Forum Abuse

[CaNuCk07]

Are there any measures in place to detect abuse/ fraud in the forums.

For example someone creating a new account 3 hours ago, just to give bravos to themselves?

This account created 3 hours ago but has given 96 bravos to another specific person, going back to posts as far back as 3 weeks ago????

Are we allowed to call out people? if not a mod can amend my post, but this is shady and not cool.

[makkahn28]

Hi. I know PM has some rules in place that stipulates that attempting to game the system is not exactly permitted, I can at least agree with what the OP may have been pointing out.

If it was not meant like that and just as an acknowledgement of certain things, then that is something else, it is subjectional, so one should be cautious, Tread carefully, BUT if it was meant to acknowledge answers as solutions per say, and not necessarily for reward sake, then I personally see no reason for over chain reaction

[Rockdaddy22]

Another sad case 😢

[ute1978]

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@SDO8 wrote:

Given the recent incidents, I think it would be a good idea for PM to put out an official announcement or policy regarding bravo abuse or gaming of the system in general, and make it a featured/stickied topic for a while, not only to give notice to those who aren't sure of what's proper, but also to provide something for members to reference when communicating with other members.

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Totally agree.

[SD08]

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@Shazia_K wrote:

...

Please remember that giving unnecessary bravos to a post can mislead information to any new members on the community and could lead to spam. 

Lastly, if you have any concerns against a specific case or matter, I would recommend sharing it in private as it could create conflict on the community (public posts). 🙂

...

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@Shazia_K

Thanks for the reply.

Given the recent incidents, I think it would be a good idea for PM to put out an official announcement or policy regarding bravo abuse or gaming of the system in general, and make it a featured/stickied topic for a while, not only to give notice to those who aren't sure of what's proper, but also to provide something for members to reference when communicating with other members.

[judygirl21]

Keep up your diligence! It is the correct thing to do!

[judygirl21]

I hope so - it seems quite out of balance...

[zhadj030]

I tend To agree 100% with @will13am here it is indeed it is sad and funny in the same time. 

While I usually don't like waisting my time for the bravo checking but I will have to agree that lately the stats have been "irruglar". To not accuse anyone ; OP's observation were seen by us who check in everyday I am sure other members like will13am ; @SD08: @ShawnC13 and many others including oracles have. Oticed that easily. 

I won't accuse anyone as I don't have any prouves so everyone Is innocent until convicted. (lol).

Also I would like to mention what @SD08 said ;  this might cause serious harm to your reputation in the community, I personally like to find that it is way more important then bravos

[judygirl21]

Visual always gives one a better picture - no kidding this is off balance...

[judygirl21]

I would tend to agree with you! 🙂

[SD08]

@dohadotahmed

You seem to be under the impression that this is a legitmate way to receive bravos. I will point out that there were previous cases of this and the moderator took action against the ones doing the bravo padding. See an example here:
http://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Discussions/Bravo-Abuse/m-p/122563/highlight/true#M392...

When you think about it, if this were allowed, what's to stop anyone from creating multiple extra accounts and giving themselves hundreds of bravos?  And if no one calls them out on it, then it's open season for everyone to do the same. Then, contribution badges would become meaningless, and PM would have a hard time determining who legitimately earned rewards. End result: community rewards program gets cancelled or scaled back and everyone loses.

To be honest, I think the extra bravos were unnecessary, as you were already doing so well before this. Based on your previous stats, I had no doubt that your helpful contributions for the month of January would have been rewarded with an upper level badge. Now, you may find that you have done your own reputation serious harm, in that members may not be so willing to give you bravos in the future. It's really not worth the short term gain. If this was an honest error in judgement, then you should treat this as a learning experience. I hope so, as I think you can still make worthwhile contributions to this community.

[will13am]

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@Shazia_K wrote:

Good afternoon guys, 

I'm sorry for the delay in responding back. 

First of all, I want to reassure you all that the community reward is not given on the base of how many bravos did you receive, we really go through everything: posts, comments, accepted solutions etc.. We want to make the community a place that is friendly and fair for everyone.

Please remember that giving unnecessary bravos to a post can mislead information to any new members on the community and could lead to spam. 

Lastly, if you have any concerns against a specific case or matter, I would recommend sharing it in private as it could create conflict on the community (public posts). 🙂

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. 

Have a good evening! (L)

Shazia

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Thanks for bringing some law and order to the disorderly conduct here.  We all love a dose of vigilante justice from time to time. 

[ShawnC13]

Thank you Shazia for your input.  We do understand that Bravo's aren't the only thing that determine the community rewards.  I think of them more as a reputation type of system and if someone has a good amount of bravo's then they must be providing good information that has been helpful to many people. 

It is the "inflation" of this system that worries me.

[CaNuCk07]

@Shazia_K "Lastly, if you have any concerns against a specific case or matter, I would recommend sharing it in private as it could create conflict on the community (public posts)."

noted for next time 😄 

[Shazia_K · Accepted solution]

Good afternoon guys, 

I'm sorry for the delay in responding back. 

First of all, I want to reassure you all that the community reward is not given on the base of how many bravos did you receive, we really go through everything: posts, comments, accepted solutions etc.. We want to make the community a place that is friendly and fair for everyone.

Please remember that giving unnecessary bravos to a post can mislead information to any new members on the community and could lead to spam. 

Lastly, if you have any concerns against a specific case or matter, I would recommend sharing it in private as it could create conflict on the community (public posts). 🙂

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. 

Have a good evening! (L)

Shazia

[will13am]

I find this situation funny and tragic at the same time.  The lengths that some will go to in order to get a few extra community reward dollars is really tragic.  It's like working for the bank and being called out for taking too many pens home.  I know it's nothing more than allegation, but where there's smoke, there is usually fire.  Being an upstanding citizen includes avoiding the appearance of being involved in doubtful activities.

I find this situation funny because there's actually so many eyes on this case.  I don't mind dropping in from time to time and giving a hand to a fellow customer in need.  I don't pay too much attention to what others members do.  I will try to respond as necessary if I am mentioned.  

BTW, my wife is a customer also.  She doesn't have a community forum account and doesn't care much about giving me or anyone bravos.  However, I will get an ear full if the phone stops working.

[ShawnC13]

Jeremy I hope you do.  I know rewards aren't based on just bravos.  But there have been 2 cases like this in the past week so just looking for what the MODS thoughts are on this.

[CaNuCk07]

@Jeremy_M  I think @dohadotahmed wants you to chime in and prove his "innocence".

[Jeremy_M]

@ShawnC13 @CaNuCk07 @kav2001c

Interesting convo going on here...not sure if I should chime in

[xCameron94x]

I dont got a wife (monkey covering eyes emoji)

[ShawnC13]

Mine would be telling me I spend to much time on here and now she knows why I take so long with "online banking"

[CaNuCk07]

@ShawnC13  I don't think anyones wife loves them enough to give 120 bravos in 1 day.

I know my wife would tell me where to go lol!

[ShawnC13]

@kav2001c  I just checked my wife has been a member since mid November and I have 7 bravos's out of her 44 that she has given.  I guess she isn't my biggest fan LOL

She only logs in once and awhile to do some reading and has posted I think 2 or 3 times

[NDesai]

@CaNuCk07 @ShawnC13 @xCameron94x I was surprised too, We are on it. 

[xCameron94x]

This just seems shady and unfair in my opinion. She's (or they) have gave more bravos than me and I've been here since Novemeber. Plus i dont have that much free time on my hands to do something like this 

[kav2001c]

@ShawnC13 yeah and that I understand

It might not be "fair" in the grand scheme of things, but people who are friends / family in real life are obviously much more likely to give extra bravos

The other account though seems brand new and seems like gave bravo to every single post in a crazy short period of time

I'm waiting to see if he can justify it 

[kav2001c]

@dohadotahmed well 3 posters already think it is wrong

But on a serious question I asked you:

If it is not abuse, assuming your wife does not have some kind of psych issue, why else would someone sit down, randomly create an account, then go back and bravo every single post?

You wanted a higher reward value or better monthly ranking since it was the most obvious metric

If there was another reason by all means post 

[CaNuCk07]

@ShawnC13  lol Since i started this thread thats 15 new bravos in ~20mins?

[ShawnC13]

Yeah looking at this something just doesn't seem to right lol, this is the last 24 hours

[dohadotahmed]

@CaNuCk07
Please don't worry about me. I did nothing wrong and it's time to think about yourself.
They will obviously take actions against you.

[CaNuCk07]

@dohadotahmed  Im sure the moderators will look into the issue and determine the proper course of action as they have in other circumstances in the past.