IPs are one way. We do other "detective" work which basically amounts to looking at the user's behavior for patterns, such as breaking the same rules as a previously banned account or using the same language, or even them telling us it's an alt account. In some cases, we examine post histories for more evidence.
Generally, what we're aiming to stop are those people who get banned, get mad, then come back with a different account shortly after the ban (it's happened plenty of times before). Beforehand, we simply had de facto rules (basically nothing was formal, I just followed with SS did) which is something this thread was made to get rid of. Anyway, we're not looking through every newly registered user, just the problem people, the "ban dodgers". If something looks fishy, we poke it and dig deeper.
If we discover that someone has an alternate account, even if they are abiding by the other rules (like Duke Nukem aka Maverick Hunter X, both formerly known as Gabriel Belmont) we still would ban the alternate account. If someone forgets the password/email to their old account and they make a new one, and stick to that new one, that's fine. That's what we mean by an "active" account.
Generally, what we're aiming to stop are those people who get banned, get mad, then come back with a different account shortly after the ban (it's happened plenty of times before). Beforehand, we simply had de facto rules (basically nothing was formal, I just followed with SS did) which is something this thread was made to get rid of. Anyway, we're not looking through every newly registered user, just the problem people, the "ban dodgers". If something looks fishy, we poke it and dig deeper.
If we discover that someone has an alternate account, even if they are abiding by the other rules (like Duke Nukem aka Maverick Hunter X, both formerly known as Gabriel Belmont) we still would ban the alternate account. If someone forgets the password/email to their old account and they make a new one, and stick to that new one, that's fine. That's what we mean by an "active" account.