Using multiple accounts (often called “trolls” or “fake accounts”) to support yourself and attack others is a common manipulative behavior in Internet forums. Here are some common strategies: 1. **Sockpuppeting**: - **Self-endorsement**: Using multiple accounts to post similar or identical comments or posts to create the illusion of widespread support for a particular idea or product. This can mislead other users and increase the credibility of a particular opinion. - **Manipulating the rating system**: Using multiple accounts to like and increase the credibility of one’s own posts or comments to increase their visibility and influence in the forum. 2. **Trolling**: - **Organized attacks**: Multiple accounts coordinate to attack a user or idea, attempting to undermine the target’s reputation or influence through continuous negative comments, insults, or personal attacks. - **Off-topic**: Using a large amount of spam or provocative remarks to divert the focus of the discussion, causing a meaningful discussion to become chaotic or out of control. 3. **Astroturfing**: - **Pretending to be a grassroots movement**: Simulating the behavior of real users to create a certain social trend or public opinion, the actual manipulator behind the scenes uses fake accounts to promote specific issues. - **Pretending to be diverse**: Using multiple accounts to express different opinions, but in fact there is a unified opinion or interest behind these accounts, so as to mislead other users into thinking that there are widespread differences of opinion. 4. **Information manipulation and misleading**: - **Spreading false information**: Using multiple accounts to spread false information or rumors in an attempt to influence public perception or create panic. - **Repeated dissemination**: Repeating the same information through a large number of accounts to increase its exposure in search engines or forums, making it look more credible. 5. **Anonymous collaboration and anonymity**: - **Hiding true intentions**: Hiding true identities and intentions through different accounts to avoid being discovered and tracked, while being able to manipulate more freely. - **Dispersed responsibility**: Dispersing information across multiple accounts reduces the risk of being banned or reported by a single account, and prolongs the duration of manipulation. 6. **Manipulating the discussion atmosphere**: - **Creating extreme voices**: Using multiple accounts to post extreme or inflammatory remarks, creating a tense or confrontational discussion atmosphere, and weakening the possibility of rational discussion. - **Creating false disputes**: Using multiple accounts pretending to have different opinions, causing unnecessary arguments and fights, and distracting the community's attention. **Preventive measures**: - **Strengthening identity verification**: Increase the difficulty of creating multiple accounts through verification codes, email verification, mobile phone number binding, etc. - **Behavior analysis and monitoring**: Use algorithms to detect abnormal behaviors, such as frequent posting of similar content, a large number of interactions in a short period of time, etc., and conduct reviews. - **Community management**: Encourage users to report suspicious accounts, strengthen administrators' review and management efforts, and promptly ban illegal accounts. - **Improve user literacy**: Educate users to identify and prevent multiple account manipulation behaviors, and enhance their ability to discern online information. By understanding and identifying these strategies, forum managers and users can more effectively deal with the manipulation and interference brought by multiple accounts and maintain the healthy development of the community.