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This user is suspended for 71.63 more years:

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A user with the same name is not suspended:

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Perhaps the mods can investigate their IP addresses and act accordingly (both users are basically active on the questions in the same specific area of theoretical physics). I appreciate that the possible secondary account, has not been active lately. Also I do not know the user and have never read any of their content nor interacted with them, and don't know why they were suspended. I do think 71+ years is ridiculous and serves no more practical purpose than 61 years would, but I'm a mere mortal user with 0 reputation, and therefore have no power. I appreciate that this suspension probably has nothing to do with MathOverflow, since it's a "network-wide" suspension. I just noticed this and thought I'd point it out.

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    $\begingroup$ Good find, but that user hasn't logged in since 2013, and it's better to use a custom moderator flag for this. $\endgroup$
    – Glorfindel
    Jul 30, 2020 at 19:19
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    $\begingroup$ @Glorfindel My question already says "I appreciate that the possible sockpuppet, has not been active lately". The problem with custom mod flags is that there's not much space to write. $\endgroup$ Jul 30, 2020 at 19:20
  • $\begingroup$ Sorry, missed that. 500 characters should be enough, I guess, this answer isn't much longer. $\endgroup$
    – Glorfindel
    Jul 30, 2020 at 19:21
  • $\begingroup$ I believe it is not possible to put screenshots, in mod flags. $\endgroup$ Jul 30, 2020 at 19:22
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    $\begingroup$ Moderator flags are the best way to handle this, but since this is a network suspension and not a site suspension, it's more direct to contact SE staff directly - meta.mathoverflow.net/contact $\endgroup$ Jul 30, 2020 at 22:39
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    $\begingroup$ Actually, the ban ends on 2292, not 2092. See meta.stackexchange.com/q/284807/177408 $\endgroup$
    – JRN
    Jul 31, 2020 at 2:59
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    $\begingroup$ Sockpuppeting is when a single person pretends to be multiple people, not when one person has two different accounts with the same name. My vague recollection of the fun and games with RM was that there were indeed two accounts at one stage but not with any nefarious intent -- or at least, any pretence was soon abandoned $\endgroup$
    – Yemon Choi
    Jul 31, 2020 at 5:04
  • $\begingroup$ Ron Maimon is a former moderator and used to be a valuable contributor to Phyics.SE --- I would welcome him back --- in any case, to call this a "sockpuppet" is offensive and inappropriate. $\endgroup$ Jul 31, 2020 at 13:26
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    $\begingroup$ What was your goal in making this post? You are directing unnecessary attention at a private individual, and you haven't mentioned anything that requires community action or discussion. $\endgroup$
    – S. Carnahan Mod
    Aug 4, 2020 at 3:46

1 Answer 1

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You may notice that this account predates MathOverflow joining Stack Exchange network in June 2013.

At the time, all users who had account on the old MO site had to merge their old account with a new Stack Exchange account, if they wanted to keep using the site and have access to their old posts. This is another instance of such case: How to merge old MathOverflow account? A few more details can be seen here: How can I log in into my old MathOverflow account?

As far as suspension goes, if the old account active becomes active again and if the moderators feel that some action is warranted, I am sure that they will act accordingly. But given the above information, it seems unlikely that this user would be able to use the other account without merging it with an existing Stack Exchange account.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for pointing out that the account pre-dates the merging of MO into the SE network. It seems the user has not been using the "old" MO account anymore, and never merged it into their existing SE network account, which is what they use now (as recently as 6 days ago on Physics.SE). It seems the mods here are aware of the situation now, but choose not to suspend the old MO account, and it would be up to the network CMs that issued the network-wide suspension in the first place. $\endgroup$ Aug 2, 2020 at 16:47
  • $\begingroup$ Since the user has not been active here, and member of this community do not quite support the suspension, and we seem to have no knowledge available to us about why the account was suspended, and the length of suspension does seem to be absurd, I haven't brought this to the attention of the network CMs. They can act on it if they see it by happenstance. $\endgroup$ Aug 2, 2020 at 16:50

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