Reasons for thumbing-down in the C&S forum

There has long been a problem in the Contests & Sweepstakes forum with abuse of the thumbs-down feature. Perfectly good giveaways from reputable sponsors are routinely given a TD for no apparent reason. Requiring users to select a valid reason might help reduce the abuse. It’s a requirement in the Hot Deals and Freebies forums; why not in Contests & Sweepstakes?

Quote from sweepstaker : There has long been a problem in the Contests & Sweepstakes forum with abuse of the thumbs-down feature. Perfectly good giveaways from reputable sponsors are routinely given a TD for no apparent reason. Requiring users to select a valid reason might help reduce the abuse. It’s a requirement in the Hot Deals and Freebies forums; why not in Contests & Sweepstakes?

Very good question, and one I'd also like to know the answer.

Members who routinely abuse voting privlidges will have those rights revoked if a pattern is established. If you suspect that someone is using the voting system in a way that suggests abuse, please notify a Moderator and we will look into it.

Quote from finzz2dlft : Members who routinely abuse voting privlidges will have those rights revoked if a pattern is established. If you suspect that someone is using the voting system in a way that suggests abuse, please notify a Moderator and we will look into it.

seeing as how the votes are private, wouldn't that be hard to do? unless they post how they voted?

anyways, I would expect contests that require facebook, twitter, etc. to receive more down-votes that others, or is there some other pattern that you can explain?

Quote from slapshot136 : seeing as how the votes are private, wouldn't that be hard to do? unless they post how they voted? anyways, I would expect contests that require facebook, twitter, etc. to receive more down-votes that others, or is there some other pattern that you can explain?

mods can see how users rated.

no pattern i can explain...just speculation. could be the contest sponsor, could be contest terms & conditions, could be requring fb/twitter, could be a poorly written post, could be user simply not liking another user, could be the contest's poor website, could be spam, could be past experience, could be poor merchant rep, could be anything.

Quote from serra : mods can see how users rated.

makes it hard for users to report to mods other users who abuse the vote system as finzz2dlft said, but I guess that leaves it as a mod's job for the mods to do anyways

Quote from slapshot136 : makes it hard for users to report to mods other users who abuse the vote system as finzz2dlft said, but I guess that leaves it as a mod's job for the mods to do anyways

What I meant was, if you suspect that someone in particular is abusing the system, let a mod know, and we can check things out.

Quote from finzz2dlft : What I meant was, if you suspect that someone in particular is abusing the system, let a mod know, and we can check things out.

and like I said earlier, it's near impossible for us regular users who can't see who voted what unless they actually post saying how they voted, or can you give me some other examples as to how we might know/suspect someone in particular about abusing the voting system?

Quote from slapshot136 : and like I said earlier, it's near impossible for us regular users who can't see who voted what unless they actually post saying how they voted, or can you give me some other examples as to how we might know/suspect someone in particular about abusing the voting system?

In the past, members have come to us with suspicions over voting abuse because they have observed comments made by suspected users in a thread. There is a repeated negative history towards a company, or a fellow member. If, for instance, you see that company XYZ has a bunch of negative votes all of the time, and/or one person making remarks over and over about that company that don't really reflect on the deal, we could take alook. Keep in mind, this does not mean voting abuse. It could just be a users opinion. True voting abuse is thumbing something down because of not like the OP of the thread, for instance. This is something we would eventually find once we started looking into it.

I guess the best course of action here might be for you to PM me, or another mod, with an example of what you might feel is currently being abused.

Quote from finzz2dlft : Members who routinely abuse voting privlidges will have those rights revoked if a pattern is established. If you suspect that someone is using the voting system in a way that suggests abuse, please notify a Moderator and we will look into it.

Been there, done that. The worst offender has been reported but nothing is done because he doesn't target any one individual - he votes down nearly EVERYTHING equally. His last reported activity showed he gave the thumbs down to 29 sweepstakes in less than an hour. So why not require users to choose a valid reason before voting down a sweeps, just like they have to justify voting down threads in Hot Deals and Freebies?

That doesn't stop him from thumbing it down though.

Quote from cgrady : That doesn't stop him from thumbing it down though.

No, it doesn't. But it would give him pause for thought if there's no VALID reason to back up what he does. And if he's knowingly making up bogus reasons for his thumbs down, isn't that reason enough for a least a "friendly warning"? Something is very wrong when someone gives a thumbs down to a well written, properly formatted non-Twiitter, non-Facebook sweeps, sponsored by a large, reputable company giving away a large cash prize to the tune of $75,000. It's mind-boggling.

Choosing a reason for a thumbs down is mandatory in Hot Deals and Freebies. Why not make it mandatory in C&S also? Seems easy enough to do.

Quote from sweepstaker : No, it doesn't. But it would give him pause for thought if there's no VALID reason to back up what he does. And if he's knowingly making up bogus reasons for his thumbs down, isn't that reason enough for a least a "friendly warning"? Something is very wrong when someone gives a thumbs down to a well written, properly formatted non-Twiitter, non-Facebook sweeps, sponsored by a large, reputable company giving away a large cash prize to the tune of $75,000. It's mind-boggling. Choosing a reason for a thumbs down is mandatory in Hot Deals and Freebies. Why not make it mandatory in C&S also? Seems easy enough to do.

Why do you care if one person gives a thread a thumbs down? If it is a good post, it won't make any difference. There will be far more thumbs up.

Sorry, it is none of my business. I've just seen this complaint for years and I still don't understand. If the person you are talking about doesn't like a lot of different contest then so be it. Let him give it a thumbs down.

Quote from MissyMooMoo : Why do you care if one person gives a thread a thumbs down? If it is a good post, it won't make any difference. There will be far more thumbs up. Sorry, it is none of my business. I've just seen this complaint for years and I still don't understand. If the person you are talking about doesn't like a lot of different contest then so be it. Let him give it a thumbs down.

Here’s what you need to do to understand. Spend hours each day sifting through page after page of Google search results or your Facebook newsfeed for a few quality contests and sweepstakes. When you find one, don’t keep it to yourself and maximize your chances of winning; SHARE it with everyone. Read through the legalese of the Official Rules, finding the germane sections to copy and paste into your post. Make sure your post follows guidelines so the forum remains functional for the readers. Check that all links are working and post your new thread. Repeat thousands of times over a period of years then come back and tell me that a single, undeserved thumb down isn’t a personal affront.