Cheating in BI Forums for Points

[Former Member]

Hello Friends,

Today I saw a group of users(maybe from the same company) who are copying previously answered threads just to get points.

They are following a system like.."i copy a query from a previously answered thread..post it as a new query..u answer the query by copying answers from the old thread..and i say 'thanks' and award points!".

these 4-5 users have all joined SDN on 14th May..and have already collected good number of points.

the very minute(say 11.39 am) one of them posts a query..3-4 of them post a reply(at 11.39 am)..and that very minute(11.39 am!) the thread is closed!

the same question is posted more than 3-4 times.

to prove my point..see below..

<b>event and event collector</b>

copied threads

/thread/146953 [original link is broken]

/thread/146938 [original link is broken]

/thread/146923 [original link is broken]

/thread/146898 [original link is broken]

original thread

<b>transfer objects</b>

copied threads

/thread/146940 [original link is broken]

/thread/146925 [original link is broken]

original thread

u can also find many other copied threads..'start routine','process chain','statistics' etc.

what a trick..i think if one cant earn points sincerely he/she doesnt deserve to be a part of SDN.

i dont know this is happening in how many other forums..

truly spoiling the culture of SDN.

Craig~Could we do something to stop this?

would like to hear others opinions on this..

I have already raised this topic in BI forums..

with regards,

Vishvesh

[former_member188325 · Accepted solution]

Hi Vishvesh,

you are absolutely correct..Nice work...yes there are many posts like this...some times you will not get a single point(min *2) even your answer resolves their issue but someone else instead(may he himsellf posts a question with dummy ID and assign points himself nice trick or friends from same company as u said...)

Hope Craig will look into this issue soon...

thanks

[RichHeilman · Accepted solution]

What a shame. Hope the problem is resolved soon.

Regards,

Rich Heilman

[former_member583013 · Accepted solution]

That's really bad -:( Gladly in the Scripting Forums we don't have that kind of problems...But it's because we keep it small....It's hard to keep track of message when you have more that a hundred...

I think that Craig should banned those users, because the SDN it's not about points...It's about helping people and sharing knowledge...

I hope this get fixed...And hope that we could find a way to get rid of that kind of users...

Greetings,

Blag.

[suresh_datti · Accepted solution]

I strongly agree with Rich.. it is indeed a shame.. but apparently there are too many loopholes in this system tempting people to misuse.. just a few weeks ago, someone manipulated the referral points too.. I guess it is better to shelve the points system altogether.. in good old days sapfans.com worked perfect without any rewards.. Occasionally the posts did go askew, but then the modeartors were quick to delete/lock such threads.. Points or no Points, there are always people ready to share their knowledge/experience...

Regards,

Suresh Datti

[former_member374]

Hi Vishvesh,

Thanks for finding and pointing it out. It is sad that with all this opportunity to earn points on SDN someone has to cheat.

As in life there is no shortcut. The good thing is, that it proofs again that you the SDN community finds out and gives us the opportunity to correct that behavior.

It looks like a script created by Ramesh Babu . He registered on the 13th of May 2006. Even this name may be fake, as it looks like it is just a test balloon to see how far one can take it without getting coughed. Well about 290 points far

He created some dummy accounts on the 14th:

I admit he put some effort in these: Genio inteligente I love that one.

Oh how we would love to have SDN members that sign up and within 24 hours have posted 113 post and only 3 questions as did König David. But unfortunately he is long dead and a script went through old posts, copied them word for word and post them again on SDN: Question, answer, answer answer, thank you post and points given. All these posts where happening within 2 minutes.

Of course other SDNers didn't know what was happening and sometimes gave a good answer, but of course were ignored. I am sorry for these.

I went in, deactivated the points in many threads so that Ramesh was down to 174 points. I took these points off in a lump sum. With this amount of points he doesn't get far on SDN. The reputation is ruined anyhow.

To all moderators if you see a pattern of question, answer, answer, answer, thank you all posted within one minute, please use your power and knock the points off.

Through your participation, your contributions people will know you as a good SDNer, you get a reputation. Through gaming the point system you get a reputation too, a bad reputation. Who wants that?

I love that the community found out about it and rang the alarm and we were able to do something about it.

All the best, Mark.

[Former Member]

Hello Mark,

What more can I say..

You are simply the best!

Thanks Again.

cheers,

Vishvesh

[former_member189326]

The test forum is full of posts by Ramesh & Co. testing the script!

If this gets really bad, consider blocking the IP address range of the originator.

Boris

[Former Member]

something more on the points system:

what is helpful about this?

<i>What a shame. Hope the problem is resolved soon.

Regards,</i>

or this?

<i>Good job Vishvesh and a sincere thanks to you for bringing it up.

As others said , its really a shame.

Regards</i>

I personally don't care about points or if you assign them to socially relevant but otherwise (concerning content) useless posts of your buddies, I just want to point out that I consider this to be strange too (and to my knowledge it happens a lot)

regards,

anton

[former_member184154]

Ah guys, this is too bad and absolutely not surprising...

I also posted a topic on a similar subject () but I had weak feedback.

In a sense, I'm almost glad to see that the problem <i>exploded</i>...

Hope those stupid cheaters won't hit a keyboard anymore!

<b>TO THEM: By the way, what do you think you're getting with SDN points? A place in heaven???</b>

[Former Member]

Hello Anton,

If u read my 1st post in this thread,I have requested for opinion from fellow SDN'ers.And they have given their valuable feedback.

Following the 'rules of engagement'() I have given everyone who contributed to the thread with their feedback,2 points each.

I later thought that it may not have been necessary to raise this as a 'question'.Could have removed checkbox while raising post.Though I believe I was 'asking' for feedback.Will take care next time round.

If u are seeing any cheating happening in SDN,please post it to Mark Finnern or the SDN moderators,and they will surely take steps to stop it.

cheers,

Vishvesh

Message was edited by: Vishvesh

[Former Member]

Hi Alessandro,

I saw the link you sent.First of all you should have raised it in this forum 'SDN suggestions and comments'.

I too hadnt raised my thread here,but later I did and cross linked it to the thread I raised earlier in BI forums.

And your thread isnt same as mine.You didnt show where the cheating is happening?in which threads?

Your post was quite general and not detailed,and you got some general answers.Though I think arent 10 responses good enough?I think if u see 'rules of engagement' u can post better/specific/detailed questions and therefore get better answers.

Your statement isnt clear..what is the message?

"<i>In a sense, I'm almost glad to see that the problem exploded... :-)</i>"

cheers,

Vishvesh

[Former Member]

Cheating stinks. I know Craig is at Sapphire in Orlando, Florida right now (stop by and see him if you're at the Sapphire event), but I'm sure he'll tackle this when he gets a few free moments.

I would like us to keep the points system. It's special, it makes SDN somewhat unique, and it's quite a motivator - usually in a very positive way. It's also a great way to see (when it's not being abused) who really is an expert on a topic.

We'll work on ways to fix this -- at a minimum banning SDN members who seem to need a bit of remedial ethics training. But that's a difficult manual task. Any suggestions from our extraordinary membership on ways to do this programmatically?

Thanks for keeping an eye on this, and for representing the 99.9% of the membership that works for the good of the community.

Mark Y.

[former_member189326]

Hi Mark,

speaking of programmatically - I think what you're up against is a script. If you check out the number of threads that each of the users involved has posted, it's not really humanly possible.

If that's the case, you could monitor the number of posts per user per day and weed out the suspicious ones.

Boris

Americas NetWeaver Foundation RIG

[Former Member]

How about we have an option to flag a post if you find it dubious.

If more than a certain number ( Lets say 3 or 4) flag the post, then the moderator can either ban the user or ask for an explaination or then atleast remove the post

[Former Member]

Hello Friends,

Mark Finnern has taken care of this.He has removed points from the people who were cheating.

See below threads:

/message/1644543#1644543 [original link is broken]

/thread/146852 [original link is broken]

Thanks a lot Mark..(Could not find your reply on the topics I raised.Could you kindly add a reply so that I can assign points)

Let us all keep SDN clean and honest.

cheers,

Vishvesh

[athavanraja]

Good job Vishvesh and a sincere thanks to you for bringing it up.

As others said , its really a shame.

Regards

Raja