Alts in the forums

[Love Zhaoying]

1 minute ago, JeromFranzic said:

Yeah, that was a hoot! But that's what makes SL fun for me. 

That was an example of an "apparently harmless" Alt. So long as they don't manage to become a lamp in their Ex's house where they can spy, for example. 

[Cinnamon Mistwood]

Chiming in:  I don't care about alts for the most part.  I don't try to figure out who they are even if it is clear they are a sock puppet.  Have 1 or 100? It doesn't matter.

I will treat each account as a separate personality.  I use mine based on my own set of morals.  Alts are for characters/privacy and my main is for being myself.  I am accepting of people who are playing characters here.  Have fun with your SL and try different things.  Known alt characters can be a lot of fun in a forum setting and I love playing along.

However, as several have said already, it is the intent of the alt that can be an issue.  I will still interact with you if you are being deceitful, but you will lose some respect in my eyes by not using your known account.  Any opinion you bring forth on an alt account will not mean as much as if your main account stated it.  If you are so afraid of how your opinion will be received, that you have to hide behind an alt to say it, you probably aren't that strong in your belief of it, and I can dismiss it much easier as bait. 

Everyone has their own ideas about what acceptable alt use is.  Mine is based on what I think the alt was created for.

[Ayashe Ninetails]

Think of it this way - plenty of people post as a persona on Twitter. Or build an entire persona for their videos on TikTok or Insta. They aren't posting content as Jim, 39 male from Boston. They post as...I dunno...Biff the Wordsmith.

Better example - big YouTube creators. Look at their names - Dream, Markiplier, Corpse Husband, Asmongold. They typically post content in their personas, maybe even outside of YouTube in places like Reddit and Twitter. When you interact with them in comments or during livestreams or whatever, they're usually in character. Sometimes you'll catch a glimpse of the person behind the act when something extremely serious happens and they want to weigh in, but not always.

Personas on a forum, especially one for SL, don't bother me either as long as they aren't solely about stirring up drama. When someone's posting under "Scribbles Scrabbles," I rarely expect to talk to Jim, 39 male from Boston. You can still have serious conversations and discussions and debates with personas. You just won't know much about who they are behind the screen (which is basically SL in a nutshell). They might even get bored eventually and decide to post under a more serious alt/name. I don't see anything wrong with that, either, even if they don't announce the change. If I spoke to them a LOT, especially in DMs, a quick "hey it's me!" might be nice, but otherwise, I'm not that bothered.

[Hunny Bunny]

Whether someone is using their main account, an alt, or an alt of an alt should not discourage someone from expressing themselves on a forum. The only thing that matters is that individuals stay true to their own beliefs and ideas, without being influenced by the prevailing opinion, as that would be disingenuous to themselves.

[Bagnu]

23 minutes ago, Cinnamon Mistwood said:

I will treat each account as a separate personality. 

This is an interesting point. You and I know each other's alts. We react differently to seeing each other according to what we see on the screen. If I block the view of your alt, then I feel like I'm talking to YOU. If I don't, I feel like I'm talking to someone else.  Our visuals affects us to a great extent. Our brains associate a person with their bodies, not just their minds. We may NOT have an actual choice in treating someone in alt differently. Depending, of course on how similar the alt looks to the main account.

Edited July 24, 2023 by Bagnu

[Rowan Amore]

3 minutes ago, Bagnu said:

Our brains associate a person with their bodies, not just their minds.

In RL, of course.  With SL it's entirely different for me.  I don't associate how someone looks with who they are.  I don't interact with them differently if I'm aware of who they are.  

The issue for me arises when they do use an alt and change who they are or who I've known them to be, and interact with me.  I feel the same on the forums.  If I know you're posting on an alt, I'd treat you and take what is said as coming from you.  If you post as some brand new person and pretend to be clueless, people will treat you differently.  That is deception.  Whether it's meant nefariously or not doesn't change that fact, IMO.

[Love Zhaoying]

1 minute ago, Rowan Amore said:

In RL, of course.  With SL it's entirely different for me.  I don't associate how someone looks with who they are.  I don't interact with them differently if I'm aware of who they are.  

The issue for me arises when they do use an alt and change who they are or who I've known them to be, and interact with me.  I feel the same on the forums.  If I know you're posting on an alt, I'd treat you and take what is said as coming from you.  If you post as some brand new person and pretend to be clueless, people will treat you differently.  That is deception.  Whether it's meant nefariously or not doesn't change that fact, IMO.

User: "Hey guys, it's me!"

User as new Alt: "Hey guys, now this is really me! That wasn't really me before, but you can believe me!"

User as new new Alt: "Hey guys, it's me again! I decided to be an X again!" 

[Tayt3rChip]

14 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

Tables don't really have a perspective on issues as far as I know.   Elves, fairies, dragons, tables and chairs are all personas people take on in SL.  The person behind all of those is still the same person.  THOSE are the perspectives I've always assumed are being given in the forums.  

I don't talk about some aspects of my RL.  I'm sure a lot of people don't.  That's perfectly reasonable.  But when you do discuss an issue or perspective, it should come from you and not some persona you've created.

You're right to say that personas don't have  perspectives and it's the person behind them who does, I agree with that. Following that trail of throught it shouldn't matter what  persona they post  from because it will always present their own individual views. If person  A only has a  lamp account and a sofa account, they can use both. They can post on forums from both.  It's perfectly reasonable. If their contribution to whatever  thread is valid it doesn't matter if they posted from a table account , chair account or whatever else. 

If someone opens a thread about home owners in sl and a chair account  comments the account their posting from doesn't have a direct impact on the view their sharing, because the view comes from the person behind the persona. If I open a thread about women, women accounts can comment, male accounts can comment, child accounts can comment .. anyone can comment because the person's account tells me nothing about the real experiences and  perceptions of the person behind the  account. On SL I tend to take everything at facevalue. Experiences here have shown me that most people are not what they appear to be, so I tend to focus more on what the person is saying as opposed to the persona who is saying it.

[Luna Bliss]

1 minute ago, Tayt3rChip said:

Experiences here have shown me that most people are not what they appear to be, so I tend to focus more on what the person is saying as opposed to the persona who is saying it.

Have you ever made a real friend in SL...gotten to know them...talked in depth about their experiences in both 2nd and 1st life?

People do have different expectations when this has occurred.

[Persephone Emerald]

2 hours ago, BillFletcher said:

Well actually all I was looking for was to get a feel about how others felt about posting pictures of an alt under the alts name rather then the main, but that question pretty much got swept out to sea by the tsunami.

Ok, then let's discuss this.

I've posted pictures of my alts, usually to show them in a new mesh head or to show off how cute I think they look. In such situations I want to get the credit for stying them, so I'll say this is my alt, Alycia or Tasha or Evan.

Sometimes I feel like posting in character for my alt, for instance to show how I treat Alycia as her own persona who doesn't always trust me, or when I had Tasha in wolf form taking pictures of where the Mole trading cards were hidden. I think she looks cute as a wolf-husky and makes a more fun subject than a human would for some posts. 

I still want regular forum posters to know these alts are me. I'm not hiding myself by posting as them. I'm just sort of being an actor in character. Being regular me gets boring or depressing sometimes, so then I like to have fun with my little roleplay characters.

- Why would you want to post pictures as your alt instead of as your regular/ primary account? 

[Tayt3rChip]

5 minutes ago, Luna Bliss said:

Have you ever made a real friend in SL...gotten to know them...talked in depth about their experiences in both 2nd and 1st life?

People do have different expectations when this has occurred.

Yes I have met multiple people on SL and have had access to their real life. Some I have added on discord where we do calls etc. Others  have shown me their personal social media as  well as discussed their private  lives with me. Surprisingly a lot of people seem to be quite  willing to share  stuff with you. 

 

[diamond Marchant]

52 minutes ago, Bagnu said:

Tables... Lamps... Are we getting into forniphilia now?  I AM being serious.

Had to look that up. We are NOT getting into that. Nobody suggested that. An avatar that is a table can simply be a table.

[Persephone Emerald]

2 hours ago, Rowan Amore said:

I don't RP inworld and certainly not in the forums.  I engage with everyone as myself.  On my previous avatar, I was the same as I am on this one.  RP characters, I'd assume, wouldn't fall into the same category and that isn't what I'm talking about.  

2 hours ago, Rowan Amore said:

That's frightening and I think the minority of people here post as some persona.

Have you done RP inworld or in RL? Have you written or acted as characters other than yourself? Comedians do this when they're on stage. I think social influencers and motivators do too. 

I think it can be fun. When one plays a specific character with a avatar, their persona tends to infuse how one acts or speaks when we're in that avatar. This isn't true for all alts though. Many people are the same personality no matter which avatar they use. Both ways are fine. We just all use alts differently.

[Bagnu]

1 minute ago, Rowan Amore said:

In RL, of course.  With SL it's entirely different for me.  I don't associate how someone looks with who they are.  I don't interact with them differently if I'm aware of who they are.  

The issue for me arises when they do use an alt and change who they are or who I've known them to be, and interact with me.  I feel the same on the forums.  If I know you're posting on an alt, I'd treat you and take what is said as coming from you.  If you post as some brand new person and pretend to be clueless, people will treat you differently.  That is deception.  Whether it's meant nefariously or not doesn't change that fact, IMO.

I agree. It's deceit that is the issue. I was just bringing up something I experienced with Cinnamon and others from a somewhat perceptual perspective. Friends treat me differently in a female alt or AV, even though they know it's me. They said it was because they can't see me as a man in their heads when I'm in a female AV. Female friends will treat me like a female friend, and not want the same activities with me as when I'm in my regular AV.  Not all cases, but most, from my experience. I'll react differently to one of my female friends in a male AV as well.  

[Luna Bliss]

21 minutes ago, diamond Marchant said:

Had to look that up

I will certainly not look that up....lol.

[Bagnu]

23 minutes ago, diamond Marchant said:

Had to look that up. We are NOT getting into that. Nobody suggested that. An avatar that is a table can simply be a table.

It's OK...keep telling yourself that....It'll be fine...

[Rowan Amore]

15 minutes ago, Persephone Emerald said:

Have you done RP inworld or in RL? Have you written or acted as characters other than yourself? Comedians do this when they're on stage. I think social influencers and motivators do too. 

I think it can be fun. When one plays a specific character with a avatar, their persona tends to infuse how one acts or speaks when we're in that avatar. This isn't true for all alts though. Many people are the same personality no matter which avatar they use. Both ways are fine. We just all use alts differently.

Yes, I tried RP in SL a few times.  I guess I'm just not cut out to be an actress.  I really don't have a problem with people RPing whatever or whomever they'd like.  I just don't or have never felt that the forums were like that nor should they be.  We don't have a choice of how our account appears on the forum.  It's our SL user name.  I am in another forum where I use my RL name and stand behind anything I say as such.

  

[Love Zhaoying]

5 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

Yes, I tried RP in SL a few times.  I guess I'm just not cut out to be an actress.  I really don't have a problem with people RPing whatever or whomever they'd like.  I just don't or have never felt that the forums were like that nor should they be.  We don't have a choice of how our account appears on the forum.  It's our SL user name.  I am in another forum where I use my RL name and stand behind anything I say as such.

  

* points at * "Look at that! What in tarnation IS it?"

* gawks * "I think it's one of them things that's got integrity!"

* stares slack-jawed * "Quick, take a picture! The boys back home will never believe it!"

 

[Ingrid Ingersoll]

1 hour ago, Luna Bliss said:

most people post on the forum with one identity/name.

[Luna Bliss]

5 minutes ago, Ingrid Ingersoll said:

lol hey I was trying to calm Rowan down a bit!

Edited July 24, 2023 by Luna Bliss

[Rowan Amore]

1 minute ago, Love Zhaoying said:

I think it's one of them things that's got integrity

In my RL job, I had security codes and keys to people's homes.  Access to their checkbooks and online accounts.  My integrity had to be above reproach.  That's how I've lived my life as a whole and how I live my SL.  What others choose to do is their business and it's my prerogative to judge them based on their words and actions.  They, in turn, can choose to ignore me.  It's not a loss to me.

[Persephone Emerald]

2 hours ago, Arielle Popstar said:

Well that gets back to the idea that there are two kinds of people IN SL, those who use their avatar/persona as an extension of their real self and those who use their avatar as a character they like to play. Those who use theirs as an extension of themselves tend to have an expectation that everyone else does the same rather than recognize that in a virtual world it is an unrealistic expectation as some use theirs to play someone they'd like to be.

Exactly. Persephone is my extension of my RL self. She looks younger and more attractive. She's a spiffier version, but she's still basically me. When I was using her to run a group or to be a SL landlord, I felt like she needed to be respectable, so I wouldn't use her to explore Adult venues. If I were a creator inworld I might feel the same way, that I had to be on my good behavior with this avatar.

Tasha was originally created to come into SL when I felt like my boyfriend was being judgemental about me being in SL too much. Later she because a secondary RP character in a RP sim. Finally she's become my wolf or wolf- dog avatar, who's kind of incognito and doesn't have to concern herself with clothing or talking with people. She represents my less social side, but she's still kind and friendly and in a good mood.

Alycia started as a fictional character and grew into an alter ego. She represents a version of me that I'd like to be more like sometimes, the one that doesn't care about social conventions and just says what she thinks.

Evan has been a functional alt as a model and was a way for me to learn how to outfit a male avatar, but he hasn't developed a real personality that's distinct from my normal one.

My most recent alt was created so I could go to the Welcome Hub incognito.

Each of these accounts fill different functions and show different ways of using an avatar. We can be ourselves in SL and on the forums, but we don't always have to be ourselves. Alts can express other sides of our personality, be fictional RP characters, or be just practical devices with no personality. Their functions can also change over time. I've deleted a few practical function alts, but once I've accumulated some inventory with them, I'd rather change their function and persona that delete them and start over from scratch. 

[Tayt3rChip]

Hypothetically if I get myself an alt and post on here how many integrity points  do I loose. Do I gain any for posting  only on one account ? Do you loose  more integrity points for each extra alt you post with ? Or is it like one time offense , you're out integrity 0 ? 

[Love Zhaoying]

2 minutes ago, Persephone Emerald said:

Exactly. Persephone is my extension of my RL self. She looks younger and more attractive. She's a spiffier version, but she's still basically me.

I TRY to think of Love the same way - same RL tattoos, also long hair (until I finally cut it, some day)..in shape for a grey-mane..

No lion ears, whiskers, or tail. Darn it.

[Rowan Amore]

1 minute ago, Tayt3rChip said:

Hypothetically if I get myself an alt and post on here how many integrity points  do I loose. Do I gain any for posting  only on one account ? Do you loose  more integrity points for each extra alt you post with ? Or is it like one time offense , you're out integrity 0 ? 

Hypothetically, if no one knows, no one cares.

The point of this whole thread was that the OP has had a few alts in the forums that people have figured out.  If no one had figured them out, they wouldn't have an issue with their integrity.  If I don't know you and you lie to me, I'll never know. 

"Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is looking."  C.S Lewis

"Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted in important affairs." ~ Albert Einstein