Posting under 2 accounts

Musicrules

Hello all. I just wanted to ask about posting under 2 accounts. Yesterday, a mod accidentally posted under the wrong account. Posting under 2 accounts is permitted in certain circumstances. I don't really see too much of an issue with that. The only thing is, are mods definitely not giving warnings on threads that they are participating in with their other account? Or can we be sure that they are making decisions against posters they have disagreed with while posting under their 2nd account?

If not, then there's no issue of course. But I'm sure it's hard to police.

Big Bag of Chips

A poster is allowed have 2 accounts if they've received express permission from the office or an Admin. In forums such as Personal Issues, Separation and Divorce, Parenting etc users are allowed create 1 alternative username if they are uncomfortable posting a particular personal query. But they do need to get permission from the forum moderators and agree to only use that username in that particular forum.

In some cases moderators have a second account to be able to post freely their opinions without someone claiming "and this from a moderator". But this would also need to be with the permission of the office or Admins. The problem with having 2 accounts (legitimately) is that it might be easy to post in error under the incorrect username.

A username that is not an appointed moderator would not have permission to apply warnings or bans to a post. A username that is not a moderator might get confused and forget which username they are posting under and post an onthread warning etc. But this should be cleared up and rectified immediately once the mistake has been highlighted.

As a general rule moderators should try to avoid moderating a thread they've been very active in and step back and let another moderator take action. This is true whether they are posting under their moderator username or poster username.

Musicrules

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121043827#Comment_121043827

Thanks for the explanation. The mod in the case I'm referring to was posting regularly in a specific thread and then mistakenly posted in the same thread under their mod account. The thing is, the post they made under the mod account was kind of aggressive. Something like; have you not been able to understand the posts I've made in this thread.

I've seen posters get warnings for similar type posts. I wonder do 2nd accounts for mods get a bit more leeway? Can all mods tell if a poster is a mod posting under their second account?

Big Bag of Chips

Can all mods tell if a poster is a mod posting under their second account?

No. Unless they've been told or were involved in granting the permission for the second account.

In this situation I would report your concerns to another moderator in the forum, or the category moderator. There is a standard of posting expected across all users. However, if action is needed it may not always be visible. That goes for "ordinary" posters too. Sometimes a poster will be contacted via PM by moderators to discuss issues. So just because you might not see a visible action does not mean action has not been taken.

First step should be another moderator of that forum, which can then be escalated to a category moderator if necessary.

Musicrules

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121045489#Comment_121045489

No, another poster responded to the comment from the mod account that was posted in error. They basically outed them as having 2 accounts. Then the post from the mod and replies related to it were all deleted.

Not a big deal really. I just wasn't aware about some having two accounts.