Sock puppet accounts

[godlameroso]

A few users here have sock puppet accounts they use to mass vote whatever strikes their fancy. That's abuse of the vote system, moderators should do something about that. Sock puppets are easily discovered, usually long time inactive accounts that suddenly spring in to action.

[CMSMJ1]

Don't be shy - who?

[hUirEYExbN]

A few users here have sock puppet accounts they use to mass vote whatever strikes their fancy. That's abuse of the vote system, moderators should do something about that. Sock puppets are easily discovered, usually long time inactive accounts that suddenly spring in to action.

Who?

Personally I think both up and down votes shouldn't be anonymous to users.

I also agree that if there are any sockpuppets, they should be removed. How easy phpBB make checking for this is another matter.

[Wouter]

Don't be shy - who?

@Godlameroso got 27 downvotes since May 11. That seems like a bit of abuse of the voting system to me.
Who? Those votes are anonymous.

[RZS10]

I asked the following in discord (for those who don't use it) a long time ago:

"Do mods sometimes have a look at the positive ratings of forum users who receive a large number of negative ratings? some people post some absolute nonsense and rightfully get -1 or -2 on a post and they still are at a total of +-0 ... and then when you check out their ratings they get positive votes for exactly the same posts that get negative ones or some throwaway one sentence posts that add nothing to the discussion

tl:dr it almost seems like some users might be 'fixing' their ratings via multiple accounts"

So it was basically about sockpuppet accounts since i had noticed some ancient accounts suddenly posting and some who were obviously just trolling ended up with neutral ratings on posts that garnered downvotes - but i didn't feel like 'snitching' on anyone ...hehe

The reply: (i hope Vyssion is ok with me reposting it here )

"I don't want to give much away here, as it would share information that abusers could use to evade us, but what I will say is that we do have tools to see this going on - however, as it requires a human to do the final checks to ensure the validity of the claim, sometimes it takes us a bit longer to nail the culprit. If you happen to know of anything, feel free to reach out to myself or any of the mods on the site in discord or site PMs etc."

I also mentioned rating/reputation and the general flaw of the system being misused as a simple "i agree/disagree" button a few days ago. The literal name of the "upvote" on this site is "recommendation" and the description is "Rate up to recommend this post as valuable and of technical value".

In certain subforums people will get large numbers of "recommendations" simply for agreeing with others and for throwaway one liners that in reality add nothing to the discussion.

There's literally a current post that starts with "I agree" and then just rephrases what was previously written that has gotten a +1 which is just plain ridiculous.

I pointed out someone might be too full of themselves and got +3 for it which is just silly and def. not deserved, fortunately those votes got deleted.

So the system is 100% being 'played' the other way (probably even more than for any possible "sockpuppets" downvoting) by being massively misused simply as "likes" as seen on various social media platforms.

Anyways, steven wrote the following (same applies here hehe):

"I've been scouring through some ratings yesterday. More today
Got to get this sorted, so expect some user's ratings to change due to removal of some votes.
And again, please use the report button for whatever you feel the mods should take a look at"

So there's apparently some systems that are supposed to catch 'illegitimate' ratings but those are then being checked 'manually' .

In general i've found out that one can always PM mods when feeling that some ratings were undeserved and they'll have a look.

[El Scorchio]

Don't be shy - who?

@Godlameroso got 27 downvotes since May 11. That seems like a bit of abuse of the voting system to me.
Who? Those votes are anonymous.

To be fair, he has been posting a lot of comments over the course of a week that several people have strongly disagreed with, and he's posted in a very robust manner towards several people. This much is evident form reading the RB team thread, the RB16 thread and the wing flex thread. It's entirely possible they are all legit downvotes. (For the record I haven't upvoted or downvoted anyone.)

However, if people are using multiple accounts to spam downvote someone, then that's somewhat tragic.

I definitely think there are people who hold multiple accounts on this forum as well, usually using them to deliberately start arguments between genuine posters. (and no, I'm not naming names)

[CMSMJ1]

Don't be shy - who?

@Godlameroso got 27 downvotes since May 11. That seems like a bit of abuse of the voting system to me.
Who? Those votes are anonymous.

I totally agree. This place is not a place where timid and childish bullying should be allowed to take place.

I would also explain - godlameroso stated that there were users with sock puppet accounts - So, who are they?

The rear wing thread surely deserved a few downvotes though, as intractible and aggressive defence of an untenable position does give the people who choose to downvote an outlet for that.

It may be wise that as we want to see the positives - that upvotes are required to bolster a technically quality post. Downvotes might be rationed....there is no need in this technical forum for throwing tomatoes..

I've been here a while....I miss the days of Islamatron and WhiteBlue..... Some of that was harsh.

[RZS10]

whatever happened to iotar__ ?

[Hoffman900]

Don't be shy - who?

@Godlameroso got 27 downvotes since May 11. That seems like a bit of abuse of the voting system to me.
Who? Those votes are anonymous.

To be fair, he has been posting a lot of comments over the course of a week that several people have strongly disagreed with, and he's posted in a very robust manner towards several people. This much is evident form reading the RB team thread, the RB16 thread and the wing flex thread. It's entirely possible they are all legit downvotes. (For the record I haven't upvoted or downvoted anyone.)

However, if people are using multiple accounts to spam downvote someone, then that's somewhat tragic.

I definitely think there are people who hold multiple accounts on this forum as well, usually using them to deliberately start arguments between genuine posters. (and no, I'm not naming names)

He did come out swinging and telling everyone to “downvote away”. Reap what you sow...

[hUirEYExbN]

whatever happened to iotar__ ?

You know what, I miss him. He was what he was and could sometimes give a decent alternate view to the herd without fear of negatives as that was what he wanted.

[J.A.W.]

I've always been suspicious that there is some form of vote-cheating happening here, one
which escapes moderators, both for excessive down-voting (I've received well over a hundred),
& for the consistent up-voting - applied to the frankly mediocre posts - of some 'usual suspects'.

If you check on certain members who make a habit of presenting largely emotive posts
of dubious (if any) 'technical' value, yet have gained massive totals of up-votes, while
at the same time seemingly having had any down-votes cancelled (& not by moderators),
it appears fairly obvious that some kind of vote-scamming must surely be going down, if
'under the radar', & by hook or by crook* (via cabal/vote-club/sock-puppet &/or, etcetera).

*One way or another, (as yet undetected by the moderators).

[Steven]

So there's apparently some systems that are supposed to catch 'illegitimate' ratings but those are then being checked 'manually' .

In general i've found out that one can always PM mods when feeling that some ratings were undeserved and they'll have a look.

Indeed, we keep metrics, so outliers can be caught. And some other non-rocket-science stuff.

I just want to underline that we are always happy to look into votes, so reports are very useful. Posts containing nothing but "I agree" or whatever shouldn't be voted on.

Users who abuse the system usually get informed at least once via PM (if not clearly for bad intentions) and are revoked voting permissions when deemed necessary.

Also, duplicate accounts on this forum are forbidden. When discovered, the duplicate accounts are disabled, and the remaining account is banned for some period.

[Wouter]

I deleted my post.

[godlameroso]

Don't be shy - who?

@Godlameroso got 27 downvotes since May 11. That seems like a bit of abuse of the voting system to me.
Who? Those votes are anonymous.

I totally agree. This place is not a place where timid and childish bullying should be allowed to take place.

I would also explain - godlameroso stated that there were users with sock puppet accounts - So, who are they?

The rear wing thread surely deserved a few downvotes though, as intractible and aggressive defence of an untenable position does give the people who choose to downvote an outlet for that.

It may be wise that as we want to see the positives - that upvotes are required to bolster a technically quality post. Downvotes might be rationed....there is no need in this technical forum for throwing tomatoes..

I've been here a while....I miss the days of Islamatron and WhiteBlue..... Some of that was harsh.

How is my position untenable, the FIA says it's legal, the video gives the appearance that it bends more than the Mercedes, and that alone isn't enough to form a solid conclusion, nothing untenable about that. Jumping to conclusions based on one video is the untenable position, it's as untenable as expecting a used Mercedes to appreciate in value.

[CMSMJ1]

@Godlameroso got 27 downvotes since May 11. That seems like a bit of abuse of the voting system to me.
Who? Those votes are anonymous.

I totally agree. This place is not a place where timid and childish bullying should be allowed to take place.

I would also explain - godlameroso stated that there were users with sock puppet accounts - So, who are they?

The rear wing thread surely deserved a few downvotes though, as intractible and aggressive defence of an untenable position does give the people who choose to downvote an outlet for that.

It may be wise that as we want to see the positives - that upvotes are required to bolster a technically quality post. Downvotes might be rationed....there is no need in this technical forum for throwing tomatoes..

I've been here a while....I miss the days of Islamatron and WhiteBlue..... Some of that was harsh.

How is my position untenable, the FIA says it's legal, the video gives the appearance that it bends more than the Mercedes, and that alone isn't enough to form a solid conclusion, nothing untenable about that. Jumping to conclusions based on one video is the untenable position, it's as untenable as expecting a used Mercedes to appreciate in value.

I'm not downvoting you mate

I'm also not getting into the discussion That can stay in the thread!

Whatever is going on with the people trying to mess about with you, I, for one, think that behaviour is outrageous.

We're here as we have a shared passion/obsession with engineering and fast vehicles. It's not a random place where any pillock should be throwing weight about trying to discredit, or belittle another poster.

One thing...used Mercedes...some of them do appreciate, surely?