

Ask HN: Multiple users with 1 account in a SaaS, how do you find them? - NicoJuicy

I should find who has 1 account, but uses this one for multiple people (pay per month &#x2F; user webapp). I&#x27;m currently logging the username, ip , useragent, page visited (every html page), sessionId and the time.<p>My current report generates a query - grouped by session with a MinDateTime and MaxDateTime.<p>I&#x27;m not quite satisfied with my solution (there are to many sessions mostly) and it&#x27;s not really automated for now.<p>How do you keep track of who is cheating your subscription system?
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pwim
If they are sharing an account, they aren't really cheating - your application
just isn't providing them any benefits to have multiple users.

If you find a large percentage of accounts are shared, then maybe you should
take a look at revising your pricing and segmenting on something else.
Alternatively, you could look at adding functionality that makes having
multiple user accounts more useful than just sharing one.

If it is just a few accounts, it's probably not worth your time worrying about
it.

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NicoJuicy
It's not about it's ethical or not, i have to implement it by my employer..
Since he is paying me wager, i want to do it as good as possible :)

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celticninja
I think your focus is wrong, as pwim said you should focus on creating a
benefot to multipl eusers rather than account sharing. by going after, what
you refer to as "cheaters" means making an enemy of your customer, however if
you view them as a customer whose needs are not being met you could increase
overall subscription rates by focussing on these benefits. I suggest
continuign to try and track your "cheaters" but approach them to discuss why
they do it and how multiple accounts would suit them better e.g. easier to
communicate with other users ont he same platform as you can track messaging
by username, if 10 people use the same login then mo one know who is sending
or responding to messages within the system.

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therealidiot
I've seen some systems just enforce one session per user, multiple people
sharing an account becomes unusable as they will keep logging each other out

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NicoJuicy
I kinda thought about this too, but i'm mostly looking for a tracking system
that can help me identify "cheating" users.

I think, considering multiple devices - browsers - ... it should be a
"helpfull" tool and not a "forcing" tool. Eg. when someone is logging in
through their mobile, the session on their pc shouldn't get expired.

