alt account pervasiveness

I realize a few users are creating alt accounts to troll from. They seem to pop up and get banned frequently. Though, thankfully the content of their posts aren't as bad as they could potentially be, but it is disruptive. I've a question regarding this.

Do you guys have the ability to check the people's IP addresses from these alt accounts, and cross-check them with the IP addresses of other accounts? I figure whoever keeps creating alt accounts must have a legitimate account they keep and use around here, which would obviously be the account with longer standing and more posts and is current.

I think mods/staff if discovering the true identity of the alt accounts must contact those legit accounts where the IP addresses match and warn them to stop creating alt accounts or risk having their main account banned.

wouldn't banning their main account just encourage them to create more als ?

Pretty sure they can both see the accounts from an IP and ban the IP

This has been a problem for awhile. I'm actually starting to get tired of it. There is not much we can do about it right now.

It's very hard to figure out who the main is.

@super600: I can imagine, and I don't think banning their main account would work anyway, would just encourage even more alts.

this is a serious problem

@lamprey263: Yes we have the ability to check IPs. We also have the ability to ban them from accessing the site. The problem however is switching one's IP isn't exactly a tricky task and a troll who is so inclined to do so will burn through dozens of them. We have put in various barriers for new users to help cut down on spam in the forums:

• New users are now unable to create more than 1 forum topic per 24 hour window until they've created 5
• The IP banning tool should be available starting Thursday. I'll send over a confirmation when it's out.

We've also recently rolled out an update that helps to prevent wall abuse:

• User accounts that are less than 3 months old will no longer be able to post more than once consecutively on someone else's wall
• User accounts that are less than 3 months old will no longer be able to make more than two total wall posts or status updates in a 24 hour period

If you notice that spam is still a problem, we encourage users to reach out to the moderator team.