Claiming Avatars Are Alts Is OK, says Robin Linden

Making claims that Avatar A is an alternate account of Avatar B is ok, according to Robin Linden.



Pathfinder Linden did not seem to agree, at one time.

I am Robin Linden's alt.

not in a millionbazillionquatroeggsomatillion years

I am Eggy and Robin's alt.

I KNEW IT! That tears it. To quote my mentor, EC, "Screw you guys, I'm goin' home".

Yes. On top of that, we are also Jennyfur and indeed half of the Indigo peeps.

Do people really care if other people know who their alts are? I know a lot of alts, and why people have them, and do my level best to respect them in their various personae. So I don't really see what diff oh there I go being reasonable again. You so silly Khamon.

I have an alt named Pete.

You're that Pete! Man, I have some words for you.

Noooo I'm not that one.

I really don't give a rip who is whos alt. It's none of my business. You can "out" an alt but you still may be violating the Tos if, in any way, you reveal any real life information.

For example, some nosey person, has decided that av B is an alt of av A so she proudly announces it in the Forums. Av A had told everyone she is from Boston but av B has never mentioned where she lives. The nosey person has just revealed where alt B lives and now faces disciplinary action and possible total self destruction.

It's not worth the chance but if it makes someone feel better about themselves go for it and risk a suspension or worse.

Good to know.

Enabran is an anagram of Barne An! You are Barnesworth Anubis's alt!

I'm Eggy, Robin, Flipper and Jennifur's alt too.

I'm Cubey Terra's alt.

I'm Siobhan's alt

I'm William Shatner's alt.

OMG! It's him!

People who hide under alts reeeeaaalllly get to me, especially whilst partaking in the forums.

Either say what you mean with your "real" you, or don't bother posting at all.

LF

I think this is a poor call on Robin's part, and a correct call on Pathfinder's.

Any accusation of a person being an alt is, by its very nature, a quest into the real identity of the person behind the avatar.

Unless someone admits to being an alt, it should be off limits for public discussion and speculation.

-------

From an experiential point of view, as someone who suffered the aggravation, harassment, and belittlement for some three months of being told I was another human being rather than the one I am, I must say this is a form of inflicting unfair misery on another resident which should not be encouraged by responsible forum management.

It is infuriating and causes despair, because there is no way you can prove it's not true. UNLESS you give out your real life specifics (and perhaps that of other people, too).

Maybe I should tell Robin about this experience and how much fun it wasn't. There's little worse than people telling you for months that you don't even exist, because you are "obviously" the alt of someone else. Makes me sick to even think about it.

coco

You're Beakers alt - how do I know?

MEMEMEMEMMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

Even if the posters involved are very obviously alts? Do we as other forum users have to endure the multi-headed hydra of possible altitude just because it might make people uncomfortable?

I think not.

There have been many instances where people sneak their alter egos in here under the cover of night, just to pad their forum threads and opinions with "me toos" and offering "other" points to support their views. It's annoying, it's disingenuous, and it's been under my skin for almost 2 years.

Is it too much to ask to just fucking post under your own name? What's with these psuedonyms? It's not conducive to effective communications.

Multiple accounts from the same credit card shouldn't be allowed to post in the forums. Yeah, I know, there are 340,973 people that borrowed each other's credit card number in order to play SL, but I mean, come on now...

LF

People usually have an excuse for breaking the rules or the law and it sounds perfectly reasonable to them. The Lindens however may not agree with your line of thinking.

There is no rule against posting as your alt.

If people are "obviously" alts, then there's no need to point it out, is there?

If you're like me, you can just quietly write off some of those never-heard-from people who appear suddenly to agree with someone else with way too much knowledge for such a young poster.

And sometimes what seems so "obvious" actually isn't the case at all.

Anyway, the issue isn't whether people CAN post as alts. The issue is whether we can accuse others of being an alt.

Robin has said we can. I say that is a very wrong call.

coco

True, a person who posts with more than one account is obviously too unbalanced to understand that it's misleading and damaging to other people. Reasonable explanations of it being wrong won't ever make sense to them because they're beyond reason.