Question: In this board, are Rioters able to see who upvoted/downvoted a post?

darkdill·Aug 3, 2014·12 votes·3,575 views

Back on GD, I had some stalkers who loved to downvote everything I posted, regardless of content. I could be bumping someone, complimenting them, etc., they didn't care and just said "It's a Youso post, kill it!"

Sadly, I never could figure out who exactly it was because you can't see who downvoted you. "That'd be toxic."

But what I want to know is if Riot will be able to see the identities of downvote spammers in this board. I'd rather not have a repeat of my General Discussion experiences, and would love it if stalkers could be caught easily.

28 Comments

PendragonAug 3, 201412 votes

We can see them here, but we also could on the old forums. It's not super easy to see though... requires a database pull, so we would only do it in an extreme case.

darkdillAug 3, 20145 votes

I question why it was never done for my Yousogreat/Yousonerfed account before it got forum-banned. That downvote spam had to have been going on for over a year.

No need to do it now, though. Not using standard forums anymore. Too toxic.

ChickenWrapAug 3, 20144 votes

Would you consider doing so on the General Discussion forum where people are using bots to have multiple accounts all downvote something they dislike, forcing an instant thread lock?

PendragonAug 4, 20142 votes

We've certainly done so in the past. It actually doesn't happen that often

ChickenWrapAug 5, 20141 votes

I know of two people who have downvote bots. Neither have had those accounts banned. However, I am glad you've done so in the past and have hopefully stopped whoever those people were from doing it. I agree it doesn't happen that often, but did you frequent GD during the DFGaren incident?

It was a nightmare.

PendragonAug 5, 20142 votes

Yah, it's a silly arms-race. It's a lot easier for us to develop things here than it was there so I'd expect that we'll likely be able to generate more effective solutions here vs there.

ChickenWrapAug 5, 20141 votes

Any ETA on when the old forums are being shut down? Or do you plan to keep them running but relatively un-moderated?

DaenAug 3, 20145 votes

+1, I'm interested in the answer though not necessarily for the same reasons.

Flying BuntcakeAug 3, 20141 votes

For shame

MackleDogeAug 3, 20143 votes

I'm curious as well, though personally it doesn't make a difference to me one way or another, people can vote as they please for whatever reason they please, especially since Riot hasn't specifically said what upvotes and downvotes are meant to be used as, as far as a specific rule. They always say things like "In time the system will allow the community to show us what they want to see more off." but they always conveniently ignore the fact that such a situation requires the community as a whole to agree on the purpose of a vote, then agree on what deserves a vote, and that votes in threads are going to be biased at all points because of the fact that the thread is always viewed by those with a vested interest in the matter (ie, people that don't care about the topic don't view and don't vote so it automatically alters whether or not the thread has true merit or value).

Angry MonsterAug 3, 20143 votes

They are not going to ever release that kind of information.

This would come down to the name and shame policy.

darkdillAug 3, 20146 votes

I never said to release it. I merely wanted to know if they can determine downvote spammers' identity for moderator purposes.

Angry MonsterAug 3, 20142 votes

why does it matter if they could see them. Their is no way for you to know if one person in doing this. One down vote per thread will never be enough to warrant a data base pull. And if you have majority of down votes you riot will just say you are doing it wrong, the community does agree with you.

I feel the vote system is bad and not utilized correctly and that the meaning of down is misstated in the rules.

darkdillAug 3, 20142 votes

I was referring to something like my case, where every single post I made had those little red -1's or -2's.

Not one downvote per thread; one downvote per post.

Angry MonsterAug 3, 20143 votes

still not good enough, you could of had 10 down votes and 8 up votes. People could be disagreeing with you(as in riots stupid rules). Their will never be enough info to warrant a pull unless you have someone also always attacking your posts also.

That is a stretch in its self. The problem is that riot says if you do like something down vote. Well that is riot telling people its ok to bury a post if they want.

darkdillAug 4, 20141 votes

I take it you condone stalkers, then.

Angry MonsterAug 4, 20146 votes

Sigh, i see why you get down voted. One liner failure.

Posts like that are ripe for down voting. I was being realistic and you are lashing out. I am pointing out that you can not make a legit case that you are being stalked through down votes. You will never have enough information to make a real accusation.

If you contacted riot and said i am always being down voted i think I have a stalker they are going to ask for proof. Then when you say I its all the down voting they are going to laugh. Their is no direct coalition between the down votes and stalking. Over 1 million users account NA. Now add the other English speaking regions. Their can be 3 million different account that could disagree with any 1 post. You need more proof than saying I am always down voted. Its like saying that you always get trolled in games.

Also i think you are a tad extreme with the stalker wording. No one is saying anything directly to you it seems. If they are report it to riot and the police. Til then i would tone down on that word. Stalking is a a very inflammatory word you are throwing around without proof.

MackleDogeAug 3, 20146 votes

I think you're sort of avoiding the issue here: people not liking you isn't against the rules. If they don't like you or the content your posting, why shouldn't the downvote it? According to Riot, the community should downvote what they don't like. I don't agree with the behavior, its pretty immature and childish, but they are allowed to not like you or your content, there isn't any reason they should be punished for their opinion, even if it doesn't make you happy or you agree. I wouldn't support your identity being revealed whenever you downvote a thread or comment, and I don't think we should support the idea of someone being able to know who downvotes them.

It might not be what you want to hear, but at the end of it, they should be allowed to downvote you if they want, as long as they aren't posting violent or abusive comments attacking you personally while they do it.

Angry MonsterAug 4, 20141 votes

This is another way of explaining it.

Mackledoge has a record for being down voted on the beta, he knows.

edit

Wait did you have a stalker also Mackledoge?

MackleDogeAug 4, 20144 votes

I have a few people that consistently downvote me. Or at least I did. Oddly enough, it would seem that a few off them have been banned due to other inappropriate behaviors. It is also pretty common for me to get downvoted en masse on a thread where I'm arguing Devil's Advocate or expressing an unpopular or anti-circlejerk opinion. It's all part of the forum experience honestly, and if people disagreeing with you or downvoting you upsets you, this really isn't the place for you, nor really is any arena of public discourse, because it is simply par for the course.

MorvrannisAug 4, 20141 votes

While your remarks are true, hopefully, posts are downvoted based on the merits of the individual post - not on the merits of the poster. Someone not liking me is a poor reason to downvote a post that is well thought out and written well.

Of course, nothing is going to change popularity contests. They have been around since the beginning of time.

MackleDogeAug 4, 20141 votes

I agree with you, it should be based solely on the merit of the comment or thread, however that just isn't how real life works. I'm already of the opinion that disagreeing with the sentiment of a thread or comment isn't enough for someone to downvote it but it is already used as a tool of popularity and the lazy man's way of showing if they agree or disagree. The fact that there is so much disparity within the community as to the purpose of upvote and downvote and what is worthy of either is one of the largest reasons that I dislike the system as a whole.

EMOFRATPARTYAug 4, 20141 votes

I'm curious...what triggered the downvoting?

Was it completely unwarranted, and if so did you make an effort to contact Riot about the situation?

MackleDogeAug 4, 20142 votes

Not really sure you're going to get an unbiased answer from him. I've seen some back and forths between him and other users with this account and with his older ones before they were banned. I can't say what started it all and I'll never say that following someone around downvoting them is a correct thing to do, but I have seen some rather...contentious? posts and threads from Youso that make it seem like his attitude or tone is the reason people dislike or downvote him. Personally I'm not bothered by either and I think it is more that these people and him got into arguments and they decided to handle it in a childish fashion.

darkdillAug 4, 20141 votes

Some of them (who shall not be named) made it their job to discredit and slander me across the forums. You think I would just stand by and let people do that?

And no, not looking for sympathy.

MackleDogeAug 4, 20142 votes

Like I said, personally I don't have an issue with you, though I do think you take things a bit too seriously at times and can come off as either arrogant or a bit aggressive (which I do too so I understand how that can lead to arguments). I don't think it does yourself any true service to act like or ignore the fact that I'm sure you said some choice things to them that pissed them off. That obviously doesn't condone their behavior, which I've already said is immature and childish, but I don't think you handled it in a very mature or reasonable manner. I've dealt with it on CB and here on the Boards myself, personally I've found the best solution is to ignore upvote/downvote and just carry on doing what you are doing. That being said, I do understand that you being a content creator to some degree, it has a more profound effect on your forum activity in comparison to mine.

Drunk Old ManAug 4, 20141 votes

Each account ID is only allowed to vote on a thread/comment once. What this means, is that your account ID is most definitely stored alongside the thread/comment ID for the specific vote entry in the database, so it's possible to pull it. It's most likely a bit of a hassle, though.

Anyway, how about we have a limitation so that there can be no up/downvoting if your account doesn't have at least 10 or so posts? (maybe more)