Alts in the forums

[Luna Bliss]

10 hours ago, Arielle Popstar said:

To me it is the content of someone's post that is more important than who posted it. It is all too easy in some forums to get off on the wrong foot and any subsequent posts and threads tainted by those who focus on the poster vs the point they are trying to make. Besides, I have seen a few cases in these forums where posters were accused of being someone else when it was dead obvious by the grammar, spelling, general tone and structure of their posts they were entirely different but the accusation stuck and the second poster(s) judged harshly as a result.

Well, I think some post here in a more objective manner, a bit more detached from their feelings (not necessarily in a bad way). And so they discuss in a more abstract way.

For others the forum is more like a family where trust is important, where posters are more involved with their feelings, and issues of liking or not liking others are more in the forefront. Likely if someone posted the most amazing and wonderful thought in the world it would not be liked if the person reading it considered you an enemy. Conversely, I've seen some of the most ridiculous comments in the world be liked by others if they consider that person a forum friend.

I think most navigate between these two scenarios, depending upon the day and mood, although I see some staying stuck in one or the other mindsets described above.

[Arielle Popstar]

1 hour ago, Jaylinbridges said:

No, as I said, my Main posted here intentionally once in the last 10 years.  But when an SL mod banned me here AND in SL for 36 hours (you might remember that discussion in the tech section), I  brought in another alt to read posts.  Never posted but probably did a few likes.  I am not addicted to this forum, I keep telling myself.  

So the potential for getting banned from both the forum and inworld is more then just an idle threat and the single biggest justification for using a non inworld invested alt to post in the forums. I'll have to keep that in mind because though I haven't used a forum alt, I have wondered in past if I might be risking my inworld account with some of the controversial topics I get involved in. 

Thanks for affirming the potential for inworld banning.

[Love Zhaoying]

14 minutes ago, Arielle Popstar said:

2 hours ago, Jaylinbridges said:

No, as I said, my Main posted here intentionally once in the last 10 years.  But when an SL mod banned me here AND in SL for 36 hours (you might remember that discussion in the tech section), I  brought in another alt to read posts.  Never posted but probably did a few likes.  I am not addicted to this forum, I keep telling myself.  

Expand  

So the potential for getting banned from both the forum and inworld is more then just an idle threat and the single biggest justification for using a non inworld invested alt to post in the forums. I'll have to keep that in mind because though I haven't used a forum alt, I have wondered in past if I might be risking my inworld account with some of the controversial topics I get involved in. 

Thanks for affirming the potential for inworld banning.

Even I had a 36 hour "ban" before. I wish that I understood why the possibility of this happening causes you so much concern.

Unless you were a multiple offender - specifically with multiple time-limited (not permanent) "bans" from the Forums + In-world, it seems this threat would have a moderating influence on one's behavior, rather than be a continual cause for worry.

On topic, I can see people "coming back" as Alts after a short ban due to fears of longer bans (or embarassmemt, or any number of reasons) but why can't they just moderate their behavior? Do people not trust themselves to self-regulate their behavior? Or possibly disagree with and distrust the moderation to such a degree as not want to take chances?

Edited July 23, 2023 by Love Zhaoying

[Silent Mistwalker]

8 hours ago, Love Zhaoying said:

It's refreshing to see these honest opinions on Alts which I agree with. Alts in the Forum are certainly an indication of whether a person can be trusted as honest, at least in the Forum.

It ain't cute.

Thanks. Nice to know no one trusts me just because I'm an alt. I won't forget.

 

Edited July 23, 2023 by Silent Mistwalker

[Love Zhaoying]

2 minutes ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

Thanks. Nice to know no one trusts me just because I'm an alt.

People suck.

Sorry, you missed my post after that one where I added missing caveats and qualifications.

[Paul Hexem]

13 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Even I had a 36 hour "ban" before. I wish that I understood why the possibility of this happening causes you so much concern.

Unless you were a multiple offender - specifically with multiple time-limited (not permanent) "bans" from the Forums + In-world, it seems this threat would have a moderating influence on one's behavior, rather than be a continual cause for worry.

On topic, I can see people "coming back" as Alts after a short ban due to fears of longer bans (or embarassmemt, or any number of reasons) but why can't they just moderate their behavior? Do people not trust themselves to self-regulate their behavior? Or possibly disagree with and distrust the moderation to such a degree as not want to take chances?

It's better now that we have more involved moderators, but for a time... Let's just say it was heavy handed and less than objective.

[Love Zhaoying]

8 hours ago, Love Zhaoying said:

It's refreshing to see these honest opinions on Alts which I agree with. Alts in the Forum are certainly an indication of whether a person can be trusted as honest, at least in the Forum. 
 

CAVEAT: I am referring to the situations where someone enters the Forum as an Alt to intentionally deceive. I am not saying "all Alts in the Forum are not to be trusted and are inherently assumed to be dishonest". I had to add this due to 2 misunderstandings so far.

It ain't cute.

There you go, my edited post.

[Workbot]

4 minutes ago, Paul Hexem said:

It's better now that we have more involved moderators, but for a time... Let's just say it was heavy handed and less than objective.

This guy knows what he's talking about. He seems highly intelligent and well versed on many subjects.

I suspect he's extremely handsome, too.

[Luna Bliss]

35 minutes ago, Arielle Popstar said:

So the potential for getting banned from both the forum and inworld is more then just an idle threat and the single biggest justification for using a non inworld invested alt to post in the forums. I'll have to keep that in mind because though I haven't used a forum alt, I have wondered in past if I might be risking my inworld account with some of the controversial topics I get involved in. 

Thanks for affirming the potential for inworld banning.

I've seen the most egregious posts remain without censure. I've seen warnings/bannings for very mild posts.  The moderators can't read everything (I'd like them to maintain their sanity! haha).  So what often gets censured are the posts where a person(s) doesn't like another person, and they report the post.

If you have a report-happy enemy here, or a group of people that don't particularly like you, you are in trouble.

[Love Zhaoying]

2 minutes ago, Workbot said:

This guy knows what he's talking about. He seems highly intelligent and well versed on many subjects.

I suspect he's extremely handsome, too.

If he's "easy", I'm single!

[Luna Bliss]

1 minute ago, Workbot said:

7 minutes ago, Paul Hexem said:

It's better now that we have more involved moderators, but for a time... Let's just say it was heavy handed and less than objective.

This guy knows what he's talking about. He seems highly intelligent and well versed on many subjects.

I suspect he's extremely handsome, too.

I disagree on so many things with this guy, but he is makes the most fun jokes sometimes.  I like him.

[Silent Mistwalker]

8 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Sorry, you missed my post after that one where I added missing caveats and qualifications.

You want people to deliberately out themselves. That is wrong. People's alts are no one's business except LL's. If someone wants to voluntarily disclose that's one thing but you want to force people. Not cool at all.

[Rowan Amore]

1 minute ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

You want people to deliberately out themselves. That is wrong. People's alts are no one's business except LL's. If someone wants to voluntarily disclose that's one thing but you want to force people. Not cool at all.

Since no one knows who your main is, we (at least I) don't consider Silent an alt posting on the forums.  I think you're missing the point.  Rowan isn't my first avatar but it's the only one I use to post here.  As others have said, they use an alt to post here because their main might be well known in SL.

The problem arises when your main posts here and then your alt and your other alt and your other alt.  That's deceptive IMO.

[Persephone Emerald]

38 minutes ago, Arielle Popstar said:

So the potential for getting banned from both the forum and inworld is more then just an idle threat and the single biggest justification for using a non inworld invested alt to post in the forums. I'll have to keep that in mind because though I haven't used a forum alt, I have wondered in past if I might be risking my inworld account with some of the controversial topics I get involved in. 

Thanks for affirming the potential for inworld banning.

I've gotten involved in controversial discussions on the forums. I've gotten into personal arguments and made posts that were removed, even with a little warning message in my inbox from a moderator. I've never posted anything that could result in an inworld ban though. All it takes is common sense, basic respect for other people, and heeding the warnings of moderators. I think the worst I got in trouble for was pushing the line on showing nipples in a RL picture by having a fuzzy line on whether the model was male or female.

[Love Zhaoying]

Just now, Silent Mistwalker said:

12 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Sorry, you missed my post after that one where I added missing caveats and qualifications.

You want people to deliberately out themselves. That is wrong. People's alts are no one's business except LL's. If someone wants to voluntarily disclose that's one thing but you want to force people. Not cool at all.

No. I don't. 

My point is: if someone is in the forum as an Alt, posting normally, and we don't know they're an Alt- I don't care.

If however they come into the Forum as an Alt, posting to "fool" people with some agenda as the Alt; like supporting their Main's arguments; or like "hiding" behind their Alt because they want to get away with posts they'd never make as their main; or to hide from Forum moderation; etc.

I've asked you before in messages about your Alt status - and who your Main was - - and you denied it, so why would I doubt you? So far as  know, you're a main and not an Alt. Unless you're being nefarious,  don't care.

I don't want people to "out their main", etc. Just don't post as an Alt for nefarious reasons. That's all.

[Silent Mistwalker]

1 minute ago, Rowan Amore said:

Since no one knows who your main is, we (at least I) don't consider Silent an alt posting on the forums.  I think you're missing the point.  Rowan isn't my first avatar but it's the only one I use to post here.  As others have said, they use an alt to post here because their main might be well known in SL.

The problem arises when your main posts here and then your alt and your other alt and your other alt.  That's deceptive IMO.

No, I am not missing the point. As usual, no one is listening. You hear but you don't listen.

[Rowan Amore]

1 minute ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

No, I am not missing the point. As usual, no one is listening. You hear but you don't listen.

Yeah, you are.  

 

[Silent Mistwalker]

Just now, Rowan Amore said:

Yeah, you are.  

 

I didn't know you were a mind reader and can tell what I am thinking.

[Rowan Amore]

11 minutes ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

You want people to deliberately out themselves. That is wrong.

Love said no such thing so perhaps it's your misreading that's at issue.

No one said that...at all.  

[Luna Bliss]

7 minutes ago, Persephone Emerald said:

I've never posted anything that could result in an inworld ban though.

I think they may have changed that -- you can be banned from the forum for a period of time but not be banned from inworld.  People have questioned when/if this changed.

[Ayashe Ninetails]

The only time I'd even bother raising an eyebrow over an alt is if it were a long-time friend of mine that I knew in-world using an alt to interact with me here as if we didn't know each other. Then I'd say okay, that's weird, stop that. 

Other than that situation, I don't even notice what others get up to bouncing between alts. Alts are so common in multiplayer gaming to where you've got people running around on 30 different characters regularly that I genuinely don't even try keeping track of whether someone's posting in forums on their level 26 Night Elf Druid or level 72 Orc Shaman. I'm too oblivious to even pick up on that half the time.

One forum I'm on ties all of your alts to your main account and you post under that single identifier (account name.number format), but I'm not sure how common that is.

[Arielle Popstar]

1 minute ago, Luna Bliss said:

I think they may have changed that -- you can be banned from the forum for a period of time but not be banned from inworld.  People have questioned when/if this changed.

Then I guess the question is to @Jaylinbridges how long ago it was that the inworld ban was. I got the sense it was fairly recent.

[Rowan Amore]

It's always been in the community standards and the forums are part of that community.  I don't know about suspensions inworld but I suppose they would prevent you from using the forums as well.  It's just a smaller group in the forums, more easily monitored.  Unless you do something egregious, it's a short suspension regardless of where it took place.  Not sure why it's surprising.

 

Warning, Suspension, Banishment

Second Life is a complex society, and it can take some time for new Residents to gain a full understanding of local customs and mores. Generally, violations of the Community Standards will first result in a Warning, followed by Suspension and eventual Banishment from Second Life.

[Luna Bliss]

Just now, Rowan Amore said:

Unless you do something egregious, it's a short suspension regardless of where it took place

No, it's cumulative/repeated warnings that can result in a ban (from the forum)....as well as anything especially toxic.

[Arielle Popstar]

1 hour ago, Luna Bliss said:

Well, I think some post here in a more objective manner, a bit more detached from their feelings (not necessarily in a bad way). And so they discuss in a more abstract way.

For others the forum is more like a family where trust is important, where posters are more involved with their feelings, and issues of liking or not liking others are more in the forefront. Likely if someone posted the most amazing and wonderful thought in the world it would not be liked if the person reading it considered you an enemy. Conversely, I've seen some of the most ridiculous comments in the world be liked by others if they consider that person a forum friend.

I think most navigate between these two scenarios, depending upon the day and mood, although I see some staying stuck in one or the other mindsets described above.

I try to avoid posting at night because after the stresses of the day, emotions tend to run higher and as a result been a few times where I regretted the tone of something I posted by the next morning.