I am bumping a 'semi food' post I put up this morning. I want to name an Open Salon account that continually games the "Most Recent" time line. The account is "Justin Fogarty". You will see that the post has a time stamp of "JULY 27, 2010 7:10PM EDT", if you look at the Most Recent time line. I am absolutely positive it is not even afternoon yet on the east coast. Therefore, this Justin Fogarty post will sit at the top of the time line and give the impression that Open Salon remains static because his post will remain there for hours and hours.
I posted about the problem yesterday. I will copy the post here. It simply is not fair to all the people who will post from now until 7:10 PM EDT.
Justin Fogarty, you do this repeatedly and it is cheating.
Catherine Forsythe
... copy of the post about Openly and Intentionally Cheat on Open Salon
There is a growing practice among some Open Salon Accounts. They cheat the "Most Recent" time line. The time stamp is manipulated so that they are on the top of the time list and remain there for hours (and sometimes into the next day).
It is cheating. It is done intentionally, with an old hacker's trick.
I have drawn this to the attention of the Open Salon Editor and the Web Analytics manager. Why this is so annoying is that, at a quick glance, the same posting remains on top of the time list. This gives the impression that there is no new material on Open Salon, which is indeed not the case. That may not be a problem for the people who frequent the site often during the day and contribute. However, for the casual visitor, it gives the impression that the site has been static, since the same post is that the top of the page.
This impacts upon all the people who post legitimately. I, for one, am really tired of it. To those who manipulate the time stamp, 'play fairly'. I am going to start pointing out accounts that do this - perhaps drawing direct attention to this practice will prevent it somewhat. I doubt it but maybe it will relieve my anger somewhat.
Catherine Forsythe
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Comments
What's the point of him doing that? Does OS pay extra?
Wow, had no idea and rated with hugs
It's worthwhile to note that there are similar sins going on here and elsewhere, all geared toward getting people to come to your site. It is relatively harmless--no animal testing required, for instance--but it also reduces the utility of the Internet.
It seems unscrupulous to me, for instance, to use tags on a post that are not really relevant. If I pull "Bill Clinton" out of my snark box and stick that name in a post, I should not put "Bill Clinton" in the tags since it was merely a snarky remark and there is no actual content related to the former President in my post.
But a LOT of people will "game" the tags so that they get more page views (not just on OS, but all over the 'Net). This results in more difficulty for people who are genuinely searching for information about Clinton.
(Definitely not directed at you, Catherine!)
Still, the example on which you haved seized should offer enough proof for the good editorial staff of OS to construct amended terms that will prohibit this unfair and unethical activity.
Perhaps I should provide a bit more background. Previously, when I found the Fogarty account doing this, I informed the Web Analytics Manager. I did this several times. The Web Analytics Manager [Charles] attempted to contact the account and did not receive any reply. Therefore, patience has been extended to this account. The courtesy was not returned. And that's why I posted this.
I see that the offending post has been removed. I think Emily, Charles and the tech team should be commended for their attention to this matter.
Again, my thanks to all who have visited and who have commented...
Thanks for pointing this out. I had no idea this was afoot. Rated!
Lezlie