The moderator blocked user accounts due to voting violations [duplicate]

Question

The situation occurred with two accounts: self SVBazuev and my daughter's AnnaBazueva.

When she sees a question that she can answer, she does it.

We often use one device, it happens like this:

• I look at the answers she gave, sometimes she sends me a link to her answer.

• If I have comments, I voice them and she corrects them (see the history of edits of answers).
  When I have no comments and I find her answer acceptable, I vote for her answer.

• Other community members can also vote for Anna's answers, both UP and DOWN.
  I would like to draw your attention to the fact that at the moment none of her answers have been voted against even once!
  This circumstance is indirect evidence that my votes have a basis (they are not a mechanical cheat on Anna's reputation).

In addition to my daughter, I also have a son, Gregory, who is 14 and a half years old,
and soon three accounts will use one device.

I voted for my daughter's answers, and because of this, our accounts are blocked.

I find it useful to reduce the cost of follower (In the sense of allies) votes from 10 to 2 reputation points. This should significantly improve the situation with reputation cheating.

So that it is possible to link accounts into groups, and within the group there are other prices per vote.

And moderators could mark (forcibly make allies) accounts between which cross-voting is observed.

Should this be implemented?

Answer 1

I get that what you describe isn't intentional voting fraud. Assuming you are indeed doing exactly what you say and only vote if the content is good, then I don't see a problem. In theory.

In practice, however, since the accounts use the same device, we have no way of knowing if you are actually doing what you say or if you are just using three accounts to inflate the reputation of one of them. From our perspective, the two scenarios are indistinguishable.

This means that even though you may only vote on her good answers, the result is two accounts, which appear like they are the same person, voting for each other and that smacks of voting fraud.

I am afraid I don't have a good solution for you other than to ask you to stop doing it. Just don't vote for your children's posts, and make sure they don't vote on yours, and let the community do the voting instead. If you stumble upon one of their posts while using the site and vote on it before you even realize it was theirs, that should be fine, but if they send you specific posts to check you will always give the impression that you're taking part in targeted voting. And, really, you are since you are indeed targeting these specific users. It's just that you are doing it for innocent reasons, so you don't have the intent to commit fraud, but at the end of the day, that's kinda what you're doing.

Answer 2

While this is not sock puppetry, it is still targeted voting. The fact that she's your daughter presumably strongly influences the way you vote on her posts, and it influences your likelihood to vote on it in the first place.

Voting should be based on the content rather than on the user posting the content - that's very fundamental to how Stack Exchange voting is supposed to work. If the identity of the user has that much of an influence on how you'll vote, it's better not to vote on the content at all.

Answer 3

I think the 'simple' answer here is - not to interact between accounts in the same household or company/work unit. Don't crossvote, don't comment, don't do suggested edits. Basically if it involves reputation, and accounts of people you know don't

Practically We've no way of telling if cross voting between users in the 'same place' is organic or not, and generally while we don't reveal details on anti fraud measures (and some are opaque for us too) there generally needs to be a pattern of cross voting, and other measures.

I find it useful to reduce the cost of follower (In the sense of allies) votes from 10 to 2 reputation points. This should significantly improve the situation with reputation cheating.

People would simply vote 5 times as much, once they've gotten enough accounts bootstrapped. Its trivial to create an account on SE by design, and sometimes people get 'creative'.

I get the idea that you're trying to use the site as a teaching tool - which is lovely but as you've found out, some aspects of it don't really work well they way you're using it.

Unfortunately, especially with SO, some folks value site reputation enough that there's value in trying to game the system to them, which makes - essentially formalising cross voting impractical. Even if linked account votes didn't count for reputation - a group could push an answer up in visibility inorganically.

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that at the moment none of her answers have been voted against even once!

Which is excellent - and in which case she, and her answers can do just fine from votes from other people.

If I have comments, I voice them and she corrects them (see the history of edits of answers). When I have no comments and I find her answer acceptable, I vote for her answer.

I'd consider if you'd have come across the answer any other way, and that she's in the same household affects the visibility of the post. This would be the same as if I was in an offsite chatroom, and tended to keep linking my posts to my friends and get upvotes. This is practically... not how the site and voting should work.

I feel like - in this context your daughter and son might understand why dad can't vote for them, and pre-emptively why they shouldn't vote for each other. (I recall, vaguely, that this did happen, and we had someone claim their sibling voted for them to get suspended. The story got stranger after that)

Answer 4

I find it useful to reduce the cost of follower votes from 10 to 2 reputation points.

I don’t understand what you mean for “follower votes”, but I think that you mean to reduce 10 to 2 reputation for upvote.

You said that if the reputation reduced, then there’s no reputation cheating? I don’t agree with the statement you said.

You can also create many accounts and upvote the answer, but all of your accounts will be suspended.

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If you upvote your daughter, that means that your daughter will earn reputation, and maybe earns some new privileges.

Why cheating is bad? Maybe your daughter's answers are not good, but you still give her upvote(s).

My suggestion is just leave the answer, if your daughter’s answers are good, then other users with upvote the questions. If the answers are bad, then other users can downvote them.

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After I see the @Qwertiy, I know what happened.

Although your 10 reputation are reduced to 2 reputation, but just the same thing, you still upvote others, still gain reputation, and 5 upvotes= 10 reputation.