And Bryan is correct.
If you really want to ask that anal wart question, you can go to a library computer, start a guest account, and ask away. When the anal wart thread is over, you let the guest account lapse. How are the PTB going to connect you?
The people who get caught are people who were such big jerks that they got themselves banned. So they start a sock account. But the trouble is that they’re still big jerks, so the odds are high that they’re going to run afoul of the PTB with their new account. I’m not privy to the secret meetings, but you can bet that every time a new high profile jerk shows up, a little discreet IP check is done to see if they match a previous banned jerk.
Of course, if the sock doesn’t act like a jerk with the new account, no one cares much. But if the sock had the ability to refrain from being a jerk, they would have done so in the first place and not gotten themselves banned. The fact that they got themselves banned is a pretty good indication that they aren’t capable of changing their ways.
As for the other scenario of one person using two accounts and claiming to be two people sharing a computer, well, I suppose you could do it, but you’re probably going to screw up eventually. It would be a lot of work…and for what? If you really want an anal wart account, you’re not going to re-use it for anything else, are you? Is it really that important to have one account that participates in serious Great Debates, and another that talks about anal warts? Why can’t you do both with one account? Who cares? You honestly think your credibility in GD will suffer if you ask about anal warts? You’re that concerned with your image?
And then we have the situation like we just had. If you really want to leave behind the baggage of the past, why not try just moving on? Because if you really like posting here, you’re going to inadvertantly connect yourself to your old account, unless you want to make up a whole fake persona, and that’s a lot like work, isn’t it?
We’ve had posters here who were pretty big assholes and/or dolts, and they’ve turned themselves around. Their old doltish posts are still there somewhere, but so what? All that means is that when you run a search and come across an old thread, you think, “Boy, what a dolt FormerDolt used to be. I’m glad he’s not such a dolt anymore.” Is that such a bad thing?
Of course, if you’re still a dolt, then running away from your doltish past is useless, because you’re still a dolt, and every word you write lets people know you’re a dolt. So what good is a new account going to do? Only a dolt would imagine a new account would allow them a fresh start. They’re still a dolt. That is their crime, that is also their punishment.