Why some create multiple accounts.

• Posted by Rev. Lisa Taylor January 24, 2012 - #  - 852 views

  I have noticed there are a few well known names being thrown around as having more than one account here on ULC, I also noticed there is a large amount of paranoid behavior because of this. It has me wondering as to why anyone would benefit from these type of behaviors. I have asked a few members what their opinion is on this matter. Those few I have asked all said the same thing " I just don't know the answer to that question. " So now I am researching these behaviors one by one, and so far I have came up with: Dissociative identity disorder (DID, known in the past as multiple personality disorder, which is a psychiatric diagnosis whose essential feature, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), "is the presence of two or more distinct identities or personality states...that recurrently take control of behavior. The diagnosis requires that at least two personalities (one may be the host) routinely take control of the individual's behavior with an associated memory loss that goes beyond normal forgetfulness; in addition, symptoms cannot be the temporary effects of drug use or a general medical condition. Memory loss will occur in those with DID when an alternate part of the personality becomes dominant. DID is less common than other dissociative disorders, occurring in approximately 1% of dissociative cases, and is often comorbid with other disorders. It is diagnosed significantly more frequently in North America than in the rest of the world. Individuals diagnosed with DID demonstrate a variety of symptoms with wide fluctuations across time; functioning can vary from severe impairment in daily functioning to normal or high abilities. Symptoms can include: Disruption of identity characterized by two or more distinct personality states Multiple mannerisms, attitudes and beliefs Pseudoseizures or other conversion symptoms Somatic symptoms that vary across identities Distortion or loss of subjective time (a long time) Current memory loss of everyday events Depersonalization Derealization Depression Flashbacks of abuse/trauma Sudden anger without a justified cause Frequent panic/anxiety attacks Unexplainable phobias Patients may experience a broad array of other symptoms that may appear to resemble epilepsy, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, mood disorders, post traumatic stress disorder, personality disorders, and eating disorders. Despite research on DID including structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography, single-photon emission computed tomography, event-related potential andelectroencephalography, no convergent neuroimaging findings have been identified regarding DID making it difficult to hypothesize a biological basis for DID. In addition, many of the studies that do exist were performed from an explicitly trauma-based position, and did not consider the possibility of iatrogenic induction of DID. Studies have shown differences between cerebral blood flow and changes in visual parameters between alters,as well as support for amnesia between alters. There is no research to date regarding the neuroimaging and introduction of false memories in DID patients. This disorder is theoretically linked with the interaction of overwhelming stress, traumatic antecedents,insufficient childhood nurturing and the innate ability of children in general to dissociate memories or experiences from consciousness. A high percentage of patients report child abuse others report an early loss, serious medical illness or other traumatic events. People diagnosed with DID often report that they have experienced severe physical and sexual abuse, especially during early to mid childhood. Several psychiatric rating scales of DID sufferers suggested that DID is strongly related to childhood trauma rather than to an underlying electrophysiological dysfunction. Within the first six years of life young children are still developing a personality structure that allows integrative functioning. Early childhood trauma interferes with the the development of integrative functions (childhood trauma related dissociation). Repeated activation of trauma-related dissociative states (while the myelin in the hippocampus is still being formed) conditions the brain to function state-dependently (dissociative identities). (Then after reading up on this disorder I pretty much ruled it out as the cause of this behavior, Which sent me in another direction for searching for answers. Now what I have stumbled on is something called Sock Puppetry. ) Sock puppetry can take on several different forms: Creating new accounts to avoid detection Using another person's account (piggybacking) Logging out to make problematic edits as an IP address Reviving old unused accounts (sometimes referred to as sleepers) and presenting them as different users Persuading friends or acquaintances to create accounts for the purpose of supporting one side of a dispute (usually called meatpuppetry) The misuse of multiple accounts is considered a serious breach of community trust. It is likely to lead to a block of all affected accounts, a ban of the user behind the accounts, and on-project exposure of all accounts and IPs . Editors must not use alternative accounts to mislead, deceive, disrupt, or undermine consensus. This includes, but is not limited to: Creating an illusion of support: Alternative accounts must not be used to give the impression of more support for a position than actually exists. Editing project space: Undisclosed alternative accounts should not edit policies, guidelines, or their talk pages; comment in Arbitration proceedings; or vote in requests for adminship, deletion debates, or elections. Circumventing policies or sanctions: Policies apply per person, not per account. Policies such as the three-revert rule are for each person's edits. Using a second account to violate policy will cause any penalties to be applied to your main account, and in the case of sanctions, bans, or blocks, evasion causes the timer to restart. Contributing to the same page or discussion with multiple accounts: Editors may not use more than one account to contribute to the same page or discussion in a way to suggest that they are multiple people. Contributions to the same page with clearly linked legitimate alternative accounts is not forbidden (e.g. editing the same page with your main and public computer account or editing a page using your main account that your bot account edited). Avoiding scrutiny: Using alternative accounts that are not fully and openly disclosed to split your editing history means that other editors cannot detect patterns in your contributions. While this is permitted in certain circumstances , it is a violation of this policy to create alternative accounts to confuse or deceive editors who may have a legitimate interest in reviewing your contributions. (Misusing a clean start by switching accounts or concealing a clean start in a way that avoids scrutiny may also be considered a breach of policy.) "Good hand" and "bad hand" accounts: Keeping one account "clean" while using another to engage in disruption. (This means using one for constructive contributions and the other one for disruptive behavior.) Now after researching long and hard the latter of the two seems to be an explanation as to the why behind any given person creating more than one account on any one given website. My opinion : It is a combination of many factors that will lead a person to create many accounts. 1. An Act to gain attention 2. Spy on what might be said about them in public 3. Looking for any type of violation resulting in monetary gain for them self 4. To simply bully others , Not that it is successfully executed by any said member, because more often than not the Sock Puppetry lacks the intelligence it requires to understand IP fingerprinting , as well as anything to do with the net world other than creating account after account with the hopes of five minutes of fame in which they have only created in their own sad minds. The victim's of said behavior is a three part conclusion for me : 1. Victim's often become paranoid after experiencing such behavior from predators of the same website, resulting in showing bad behavior towards anyone that has similar traits as that of the predator . A victim often feels hurt and angered with no outlet. The victim can become a person which they may have been a valued member of society at one point start to show signs of bad judgment towards fellow human beings. A victim will find it hard to friend others because of fear of being a target of Sock Puppetry not once but multitude of times. This results in empowering the predator over the victims emotions and personal relationships in their life. 2. The Sock Puppetry fails to understand they are equally victims in their own scam. Lack of any creditability they may have had at one point in their professional carers as well as in their personal life. It is of their own doing but always want to blame others for the situation they find them self in as a result of their own behavior. The offender cross a line in this path of distortion of their own mind causing their self to be imprisoned with out the option of early parole for good behavior. Always carrying the stigma through out the rest of their life. Often more than not become paranoid of being found out and or retaliation from others. Only then does the offender start to feel the role of being a victim in their own scam. 3. In my research I have came to a single end. This will continue on any giving website until programing is in place to block all accounts on a single IP. This piece I have constructed will not prevent these offenders from continuing on their path but I wrote it in hope that it will wake awareness in potential victims in the future.