Recognized in new account after 18 months

[Topaz Lanfier]

I'm posting on behalf of a friend who's had a bit of an unsettling experience. 18 months ago she started a new (second) life. She broke contact with everyone from the first. New avi, different groups…just a complete new start. And she shared no RL details with the first set of friends. The first account still exists, but she never uses it, and she wiped her profile clean.

Yesterday she got an IM from one of her former friends, who knew she was the same person as the first account. (Nothing malicious, her ex-friend was just making contact.) The person wasn't on the same sim, and my friend was not chatting in local anyway.

We've been racking our brains, but we're at a loss to know how this is possible. Does anyone have any ideas how this could happen? I know the obvious answer is to ask the ex-friend, but she really doesn't want to revisit that life.

 

[wiked Anton]

i have heard that on third party sights that you ip address is up for grabs, and if so, her former friend only has to match the IP and presto chango, tracked her down. 

[161488303349]

visit the same sims. join the same groups. wear the same clothes/style. buy the same stuff for your house/parcel. stuff like that

+

less serious

sometimes i get random messages from people saying i am someone else. i just say yes i am. and then start chat them and make stuff up about why i don't like them anymore. they usual end up mute me

jejejejeje (:

[Freya Mokusei]

Media (audio and video), Voice, MoaP and linked URLs in chat or IM are all capable of providing oracles that can be used comparitively. Browser headers, IP addresses, Java and other interrogations can be carried out easily via the web. All depend on her local network's security, and whether her IP address changes.

Many alts also re-use assets, such as profile pics (even first life), jewellry or AOs carried between avatars are also easy signs.

Additionally, word selection, spelling choices, emoticon usage, sentence structure, clothes choice can all give away clues.

 

Truth is there are many ways to do it. People are bad at pluralising their brains.

[SandraWillow]

It could be something as simple as the way she talks.  She could just respond to say that she is hoping for a fresh start and is no longer wishing to live the life that had the long lost friend in it.  

[Bree Giffen]

Your friend could also respond by denying everything. Deny that she is who she is. Someone with the same IP logged into SL? Coud be anybody. There's really no way to tell except by what the old friend did and verify via conversation.

[Sidnella Riler]

Patterns is the problem, I m sure your "friend", has fallen into an old pattern, something she did with her other account, like someone else said, people makes ALT and they go back to some of the same things they were doing before

but there are also people that will stalk accounts and try to find people who is no longer in their friend list, creepy but they do

[Darren Scorpio]

Ever heard that old habits are hard to break? I have met people inworld who all of a sudden disappear and then I come across them again in a new avi. Profiles are usually similar. The way they type is always the same, groups they belong to are the same, type of clothes they wear are the same. Most importantly though is that they visit the same places they used to visit. It isn't until talking to them for a while that they will reveal to me that they are the same person proving my suspicions right. So basically what I am saying is that rather than making too much of it and becoming a bit paranoid with the usual IP tracking stuff just consider that maybe your friend exhibited some obvious patterns.

[jwenting]

it can be easy to detect if 2 avatars are the same person. Same tastes in clothes, AO, hairstyles. Similar speech patterns, distinctive grammatical errors and typos. Same opinions about things. It all adds up.

 

[Pussycat Catnap]

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wiked Anton wrote:

i have heard that on third party sights that you ip address is up for grabs, and if so, her former friend only has to match the IP and presto chango, tracked her down. 

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Which if true is a bannable offense. That's "Friend" should be banned from SL permanently for that. This is one of the things that got a large 'post Emerald' group banned.

More likely is the person saw them somewhere, and recognized many tells.

I've logged in a brand new alt, bought some basic freebies and an AO, and gone passing by where a friend was only to have them call out to me as Pussycat. Why? My AO, and my way of lingering about (I have some pretty obvious tells once you get to know me - so does everyone), which is different than how others might linger about.

Even my choice of freebies revealed my personality...

 

Its pretty hard to escape yourself.

 

(Sometimes "sneaking" by a friend in an alt is a nice way to discover they know you well. )