Duplicate accounts - an amnesty on existing, and an offer to some others.

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From a really old thread, and a really well-worn subject ...

I'm just clarifying something ... if you find you're unable to sign in, please do not simply register a new account.    I've seen this done in the past on other forums, and found that it has resulted in (even as a best case) other users getting confused, and of course your new account looses you the "rank" that you get from having a certain number of posts. Please let me or one of the other moderators know if you're having trouble logging in and we'll help.

There may, very rarely, be a legitimate reason to sign up for two accounts - again, if you feel you have one please let me know.

We remain faithful to this policy, and if the administrators spot a sign-up request that looks like a duplicate, they'll take a further look and try to reconnect users with their existing account. Just occasionally, one of us missing such a second signing and indeed we now have a handful of active users who have also had a previous incarnation. In most cases, it's been done in all innocence but it does leave us, with two data trails, wondering "what now?"; joining the trails could be time consuming and would be more trouble than it's worth provided that (a) the person only posts from the newer account in future and (b) the linkage isn't hidden.

So - we're declaring an amnesty on such existing accounts. Please, if you're reading this and want a fresh start, do NOT set up a duplicate;  the admin team will be very unhappy if you do. 

One or two accounts fall within the amnesty because the member concerned was looking for a fresh start, rather than out of frustration with our software / issues when we moved server / forgetfullenss of password.  The old profiles that I'm thinking about aren't / haven't been accessed for over five years and indeed are inaccessible.  Should any other 'owners' of those old, inaccessible accounts from the last decade wish for a similar fresh start, please let me know and the admin team will be very sympathetic indeed - after all, you have been patient and followed the letter of our requests by not registering a new account, and it would be unfair to place you in a worse position (if you consider it such) than a person who has gone against the forum rules but been granted an amnesty.