Can I please get some guidance on multiple identities?

[metropolinational]

I see all sorts of confusing information regarding multiple identities. Many people openly advertise that they are here under multiple pseudonyms in their signature line. That makes it look like it's perfectly OK. Other people throw out accusations against "sock puppets," which strongly suggests to me that it is looked down upon. Just now, there is a thread going where multiple identities by a single user are being treated as "deceitful" by some and totally normal by others.

I ask this question because I have finally figured out that there is an excellent reason to create secondary identities. For me, I could created an identity to post stories outside of LW, where an army of one-bombers gleefully 'make it rain' every time I post. This identity would also allow me to participate in contests. Right now, I would never participate in a contest because what's the point of doing so if you can barely crack a 3.0 score.

So, is it allowed? Is it looked down upon? Should it be disclosed? Is there a procedure?

Many thanks for any guidance!

 

[TheLobster]

multiple identities by a single user are being treated as "deceitful"

Well, yeah.

Keyword is "identities". There is nothing wrong with maintaining multiple pen names; sequestering your organically grown community of LW trolls from the rest of stories is perfectly good and valid reason. But you should not try to present those other accounts as your different identities, and especially not use them as force multiplier when it comes to dropping votes or favorites.

Think of it this way. If the site had multiple nom-de-plumes as as a dedicated feature, what would be separate to each pen name and what would be shared between your whole account? The latter is the kind of activities that you should limit to only one "main" Literotica account; the former (posting stories) you can freely spread around.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I see all sorts of confusing information regarding multiple identities. Many people openly advertise that they are here under multiple pseudonyms in their signature line. That makes it look like it's perfectly OK. Other people throw out accusations against "sock puppets," which strongly suggests to me that it is looked down upon. Just now, there is a thread going where multiple identities by a single user are being treated as "deceitful" by some and totally normal by others.

I ask this question because I have finally figured out that there is an excellent reason to create secondary identities. For me, I could created an identity to post stories outside of LW, where an army of one-bombers gleefully 'make it rain' every time I post. This identity would also allow me to participate in contests. Right now, I would never participate in a contest because what's the point of doing so if you can barely crack a 3.0 score.

So, is it allowed? Is it looked down upon? Should it be disclosed? Is there a procedure?

Many thanks for any guidance!

Quite a few of the most well known authors here have published under more than one account. Often to avoid the type of cross-pollution that you cite. It’s an irregular verb:

I have multiple artistic channels
You maintain alts
They have sock puppets

I’d not take any of it too seriously if I was you. It’s at best a minority interest, and some just love drama. Nothing to see here, move on.

 

[StillStunned]

Every account is an assumed identity. Feel free to create another account if you want, with another identity. Tell others about it or not, as you please.

If people find out you're using different accounts to troll or elicit reactions from other posters, they'll be pissed off. Otherwise, who cares?

 

[EmilyMiller]

Otherwise, who cares?

Too many people

 

[RejectReality]

I have three pen names. This is my current representative of the triad, because I login to this name through my current preferred browser. It used to be Darkniciad, because that was my first pen name, and the browser I use for that name was my preferred browser at the time. I'll occasionally post as Dark or Les when they enter a contest, or when I need to establish my bonafides as a Sci-Fi & Fantasy author, because this pen name's resume is thin in that regard.

I also kept this pen name secret for a couple of years when I first started it, because half of the purpose of it was to see what I could accomplish without name recognition of the other two pen names, which had several years of establishment. The other half was to have a place to drop stroke material that I had clogging up my head that I couldn't build a wider story around.

Want one account for your prose, and another to interact on the forum? Go for it. Want a pen name separate from your current one for edgier or softer work than your norm? Go for it. ( Just be aware that splitting your readership gives both pen names a steeper uphill battle toward a solid following ) Want to experiment as I did with this name? Go for it.

Things you shouldn't do: Use another identity in the truest form of a "sock puppet", which is to manufacture an illusion of agreement with whatever opinion you're espousing here, or to pump up your work with public comments on the story side. Use another identity to pump up your score, lower the score of others, or leave nasty commentary.

If your new identity isn't engaged in malicious activity, anybody who doesn't like it can go pound sand.

 

[metropolinational]

If people find out you're using different accounts to troll or elicit reactions from other posters, they'll be pissed off. Otherwise, who cares?

So, what I'm reading here is that having multiple accounts is perfectly fine as long as you don't use the accounts in a nefarious way. That makes sense.

Think of it this way. If the site had multiple nom-de-plumes as as a dedicated feature, what would be separate to each pen name and what would be shared between your whole account? The latter is the kind of activities that you should limit to only one "main" Literotica account; the former (posting stories) you can freely spread around.

I would probably use this identity for the forum (since I'm already widely respected around here) and for story posting, since I have become fond of my trolls and don't care about scores. I would use the second nom de guerre just for contests.

I do like the idea of using the second identity for other genres, but not worth the pain for the reasons @RejectReality listed above.

Thank you all for the fast and useful guidance.

 

[EmilyMiller]

A typical reason for noms des plumes is writing in Gay Male and other genres. As we all know bisexual women are totally adorable, but some guys struggle to get their head () around bisexual males. So best not to discombobulate them. Gay and straight and ne’er the twain shall meet.

 

[metropolinational]

So best not to discombobulate them. Gay and straight and ne’er the twain shall meet.

I have a story all lined up where the bisexual and straight are gonna come within inches of each others... um... interests. I expect to thoroughly scandalize my already jumpy LW fans.

 

[RejectReality]

Loving Wives is really the only genre I would strongly lean toward establishing an identity specifically for those stories. Things like Incest, GM, and Non-Con don't tend to affect the rest of your catalog ( other than potentially squicking a reader and losing them ) the way the trolling that seeps out of LW does. Even when you drop something edgy like that in another category that also applies, it tends to only hurt that story, where the LW trolls will follow you everywhere to fling poo at you.

I like my three name arrangement, but it's hardly for everyone. I wish I'd thought of it before posting the chain stories and humor as Dark, honestly. Then that whole pen name would be completely stories set in the same world. I suppose I could ask Laurel to move the off-topic stuff to Les, but I can't be bothered. LOL So now all my fantasy stuff in Danica's World goes to Dark, all my short, sex-heavy stuff goes here, and everything else belongs to Les.

I can see using an identity for contests only. No baggage from the forum or your other stories to worry about. They'll stand or fall on their own merits. If you enter enough, it wouldn't even be a terrible slog to build enough followers to ensure you qualify every time. Ideally, having your name disconnected from the story would be more fair as far as the contests go, but in reality, it's the internet, and those who wished to tell people which story was theirs easily could, so it' would be a gesture full of sound and fury.

 

[ElectricBlue]

If I was going to use an account to protect a second set of writing from cross-contamination from the first, I wouldn't tell anyone about it, because that would defeat the purpose. But I can't see how I could disguise my style enough, to even bother.

 

[KittyOfSteele]

You know how Klayton used to release stuff like Celldweller ft. Scandroid & Circle of Dust, Circle of Dust ft. Klayton, Klayton ft. Scandroid, and so many other combinations... These are all the same dude! One dude with so many names, crossing them over...

I don't have multiple pen names, but I'm aware some here do. My only question is if any of these would release a story where each pen name takes credit for the writing of the story, like it's a collab even though it's all the same person...

 

[ADirtyPerv]

Man, this is not what I thought the thread was going to be about. I thought you were adding Dissociative Identity Disorder into the Botched series. I think you might break LW entirely if you did that.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I don't have multiple pen names, but I'm aware some here do. My only question is if any of these would release a story where each pen name takes credit for the writing of the story, like it's a collab even though it's all the same person...

Never speak ill of the dead - the AH's possibly best known alt double act: one account would publish the stories, the other would leave, "Fuck this is good," type comments, which is almost the same thing. Problem was, he forgot that he did it, then transferred to the second account as his main account and semi-retired the first. Dumb thing to do, assuming people had no functioning memory.

 

[redgarters]

A typical reason for noms des plumes is writing in Gay Male and other genres. As we all know bisexual women are totally adorable, but some guys struggle to get their head () around bisexual males. So best not to discombobulate them. Gay and straight and ne’er the twain shall meet.

Ah, the joy of being an inexplicable conundrum!

 

[metropolinational]

Man, this is not what I thought the thread was going to be about. I thought you were adding Dissociative Identity Disorder into the Botched series. I think you might break LW entirely if you did that.

it's in there starting in Book 2, chapter 6 or so. I've made extensive use of the "psychobabble" tag to warn people off. But they keep coming, bestowing their 1's upon me. 1 is the highest rating you can get, right?

 

[metropolinational]

I don't have multiple pen names, but I'm aware some here do. My only question is if any of these would release a story where each pen name takes credit for the writing of the story, like it's a collab even though it's all the same person...

Has there been a Lit version of the Pina Colada song written yet? Husband and Wife, bored with each other, turn to Lit to supplement their sex life. They meet in AH, forge a sexy friendship, and decide to write a story together. In doing so, they discover they share many wild and crazy kinks in common, which they would never share with their real partners for fear of rejection. then they agree to meet at a hotel, etc.

 

[alohadave]

Other people throw out accusations against "sock puppets,"

Sock puppets are accounts used to argue in bad faith in forums. It has nothing to do with the story side.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Sock puppets are accounts used to argue in bad faith in forums. It has nothing to do with the story side.

But the perjorative is thrown around with abandon here…

 

[SimonDoom]

So, what I'm reading here is that having multiple accounts is perfectly fine as long as you don't use the accounts in a nefarious way. That makes sense.

I would probably use this identity for the forum (since I'm already widely respected around here) and for story posting, since I have become fond of my trolls and don't care about scores. I would use the second nom de guerre just for contests.

I do like the idea of using the second identity for other genres, but not worth the pain for the reasons @RejectReality listed above.

Thank you all for the fast and useful guidance.

It took only 55 minutes for you to get useful guidance for your question, which was a perfectly sound one. That's pretty good.

I agree with what everyone else has said. There's nothing wrong with doing this as long as you don't engage in mischief by doing it.

 

[Dodola]

But they keep coming, bestowing their 1's upon me. 1 is the highest rating you can get, right?

Absolutely.
And a red H means "horrible".

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Don't let them talk to each other. Or argue with each other.

As authors/forummers, or as ... 'in your head.'

Mine can get a might rowdy up there sometimes.

 

[KittyOfSteele]

Don't let them talk to each other. Or argue with each other.

As authors/forummers, or as ... 'in your head.'

Mine can get a might rowdy up there sometimes.

I like to think that we're all a figment of Manu's imagination. Like the Inside Out emotions, but different.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

I'm a figment of my own imagination.


I do not exist otherwise, therefore I am not.

 

[Djmac1031]

While this is my main account, awhile back I created a second one based on a character from one of my stories... long story why, which I wrote about here if it interests you.

For awhile my goal was to keep "Todd" a secret and I posted as him a few times in the forum really just to see if anyone noticed.

And no one did, or if they did realize it was me, didn't care.

I eventually went public about it and again, no one really cared. I wasn't being a troll with it, just doing different things there than under this pen name.

The point is: Yes, you can create alt identity and no, its not a problem unless you're using your just hiding behind it to be an asshole to other authors. But even then unless you slip up no one will generally connect the dots between you and your alts.