# Multiple User IDs or Accts **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [January 31, 2020, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-user-ids-or-accts/847285 "2020-01-31T12:41:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2020, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-user-ids-or-accts/847285/41 "2020-02-01T02:45:37Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Furthermore, the character “Richie” was played by Ron Howard and the character “Joanie” was portrayed by Erin Moran. Although it is true that Ron Howard played a character named “Richie”, and that Erin Moran played a character named “Joanie”, Ron Howard never legally changed his name to Richie, and Erin Moran never legally changed her name to Joanie. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2020, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-user-ids-or-accts/847285/42 "2020-02-01T03:39:19Z")
I once saw a sock puppet with two little brass balls sewn onto the bottom. I think they helped keep the cannonballs in their proper socket. I dunno, but I suspect that particular puppet got thrown out pretty fast. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2020, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-user-ids-or-accts/847285/43 "2020-02-01T04:40:48Z")
I can see where a person might want to have a different persona in two different conversations. If you have a goofy off-the-wall reputation in IMHO, it could militate against your credibility when replying seriously in GQ. . As in “We’re supposed to respect A, when it comes from someone who thinks B?” ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2020, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-user-ids-or-accts/847285/44 "2020-02-01T05:24:26Z")
> [@Sparky812](#): > > What argument could you make for allowing multiple IDs and the ensuing benefits?.. I also post on another message board that is connected to my profession. It’s a small profession. It’s quite common for people to have multiple IDs there. They may have one ID in their real name that they use to discuss professional matters. They may have a second ID that they use the shoot the bull and talk politics, without potential future employers linking those posts to their real name. Then, maybe, they’ve been posting for a while, and a lot of people who actually know them have come to know who they really are. (But not most potential future employers.) But then they have some personal problem, maybe an issue with their boss, or their child, that they don’t want to talk about publicly. So they create a new ID. Does it ever cause problems? Oh hell yes. But usually it doesn’t. It’s the right choice for that board. And oddly, actually using separate IDs as “sock puppets” to support each other, or make each other look good, is extremely rare. Using alternate IDs (which we refer to as “alts”) to avoid consequences of misbehavior is FAR more common. And there are delightful benefits. People create “theme alts”. Sometimes, in a discussion of donuts, Homer Simpson will stop by. Someone create an alt “reposted Tolkien”, who only posted quotes from Tolkien, always apropos to the conversation. > [@jnglmassiv](#): > > Not that I’m arguing in favor of allowing socks but there are questions I might ask and threads I might reply to using a different, more anonymous username but not with this one… Yup. There are questions I haven’t asked here because this ID isn’t very anonymous. It’s certainly easier to moderate bright lines, though. And this board doesn’t need alts the way the other board I’ve described does. I can see why they have made the decisions they made. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2020, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-user-ids-or-accts/847285/45 "2020-02-01T05:57:12Z")
> [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > But I’ve never seen any explanation as to why there is such a fear of multiple IDs. I’m not suggesting they should be permitted. But it seems like you have such a terrible fear of anyone having multiple IDs. May I ask why? Fear? When did a distaste for insincere lying sacks of crap become the working definition of “fear” ? Oh, I’m sorry, was that unfair to the sock-puppet community? ---
**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2020, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-user-ids-or-accts/847285/46 "2020-02-01T08:32:56Z")
I have always had an aversion toward sock-puppets. One category of suck-puppets that seems to be ignored here includes alter-egos created by forum administrators and moderators. Here are some examples of such second selves mentioned on [this pdf source](https://thinkst.com/stuff/hitb2014/Thinkst_2014_SockPuppets.pdf): _Another well documented example was with the link-aggregation site Reddit. When it first began, the site administrators made use of sock puppet accounts to post content creating the impression that the site was more active than it actually was. With similar aims of bolstering an 12 organization, the Fox News PR department ran a sock puppet campaign over a number of years. A former 13 employee leaked details of having operated at least 100 sock puppet accounts to counter blogs posts and comments that were critical of the network._ ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2020, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-user-ids-or-accts/847285/47 "2020-02-01T10:38:35Z")
> [@PlaceboTarget](#): > > I have always had an aversion toward sock-puppets. One category of suck-puppets that seems to be ignored here includes alter-egos created by forum administrators and moderators. Here are some examples of such second selves mentioned on [this pdf source](https://thinkst.com/stuff/hitb2014/Thinkst_2014_SockPuppets.pdf): _Another well documented example was with the link-aggregation site Reddit. When it first began, the site administrators made use of sock puppet accounts to post content creating the impression that the site was more active than it actually was. With similar aims of bolstering an 12 organization, the Fox News PR department ran a sock puppet campaign over a number of years. A former 13 employee leaked details of having operated at least 100 sock puppet accounts to counter blogs posts and comments that were critical of the network._ I can’t defend the latter, but the former would be more acceptable than non-socked imbeciles and trolls if they generated [constructive and helpful content](https://xkcd.com/810/). ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2020, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-user-ids-or-accts/847285/48 "2020-02-01T12:49:16Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > I can see where a person might want to have a different persona in two different conversations. If you have a goofy off-the-wall reputation in IMHO, it could militate against your credibility when replying seriously in GQ. . As in “We’re supposed to respect A, when it comes from someone who thinks B?” That actually makes some sense to me. But, I think Dopers by and large pride themselves on their diverse tastes and wide range of interests, and see being able to comment sagely on one topic but goofily on a very different one as a feature, not a bug. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2020, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-user-ids-or-accts/847285/49 "2020-02-01T16:00:58Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > The best kind of socks are the warm, extra fuzzy ones. I have a whole drawer full of them, including ones that are black and gold, for my favorite sports’ teams. Ooh, I know this one! [buzzes in] **Guinastasia** , are you from… Pittsburgh? I knew the Steelers and the Penguins were black and gold, but I [looked it up](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_in_Pittsburgh) and… “The colors black and gold are based on the colors of William Pitt’s coat of arms; Pittsburgh is the only city in the United States in which all professional sporting teams share the same colors.” Regards, **digs** (who makes goofy comments in MPSIMS, IMHO, and the Pit, all without needing to change IDs) ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2020, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-user-ids-or-accts/847285/50 "2020-02-01T19:10:36Z")
OMG, how did you figure that out??? That’s amazing!!! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-user-ids-or-accts/847285.md?page=2)