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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Dismember ago
Well looking at the accounts on the ban list, SBBH has a bloody nose as well. Look at this for example: https://voat.co/v/AskVoat/2926813/15735062
Let's see if Voat is serious about it or being selective.
heygeorge ago
I believe that thread (@cynabuns, please see above as some of these users are showing up as active) and another one insulting @nadeshda were jumped into at a slightly later time, once the newness wore off and people weren’t commenting. All it takes is one user to ignore a random comment, and then once the thread is over the manipulator can take over and no one would even notice.
Unless you’re insinuating that @thebuddha is vote farming! Lol
Dismember ago
One more exclamation mark is needed to drive home how ridiculous you think my statement is I think. I mean most will get it but some on Voat aren't that observant.
Often people vote on their friend's posts because they know that even though they are not complicit, even if they were to look back, they would turn a blind eye. I know you're not denying that some people on SBBH in the past have abused voat manipulation. If I'd wanted to nail those people, I would have linked @PuttItOut and @Cynabuns to the v/linux ban log and submission deletions with numerous "__shitposter" accounts and they could just follow their nose from there and look at the votes and then look at the v/gaming raid and see that the same posters were involved with the same few accounts voting their alts up while doing a poor job of acting like different people.
It would be nice to think that all that will just stop though. Some of us thought were on the "good side" but maybe we were just confused and became the monsters we hated. They have said they are willing to let posters start afresh. Maybe it's time to lay down the weapons and just use the one account?
heygeorge ago
The v/linux ban log has a small number of users. Although a couple of them do have a peculiar number of upvotes given. The shitposter accounts I always attributed to D_I, and assumed due to butthrt by @expertshitposter
I don’t really know much of what anyone does outside of myself, which is means using this account. And that’s all I can really know for sure.
I imagine this is just the first wave in a larger sweep. I have heard some users reference getting a ‘grey area’ message from putts, but this is the first confirmation I have that it’s actually a thing.
I think it’s striking that you have ‘dusted off’ a nice old account to make this remark. :D
Dismember ago
Striking indeed. I actually thought I lost this account because I deleted it almost 4 years ago and could never log into it because I forgot what password I used(Dismember would be a good word for that). This was before all the fancy new tech for deleted accounts. Back then you could just relog in with your pass but you still lost all your submissions and vote count, etc. So fast forward to a couple of weeks ago and I'm trying to think of a good name for a new account and randomly remember this one. Tried a few passwords and no luck. Then I tried my old pass from reddit thinking I'd be out of luck but wouldn't you believe it, it actually worked. So good news all around don't you think?
heygeorge ago
I am also thinking dismembering is a good term for that.
Dismember ago
I like the name because it can mean a few things depending on your perspective. I meant it to be a form of 'this member' but some have even taken it literally as the word dismember which I never even thought of until someone accused me of being a sadist. I also had a habit of making names with Dis in front of them. Cause me a lot of trouble with people accusing me of being pessimistic when i called myself Disappointed. That was a play on This Appointed. But it's never funny if you have to explain,is it?
heygeorge ago
I honestly didn’t think of that either until your last comment, and thought of a joke about how Voat doesn’t like Ebonics too much... but dropped it because it was too unwieldy and I wasn’t sure my meaning would get across. Which has also sapped the humor. It’s humorless all around.
Dismember ago
Well, I can't blame you because Voat can be a bit thick-headed at times and miss the subtle meaning in most everything. I think a lot of the feuds I've had on here were because people missed my subtle meaning and got hurt feelings over it.
Are you sure you're American? You don't sound American George.
heygeorge ago
Ha! You have accused me of this previously, in a past life. Brb let me scan my passport