The Onus of Stream-Crossing Prevention in Factions

[Amateur Hour]

I will ask through an illustrative example:

Say I play Robin Hood, who has the faction Band of Merry Men. Robin Hood admits Little John to the faction as matter of course. Later, Robin Hood is approached by Will Scarlet, who asks to join the Band of Merry Men as well. Say that Little John and Will Scarlet are played by the same person. Obviously, this is stream-crossing; their player shouldn't be doing this.

If I know that Little John and Will Scarlet are both played by the same person beforehand, is it my responsibility to have Robin Hood come up with an excuse to refuse to admit Will Scarlet while Little John still exists in the faction? If I learn that Little John and Will Scarlet are played by the same person after they are both admitted to the faction, am I required to have Robin Hood give an IC reason to remove one of them, or should I simply mechanically remove one of them as quickly as possible? Is it my responsibility to communicate through some OOC means (Discord, tells, etc.) to ask the player to choose which of their characters they want to stay in the faction?

Or is this something that, mechanically, DMs can detect, so I should just allow the roleplay to emerge naturally - permitting Will Scarlet to join and trusting that the DM team will sort it out?

[Eira]

f you find out about it, and the person is not taking steps themselves to prevent stream crossing, I'd say, you should do what you can to get on the same page as the player to have them choose which character they want to pursue this story with.

Generally, a faction leader does have responsibility on making sure the faction members have clean noses, so to speak.

[Amateur Hour]

...you should do what you can to get on the same page as the player to have them choose which character they want to pursue this story with.

Can I get some clarity on "do what you can"? Does this mean obligation to contact through Tells/Discord/carrier pigeon to OOC coordinate which plot should be pursued?

[Eira]

Yes, I say the player, as I mean OOC.

If you do not want to, or cannot, contact them yourself, you can ask a DM to do it for you.

[DM Monkey]

The short answer is: If you're aware, then you do have responsibility in this situation.

If you feel there's a problem then you can reach out to the DMs who can look into it. You could let the player know (since you likely know them OOC in the first place if you know which characters belong to the same player) and let them choose which character they proceed with or focus on. The onus is on the player to follow the rules of the server. If a faction leader is unaware, I wouldn't think it's their fault that some player takes advantage of their faction. Case by case kind of thing.