I had an alias at one time: Scooter. (still shows up once in while) He was TOTALLy about stoopid chops and stoopid behavior and he was fun to pull out in the old days. One reason Scooter very rarely appears these days is I really really really don't support ALIASES for use in 1) "paying" contests 2) "serous" thread discussions.

As stated elsewhere here: you are a gutless spineless twaddle if you got to speak your gut from behind a mask. AND if you are hurting others, stealing votes, etc. from behind that mask than you (and your prime account) should be banned for at least a month. Second offense, you're off the Island.

The Powers That Be CAN see where accounts are coming from. The fact that they let this continue is sad. I was not aware, but now am not surprised, that these aliases can actually purchase multiple ADVANTAGE accounts. SHAME on the site owners here is this is what is going on!

(in the past this topic has been gone over SO many times in threads, but I'm praying that with our new Canadian owner something GUTSY and BRAVE may be done about it. As much as I love Scooter, I'd be more than happy to sacrifice him to the cause if it would get rid of some of the cheaters around here...)


ReinMan

*edit* I might even be tempted to renew my Advantage account if this were to happen - then at least I might actually feel like I did have an advantage...

I cannot agree more, how stupid, getting an alias so you can say the things you would not have the guts to say otherwise?? Or to steal some few miserable votes?? Gees I don't believe it!!

I am really anfa's alias.
Please remove me from this site.

for once lets keep this thread serious and on topic

Aliases are bad, mmmk?

I totally agree. Keep this thread serious and on topic. Eventually, alias's are going to ruin the integrity of this site.

Give me one solid reason and advantage for the use of aliases, because i can't find one.

So disallow them, my 0,02 cents

5 people think they should stay.... this isn't just one person voting 5 times is it, now how could someone do that

Tracking aliases might be a problem. Resetting your router and/or modem will give you a new IP address, won't it? This kind of dynamic addressing my ISP employs would make things difficult, I'm guessing--especially for non-Advantage aliases.

Can PayPal payments be traced to a particular payee? That might pose a problem tracing Advantage aliases.

Fwiw, I can't think of a good reason to permit them, but is enforcement possible?

The Aliases I did like are gone now. They are no more. Ceased to be. Expired and gone to meet their maker. Bereft of life. Pushing up the daisies. Their metabolic processes are now history. Kicked the bucket. Run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisible.

Clarification 1:


Clarification 2:

The current system let's me see aliases, but it's a little complicated, as it requires me to enter queries manually. Only if a person appears to be suspicious, I can check the account out. I'm planning on adding something soon that will compare different things (not just IPs) to find a match and will display them to me. IP Tracking is already enabled, so it will use that data.
Any IP address you use to post here can be used against you. You have the right to remain silent.

I also fully agree about the alias problems, but I feel that it doesn't matter if you're paying for Advantage or not. It's not fair to any legitimate user (ONE user name per physical person for entries, voting, and forums) for a top-chopper to get a completely fresh start (and therefore a "falsely" high VPP and PSCore--or, for that matter, a "clean slate" after (permanently) ban-able offenses).

I would maybe --maybe-- agree with being allowed to change your user name on your main account, as long as the account history remained intact and the old name(s) would be listed as "aka" or "previously known as" in the profile. Don't jump on me for that idea; I *really* don't have any suggestions for how that would work beyond letting mikey change to Mikey or Caldera change to his business name DKCDesigns.

It's frustrating enough for most (real) newbies and non-Advantaged users going up against experienced choppers, especially those who do have Advantage... but when those choppers also "look" like newbies, according to their profiles, it must seem damn near impossible to ever get a foothold on PSC, let alone to to ever hold your own in a contest.

The divisive "Advantage" issue by itself is a whole other can of worms--beyond aliases buying the membership.

Sorry! One of those was mine...

I read it wrong. I thought it said "Allow Alias' to do nothing." I thought it was weird that it was the same basic option as #1... (which would be my choice).

I have 2 alias, maybe 3...but have never used them to vote for myself, or anyone for that matter. I only made them as a joke in the old days of chat. There was a short time when we were just screwing around and added some joke names like ch1cken, d3wking, ED2O9. None were ever used for anything more.

I'll gladly dump whatever alias' I may have left over from years ago.

I dont know the login for them anyway.

I'm totally for getting rid of them, and it is completely possible to block multiple accounts from a single computer. Another site I frequent has a very good security in place that will automatically detect if you are logging into multiple accounts from one location. Something like that would get rid of the vast majority of aliases, and the ones that know how to get around that would be easier to track down.