Why there are so many alt accounts lately?
Lockdown? Homeschool? I don’t know.
We are being more vigilant lately following a few recent issues with this sort of thing.
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?
I speak as someone who was homeschooled for 6 years and from what I know homeschooling has nothing to do with it…
I guess she said it because you’re not allowed to have a mobile device in most schools but that’s not a common thing in homeschooling, so you have more time to create accounts on random sites.
I might be wrong, though.
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oh yeah 
sorry just most homeschoolers I know don’t even have their own computer haha
Sorry @EJpuddlejumper, I meant no offence. I had in mind those children who are “distance learning” at the moment – i.e. not at physical school, with lots of online time due to Zoom lessons, etc.
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Oh yes! That makes sense 
None taken 
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I think fake accounts have always been a problem. I’ve been a Nameberry member for years and I’ve seen so many fake accounts with ridiculous stories. 
I think the moderators are able to spot them better now because of the new platform, which is good.
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Agreed!
It’s a tricky balance to strike, because obviously we don’t like banning people, and a few fake birth announcements here or there hurts no one.
But we also have a duty to keep the community as open and honest as possible, so everyone feels safe and comfortable participating here.
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@katinka
I was actually going to ask about all this, too, but I see it’s already been addressed. I do have one question, though: Sometimes the reason for suspension is “alt account” and sometimes it is “fake info” – what’s the difference there and how can you tell? [name_m]Just[/name_m] curious because there are the obvious trolls here and there, but it seems like most fakes tend to get the benefit of the doubt more often than not.
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First off, a disclaimer: we’re never going to be able to stop all faking, it’s just not possible to be everywhere and know everything.
Generally speaking…
Fake info: the posting history is contradictory or unrealistic. For example, a user might post different threads claiming to be expecting different babies (boy, then girl, then twins, etc.) Or they’ve just found out they’re having surprise triplets at 39 weeks.
Alt account: The account is attached to the same IP address as other active account(s) on our system, ie. running multiple accounts at once, which is against our forum rules.
We always like to give people the benefit of the doubt where possible, but if there’s clear evidence like that outlined above, we will suspend.
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I remember pre-Covid there’d be an influx of “surprise identical triplet girls” during the summer months when people weren’t in school, so I do wonder if maybe there’s some correlation with people being bored and not having much to do
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Obviously that can happen, but we’d likely be aware of that. And there are generally plenty of other indications that it’s the same person behind the accounts.
Plus, it’s actually quite rare that it’s only 1 additional account. 5 people in the same household all with separate NB accounts, all expecting babies in the coming months seems highly… unlikely.
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When there’s evidence of both, which reason do you choose for the “This user was suspended” warning?
Having alt accounts automatically means you have at least one fake account, so I guess they use “alt account” for those situations.
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I’m not sure if this is the place for it, because it’s not forum related, but the rest of the website (homepage, blogs, name pages) has been totally overrun with ads recently to the point it’s difficult to use. It’s a recent issue in the past week or so- here’s an example:
It’s 4 different ads, two of which are videos. The top one moves up and down so the text on the screen moves as I’m reading it. The black square is also an ad but it’s location-based so I covered it for privacy reasons. Has there been a change in how ads are run recently?
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Thank you for pointing this out! It’s been quite annoying. Especially the ones that move when you try to click the x. 
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Yes! It’s reassuring to see I’m not the only one with this issue recently. And sometimes there are ads in the top right corner that block me from clicking the ‘forums’ button, too.
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Yes, I had a similar issue with an ad that the drop down menu went behind, so I couldn’t use the menu unless I reloaded the page like four times. I still get it occasionally, and it makes for such a frustrating time.
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