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I am worried that some people just want to misuse the site, just like a lot of other sites. It is possible that some people might be interested in making people lose massive amounts of reputation for their entertainment. If six or more banded up, each patrolling through questions and each casting one spam/offensive flag on each question/answer, it could cause some users to lose hundreds of reputation relatively quickly. Could this mean an end or something on a similar scale to the stack exchange where it takes place? If not, then about how much trouble could such troll armies cause? Have moderators or other such people considered this possibility and accounted for it?

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  • Could you be more specific please and add some example sites and posts? May 14, 2020 at 19:35
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    I'm old enough to remember when trolls just hung around under bridges molesting goats. Now it seems they're all sitting at home in darkened bedrooms, playing with their joysticks while connected to the Internet. Progress, huh! May 14, 2020 at 19:37
  • In the KToH/JToH wiki, I remember people talking about vandalism in the site. Apparently, someone had replaced the tower picture to something inappropriate.
    – Someone
    May 14, 2020 at 19:37
  • with something inappropriate
    – Someone
    Jun 27, 2020 at 16:42

1 Answer 1

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If six or more banded up, each patrolling through questions and each casting one spam/offensive flag on each question/answer, it could cause some users to lose hundreds of reputation relatively quickly.

That's correct. However, those users would be likely to complain (on Meta sites, via flags or the Contact Us form) and soon the ♦ moderators and/or the Community Team will figure out what's happening. Be assured that in these cases the victims will get their reputation and privileges back, and long suspensions will follow for the 'trolls'.

Users with 10,000 or more reputation can also see deleted posts (including flagged ones) and might also help identifying these cases. And I almost forgot, we even have a flagging army which gangs up on blatantly obvious spam posts. More details here: Can a machine be taught to flag spam automatically?

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    Oh, and it's worth mentioning that moderators have the ability to clear spam flags that were marked helpful and refund reputation. (And I found a duplicate of this question.) May 14, 2020 at 20:00
  • Could such an army cause major damage before they're caught?
    – Someone
    May 14, 2020 at 20:05
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    @Someone no damage that isn't irreversible (at least in IT terms - users may be offended by this and never come back). Even as a moderator, there are only very few things I can do on a site which aren't easily reversible.
    – Glorfindel Mod
    May 14, 2020 at 20:08

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