When a single users makes multiple accounts with the sole intention of leaving reviews on their own plugins (or leaving poor reviews on their competitors), this is called being a “Sock Puppet” – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sockpuppet_(Internet)
This behavior is expressly NOT welcome on the WordPress Forums as it is spamming, and it can result is us removing all your plugins from our repository for abuse.
That’s from an email we send out when we catch you (or your plugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party team) making multiple accounts.
There’s a fine line between making multiple accounts for a team and making fake accounts that leave comments and reviews on your plugin, which you (or someone else on the team) then interacts with.
It’s disreputable, it’s an abuse of our good faith in you, it’s spamming, and it’s wasting the time of forum volunteers.
It’s also not permitted.
We’ve shut down many plugins because the authors engage in unwelcome behavior. Please don’t make us shut down yours. Don’t leave reviews on your own plugins, don’t make fake support posts, don’t spam. It doesn’t make your plugin look good and it will result in your plugins being pulled.
#reminder, #warning
