Coincidence

[Lifestyle66]

I noticed with my latest story published just last night an odd pattern of ratings.

I'm not obsessed with ratings, but throughout the day for the first day or two, I'll refresh my author page to see the latest. And at one point, I was going out of the house after checking the rating, when I switch to my cellphone and updated that author page. I found one more vote of a 1. Then over the course of the next hours, every time I saw the score go up, a few minutes later it would go down with another 1-bomb. And hour might go by with no votes, then an up and another down within minutes!

I have a stalker!

 

[MrPixel]

This has become such a problem that, I feel, more pressure needs to be put on the site operators to limit voting to registered users. It's not a foolproof solution by any means, but it does increase the effort it takes to vandalize scoring, and makes the abusers easier to ID and therefore less hassle to cancel their distortion of the rating system.

Just sayin'.

 

[Zenith77]

Voting like that should be caught in a sweep. You can also use the 'report' and 'check voting' option, though personally I've had limited success with this.

My concern is when 'stalkers' are intelligent enough to realise what counts as a 'legitimate vote' so they don't have their votes swept.

 

[Zenith77]

This has become such a problem that, I feel, more pressure needs to be put on the site operators to limit voting to registered users. It's not a foolproof solution by any means, but it does increase the effort it takes to vandalize scoring, and makes the abusers easier to ID and therefore less hassle to cancel their distortion of the rating system.

Just sayin'.

Yeah, this won't happen, and will see an enormous amount of resistance.

However, I do agree that the sweeps aren't catching all the malicious votes.

There's an argument that a '1' is a legitimate opinion, and as such a valid vote, but personally I think that if a story's voting is 55555555555555455555555555555555545555555555551 then that 1 is not a legitimate vote at all.

(ETA also those people who voted 4 have a special place in hell reserved for them)

 

[djrip]

I think the main thing is you shouldn't be able to vote over and over again. Hopefully IP addresses prevent that ( obviously not if someone is using proxies or visiting every library in their city to use different computers but those things are a pain to do), or sweeps track IP and take care of it later.

 

[Bazzle]

I'm lucky if my stories get 10 votes...

 

[Zenith77]

I think the main thing is you shouldn't be able to vote over and over again. Hopefully IP addresses prevent that ( obviously not if someone is using proxies or visiting every library in their city to use different computers but those things are a pain to do), or sweeps track IP and take care of it later.

The system already stops multiple votes from a static IP address. It can't stop (or detect) multiple votes from a dynamic IP address.

 

[NoTalentHack]

I posted this over in the "misogynist wasteland" thread, but for the record:

I’m pretty sure there’s someone with a zombie network that 1 bombs people they don’t like in LW. I wake up in the middle of the night a lot around 3 AM, and I see (usually) that I have a decent 4.5ish overall rating on a new story. Then, I finally pass back out around 4 or 5 and wake up again around 6 or 6:30. If I check the story at 5, the rating and number of ratings is usually pretty close to the same as when I wake up at 3. But then, usually just after 6, the overall rating tanks and dozens of new ratings come in all at once. And the system is, otherwise, very responsive when new ratings come in, so I don’t think it’s just something being batched up.

 

[Zenith77]

But then, usually just after 6, the overall rating tanks and dozens of new ratings come in all at once.

It's possible that LW readers are particularly grumpy just after 6. This seems plausible on a number of levels.

 

[KeithD]

This has become such a problem that, I feel, more pressure needs to be put on the site operators to limit voting to registered users. It's not a foolproof solution by any means, but it does increase the effort it takes to vandalize scoring, and makes the abusers easier to ID and therefore less hassle to cancel their distortion of the rating system.

Just sayin'.

You can open as many accounts as you wish, so I don't think this will stop vote stalking. There's no saying they are downvoting anonymously now.

It's more effective not to obsess over ratings.

 

[RejectReality]

Again, the average person won't put forth the effort to open an account just to vote. Assholes will. All it will accomplish is to reduce the overall number of votes and increase the weight of the troll votes. Those trying to manipulate the system will have an easier time accomplishing the same goals via methods that are more difficult to detect.

It is not a solution.

Lit thrives on being open to anonymous participation. It's one of the main reasons it remains dominant in the space.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Yeah, this won't happen, and will see an enormous amount of resistance.

However, I do agree that the sweeps aren't catching all the malicious votes.

There's an argument that a '1' is a legitimate opinion, and as such a valid vote, but personally I think that if a story's voting is 55555555555555455555555555555555545555555555551 then that 1 is not a legitimate vote at all.

(ETA also those people who voted 4 have a special place in hell reserved for them)

I remember reading Dante's Inferno, and I don't recall a place for low-scoring Lit voters. Maybe purgatory, but I've never read the second book.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Again, the average person won't put forth the effort to open an account just to vote. Assholes will. All it will accomplish is to reduce the overall number of votes and increase the weight of the troll votes. Those trying to manipulate the system will have an easier time accomplishing the same goals via methods that are more difficult to detect.

It is not a solution.

Lit thrives on being open to anonymous participation. It's one of the main reasons it remains dominant in the space.

100% this.

One 1-bomb in ten votes does the same damage as ten 1-bombs off 100 votes, but the former is less work for the bomber and harder to identify for the site.

There's an argument that a '1' is a legitimate opinion, and as such a valid vote, but personally I think that if a story's voting is 55555555555555455555555555555555545555555555551 then that 1 is not a legitimate vote at all.

Why on earth not? Different people have different tastes. The thing I love about a story might be the same thing somebody else hates about it.

 

[Lifestyle66]

I'm lucky if my stories get 10 votes...

I'm now up to 38 votes on my latest ... at 1.82!!! Score for a new low!!!

 

[Lifestyle66]

It's possible that LW readers are particularly grumpy just after 6. This seems plausible on a number of levels.

It's more likely the difference between European viewers and those on the East coast of the U.S. which accounts for a 3-5 hour slowdown between the initial post and first thing in the morning EST.

 

[Lifestyle66]

Yeah, this won't happen, and will see an enormous amount of resistance.

However, I do agree that the sweeps aren't catching all the malicious votes.

There's an argument that a '1' is a legitimate opinion, and as such a valid vote, but personally I think that if a story's voting is 55555555555555455555555555555555545555555555551 then that 1 is not a legitimate vote at all.

(ETA also those people who voted 4 have a special place in hell reserved for them)

My votes over the past few hours were 141515141114, in that order, with the 4, three 1's, and a 4 coming just after I posted this thread in AH!

 

[Lifestyle66]

It's possible that LW readers are particularly grumpy just after 6. This seems plausible on a number of levels.

East coast of the U.S.!

 

[MelissaBaby]

Again, the average person won't put forth the effort to open an account just to vote. Assholes will. All it will accomplish is to reduce the overall number of votes and increase the weight of the troll votes. Those trying to manipulate the system will have an easier time accomplishing the same goals via methods that are more difficult to detect.

It is not a solution.

Lit thrives on being open to anonymous participation. It's one of the main reasons it remains dominant in the space.

All of this.

 

[Lifestyle66]

This has become such a problem that, I feel, more pressure needs to be put on the site operators to limit voting to registered users. It's not a foolproof solution by any means, but it does increase the effort it takes to vandalize scoring, and makes the abusers easier to ID and therefore less hassle to cancel their distortion of the rating system.

Just sayin'.

“The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem”​

― Captain Jack Sparrow



Learn to embrace their hatred as an emotional connection with them! If I only knew who the stalker was IRL, then I could enjoy the show when I write something that makes their head explode!

 

[Emotional]

This has become such a problem that, I feel, more pressure needs to be put on the site operators to limit voting to registered users. It's not a foolproof solution by any means, but it does increase the effort it takes to vandalize scoring, and makes the abusers easier to ID and therefore less hassle to cancel their distortion of the rating system.

Just sayin'.

This is the perfect solution.

One step further, you can see who rates you and what the leave.

 

[SimonDoom]

Again, the average person won't put forth the effort to open an account just to vote. Assholes will. All it will accomplish is to reduce the overall number of votes and increase the weight of the troll votes. Those trying to manipulate the system will have an easier time accomplishing the same goals via methods that are more difficult to detect.

It is not a solution.

Lit thrives on being open to anonymous participation. It's one of the main reasons it remains dominant in the space.

Totally agree.

Plus, remember: we are not entitled to our scores. If somebody truly hates my story, their 1 vote is just as legitimate as anybody else's vote, no matter how many times others have given me a 5.

 

[MelissaBaby]

This is the perfect solution.

One step further, you can see who rates you and what the leave.

I'm missing something here. How are you going to know who voted? Registered members votes are still anonymous.

 

[Emotional]

I'm missing something here. How are you going to know who voted? Registered members votes are still anonymous.

Yeah get rid of it.

Get notification like.

MelissaBaby rated your story Star Gazing 5 stars

 

[MelissaBaby]

Yeah get rid of it.

Get notification like.

MelissaBaby rated your story Star Gazing 5 stars

I think that would pretty much end voting all together.

 

[Emotional]

not even close.

Its how another site I have been on rates people.

It just stops people from hiding behind their votes.