Blocking users on Mylot
By vivasuzi
@vivasuzi (4127)
United States
December 27, 2006 12:46pm CST
I've only been here a few days and I've already found many people abusing the system in many ways. I just saw someone post a response, and I googled the text he wrote to find it was an EXACT copy and paste from wikipedia. This guy has over 3000 posts! and is probably making loads of money cheating.
Then I saw another person who started 3 or 4 absurd topics, and in response to anyone who responded, this person just responded "1" then "2" to the next one "3" etc. So basically, just responding to respond and not saying anything at all.
Finally, I saw someone copying and pasting an entire play into one discussion.
I'm already annoyed! Is there anyway to BLOCK members or is this coming in the future??? I just don't want to see people who abuse the system on the off chance I respond to them and earn them more money.
Thanks for your help!!
7 people like this
45 responses
@WhatsHerName (2716)
• United States
27 Dec 06
I don't think there is much we can do about it. I think new members like that pop up so often it's hard for myLot to keep up with them. I think they ban one and two new ones start. So about all we can do it keep reporting, give them negative feedback and ignore their discussions. If we post on their discussions our rating will go down if they get deleted.
2 people like this
@vivasuzi (4127)
• United States
27 Dec 06
Ok thanks for the advice! Hopefully mylot will add a block button the future. On another site I use, the block button works so that if enough people block a person they become community blocked and no one can see them. I would love that option right now!
Like I said, I want to try not to post on users who I've seen abuse the system, but I'm worried I will forget the names of those I saw cheating and will post to them on accident. Oh well, I will try my best to only post to people who seem legit :)
@patootie (3592)
•
28 Dec 06
That would be a great idea ... I'd like to permanently block the idiot who is copy and pasting my responses to use as his own ... and I've noticed that some of the days 'top users' continually post topics that are all pretty much the same as each other ...just the words changed round a bit .. I'm sure it gets them a few extra cents every day .. but their topics are boring beyond belief and it would be great to simply block out all their MyLot discussions
It would really quickly get some good conversations going again if we could all block the time wasters ..
MyLot take note .. this is a great idea by vivasuzi ...
1 person likes this
@alexdiazgranados (678)
• United States
28 Dec 06
Yes....well. A block-user function would probably be nice to have around, but any such feature might considerably cause more bugs for the IT staff who keeps the site up, and let's face it, myLot has a few technical issues on its plate already...for instance, referrals haven't worked for me all that well; I was "referred" here by another myLot member, but I never could log in through my first account and had to create THIS one. The same thing happened to my first referral...he created his account through the referral link but he couldn't log in or even get the confirmation e-mail, so he gave up and created his own account...which is great for him but not so great for me because I "lost" the referral.
And of course, a block feature could lend itself to abuse.
1 person likes this
@vivasuzi (4127)
• United States
28 Dec 06
I know someone who had the exact same problem Alex. He referred me before he ever used his account, then he couldn't log in so he never got me as a referral. That means he's losing out on all the potential earnings from me, and the person who referred him is losing out as well.
And thanks to the original response here too for understanding my idea :) Some people are taking it the wrong way and thinking I want to be able to have the power to DELETE users which is not what I'm saying. I just don't want to see them anymore!
@amitavroy (4819)
• India
27 Dec 06
yes may people just copy some text and paste them
btu yes we can make abuses for him so that he can get banned
we users have to do this so that mods can get a look at him
even i found people pasting matter from encyclopedia sites
now what will you tell about that
big lines of text just to get resposnses and a lot of money
well we can go with speling mistakes
but these thigs cant be tolerated
@vivasuzi (4127)
• United States
27 Dec 06
Thanks for the thoughts. I don't mind spelling mistakes since we don't have the ability to edit and I know I make grammer/spelling mistakes a lot! I wish I could edit my posts because often I notice something right after I post.
I would only report abuse for someone copy/pasting, or posting nonsense topics. Those seem to be the only reasons I've seen where it is clearly abuse. I will just rate other things - for now if I feel they are borderline abuse, or not useful.
BTW, what does the minus rating do? Does it mean they earn less? Thanks for your help!
1 person likes this
@14missy (3183)
• Australia
28 Dec 06
I would suggest that you find and add friends to your profile and then go to their discussion first and then look up conversations on your interest pages. This is what I do and then I hardly have time to look at other topics and then I only scan until I see something that is interesting. I have also pressed the ! when I find cheats. The only problem with this is you lose points if they get their comments deleted. It is worth it to make them do the right thing though.
@vivasuzi (4127)
• United States
28 Dec 06
I am learning this too. Once I have enough friends I may never see random topics from cheaters! But I will still go to the just in new topics and such just so I can do my part to report abuse when I see it :) I don't want to ignore all the cheaters completely or else they will keep earning until the site shuts down and we are all screwed!
@vivasuzi (4127)
• United States
28 Dec 06
Yes as long as you source it, and the copy/paste is useful, than I have no problem with it. The internet teaches us a lot! But the ones I saw were copy/pastes of useless information that was on topic, but at the same time had nothing to do with the question at hand. Almost seemed like a waste of the person's time when they could have just typed a few sentances and gave there opinion instead. I guess these cheaters don't even have time to give their own opinions!
@alexdiazgranados (678)
• United States
28 Dec 06
I don't really spend as much time on myLot as I ought to, partly because I have other online "commitments" to fulfill, as it were, partly because sometimes I'm not really in the mood, but mostly because I see people at myLot trying to game the system and, as you say, cheating.
In one of the more blatant examples I can easily cite, in one of my friend Leigh's discussions, some idiot basically copied and pasted her discussion-opener and used most of it as his response. That really makes me wish I could zap that member with a block button such as the ones used in Epinions.
@vivasuzi (4127)
• United States
28 Dec 06
Yes that makes no sense to me. I report when I see that and say "copying a response from above"
I guess this site is still relatively new and I'm sure over time the bugs will be worked out and it will be harder to abuse the system. I guess I find it SO EASY to respond to almost any topic (there are so many things I can intellegently speak about even if I don't know all about it) so I don't understand why anyone would cheat in this way.
I was with Epinions when it first started so I got to see all the different levels of cheating and eventually it became what it is today. A good site, less cheating, but also less money as a result. So I'm gonna stick around here and get my fair share before the site starts changing policies, which I believe it will sooner or later :)
@magikrose (5429)
• United States
27 Dec 06
Sadly there is not a way to block users. I agree with you there are a few people I would like to block. Right now all you can do is report them to mylot by using the ! in the discussions.
Hope this helps.
1 person likes this
@kylesmiles (1910)
• United States
27 Dec 06
I actually started a yahoo group to help us all find these cheaters and report them. Unfortunately not a whole lot of people have joined! The link is on my profile! :) I am also tired of these cheaters. There are a few of us in the group who have already listed cheaters.. Let's help each other out!
also, if there is anyone who has a great discussion posted, they can post their link!
1 person likes this
@GlussBrazil (290)
• Brazil
28 Dec 06
It's impossible to block users on mylot, all you can do is report his post to mylot so admins can permanently ban the user.
1 person likes this
@bonnielass (484)
• United States
27 Dec 06
when you see it report it. the more of us that report it. The more likley these people will get the boot. One hopes.
1 person likes this
@schummi (924)
• India
28 Dec 06
this is a serious issue and i think my lot should take serious action against these individuals .but first they should have some software or kinda system which right away blocks that kinda posts.In this way we will be fre from those guys because we are using it in a fair way and its kinda dejecting...i hope mylot takes some step from here
@bimmer999 (1158)
• Philippines
28 Dec 06
well these are after the money alone and its best we report them asap
everytime they post these nonsense posts.
i hope mylot can do something about this..
its just not fair for us proper posters..
what a shame..really
1 person likes this
@iDABIErock (92)
• Philippines
28 Dec 06
i have also seen replies without texts. that is why i also want to know how to block those people. isnt it unfair for the people who gave advices??hmmmmmmmmm.
1 person likes this
@groomtobe23 (635)
• United States
29 Dec 06
Going through the site today... I have several new users I would put on that block list you have suggested...lol
1 person likes this
@Withoutwings (6992)
• United States
27 Dec 06
I wish I could block users so I don't have to sort through their 10 million yes/no... do you like... this or that discussions when I'm trying to find something with a little bit of intelligence in it.
1 person likes this
@Marie2473 (8512)
• Sweden
27 Dec 06
Just repost them with the "!" If they recive some they will be banned in total :-)
@Marie2473 (8512)
• Sweden
27 Dec 06
After reading all the comments I see that 10 people wrote the same thing befoer me - I should learn to read the whole discussion before posting - anyways - have a nice day!
1 person likes this
@jimbl75 (152)
• United States
27 Dec 06
I don't know if blocking users is the answer, I mean it still doesn't make the user go away, it will actually promote users cheating the system. Lets say the majority of users block some of the worst abusers of the system, most of us then wouldn't know just how bad they are ripping off myLot. It'd make it that much easier for them to cheat the system. So the block feature sounds nice, but would it actually hurt myLot?
Jim
@vivasuzi (4127)
• United States
27 Dec 06
I guess that is a good thought too. I was thinking more along the lines of mylot being able to see block numbers. So mylot could see that memberx had 100 blocks against him, and then they could investigate. In the other site I use, a "block" lowers the weight of the member and actually is kind of a strike against that member. So if a member her was blocked, potentially they would earn less, and potentially blocked permanantly from mylot. Just ideas :)
@jimbl75 (152)
• United States
28 Dec 06
Now that sounds awesome. I like the idea of being blocked having some weight to it. As long as it is still investigated, otherwise that could be abused and innocent people could be banned from myLot. If there was a way they could do it, I think that would be very helpful- both for the users and the administrators of the site. Good thought!
Jim
@earnlots (266)
• India
28 Dec 06
what do u mean block??
Remove him frm the mylot community..??
If u can remove anyone whom u feel is abusing or is not following anyrules... then somebody else can block u for what u are doing..!!
I think mylot users should not be given the right to block others...!!!
It should be left to MYLOT itself..!!
@vivasuzi (4127)
• United States
28 Dec 06
If you would have read a lot of the other discussion going on, you would see I said BLOCK as in I DON'T SEE THEM. As in, I'm annoyed by memberx for posting a lot of useless threads, so I no longer wish to see memberx.
That should be allowed b/c sometimes people do things that aren't technically against the rules but they ARE annoying and I don't want to see the member anymore. That's it.
@whiteheather39 (24403)
• United States
28 Dec 06
I don't really find that copying an answer from the Internet too bad, maybe the person just wanted to give a correct answer, especially if was a long or complicate one.
I do know that you get blocked from copying and pasting until you have more than 500 points. I guess they figure you have earned then points using your own knowledge.
@whiteheather39 (24403)
• United States
28 Dec 06
Thank you. I see what you mean. That is what I like about this site is being able to comment within in the discussion respones.
@vivasuzi (4127)
• United States
28 Dec 06
Nope, the copy paste I saw was useless each time. For example, there's a discussion about who will win the oscar for best movie, and someone just copy/pasted text about when the Academy awards are and where they will occur but really had nothing to do with the actual question about who would win.
I don't mind if people copy parts of an article for the purpose of discussion, but I believe they should credit the original location of the article or add a link to the article. Otherwise, I take it these people are taking credit for someone else's work.
