by AJ
Multiple Accounts on Squidoo? Good or Bad? Depends on who’s using them!
6:45 am in AJ's musings, Featured by AJ
Today I did a search on the SquidU Forum using the key phrase “multiple accounts” – gosh, what a lot has already been said! The topic of Multiple Accounts regularly pops its head above the parapet on SquidU because in my view it is the cause of much of the problems on Squidoo. Am I right? Read on….
Are Multiple Accounts actually masks to hide behind?
In support of my argument that Multiple Accounts cause more trouble than anything else on Squidoo, I suggest you check out this thread on the SquidU Forum: Dos and don’ts, cans and shoulds of Squidoo…and policy FAQ posted by Squidoo Community Organiser Kimberly.
Kimberly says:
If you have multiple accounts, chances are you did this so people wouldn’t know that you’re part of Fight Club. However that also means that Angels or administrators who find lenses against our terms of service don’t know that you’re the one who created them, and they can end up in the reported or locked pile. While Giants have the perk of lenses (hopefully) not getting caught in our spam filters, the SquidDon’t rules apply to everyone. So be sure to review them one more time.
The fact that Kimberly even had to say it, is a stark reminder about the problems that Multiple Accounts cause Squidoo. To understand this topic properly, it is important to look at the reasons why so many people have multiple accounts:
Hey – they were TOLD to do it!
Many of the Squidoo Tips e-books recommend that in order to promote a niche, a Lensmaster needs a user-name associated with that niche, in order to look credible. So let me introduce you to: Lensmaster Bellybuttonfluffremovalexpert.
We have met him before here on Squidlog and my guess is that his Lensmaster bio will say something like:
Bellybuttonfluffremovalexpert also known as BellyButtonFluff Remover is an expert on the great products available to remove Belly Button Fluff.
Good old BellyButtonFluff Remover will then flog the topic to death, probably publishing five lenses at a time until he totally exhausts every single keyphrase he has researched. The amount of bellybutton fluff that could be removed in all his lenses would be enough to knit my Mum a cardigan for Christmas!
Then when he comes up with a new product, (let’s use Yeast Infections as an example) he will set up a new Squidoo User account. He may even change gender – yep they do that as well!
Well, he has to, because that’s what the “experts” told him to do (change his name, silly, not his gender) and besides “Bellybuttonremovalexpert” will make people wonder if he starts publishing on Yeast Infections, particularly when he told everyone he was an expert on Belly Button Fluff. After all he has to make sure his credibility remains intact.
So, enter Lensmaster Yeast-infections-r-us. Cue another wave of lenses, in multiples of five, because that is the maximum non-giants are allowed to publish in one day on Squidoo.
OK, so that’s two accounts with possibly 15 or 20 lenses that are just screaming:
Buy these products from me because I am an expert!
Now, what’s the next big-selling product?
Toe nail fungus?
Forex?
Solar panels?
Relationship problems – yep, oh joy! Get your ex back is still being flogged on Squidoo!
Let’s forget about the Squidoo TOS – that’s assuming that our friend has actually read them – and let’s publish lenses on anything that anyone tells us is a “hot topic”! Multiply this by thousands of Lensmasters and you can understand what Squidoo is dealing with.
Other “naughties” associated with multiple accounts
People set up additional accounts with the sole purpose of gaming the Squidoo lensrankings! Oh yes, they really do.
They give 5*s to their own lenses. They fav their own lenses. They write complimentary comments in their own Guestbooks. They contribute comments from their aliases in their own Duel modules. They join their own fanclubs. OMG (that’s Oh My Gosh) – they cheat!
And the result?
People who have genuine and ethical reasons for wanting to have more than one account on Squidoo run the risk of being tarred with the same brush as good old Lensmaster Bellybuttonfluffremovalexpert aka Lensmaster Yeast-infections-r-us aka Toenailfunguszapper aka blah blah blah….
Important Note! I am sure that not all “Squidoo Tips Authors” meant for this to happen
In defence of some Internet Marketers, while I may not agree with all the methods I have seen recommending on how to go about affiliate marketing on Squidoo, I am not suggesting that they are each and every one to blame for what is happening – only some of them 
As with any recommendations, there will always be those that are made in good faith and those people who will take them to the extreme.
What are perfectly acceptable reasons for having multiple accounts on Squidoo?
Some Lensmasters have professional and private personas that they don’t want to mix up. On the one hand they may have a business or a professional niche that they want to promote and they may also want to write personal lenses.
Take as an example someone who is writing about Self Help Books they have published on Life Skills. Perhaps Assertiveness, How to beat Depression or Coping with Grief. Lenses with stories about their personal experiences may undermine their professional reputation.
It’s very hard to admit if you are writing a Lens about Time Management on Squidoo, that the kids drive you bonkers and that yes, you have been known to scream hysterically at them from time to time, if you also want to publish on topics where you have to maintain an aura for being calm and well balanced!
You might be human but the different professional and private personality, that most of us have, may not be compatible with the expert reputation you are trying to build. So the simplest way is to have two accounts, one “professional” and one “personal”.
Lensmaster LindaJM is building quite a reputation on Squidoo as an expert on Bigfoot Sightings. She is also an advocate for people who have had their children taken away by Social Services and who have been subjected to false accusations of abuse.
My Dilemma
In my own case my husband and I have identified a niche topic that would need me to publish under my real identity. (The reason why I have an alias on Squidoo is because of my lenses on Bullying.) However, I have such mixed feelings about multiple accounts that it is proving to be quite a dilemma to decide whether to set up another account or not. In the meantime a niche awaits….
One of my favourite “multi-persona” Lensmasters is Susanna Duffy. When she was considering setting up an account for her cat, she kicked off a discussion in the SquidU Forum: Opening a second account. I’m glad she went ahead as her cat Vladi is a very, very good Lensmaster with a specific topic, who gives his own “cat’s eye view” of the world and is very informative and also dispenses crucial cat advice such as 5 Safety Tips for Cats at Halloween.
Can Lensmasters be successful with a mish mosh of topics?
This was a question asked by Lensmaster AndrewShim in that same forum thread and my response was:
Andrew some of us are doing just fine with a long mish-mosh of serious and silly stuff on Squidoo I honestly believe that the reputation of the Lensmaster counts as much as the quality and the topics of their lenses.
You only have to look at Lensmasters with hundreds of lenses on various topics to see how they have established a good reputation on Squidoo and you just know they will write well on any topic that grabs them:
Who would you rather listen to?
A lensmaster who has five junky lenses or someone with lots of lenses on different topics? Someone who has obviously just done some research on the latest “hot” topic? Or someone who writes with passion and knowledge about things that genuinely interest them or that they have experienced?
Lensmaster Drifter0658 may not have been thinking about multiple accounts when he wrote What Personal Branding Means to Me but a lot of what he says is relevant.
If you are so busy churning out lenses about the latest “hot topic” and changing your Squidoo ID each time you come up with a new topic, how the heck are you EVER going to build up a reputation. How are you going to be able to persuade people to TRUST you?
How does Squidoo solve the problems caused by multi-accounts?
Only allow Giants to have more than one account
That way, hopefully a trustworthy reputation has been established on Squidoo and the Lensmaster has a lot more to lose if they betray that trust.
Disallow anyone who has not published a lens from rating and commenting
Would dissuade anyone from setting up multi-accounts with the sole purpose of gaming the Lensrankings.
Make info about the multi accounts available to the Squidoo Angels
We already have some features on Lenses that are only visible to Angels – the Thumbs Up and Thumbs down that allow an Angel to Bless or Ding. A similar feature could also be added that shows all the accounts registered by the Lensmaster, which would make it even easier to check if multiple accounts were being used dishonestly.
Anyone managing all their accounts with integrity would have nothing to worry about.
So if you are tempted to start up some new accounts on Squidoo….
.…please think about all of this and make sure you are doing it for the RIGHT reasons, not the WRONG ones.
My own conclusion is that multiple accounts are like Science – good in the right hands, dangerous in the wrong ones.
Next week: Guestbook Etiquette and whatever you do, don’t ever Spam a Squidoo Angel’s Guestbook – heh heh!
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Quoting allthatiscute: Diary of a rabbit owner. Ladies and gentlemen: the story you are about to hear is true. The names have not been changed to protect the innocent, because frankly I don’t care. —
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