Today we banned vote manipulators and reset their votes. As cache expires, the accounts targeted will have their point totals adjusted appropriately.
You will likely recognize many of the names now on the ban list. Some I have mixed feelings about as I considered them fun to have around or an asset to Voat as a whole, but objectively, there was no question as to their abuse and manipulation, and for this reason we had no choice but to respond to all abuse with the ban hammer.
@Cynabuns and I have finalized a new system for more efficient processing of vote manipulation bans and going forward we will be reviewing manipulation more regularly. We don't plan on allowing the hammer to gather dust any longer.
We did not send warnings today like we usually do for those in the gray area. If we come across your name again, you will be banned. Fair warning. It's not worth it.
If you feel you have been targeted by vote manipulation please PM me so I can research as we are dealing with a mountain of data when reviewing bans.
To those banned:
I personally don't judge your actions, but you know as well as I do what you were doing. Vote manipulation can not continue going unchecked and for the sake of integrity you got the hammer. If you want to create a new account and forgo the manipulation, you are welcome back. If not, I'll ban you again (and again and again). The thing you don't realize is when I ban you, I am resetting your votes against your target(s), so there is no point in continuing with these ways.
P.S. Now vote manipulators get a shiny new badge so everyone knows that they've been bad little goats. :)
P.P.S. The ban reasons in the ban log are wonky because if a user had multiple infractions, we only used the first description. In addition, the target in the description may be the banned user (which doesn't make sense) as many of these bans resulted in both users (vote farmers) being banned and the code simply reused the same description for each ban.
Banned user log:
https://voat.co/log/banned/user
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Hysterics7787 ago
Can't help but notice u/FrostyPuppy on that list, but not the other accounts associated with whoever that user was? There were at least eight accounts that were associated with FrostyPuppy. @PeaceSeeker did an amazing job of highlighting those various accounts. https://voat.co/v/ReportSpammers/2941895
I'm also noticing that several of those accounts seemed to post in the same subverses, specifically the various "Shitposter" accounts were posting to subverses that seemed to be used only by @ExpertShitposter and his friends, specifically v/ShitpostersTavern and while that's not exactly evidence of anything, it's interesting to note either way.
I'm assuming that banning their alts was more or less a warning to the actual users? Because it's pretty clear from where I'm standing who operates these accounts. What, nearly 25% - 50% of all banned accounts today have some variety of association to v/SoapBoxBanHammer and that's just a coincidence?
Honestly though, I'm really glad to see this. I've had a lot of doubts about Voat over the years because I've seen a lot of strange behavior allowed to go on with hardly anyone calling it out. It's nice to see A.) Some of my suspicions substantiated and B.) Something being done about it. I genuinely feel like I owe you an apology @Puttitout for having questioned you fairly consistently in my time spent here -- however like I always try to explain, questioning someone doesn't necessarily indicate lack of respect. I think skepticism is a good default, especially in our current society where people can have their lives ruined for saying fairly mild stuff. I've always tried to express that if everything is as you say it is, Putt, that you've done a damned good job.
ExpertShitposter ago
The shitposter accounts all belonged to one user, but it was not me. And dial_indicator was sent by freshmeat from discord to destroy SBBH, but he ended up liking us and hanging out. He said this himself. Everyone banned him but us, as we are the true free speach absolutists on this website.
Its like a really romantic story of a jewish spy girl being sent to bomb the Nazi HQ, but falling in love with the German officers instead. Beautiful.
What this all comes down to is that you are just mad jelly that we own all of voat's stock, domain and servers. And with that, have @PuttItOut fully under our control. You can e-lick his balls all you want, it isn't gonna help you, we, the Cabal, can have you banned instantly.
@Rotteuxx @heygeorge @trigglypuff @NotHereForPizza
Hysterics7787 ago
Hey man, did you see all those RPV users that got banned? No? So it was just a bunch of Soapboxbanhammer users? Oh you're saying it's all Dial_Indicator, and that he was friends of Freshmeat? Oh but @Rotteuxx and other v/SoapBoxBanHammer flunkies claimed that Dial is SaneGoatiSwear? Oh. Weird.
This is all awfully confusing. I mean it isn't. All the evidence points towards you guys. As per usual. Like every single time there's bullshit on this website one of you cunt stains just happens to be part of it.
ExpertShitposter ago
They weren't boosting any accounts recently so they didn't get banned. Freshmeat has actually mostly fucked off from this site. He and his lackeys failed in their mission to ruin this website by making it into a ban happy shithole that reddit is, so he fucked off. Shows up once every few days to post some nigger rap then goes away. So he has no real reason to boost accounts anymore.
Sbbh is the cabal. We own you.
Rotteuxx ago
And @hysterics7787 still doesn't get that since he's so easy to rile up and takes shit so seriously, I'll say pretty much anything to keep him going. You'd think someone accusing me of being part of some troll cabal would put 2 and 2 together.
heygeorge ago
Please note, Rotty, @ExpertShitposter, and @Trigglypuff, that no one said anything about rpv until @hysterics7787, who mysteriously appeared within the last 20 days. Loooooolllllllllll good show mate, and very much not obvious
Hysterics7787 ago
You people are delusional, several people have brought up RPV and Freshmeat including Shitposter.
heygeorge ago
freshie
@expertshitposter @voatbot
Rotteuxx ago
Exactly, too stupid to know when to shut up when getting trolled.
heygeorge ago
@hysterics7787 ^^^^ a bit crudely put for my tastes but essentially
Hysterics7787 ago
And just as I said to Rott, highlighting how you people and your friends are getting banned isn't me "getting trolled".
Are you people seriously trying to manipulate me into being quiet by trying to... shame me...? Because it's kind of pathetic.
People have been pointing towards your little brigade groups for years now, and 18 of you were banned today.
Watching you all scramble to deflect and get your stories straight has been great.
heygeorge ago
Lol
I thought @Rotteuxx determined that figure to be a lie? Also, it’s truly a bit disingenuous to claim cheeselane/numbers/dial_indicator as Cabal, when he’s clearly his own brand of lunacy allegedly sent by @freshmeat to destroy SBBH. So in a way, he is sort of doing freshie’s bidding via defamation through association. That being said, by extending your logic, all of Voat is complicit because everyone banned is a member of Voat.
I suppose there’s a first time for everything. How can we be such organized Cabal yet not have our shit together? It just doesn’t make sense. Although I do appreciate the compliment about us being great. Thank you!
Hysterics7787 ago
These are the same people who to this day blame everything on SaneGoat. There's no evidence that what they're saying is true. There's evidence that 18 of accounts associated with them were banned.
heygeorge ago
That is what dial_indicator told me once he realized it was futile to try to ruin the subverse. So as I said to @freshmeat, you can take it up with him.
Hysterics7787 ago
Just because I don't like you guys doesn't mean I'm gonna like Mighty and his fucking southern nigger rap.
heygeorge ago
It’s worse than that. @freshmess likes ‘bass music’ or some godawful noise which seems its primary aim is to deafen you. In some ways I could see this as a net positive for society.
freshmeat ago
Lmao kill yourself
heygeorge ago
That’s cheese’s story, take it up with him. How’ve you been?
Hysterics7787 ago
Highlighting how you and your friends are getting banned isn't "getting trolled".
Rotteuxx ago
Which one of my alts got benned ?
Hysterics7787 ago
You tell me, nigger.
Rotteuxx ago
The onus is on you faggot, you keep claiming I have alts who got benned yet I didn't lose 1 point of ccp in Puttlers purge.
That's a pretty fucking weak case you got there as it stands.
So how come your account has only been active recently after a 2 1/2 year hiatus ?
Hysterics7787 ago
Not that it matters, or like you'll even take me at my word, but I don't like having all my posts isolated to one account. I've used several over the years, one at a time though. None of them have been banned though, so I have that much going for me. I've never been much of a namefag either, having a "reputation" just doesn't really matter to me. I'd prefer the content of my messages to be what people listen to, not that anyone specific is saying it.
You're also Canadian, you're not at all concerned about your digital footprint? The way things are going, they'll be coming for us sooner or later -- I mean, assuming you're the person you say you are. You've described yourself as a moderately successful White French Canadian, and you're on Voat, a website that could easily be labeled as hateful by our increasingly kiked Government. I'm not about to let that completely silence me, but I'm certainly not going to make it easy for them either.
I don't really care man. Every single bit of Drama on Voat has had one of your friends at the center of it. I don't really feel like I need to prove much at this point, the situation is pretty clear to me. I'm hardly alone in pointing at v/SoapBoxBanHammer. Plenty of average users have recognized the same trends I have.
Care to explain why Gabara was defending that FrostyPupper account a couple months back? I pointed out that those accounts were all linked, then PeaceSeeker highlighted how they all post at the same time of day as further 'evidence'. Seemed like either Gabara was using the names from his v/aww submissions as sockpuppet name material, or that someone was trying to impersonate Gabara. The problem being that when I highlighted the one account being used he for whatever reason went to its defense. Why would anyone who is being impersonated come to the defense of the people impersonating them? Especially when the impersonating involves spamming Voat with Gore posts? I know if someone was impersonating me that way I wouldn't defend them -- would you?
Rotteuxx ago
You should familiarize yourself with canadian online privacy laws, here's a useful link although not exhaustive :
https://www.loc.gov/law/help/online-privacy-law/2012/canada.php
As the object or instigator ?
@gabara is his own person, I have no knowledge about his activities online besides superficial interactions we've had on Voat. Why do you try and make it sound like we're best buddies or something ?
Hysterics7787 ago
Isn't loc.gov an American Congress website?
Rotteuxx ago
Yep but that's irrelevant, it's a good overview.
Hysterics7787 ago
I don't know, you guys act like you're nothing but innocent and tend to defend one another -- not even you and Gabara, just Soapbox users in general. That situation with Gabara was one of the few that seemed really hard to defend.
Rotteuxx ago
Well if you'd bother looking into it, I've never been a big contributor to sbbh nor have I partaken in many of the antics associated with the Cabal.
What you easily overlook is that the community was very small 3 1/2 years ago and a lot of us came here upholding the same principles in regards to free speech. This is what makes it look like we're "a crew" when in reality we've just been hanging out together for a long time and have formed a community that greatly oversteps the confines of a little shitposting sub.
As a matter of fact, sbbh went downhill in quality a long time ago, especially after the "rPV discofags" created alts to post there, some will call it an infiltration. This is also where the line between organized cabal & regular users gets easily skewed. IMO (and others as well) it was a strategic move by some to create useless drama, flame wars & to try and push censorship in a retarded fashion on Voat. To attack its founding principles relentlessly under false pretenses.
Except most if us aren't easily duped, a lot of us have been in various online forums and whatnot for decades thus have gotten used to shit disturbers. That's also why most of the OG sbbh members have distanced themselves from that sub but it doesn't mean we'll ignore attacks on Voat, no matter how and where they are directed.
Hysterics7787 ago
Any input on why or how Fuzzywords commits seem to be scrubbed from Voats github? I remember seeing it first hand, used to have their name all over Voats github. Now I'm hard pressed to find any evidence that they ever even had access to the Github let alone was one of the major contributors... I'd be cautious of that regardless of who it was -- however it just so happens that they were a major contributor to what subverse again? Right, Soapbox.
I'm fairly certain pretty much every major subverse drama has had a Soapbox member at the center of it. I'm hardly the only one who accused Gabara of fucking with v/aww. What was the solution to that problem by the way? Implementing a Soapbox user as a moderator? ( Kat ) Until the existing moderator saw people pointing this out then he backed away from the decision? I watched what happened to v/videos. I watched what happened to v/gaming. There simply are not any examples of any other subverses disturbing Voat like Soapbox has.
You talk about trends? Well what about the trend of Soapbox users harassing moderators until they rightfully deal with the harassment -- then Soapbox turns around and acts like the moderator is a censorship happy Redditfag? Half the time it ends with a Soapbox user being made moderator of the subverse they were attacking... Yet what, there's nothing to see here folks?
And the thing is, as isolated incidents they can be arguably defended. However when you look at it from a step back it's pretty clear that there's a trend of Soapbox fucking with Voat to extend their control over more and more subverses. That is what I see anyway.
So yeah, I take it seriously.
Hysterics7787 ago
I don't believe that all or even most Soapbox users are part of it. If anything from what I've seen it's a small minority of the core group. I can't say who. I don't know. I can just see the trends. I've been pretty active on this site for the past four~ years. I've constantly seen red flags from Soapbox.
Can you at least try and see it from my perspective, like I've had these suspicions for literally years on end and I've never once seen anything to change my mind. I've engaged several of you guys in extensive and long conversations as well. I'm not Fresh. I'm not SaneGoat. I liked Sane, I thought he was an alright guy even though I disagreed with many of his methods -- but I watched that whole situation unfold very closely and I genuinely don't believe SaneGoat was the bad guy of that whole clusterfuck.
Anyways, at the end of the day I'll still have my suspicions. From my perspective, Voat has been attacked numerous times. The idea that they don't put effort into attacking from inside after having failed remote attacks is ridiculous. It wouldn't take much manpower to create a nice little psyop within Voat, and why wouldn't they? From my perspective it's practically assured. So looking at all the various subcommunities on Voat, where would they organize? What would be a good cover, a good guise for them? Shitposting. Oh it's just a joke. Why so serious. Why you upset bro. Know what I mean...? They're effective tactics.
I'd compare it to moderate Muslims being a veil of legitimacy for the "extremists". Soapbox would make for a great attack vector. Anyone who questions it is summarily dismissed as paranoid because oh they're just innocent shitposters; don't you support freedom of speech, goy?
And yeah I get that I'm by default rather paranoid. Though from my perspective, not being paranoid is kind of stupid at this point. I'll take a look at that link you sent about our laws though, I've gotta be honest in saying that I'm not incredibly well versed and instead choose to just play it safe -- at least partially because all the shit we say here is most likely being catalogued and could easily be used against us at a future date and considering how draconian our laws are becoming I don't think that's an especially crazy opinion.