't comply, my ban hammer comes out to play.

 

Just had this issue on my site today in fact. Dropped him a PM and asked what his intentions were, he had a valid reason and we agreed to delete the duplicate account. On my site, duplicate accounts throw a huge red flag and raise suspicion.

 

I only users to have two usernames if its one for their game and for personal use. But, other that, we don't allow multiple accounts and if a user is caught using them, we ban of their accounts and merge them both.

 

Sometimes people mistakenly make two accounts. I investigate it first and determine if abuse is present or not. If the member is abusing the system - ban both accounts.

 

I usually merge the 2 accounts, and I ask questions.

This happened to me on here...I accidentally created another account cause I did not know I had an account here already.

 

I send the user a message to determine whether or not if it's the same individual or family members sharing the same IP using the board separately, if it's the same person with multiple accounts, it's an unannounced ban for an X amount of months.

 

I just ask them kindly what there planning to do with like 3 accounts if the answer seems fishy ill ban the accounts they are not unless it has tons of posts ill ask them which one they want to keep, hasn't happend on my new forum luckily though.