Where's the put user in the Ignore Sack forever button ?
Agreed ! 1mil. bots x 0 purchases = weight of 0. Simple math.

Yep, keep it simple was something they finally realized and accepted. Before then they said they could not do anything.

There was never going to be a complex solution, too tricky.

And I guess BOTS that make free accounts can also be set up to purchase free games and demos, and look less like a BOT. That just adds to the complexity of checking.

No it doesn't, simple math, Games x $0.00 = 0 weight. Do I really need to write the one line code ?

That's exactly the same thing that I was talking about in post #7 of this thread.

The downvotes bots have never went away nor stopped auto-downvoting all the posts of their victims...even with the downvote button not being visible anymore and even with the 'rep' being hidden.

GOG need to remove these systems from the GOG website completely, instead using the half-baked, not-always-working half-measure of just "hiding" them, rather than removing them entirely, which is what needs to be done.

The bots have not "returned," because that would imply that they had first "went away" for a period of time, which they have not done. Rather, their bot programs have simply kept running, same as always, 100% of the time even after the rep system was hidden, which is why the glitches of "low rated" orange text over posts have still appeared from time to time ever since the rep system was hidden but not removed.

The accusations in that quoted post that the victims of these bots are lying is quite insidious. We are not lying, and it's shameful to victim-blame like that.

And of course it's no coincidence that the victims of an injustice are among the most vocal critics of that same injustice. That's only natural. Had the bot makers added you to their victim list and targeted all of your posts to become automatically & instantly low rated no matter what, then chances are you would also be quite vocal in speaking out against that injustice.

Insidious? Really? Nope. All you have to do is to read the older threads about the downvote problem. Certain very vocal users have surprisingly detailed knowledge of what is going on. And you can find these in almost all of these these threads. But that is not enough you can find even more.

I mean look at three examples here.

One user suggests a DDoS attack
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/boycotting_gog_2022/post5
Another user actually admitted to have multiple accounts
https://www.gog.com/forum/general_archive/gog_staff_i_am_sick_and_tired_of_being_harassed_goggers_disregard_this_thread_it/post128
and was banned for rep manipulation
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/another_gamezranker_update/page1
or one user knows that a certain script still works
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/forum_update/post181

These "coincidences" are amazeballs.

This forum is full of these posts where you really can see what actually is going on here. LOL.

Pretty sure a SQL query can only include those with purchases, or doing a mathematical value based on a hidden user field for that purpose. So it would be a handful of lines of code, updating the field during purchases.

Not really. If they all only downvote and they downvote seemingly as a block, then it would be fairly obvious.

Say we target a thread where everything is downvoted regardless content. Then i pull a list of users who downvoted on all posts, then i include only ones that are on all posts (or a majority, like 90%). Poof! Instant identification of bot accounts. Users will rarely downvote everything, and are more likely to up/down vote randomly (without context anyways).

Be more interesting if there's a listing of metadata on time when the up/downvotes were, as they would all likely be within seconds (or minutes) of eachother. Same for if you compared IP addresses (yeah VPN can hide it, but only to a degree, lots of reused IP's). Further metadata would likely all use the exact same browser and statistics sent as cookies would be swapped around in order to do the up/downvoting.

Maybe, maybe not. All depends on what sort of checking ability they already have in place, and what skills staff have.

Look at what they didn't do to stop downvoting, and what they did instead.

So it might seem simple in theory, but I believe it is tougher than that, certainly for those at GOG (employees).

My recollection says a past employee(or more) created their forum software, and it is a challenge to current employees.

You'd think it would be that simple, but everything related I have read about it here. just seems to make it too hard, because of the way things are cobbled together, that current employees don't really understand very well.

Nope, technicalities can be resolved, I disagree. It's not as complex as a game.
All code is open and accessible on the server. Would they hire knowledgeable and experienced staff to fix it ? Debatable. Is it fixable ? Absolutely. But wokies don't like the fix & the solution. BAM !

I think they have the same problems finding programmers as everyone else has. We had severe problems finding more local programmers and had to look in the arabian region. Slowly the seats are filled in the main office, but it took a long time to get to that point.
I think GOG as grown too fast, they lack the manpower to actually implement all projects they have. Like it or not - the Galaxy client simply is necessary to keep presence on the market, the integration of other platforms maybe a tiny little bit too ambicious. But also the infrastructure behind it all (manage/upload/release games and patches) has to be created by someone who as a consequence would not be able to work on the website or make games compatible.

And the forum ... well it's a relic. The most logical thing would be to get rid of it and do the same as anyone else. But the people on GOG are aware that many of us are very old fashioned and they need to keep us happy somehow and switching to something like discord or other chatroom like platforms would scare away most of us regulars.

Of course they could be resolved, and it isn't anywhere near as complex as a game, but what has that got to do with it?
That doesn't then mean it is simple or time effective or cheap to fix.

As I said, look what they did about downvoting and what they didn't do. That example is very telling.

It could definitely be fixed, and that silly idiotic childish term wokies, has nothing to do with it.

Ancient-Red-Dragon,
If my memory memory works well,
you have never replied to any of my posts in the past
I even remember someone posting someting like "posters
without profile nor correct country are bots" But Im not sure if was you exactly
Anyway, thanks for the words on your reply
I dont take them as directed to me by the resons given above,
but I appreciate them

-----
foad01,

You are probably trolling, but I'll take the leap on this theory of yours

For some reason, you are forgetting the 3 legs
this massive abusive downvoting problem has:
1) Anonymity
2) Alt accounts
3) The complicity of this store

Try to square your theory with those 3 elements
Well, with 2, -Unless- you are a priviledged one by the complicity
Or how do you explain all this YEARS they have not been able to identify
and take down the dumbos? Do you really swallow the tale of mere incompetence?
So, all of us have to thank them for all the fear & paranoia. Like yours

About your DDoS concepts: Man, you are romantically obsolete!
You have to educate/update yourself better. Really
Let me give you a hint of the goal I was aiming:
gog.com/forum/general/how_many_games_we_released_which_were_your_favorites_how_long_you_spent_playing_and_more _check_out_gog_numbers_for_2022_c977a
I hope you can connect the dots. Otherwise, let me know if you need help!

To finish, a request of mine:
Please include me on your posts when you defame me
Call it courtesy, at least

And not less important: I appreciate you expressed yourself in public
without that, this reply would not have happened,
circling back to that Anonymity problem!
Which by the way, if you increase a bit your background checking effort,
youll find my historical posts inviting the dumbos to talk
And I keep insisting on it: Whoever you are, speak yourselves!

PS:

We welcome back all wayward sons and daughters and everyone here.

I guess those that are lost, find their way back, eventually...

Interesting, but why do you insist in not including the person in concern?
Where do you include the right of replying?


And how this reply of yours relate to me?
Don't deflect my inclusion on your theory
Oh... & share how you coin it, because "amazeballs" frankly sounds dumb

And a bit of food for your thought:
By a chance with this topic have you noticed
that problems/curiosity FORCE ourselves to investigate & learn?
Do you think I learned how the +/- rep numbers work spontaneously?
On a cruel Sunday when I did not have anything better to do?
How did you figure the info of your posts? Are you part of the down-bots because of it?
Use the box a little man

And let me insist: With the complicity of this store,
any community detective effort is completely useless
They could find with evidence (not speculation) the responsibles
As simple as that. BUT they do not... Why?