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I have been here in Stack Overflow for more than a year. Last week on Saturday I got a message from a moderator that my account is been suspended for 1 month for sockpuppet reason. I have a friend or colleague of mine who may have upvoted my answers or question. but I didn't ask them to vote me. It wasn't my fault. I've contact SO team for this issue.but on next day I again got a message from a moderator that my account is suspended for 1 year! for the same reason! I don't know this time also who did it!. I have explained to them that it wasn't me but they haven't get back to me yet. Obviously, they must have many more things to do. I am posting this here because I wanted my account to be unsuspended. 1 year is a big deal guys. if you look my history I know I been suspended for any reason before i.e answering a question, making edit suggestion, voting irregularities (I have accepted that it was me and okay with my punishment as it was not fair for all). But this I haven't done. As I was suspended before it was easy for anyone to frame me easily by my record :(.

What would I do for a year now? I really enjoy answering the question here for my knowledge. Should I make another account here? That is not allowed in suspension period, but how can I wait for a year for it. Please, someone, suggest me what I should do?

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    The question is how did your friend got to know what were your answers.... That would not have been possible without either you sharing the links to them or you impersonating another user .. would suggest to strongly work by ethics and respect the moderators
    – Soumen Mukherjee
    Jan 21, 2019 at 13:21
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    If you already used "contact us", then there's nothing we can do. We don't know any details of the suspension, and we shouldn't. The increase in suspension time may have been due to previous history. I guess there are no other options than to wait it out. Don't make new accounts or do anything you shouldn't be doing, that could just end up making it all worse.
    – M.A.R.
    Jan 21, 2019 at 13:22
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    yes @SoumenMukherjee I respect them. and yeah answer of your question is that user must have seen me answering here in my pc and tracked down me.
    – p u
    Jan 21, 2019 at 13:24
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    @M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ yeah that's the problem my previous history that's why moderators not trusting me :( but 1 year is too much for waiting.
    – p u
    Jan 21, 2019 at 13:26
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    Hey, out of curiosity... is it a friend or a colleague or both? The wording almost makes it sound... well, uncertain.
    – anonymous2
    Jan 21, 2019 at 13:35
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    @anonymous2 colleague because of one when I got 1st suspension I have specified my friend who has voted me to not vote from now.It must be a colleague
    – p u
    Jan 21, 2019 at 13:37
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    In order to frame you, one must share your own IP. So I doubt that's the case. Sorry, but without being able to check into it further, I choose to believe the moderators.
    – Shadow Wizard Strikes Back
    Jan 21, 2019 at 13:44
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    Colleague do have same ip as of same workplace. I wanted everyone to. Believe me
    – p u
    Jan 21, 2019 at 14:39

2 Answers 2

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Moderators on Stack Overflow responded to you on multiple occasions about this, frankly many more times than we usually do for voting fraud suspensions. Here's the timeline:

  • On December 29, you were warned about targeting another user with downvotes. A moderator responded to your questions about that warning with detail about the situation.
  • On January 5, an account at your location named "priyanshi srivastava" was found to be voting for you exclusively. Coupled with your previous warning for targeted downvotes, you were suspended for 7 days as a result of that. A moderator responded to you twice after you asked questions about that suspension, as well as your complaints about hitting a question ban and how to work your way out of that.
  • On January 19, two more accounts were found to be voting for you, with clear evidence that these votes were coordinated by you and that one, if not both, of the accounts were controlled by you. You were suspended for 30 days as a result of that.
  • Yesterday, a moderator found that you had recreated a puppet account and were attempting to use it to evade your current suspension. This was the final straw, and led to a 365-day suspension of your main account. I see that you promptly recreated this account just now, and I have once again deleted it.

I'm willing to reduce the suspension length back down to 30 days if you promise to immediately stop creating new accounts and wait out the suspension duration before becoming active on the site again. Is that acceptable?

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    And who said we're not welcoming ... I praise the patience of the mod team ...
    – rene
    Jan 21, 2019 at 16:21
  • Yeah you are way more patient than I thought. Yeah I promise you that wouldn't happen again.from my side.. But what about other account that I didn't manage?? If they again do this same thing will you belive me that it wasn't me? That would be a great help seriously. Thank you so much for you response and patience
    – p u
    Jan 21, 2019 at 17:50
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    "I'm willing to reduce the suspension length back down to 30 days" Good grief, why??
    – jscs
    Jan 21, 2019 at 18:18
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    I was told that even "moderators" on any SE site did not have access to "voting" data (only SE employees or something like that). Maybe clarify that?
    – Pierre.Vriens
    Jan 21, 2019 at 18:22
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    @Pierre.Vriens - We cannot see individual votes, nor can we remove them (certain employees can do both), but moderators can see trends and patterns that indicate potentially suspicious voting. Moderators can delete sock puppets, which removes all votes cast, but in cases of suspected voting rings we do need to file an investigation and invalidation request with SE employees. I won't get too specific on what we see, so that I don't make it easier for people to work around our tools. There have been other public Meta discussions about this, but I don't have links handy.
    – Brad Larson
    Jan 21, 2019 at 18:46
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    @BradLarson I promise you from now onwards I am not creating any other accounts for questioning and answering on SO. I'll wait until my suspension end. Hope its length back down to 30 days soon. tq for your reply :)
    – p u
    Jan 22, 2019 at 4:47
  • @BradLarson - I'd also point out that you are using the system recommendation of Warning/7/30/365 progression.
    – user447378
    Oct 23, 2019 at 22:55
  • @BradLarson I wish moderators were understanding and sympathetic like you. I wrote a 100 messages, mail, apology letter but no one was ready to listen to me. My stackoverflow was eventually banned for 1year
    – Himanshuman
    Aug 30, 2022 at 4:09
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What would I do for a year now? I really enjoy answering the question here for my knowledge.

Well, there are more sites in the Stack Exchange network. I know of some users who became passionate users of Code Review and Software Engineering during a long Stack Overflow suspension. The technology is the same; the problems are different. It will take a while to get used to write good answers on those sites, but with some dedication you'll get there for sure. Just be sure to stay out of trouble.

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  • thank you for your response. there is no way to get my account suspension down or at least to have it decrease :(
    – p u
    Jan 21, 2019 at 13:30
  • Nope, the "Contact Us" form is your last option for appeal.
    – Glorfindel Mod
    Jan 21, 2019 at 13:31
  • I have done that already means I can't use SO for curiosity. but i really need it i am kind of addicted of it
    – p u
    Jan 21, 2019 at 13:34
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    If you're really addicted, a suspension is a blessing in disguise.
    – Glorfindel Mod
    Jan 21, 2019 at 13:34
  • in a positive way :( it's not a blessing. i don't whom i should beg to get my account back
    – p u
    Jan 21, 2019 at 13:35
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    Nobody. You appealed, it was rejected. At this point, all you can do is serve your time.
    – fbueckert
    Jan 21, 2019 at 14:11
  • But they have suspended me for 1 month already.. Then next day why suspend me for a year. Isn't that rude :(
    – p u
    Jan 21, 2019 at 14:42
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    You got emails telling you what happened. Suspensions don't happen on a whim; there's likely very compelling evidence that you were sockpuppeting, and I would bet those emails told you exactly which accounts they thought were doing so. Nobody says they're perfect and don't make mistakes, but neither are they naive enough to believe your story by itself. Is it rude? Well, that depends on your perspective; was it rude to use sockpuppets to vote up your posts, violating the rules the site has? I think so.
    – fbueckert
    Jan 21, 2019 at 14:48
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    @fbueckert we don't reveal the other accounts when contacting users over sockpuppetry or targeted voting. The offending party will know which accounts we're talking about.
    – ChrisF Mod
    Jan 21, 2019 at 14:58
  • @ChrisF Good info to know, thanks! Wasn't sure on that one, as my guess was an even chance the offender knows, or is told.
    – fbueckert
    Jan 21, 2019 at 15:01
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    Yup you are right but try to understand my senerio also na.. I understand many users might have used that.. I also used sockpupet ang got suspension but this time I haven't used it still getting suspend bit a rude
    – p u
    Jan 21, 2019 at 15:06
  • @ChrisF and (mentioning) Glorfindel I have been suspended for a year, its been 4months since my suspension. I was banned for using sock puppet accounts. Multiple times, multiple mails I have apologized to the moderators but all was in vain. How do I express how sorry I am for my doing. I am sorry. Would it be possible to get my stack overflow? 1yeasr is a very long time, I promise you this was the last time, Could you forgive me please or should I loose all hope until the suspension period ends? If yes, please just reply yes.
    – Himanshuman
    Nov 10, 2022 at 5:04

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