Posted August 04, 2015
high rated
Looks like downvoting abuse has been running rampant recently:
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/gogfix_the_rep_or_delete_my_account_now/page1
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/alright_gog_time_to_end_this_shit
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/mahayo_redux_gog_fix_your_forum/page1
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Here are my suggestions on how to fix it, with no need for appointing moderators.
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Why no dedicated moderators?
It's obvious that GOG wouldn't have the resources to properly moderate the forums. Appointing well-known forum users as moderators could cause a lot of damage to the community if one of them decided to abuse moderation privileges.
Voting-based moderation (when implemented properly) also puts the power in the community's hands rather than a few appointed people.
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What needs to be done to prevent abusive downvoting?
==Add a reputation cost to downvoting==
One forum I know has a downvote option where if you downvote some types of posts, you also lose reputation along with whoever you downvoted.
The GOG forums would benefit from this - people who make trash alts or abuse the downvote button will see their reputation take a dive.
==One reputation change per person per thread==
Currently, if some lowlife is running a downvote campaign against you, they can downvote you once per post. This just results in a toxic forum environment where people can potentially be punished for each post they make.
The solution:
Each person who downvotes/upvotes your posts in a thread can only affect your reputation once in that entire thread.
For example, if I post a thread,and then later post 2 replies (3 posts total), and then some lowlife downvotes all of them for no reason, then I only lose reputation equivalent to one downvote. If I post even more in that thread and the lowlife keeps downvoting my posts on site, I wouldn't lose any more reputation.
A similar rule would apply to upvoting: if you upvote every post that a user makes in one thread, the reputation effect would only count as one upvote.
The reputation change limits would only affect actual reputation; each vote would count normally toward a post being marked as high rated or low rated.
==No more silent votes; require that people post in a thread before upvoting/downvoting anyone==
For the most part, silent downvotes aren't useful, except to prevent threads that are obviously spam. If someone's posting crap, it helps to explain why the downvoted post is crap.
Obvious solution: "MAHAYO" (Make A Human Answer You). Hide/disable the reputation buttons until the user has posted in the thread.
Even better, if a bunch of trash alts want to mass downvote someone, they now each have to post in the thread (time-consuming for lowlifes who abusively downvote) The community would now be able to see the trash alts and also have the chance to hammer trash alts with downvotes.
==Make all upvotes and downvotes public==
People need to be responsible for their conduct. To prevent abusive trash alt downvoting, I recommend adding an option to every post where you can view a list of upvoters and downvoters. That way, the community can easily figure out which ones are lowlifes/trash alts.
==Add a weighting/leveling system based on how many games a user owns or has purchased==
Trash alts tend to have few or no games (other than the free ones) registered to them. On the other hand, most legitimate forum users will have a few purchases or at the very least some games gifted to them.
Suggestion: Have a "leveling" system where your level is based on the total cost of games you have purchased and the number of gifts you have received:
-Buying a game (no matter if you bought it for yourself or gifted it) gives full contribution to your level
-Redeeming a gift gives half contribution to your level.
Why does this work? Lowlife scum aren't likely to register a lot of games to all of their trash alts, and known scum/scammers are usually called out in the "list of known scammers" thread and excluded from giveaways.
------------------------
Putting it all together:
Take a look at this discussion. The OP is having every post mass downvoted on sight (obviously unfair)
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/gogfix_the_rep_or_delete_my_account_now/page1
If these suggestions were implemented, things would be much different:
-The OP's reputation wouldn't be dropping anywhere near as much because of the "one reputation change per user per thread" rule, preventing people from being unfairly downvoted for each post in the thread.
-There would be a visible list of trash alts downvoting the OP
-The trash alts would have to actually post in the thread, giving the community the chance to downvote them right back.
-The trash alts would quickly lose reputation, as their downvotes would cost them as well as the rest of the community downvoting them.
-Trash alt downvotes wouldn't count for much due to the leveling/weighting system based on total value of purchases and gifts received
--------------------------
Let me know what you think of this suggestion. Counter-arguments, constructive criticism, support, upvotes, etc. are all welcome.
Also, if you see lowlifes/trash alts downvoting this thread, PLEASE upvote it - prevent them from hiding constructive posts like this.
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/gogfix_the_rep_or_delete_my_account_now/page1
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/alright_gog_time_to_end_this_shit
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/mahayo_redux_gog_fix_your_forum/page1
-----------------
Here are my suggestions on how to fix it, with no need for appointing moderators.
-----------------
Why no dedicated moderators?
It's obvious that GOG wouldn't have the resources to properly moderate the forums. Appointing well-known forum users as moderators could cause a lot of damage to the community if one of them decided to abuse moderation privileges.
Voting-based moderation (when implemented properly) also puts the power in the community's hands rather than a few appointed people.
------------------
What needs to be done to prevent abusive downvoting?
==Add a reputation cost to downvoting==
One forum I know has a downvote option where if you downvote some types of posts, you also lose reputation along with whoever you downvoted.
The GOG forums would benefit from this - people who make trash alts or abuse the downvote button will see their reputation take a dive.
==One reputation change per person per thread==
Currently, if some lowlife is running a downvote campaign against you, they can downvote you once per post. This just results in a toxic forum environment where people can potentially be punished for each post they make.
The solution:
Each person who downvotes/upvotes your posts in a thread can only affect your reputation once in that entire thread.
For example, if I post a thread,and then later post 2 replies (3 posts total), and then some lowlife downvotes all of them for no reason, then I only lose reputation equivalent to one downvote. If I post even more in that thread and the lowlife keeps downvoting my posts on site, I wouldn't lose any more reputation.
A similar rule would apply to upvoting: if you upvote every post that a user makes in one thread, the reputation effect would only count as one upvote.
The reputation change limits would only affect actual reputation; each vote would count normally toward a post being marked as high rated or low rated.
==No more silent votes; require that people post in a thread before upvoting/downvoting anyone==
For the most part, silent downvotes aren't useful, except to prevent threads that are obviously spam. If someone's posting crap, it helps to explain why the downvoted post is crap.
Obvious solution: "MAHAYO" (Make A Human Answer You). Hide/disable the reputation buttons until the user has posted in the thread.
Even better, if a bunch of trash alts want to mass downvote someone, they now each have to post in the thread (time-consuming for lowlifes who abusively downvote) The community would now be able to see the trash alts and also have the chance to hammer trash alts with downvotes.
==Make all upvotes and downvotes public==
People need to be responsible for their conduct. To prevent abusive trash alt downvoting, I recommend adding an option to every post where you can view a list of upvoters and downvoters. That way, the community can easily figure out which ones are lowlifes/trash alts.
==Add a weighting/leveling system based on how many games a user owns or has purchased==
Trash alts tend to have few or no games (other than the free ones) registered to them. On the other hand, most legitimate forum users will have a few purchases or at the very least some games gifted to them.
Suggestion: Have a "leveling" system where your level is based on the total cost of games you have purchased and the number of gifts you have received:
-Buying a game (no matter if you bought it for yourself or gifted it) gives full contribution to your level
-Redeeming a gift gives half contribution to your level.
Why does this work? Lowlife scum aren't likely to register a lot of games to all of their trash alts, and known scum/scammers are usually called out in the "list of known scammers" thread and excluded from giveaways.
------------------------
Putting it all together:
Take a look at this discussion. The OP is having every post mass downvoted on sight (obviously unfair)
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/gogfix_the_rep_or_delete_my_account_now/page1
If these suggestions were implemented, things would be much different:
-The OP's reputation wouldn't be dropping anywhere near as much because of the "one reputation change per user per thread" rule, preventing people from being unfairly downvoted for each post in the thread.
-There would be a visible list of trash alts downvoting the OP
-The trash alts would have to actually post in the thread, giving the community the chance to downvote them right back.
-The trash alts would quickly lose reputation, as their downvotes would cost them as well as the rest of the community downvoting them.
-Trash alt downvotes wouldn't count for much due to the leveling/weighting system based on total value of purchases and gifts received
--------------------------
Let me know what you think of this suggestion. Counter-arguments, constructive criticism, support, upvotes, etc. are all welcome.
Also, if you see lowlifes/trash alts downvoting this thread, PLEASE upvote it - prevent them from hiding constructive posts like this.