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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ExpertShitposter ago
I feel bad for SaveTheChildren. He was retarded but funny retarded. Am surprised by @draaaak, didn't strike me as a manipulator type.
Also, shitposter impersonators REKT!
heygeorge ago
@draaaak got too big for his britches, methinks, and made the spamkiller007 account to start harassing people.
Nosferatjew ago
That's not how I would describe it.
You're of course welcome to review u/shillkiller007's activity to see if the sccount was used for harassment.
heygeorge ago
Yeah, your accounting of things is more detailed. And I could have chosen a better word than harassment.
I ain’t mad at you. Your intentions are good, but you were also clearly manipulating the site.
Nosferatjew ago
From my perspective, I wasn't manipulating the site, I was using it the way it was designed.
Until just recently, the site essentially instructed users on how to use multiple accounts on multiple devices.
heygeorge ago
So now you contend it’s an error message’s fault you manipulated/exploited the site.
Interesting image!
How many draaaaaaaak accounts did you make?
Nosferatjew ago
No, I used the site as it was designed, and I always followed the rules as they were stated in the User Agreement and in u/PieceSeeker's "Welcome to Voat | A Guide for New Users".
I made 6 additional draaaak accounts after TrumpNPC started naming accounts after me (which can be seen here.. he made like 14 named after me, I think) so that he couldn't effectively impersonate me. I've never used any of them for anything, except for the one upvoat given to create the image in my previous comment. The "new message" icon is lit up on one of them in that image because I pinged the account while explaining exactly this to another user. These are the accounts, see for yourself that they were all made at the same time (one day after I made the TrumpNPC post linked above, and he first named an account after me: u/draaakSucksCock), and have zero activity:
u/draak
u/draaak
u/draaaaak
u/draaaaaak
u/draaaaaaak
u/draaaaaaaak
heygeorge ago
Are you a young person? You sound like a young person.
Anyway, you’re wasting your time arguing your ‘innocence’. You fucked up, and your accounts (some [two?] of them) were banned. Own it.
If you really want to make Voat better, then make a decent write up about vote manipulation and maybe it will make it into an updated user agreement or another unofficial user guide to Voat.