What is it that makes people... · 9:27pm Mar 17th, 2015
...create Alts to upvote? Seriously?
Like, for real. Why would you ever go and do that? Is your need for "likes" so desperate that you have to not only "like" your own story (which... seriously... it's a bit sad) but you also need to invent other people to ensure someone likes your stuff? Even if it's really just you?
I dunno, D, me, I get all my glory out of my own hard work!
Hey! Obnoxious! Or should I say: "P0neyLvr1 thru 24?"
Sh! What the hay, Clueless? Can't you see there's a mod here?
Which is exactly why I already banned all your alt accounts and deleted your votes. You know that story you deleted and resubmitted (against the rules) because the ratings were too low? It has even worse ratings right now.
Dude, we writers have rights too, you know? We need to defend ourselves against the opinion of others! What better way than deleting all their comments, blocking them, harassing them with alts and up-voting our own stuff?
You... really are clueless, aren't you?
No! I'm Clueless!
You know what's going to happen, right Obnoxious?
Depends on the mod?
Yeah, no. You'll be banned for some time. I'll perma all your alts, erase their votes, delete their comments and... how does 175316 hours sound?
Like a lot?
It's only 20 years. You might be able to look at the site, but your account will be out of your reach like that cup I left on the shelf for Muggy.
You can't do that! You need a caricature of other users/authors to make fun of them and seem cool and benevolent when you're really being a jackass!
As if they needed any help. Okay, okay. A week. Or two. But if he does it again... he's out. I mean, he's known its shifty at best, and Meeester probably even warned him about it. That's beyond cluelessness...
Hey!
It's sheer obnoxiousness and borderline idiocy. If you do it again, OW, you'll not only be permabanned, you'll also be a certified idiot.
Why isn't he responding?
He's banned, he can only read what we say about him. Anyway, you know what? I need a beer.
Can I have one?
Sure.
Low self esteem? That or some autofellatio related reflex is my guess.
It's probably because they have egos that need stroking, and if you want something done right, you've gotta do it yourself.
People probably create alts to upvote his or her own stories in order to make it look good/get it featured. Maybe it's to satisfy his or her own ego.
I forget the name of the person who made over 40 alts to upvote her own stories, but she may have done so to get her stories all featured.
But to be honest, getting featured isn't all it's cracked up to be in my opinion. Standing under the spotlight makes me feel rather anxious.
Anyway, that was an interesting window into a chat. Thanks for sharing it with us.
WIN!
Fight the power, everyone! Make all the alts! Upvote all your own stories! Downvote all the ones that come out at the same time! They can't control you! Be the jackass you want to be! After all, who cares if you're making the site a worse place when it's a better place for you!
I don't even upvote my own stories.
Though the ability to remove a vote without down thumbiing would be really nice ....
Did this conversation really happen?
But the First Amendment clearly states that people have the right to say and do literally anything they want, wherever they want, internet or otherwise! Banning vote abuse accounts is violating their God-given constitutional rights!
No idea. The number of alts one would have to make to generate significant heat would be, I imagine, quite a lot. Better to put that time into better writing or legitimate promotional efforts.
You don't mean another fuckwit did it, do you?
CU and OW are back? Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees.
Good to see more OW and CU. They are both charming in their own way.
I just don't like the little red bar, so I usually give myself an upvote before submitting. If the bar were some other, less-alarming color (Yellow, maybe? A soothing cerulean blue? Or even a nice neutral grey.) I don't think I would.
But it's way too much effort to create an alt account for the purpose of upvoting, or--I suppose--putting favorable comments on my fics (or somebody else's, I guess, but I've got to figure someone who's so obsessively narcissistic wouldn't bother with anyone else's stories), or whatever.
2886340
Blatant stupidity, thy name is Ellie_.
2886299
Seconded. I'd love the ability to remove an upvote or a downvote without clicking the opposite button. Like if a story I used to like decayed over time and lost my interest, but I didn't feel like it needed an actual downvote either.
...and this is why you should be able to like and favourite blog posts.
It's a base misunderstanding of what this whole thing is about.
They think that the internet points matter, that they have any actual value. The points, in reality, mean nothing. Their only value is as a representation of how people feel about your work. So if you make lots of internet points, then presumably lots of people like your work, and you can go ahead and feel good about yourself.
On the other hand, if you cheat to get a bunch of internet points, then they've lost their one purpose and reverted back to meaningles numbers on a computer screen.
It's silly, really.
That is fucking golden
2886319 Gotta love sarcasm
I'd never make an alt to make myself look good, because honestly it's childish and does the opposite.
Having one to put up things that I wouldn't want on my actual one on the other hand...
I haven't, though I'd be lying if I said I haven't thought of the possibility, probably wouldn't though, rather not have to try and juggle whose who.
You know, make sure the stories go in the right place, make sure I'm doing the things on the respective blogs that each one is supposed to do.
Point is, to much hassle for stuff that in all honesty, I'm never gonna actually do anyway, I hardly take care of everything I actually have.
2886364
I have to agree, 0/0 likes/dislikes should not be a solid red bar. I'd suggest gray, myself.
I care less about people doing this (which is just sad) than about people abusing alts to downvote-bomb a story, which is actually harmful to other users.
But that's just me.
(But yeah, auto-fellating with alt accounts is still pretty sucky and abusive of the site...)
Muggy doesn't deserve that, give him the fucking cup.
That being said, I acutally have my own rules on my user-page.
1:Never upvote your own stuff. You posted it, of course you like it. At least on some level you do. Why would you post it if you didn't?
2: Never leave the first comment.
I also won't fav or track my own stuff, seriously, that's just stupid.
Perhaps in some (and I mean some, not all) instances this has become a symptom of the reverse where some spam alts to downvote bomb. That said, I'm not fond of either. *shrugs*
Why is this not a site post?
Looks like it should be seen by all dipshits of that caliber.
~Skeeter The Lurker
Brilliant Wanderer, just brilliant!
So I have alt accounts, and I admit that I have used them to upvote at least one of my stories, but I also used them to downvote my stories that weren't as good, so that my personal favorite stories of mine, were higher ranked. Am I the only person that has downvoted their own story? Also, I actually do things on 4 of my accounts, I would delete the other 2 if I could. I didn't realize when I made them that you couldn't delete accounts, so now they are just kinda there.
2886597 I have ONE alt account, and I can't for the life of me remember the password.
2886374
Yes, I would LOVE the option to move a thumbs up to neutral. Having to go red to green, or green to red is too extreme.
The unstoppable desire to suck their own metaphorical dicks
... I upvote my own stories.
fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/322/a/5/_ponkylie__by_pianoponky-d5lehpa.jpg
Only if I like them, though.
But I didn't even know this was a thing. This conversation was super funny, but taught a very true lesson. Let's just do our best and let our work speak for itself.
2886622 All of mine have the same.
2886675 I made that one different specifically so I wouldn't get tempted....of course, that was when I still made content.
So was this the OU CW thing that was promised or was this a separate thing because it doesn't feel like the other ones i'm not sure if it was meant to be or not XD.
Because any site which ranks content by popularity becomes subject to the bandwagon effect. Popular content becomes more popular. Un-promoted content languishes in obscurity. By astroturfing your fic, you make it seem popular, which helps make it popular in fact.
2886651 Hey pal! if we could suck our own di- oh wait you were being metaphorical.
2886772 It's pathetic, and honestly, the amount of alts you'd actually need to make an impact should rather make you reconsider your life, rather than give any pretend-value to your work... I mean, if someone writes a story and it doesn't get attention, like 2886340 said, 50 alts are not going to suddenly make it go "hot" or interesting or remotely better. But, to each their own. They'll keep doing it, I'll keep banning them.
2886343 yep
2886741 Separate :P
2886673 But you don't have several alts to follow that, do you?
there's a difference. And yeah, that is sorta the point of this: you can want recognition for your work, who wouldn't? But fabricating likes is simply fooling yourself, more than anyone else.
2886597 So, what purpose does it have to upvote or downvote your own stories? Why not let them be?
2886522 2886476 They're just as bad as the other. Mass upvoting and mass downvoting don't help anyone at all.
2886452 Agreed... like you and 2886364 said/implied, sometimes I wonder what type of person has the time and motivation to create so many alts just for voting their own stuff up or downvoting someone else's stuff.
2886423 Because Muggy
2886396 In essence they're making the unimportant even less so.
2886358 2886355 They have been gone for far too long
2886319 If people didn't actually try and pull that on us it would be 100% sarcasm and not sad reality
but you see... either way, I don't care what it says.
2886317 Yes. And not exactly.
2886296 Verily! Mighty Mjolnir will gladly ban you all!
2886292 2886289 2886280 2886651 Their reasoning doesn't change the fact that it's pretty dumb, tho. In fact, it just makes it sadder.
2886294 2886378 2886572 2886592 Thank you, thank you.
2886299 2886467 2886374 Yeah, this has been brought up before.
2886887
That's true.
2886887 *pat pat* There there... I understand. Still though... don't ruin your mood for these people. They are not worth it.
It might just be that these people, or at least the majority of them, are simply naïve and nothing more.
While I've dipped my toes in fanfiction in the past, the My Little Pony fandom is really the first fandom I've been a part of and I suspect this is the case for many people. They might've watched Star Trek or read the Harry Potter books before, but that doesn't automatically make them a Trekkie or a Poterhead (is that what they're called?) the same way just enjoying My Little Pony doesn't make you a Brony. It's the interaction with the fan community that makes one a part of the attached fandom.
When somebody walks into something like this and begins to contribute, I seriously doubt any of them are thinking they'll ever be as popular as Pen Stroke. Hardly anyone is a runaway success. But at the same time, there's the feeling of alienation from having one's work, regardless of how much effort was put into it, be largely overlooked by such a large community. They're trying to belong, but a lack of recognition can make them feel like they're being shunted. So they try and inflate their chance of being recognized (good or bad) and show that, hey, they're contributing to the fandom. And then you got harsh reality sitting on the ulterior of it all and yadda yadda.
I dunno, maybe I'm thinking too deeply into this. But I don't think all alt-spammers are fully aware that what they're doing is wrong. It's pathetic, no doubt, but they could just not know better. Of course, this is only considering people who are new to the scene. I have no sympathies towards experienced people spamming alts to upvote stories.
As for myself, when it comes to voting on my own stories, I do upvote/downvote them depending on my satisfaction with them. If a year later I look back and realize I don't like a particular story I wrote, I'll go and downvote it.
2886319
FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!
But, even if they DO make feature with a shit fic by multi-account upvoting they'll just get bombed right back out if it in like 10 seconds flat.
2886887
What type of a person does anything? You can't really pin down why someone does something because they all have their own reasons.
Could simply be because they wanted to make a name for themselves, could be because of fear that they would get hated on and acted in retaliation, the only way to really know is to ask them.
2886887
If you had asked me that question about a year ago I would have said that it was everything, but now that I've been here a while I've realized that ratings really aren't important. As long as you have a good time, it's fine. The that the likes and dislikes are good for to me, is that, my first (and worst) story had surprisingly good ratings, so I used my alt accounts to dislike, that one so that less people would see it and more people would see the ones I'm actually proud of.
2886492
But then how would you know when you updated?
I suppose it's a natural consequence of needing n likes to make the Featured box instead of having to convince another human being that your story is any good.
2887468 That's not how it works tho, so...
You know you really want to show someone that you are annoyed when you don't give them a nice round number of like 150,000 hours or something, but instead give them EXACTLY the number you want.
I understand your pain WD, you are a better person than me, I have killed for less.
2887344
A bunch of sad, pathetic people that desperately need their ego stroked. That's who.
We should really pity them.
Ban their asses first, of course, but then the pity.