52

I found a two accounts which I think belong to the same user, and the whole situation does look somewhat suspect.

  • What action should I take when I find such accounts?
  • What actions will be taken by moderators?
  • Will any of the accounts be taken down? Will both be taken down?
| |
  • 11
    Just flag one of their posts with an "other" flag, there is no need for a meta post. – Mad Scientist Jun 13 '14 at 6:05
  • 1
    @MadScientist, Yes, that I'l do for sure, mean while I've few queries regarding this. I've edited my question. – Hemang Jun 13 '14 at 6:08
  • 5
    Having multiple accounts is perhaps unnecessary, but not a problem. Voting between them is, but that's of course private information. – Bart Jun 13 '14 at 6:12
  • 1
    oh, that means there's no problem if a user having multiple accounts? – Hemang Jun 13 '14 at 6:13
  • Indeed. There's nothing explicitly disallowing that. – Bart Jun 13 '14 at 6:15
  • 5
    When someone needs multiple accounts for single site (however its allowing to access each site in network with single account) then there's only possibility of "something wrong purpose". – Hemang Jun 13 '14 at 6:18
  • 3
    Stalker alert :p – asprin Jun 13 '14 at 9:22
  • 4
    @Hemang Not necessarily. What if I want to have one account for to speak my mind and another that I let my employers see? Not that I do that, but I could see people doing it, and I wouldn't really consider that as 'something wrong.' – woot Jun 15 '14 at 3:50
  • 3
    I recently had an experience with a user having multiple accounts where he used his two accounts to vote down and try to close my question costing me rep, along with voting up his own accounts. I did report, little was done to my knowledge. My big concern now is with the new careers page, given rep and tags are used by an automated system to target you for job consideration, reputation and abuse by multi account holders now has an actual impact on ones career. I feel this should be looked at properly in light of the new careers system and its impact with regard to such people. – Francis Rodgers Nov 19 '15 at 23:03
59

What action should I take when I find such accounts?

If you see a user with multiple accounts and suspect foul play, just flag for moderator attention and have them sort it out.

What actions will be taken by moderators?

Not necessarily any action. Having multiple accounts is not explicitly disallowed. It only gets to be a problem when those accounts have interactions between them to gain rep, or when extra accounts are made to circumvent bans or suspensions.

Will any of the accounts be taken down? Will both be taken down?

In a lot of cases neither. It really depends on the exact situation whether or not an account will be deleted or merged. Moderators have some broad guidelines they're expected to follow, but ultimately each case relies on the judgement of those investigating it.

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  • I wish, either I get this answer from a "valid source (already explained some where)" or from a moderator it self. Because they can only say what exactly will they do or thinking! – Hemang Jun 13 '14 at 7:00
  • 16
    mmm, @Hemang, maybe the answer has no references, but Bart himself is a "valid source" ;) – brasofilo Jun 13 '14 at 7:55
  • 7
    @Payeli Incidentally, the posts you link to were by Community Managers; actual employees of Stack Exchange, and the 'bosses' of the moderators. So they would carry even more weight in relation to this :) – Andrew Barber Jun 13 '14 at 13:39
  • 1
    So, If a user creates multiple accounts to bypass the 90 minute limit for asking questions (not bad questions), nothing needs to be done? – Spikatrix Feb 28 '16 at 8:48

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