570 réponses à ce sujet

[XX55XX]

All Dead wrote...

Chris, so do exploiters get a complete removal of their total points, or just points deducted that originated from img tags?

I think it's a complete disqualification, i.e., our tokens get reset to zero or something?

[Rive Caedo]

Blado123 wrote...

I'm confused, so all of those mass link threads are okay?

Mass link threads are okay.

[Crixt]

Chris, since such a large group of people without the intent to break rules happened to do this, I just have one question, will this decapitation of tokens apply to anyone who currenly/future has that type of signature, or everyone who ever did it, even if it was discarded after hearing your word?

Modifié par Crixt, 01 avril 2010 - 11:43 .

[Feraele]

chiliztri wrote...

This is why I have stopped clicking links and pictures in the forum entirely. I'll gladly click if you ask me, but trying to trick me into clicking just pisses me off.

This is how I feel about it too, I was expecting alot more of this behaviour for April Fool's,  but just made sure I stayed far away from clicking on pics and things.

[XX55XX]

Crixt wrote...

Chris, since such a large group of people without the intent to break rules happened to do this, I just have one question, will this decapitation of tokens apply to anyone who currenly/future had that type of signature, or everyone who ever did it, even if it was discarded after hearing your word?

Stop fighting it, Crixt. You, me, and everyone else who used the exploit will be disqualified. Best thing to do now is to save your time and do something else meaningful instead.

[rumination888]

Sloth Of Doom wrote...

Hey, is it ok if I hack the bioware servers and change my token count? It doesn't explicitly say not to do so, so that must mean I can have no common sense and do it!

*removes pants from head*

Seriously, why is everyone shocked that an obvious exploit is a bad thing?

One is an auto-click that relies on other people to click on the thread. The thread itself becomes the referral.
The other is actually hacking the servers.
Two completely different things.

[TrueWindoze]

XX55XX wrote...

Crixt wrote...

Chris, since such a large group of people without the intent to break rules happened to do this, I just have one question, will this decapitation of tokens apply to anyone who currenly/future had that type of signature, or everyone who ever did it, even if it was discarded after hearing your word?

Stop fighting it, Crixt. You, me, and everyone else who used the exploit will be disqualified. Best thing to do now is to save your time and do something else meaningful instead.

It would be nice for some actualy answers around this place, the ambiguity by the mods is baffling and frustrating.

[Crixt]

XX55XX wrote...

Crixt wrote...

Chris, since such a large group of people without the intent to break rules happened to do this, I just have one question, will this decapitation of tokens apply to anyone who currenly/future had that type of signature, or everyone who ever did it, even if it was discarded after hearing your word?

Stop fighting it, Crixt. You, me, and everyone else who used the exploit will be disqualified. Best thing to do now is to save your time and do something else meaningful instead.

I really would like to fight it, because I really would love to continue supporting one of my favorite gaming companies.  I'd rather not have to weigh how great their games are vs. how they treat their "community"

[Sloth Of Doom]

cynicalsaint1 wrote...

Chris Priestly wrote...

This is not a "flip in policy". This has always been our policy that people who try to exploit the rules or nature of the auction to benefit are cheating. Stan posted his personal opinion on the matter as he stated.

How exactly, pray tell, are we supposed to tell the difference from "personal opinion" and actual policy on such matters from BioWare posters? Especially when its never stated anywhere that this is in fact a personal opinion?

Probably when he says something crazy like....

Stanley Woo wrote...

Personally, I think it's a little sketchy, since you're essentially  exploiting the bbCode of the forums to do it.

Usualy when someone says "personally" what they mean is it is thier personal opinion.  

Modifié par Sloth Of Doom, 01 avril 2010 - 11:45 .

[VanDraegon]

All Dead wrote...

XX55XX wrote...

All Dead wrote...

Chris, so do exploiters get a complete removal of their total points, or just points deducted that originated from img tags?

I think it's a complete disqualification, i.e., our tokens get reset to zero or something?

If that's the case, then the hell with this forum and Bioware and anything to do with them from now on.

So,  you get bent out of shape when cheaters get their hands slapped? lol

[Crixt]

If we can't trust the personal opinion of one of the best BioWare posters, then what does that say about the state of the contest?

[XX55XX]

TrueWindoze wrote...

XX55XX wrote...

Crixt wrote...

Chris, since such a large group of people without the intent to break rules happened to do this, I just have one question, will this decapitation of tokens apply to anyone who currenly/future had that type of signature, or everyone who ever did it, even if it was discarded after hearing your word?

Stop fighting it, Crixt. You, me, and everyone else who used the exploit will be disqualified. Best thing to do now is to save your time and do something else meaningful instead.

It would be nice for some actualy answers around this place, the ambiguity by the mods is baffling and frustrating.

I agree completely. The ambiguity on their part actually helped the proliferation of the exploit.

But nonetheless, coming from a person who has studied business ethics, the whole "exploit" thing wasn't really unethical at all. Everyone and anyone was able to do it, and it even helped reduce the spam a little.

No one had an unfair advantage. The information was completely public and discussion of it wasn't even prohibited by the BioWare moderators.

My respect for BioWare has gone down the drain temporarily. And this is coming from a person who bought nearly every single BioWare game which has come out in the last six years or so. I am disappointed.

[XX55XX]

Sloth Of Doom wrote...

cynicalsaint1 wrote...

Chris Priestly wrote...

This is not a "flip in policy". This has always been our policy that people who try to exploit the rules or nature of the auction to benefit are cheating. Stan posted his personal opinion on the matter as he stated.

How exactly, pray tell, are we supposed to tell the difference from "personal opinion" and actual policy on such matters from BioWare posters? Especially when its never stated anywhere that this is in fact a personal opinion?

Probably when he says something crazy like....

Stanley Woo wrote...

Personally, I think it's a little sketchy, since you're essentially  exploiting the bbCode of the forums to do it.

Usualy when someone says "personally" what they mean is it is thier personal opinion.  

The guy was a BioWare staffer! He could have told us then and there that it was illegal.

[Sloth Of Doom]

Crixt wrote...

If we can't trust the personal opinion of one of the best BioWare posters, then what does that say about the state of the contest?

You can trust his opinion, he said it was sketchy.  You chose to ignore that and continue doing something sketchy.  What was he supposed to do, come to your house and hold your hand and have a long, in-depth discussion about morals with you, then buy you ice-cream?

[Rive Caedo]

Sloth Of Doom wrote...

You chose to ignore that and continue doing something sketchy.

There's an issue of "herd movement" here. If something is sketchy but allowed - then the people doing it will win.
Therefore, people that want a chance will stay with the herd.

[Crixt]

Sloth Of Doom wrote...

Crixt wrote...

If we can't trust the personal opinion of one of the best BioWare posters, then what does that say about the state of the contest?

You can trust his opinion, he said it was sketchy.  You chose to ignore that and continue doing something sketchy.  What was he supposed to do, come to your house and hold your hand and have a long, in-depth discussion about morals with you, then buy you ice-cream?

"sketchy" does not mean "cheating"

It could mean "legal, but I don't like it"

Infact, anyone who didn't do it, knowing that it was the only way to get such items, obviously didn't care enough to go for the good swag.

Also, one of the worst parts about this, is that if the disqualifications are decided based solely on signatures, the hundres of people that are using the same method, but on other websites, and are not a part of the community at all, will win all of the good stuff.

[XX55XX]

Crixt wrote...

Sloth Of Doom wrote...

Crixt wrote...

If we can't trust the personal opinion of one of the best BioWare posters, then what does that say about the state of the contest?

You can trust his opinion, he said it was sketchy.  You chose to ignore that and continue doing something sketchy.  What was he supposed to do, come to your house and hold your hand and have a long, in-depth discussion about morals with you, then buy you ice-cream?

"sketchy" does not mean "cheating"

It could mean "legal, but I don't like it"

Infact, anyone who didn't do it, knowing that it was the only way to get such items, obviously didn't care enough to go for the good swag.

Also, one of the worst parts about this, is that if the disqualifications are decided based solely on signatures, the hundres of people that are using the same method, but on other websites, and are not a part of the community at all, will win all of the good stuff.

Mr. Priestly has mentioned that others using the BB code exploit on other forums will be caught as well. They can track it.

[Mallissin]

Chris Priestly wrote...

We consider this an exploit/cheating and are tracking it. Anyone found to use it will lose their tokens Tuesday morning before the auction begins.

Posting something and asking people to click on it is fine. Posting something that is going to automatically generate clicks for you without reader approval (willingness to click) is in our opinion tantamount to cheating and will not be tolerated.

Shouldn't punishment be done at the moment you notice and not yanking
the rug from under people's feet right when the auctions begin?

The IMG method mentioned in this thread would be easy for you to stop, by simply adding a tiny bit of code to the BBCode system for the IMG tag to ignore anything with the "http://social.bioware.com/brc/" string in it. Something you should have done before the contest began, so have one of your smart web developers toss in it and move on without punishing anyone.

Otherwise the fact it took you an entire day to respond to the method and the lack of validation on the unique click system, will be easy arguments against any punishment you decide to give out.

Edit note: Copy/pasting causes end of line issues. Fixed.

Modifié par Mallissin, 02 avril 2010 - 12:02 .

[Misaki-Ki]

What about others who use your referral?



Let's say Poster A doesn't like Poster B. Poster A does the exploit for Poster B, and gets Poster B nulled? That sounds a bit worse than where we were before, lol.

[cynicalsaint1]

All Dead wrote...

XX55XX wrote...
No one had an unfair advantage. The information was completely public
and discussion of it wasn't even prohibited by the BioWare moderators.

Exactly.

Hell, I even told people about it when I had the chance, because I thought I was helping them out.