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I'm interested in how users feel about the following:

Is it acceptable for an individual to set-up more than one account to ask questions, provided those questions are legitimate and spark interesting responses?

It may be contended that there is little reason why someone would want to do so. But here I have in mind users who wish to ask a large number of questions in a short space of time (perhaps in the run up to exams for example) and thus will exceed the default question limits.

Admittedly I imagine this issue arises irregularly, and is probably rather difficult to spot in certain cases, but I think the situation is at the very least conceivable and therefore of interest.

My personal view is that - providing the individual's questions meet the standard expected by the community - there should be no issue in using more than one account to pose questions. I'm not sure if an official policy is in place on this point (and please point me in that the right direction if there is one), but in my short time using MSE, I sense that the spirit of the site is to reward interest above and beyond that which one would expect in the classroom. If an individual is generating enough engaging material to exceed the limit, it would seem counterintuitive to penalise them for bringing that enthusiasm to the site.

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    $\begingroup$ You can still bring your enthusiasm to the site in the form of answers. So far you asked 100 questions and gave 1 answer. The level of your own questions suggests you are able to answer quite a few questions posted by others. In the process, you are likely to find that teaching is a very good way of learning. $\endgroup$
    – user127096
    Commented Mar 29, 2014 at 23:29
  • $\begingroup$ @cheapeffectivedietpills I wasn't really asking this question with myself in mind - as you can see my 'ask rate' is substantially below that of the limits. I do intend to start looking at answering questions though. $\endgroup$
    – Mathmo
    Commented Mar 30, 2014 at 19:48

2 Answers 2

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I have in mind users who wish to ask a large number of questions in a short space of time (perhaps in the run up to exams for example) and thus will exceed the default question limits.

This is against the rules. In general, multiple accounts are permitted as long as they are not used to do anything a single account cannot.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for your response - it seems like a clear cut issue. $\endgroup$
    – Mathmo
    Commented Mar 29, 2014 at 21:17
  • $\begingroup$ @AlexBecker If I believe that an account may be owned by the same person (and is being used to submit more questions than allotted to a single account), how can I report this for investigation? $\endgroup$
    – MT_
    Commented Apr 3, 2014 at 3:13
  • $\begingroup$ @MichaelT Flag one of the questions, select "It needs (diamond) moderator attention", and in the comment space link to the other users and give any other evidence you have seen. $\endgroup$
    – Alex Becker Mod
    Commented Apr 3, 2014 at 3:15
  • $\begingroup$ @AlexBecker What is the maximum question ask rate? $\endgroup$
    – MT_
    Commented Apr 3, 2014 at 3:17
  • $\begingroup$ @AlexBecker I want to make sure that, if the two accounts were to be one, they would be bypassing that limit. Else there would be no reason to flag it. I tried to search for it extensively but I can't find any comprehensive rules list. $\endgroup$
    – MT_
    Commented Apr 3, 2014 at 3:35
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    $\begingroup$ @MichaelT The limit is 6/day or 50/month. Even if you are not sure, go ahead and flag. Two accounts owned by the same user are generally subject to additional scrutiny even if we are not presented with such evidence, since there are few legitimate uses for them. We can do a more thorough check on their behavior than non-mods. $\endgroup$
    – Alex Becker Mod
    Commented Apr 3, 2014 at 3:51
  • $\begingroup$ @AlexBecker Thank you. In addition, is it possible to report someone for trivially editing old posts en masse (presumably to get the Archaeologist badge)? Some cases include capitalizing one letter in the title, adding a proposition, and adding a hyphen. (Actually, I just made a question regarding it, so it may be better to answer there) $\endgroup$
    – MT_
    Commented Apr 3, 2014 at 4:04
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No.

I have no opinion on whether or not some users should be allowed to ask more questions than they currently can -- but I do have a strong opinion that if we want to allow such behavior, then it should be done via lifting the limitation, rather than a hackish workaround.

And the specific workaround suggested would introduce additional problems; we don't want to convey the message that it's perfectly legitimate for users to circumvent limitations via sock-puppets.

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    $\begingroup$ as much as I don't have a problem with enthusiasm and people trying to learn, trying to cheat the rules instead of an appeal to lift the rules does send a wrong message. +1 $\endgroup$
    – Guy
    Commented Apr 2, 2014 at 7:07

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