Alternate account

Alternate accounts, commonly known as alts, are accounts made by forum users (typically previously banned members) who exploit the anonymity provided by the internet to post on the forums using a different alias or personality. In the case of banned members, this serves to extend their stay on the forums. Some alternate accounts are hilariously obvious; others may take a longer period of time for their identities, or even the fact that they are alts, to be discovered.
Alternate accounts are considered a punishable offence. For a non-banned user, there is a five-point penalty; banned users' alts will be banned immediately, and an IP block may be instated. However, the creation of a second account to replace an initial account (rather than request a name change, for instance) is generally accepted, as long as no more than one account is actively used at a time.
== Major events and controversies ==
The use of an alternate account to circumvent a ban can result in an IP block. In August to September 2007, the quick re-blocking of banned members had been a point of mild controversy: certain old banned members had created alts in order to attempt to come into contact with the moderation staff and appeal their ban, but the account and IP were quickly blocked. Various members had since sided alongside these banned members. However, the issue appears to have since died down without any significant change effected by these members' actions.
==Cross-gender alts==
Cross-gender alts, as the name implies, consist of alternate accounts whose attached persona is of the opposite gender to the real user's. This often makes these alts less obvious through their personality alone, if the user makes even the slightest attempt to hide his or her identity. Indeed, by masquerading as a member of hte opposite sex, and even hitting on members of the opposite gender to the alt's persona, any suspicion of the connection between the real user and the alt can be effectively reduced.
Although to have one's cross-gender alt discovered can be a source of shame for the user or ridicule directed at him or her, it also enables them to gloat over the people they deceived.
The most well-known incident of a cross-gender alt was of MoogleEXE's masquerade as Lyra Silvertongue.
==List of known alts==
There may be a significant number of alts in use. Given that the rules prohibit them and that member accusations are usually not entirely solid, currently-used or suspected alts will not be listed.
* Redbeard45, ZedLepplinfan (*_Muf_fin_*1234)
* Rael (Cyke)
* Agent Disco, Ginzo II, Triangle Man (Ginzo)
* Moderator (LedZeppelinFan)
* HappyDude (Marillion)
* Almighty Demigod, Ness 2.0, NessReborn, Ness Remix, SilverMonk (Ness)
* Fear Me (Peatrical Systems)
* NamcoTaraFan, Santa (Sataka)
* bossjimbob, Ridnight Mesonance (Sludgey)
* COD, Highlander, InfinityZero, Mimic, InfinityZero (joint Shin/Someguy)
* BagofCrap, Don't_be_a_hero, Lil Brudder, The Man (The Dan)
* Mr. Hollows, Variable Fear (Variable Gear)
* Benza, Kawaii_Neko (Wolfgangh)
* Masahiro Sakurai (Atlus)
Category:EDrama
Category:Terminology