That is very interesting as I did this a couple of times when crossing from Thailand into Malaysia back in the 1980's with no problem at all. I had two UK passports. I guess from the comments here things have changed.
Jacob Lotsander They can do a search on name, birthdate and nationality, so technically they can connect you to a previous passport if you are using the same name.
Jacob Lotsander It depends on the country. ie In the US you cannot do this, the only way is to enter the country even if your final destination is outside the US.
He may be referring to Residency. Currently residency for many countries is not just a convinience mailing address. Tax laws (tightened due to terror threats) mean that residency is not such a simple thing anymore and many monetary decisions can be affected by your declaration of residency.
My understanding is that you must do a 90 day report "offline" so to speak, before you can do it online, and that is the only restriction. However, I have heard from one person that Samut Prakan made them do the report in person. But I am sure Tod Daniels is correct about CW.