[K-W]

Nadar, round after round shows people fake nicking and staying hidden for much longer than 24 hours. Perhaps most people do not, though I doubt you actually know the statistics, but even so the people who are able to successfully hide can gain an advantage which is well worth the inconvenience of setting up a second irc persona.

I have certainly seen people fake nicking for no reason, either because their ally was easily mappable or because nobody was going to target them because of their ally. This is stupid, but for people who are in alliances with enemies or who have personal enemies effectively fake nicking provides a tangible advantage, especially when there are cov-oppers around.

Meanwhile as 'easy' as it is to map an alliance, it takes work, and the more information you provide an enemy the less work it takes and the less likely they are to make errors. Every little bit counts in this game.