You can cheat! Go you!

[DeadSeraphim]

[COLOR=Indigo][SIZE=1][FONT=Arial]I've no idea if anyone's noticed this outside of the people I usually chat to, but the myO Top List has, of late, been over-run by less-than-crap sites, and these sites are often in the Top 20, or, in some cases [U]Top 10[/U].

Most of the people at these sites say it 'was a shock' to find out, then lap it up despite the fact they get [U]no comments[/U] or post anything that would make people want to visit. Upon deletion of being knocked back they just continue to rise, so either there's a secret underground force of people who mass-visit these pages, or they're using such despicable means as autohit sites (originally made for games like Outwar).

The only viable solution I see, at the present, is to temporarily take away the rankings system and/or remake it so it can't be so easily messed with. If anyone else has noticed this, or has other solutions, feel free to post...[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[James]

[color=#667F84]I acknowledge that this can be a problem, but I'm not quite sure what we can do about it (other than remove the offending accounts).

This is really more of a technical issue, so perhaps this is something Justin can respond to.[/color]

[Solo Tremaine]

[color=#503f86]I've noticed it too, and it really annoys me. I've noticed that some MyOtaku sites that rise high up the rankings are those which just have hundreds of pictures and/or quizzes. I've been overtaken by someone who'd been registered and posted for one day, and even then there was nothing written anywhere on the site. It frustrates me- not that the rankings have much bearing on the sites that i visit anyway, but I think those who are most popular should get credit for actually being so.

I looked at a site that enables you to send fake traffic to sites and they said that their software's designed to be almost identical to genuine electronic signatures, so it's incredibly hard to distinguish them from actual users, and hence to filter them.

That said, those with a lot of fanart climb up high too, presumably because people who see their pictures go on to look at their profile. But I've found at times that my visit counter won't rise by anything even when I know I've had at least three people visit and comment on a post I wrote. I'd be interested to know how it works- not so I could abuse it, but just to understand why some hits don't register.

It's pointlessly superficial to try and get yourself into high rankings for the sake of it. If nobody visits your site then all you're doing is lying to yourself by increasing your hit count artificially.

I suppose people could use a percantage ranking thing in the same way that fanart has, but that seems to be abused by jealous people a lot >.>[/color]

[Gavin]

[SIZE=1]Interesting, most

I had actually noticed that for a while but I just thought that most of those guys were just regularly visited but a large group of people like them on a daily basis. To be honest I would have no idea of how to solve such a problem though at least Solo has shone some light as to how some of these people are getting such high ratings. I doesn't really bother me as MyOtaku is meant to be just an online journal for your own purposes but then again since I get very few visits I guess that may be part of it.[/SIZE]

[DDG]

[size=1]I really don't think that your rating matters. I figure, as long as you know that you've got a lot of friends and are popular, even if your not high on the rankings, then you shouldn't worry about it.

I do still think its really annoying how people who want to be high in the rankings are cheating to do it. You should do it the way it was originally supposed to be done. Not by cheating. I mean, I worked hard to get where I am in the rankings today and its really annoying how people who haven't worked at all, are cheating to make themselves high in the rankings.

Just despicable.[/size]

[TheShinje]

I never cared very much for the rankings anyway, but it is still annyoing when some n00b (not dissing genuine newbies here) puts a page up with no real content, just a load of BS, and they're all of a sudden number 1.

I just ignore the ranking system now, there isn't a lot you can do if there are people out there so sad they have to cheat the system to fool themselves.

[Baron Samedi]

[size=1]You can cheat the system?

Oohoohoo. So what, I'd just Google for traffic generators? I'll be right back...

...

...

Anyway, yeah. It is just a [i]tad[/i] stupid to do that. It means nothing essentially.

One thing is though, that it is...impossible to get onto the first page if you're new now. Beleive me, I was at 46, but now I'm...I dunno. It'd help if I hadn't 'resigned' from mO. Anyway, it takes a helluva lot of visits to overtake anyone these days. Perhaps if you had a secondary one which is updated weekly to show the truly most popular sites? That could be useful...more useful than the current system anyway.[/size]

[jblessing]

I just want to make a little bit of clarification on this real quick.

We have looked at this issue before, and we've known about it for a while. It is something we deal with on a per-user basis. With the new backroom enhancements we have planned, we will also greatly improve the ranking system. I'm not going to provide any details yet, but it is something we will ask for feedback on shortly.

[DBZgirl88]

[COLOR="#004a6f"]I have a small suggestion to the problem. How about enabling a different sort of ranking system? One based not on how many hits your page gets, but how many comments your posts get. There's no way people would go to all the trouble to make fake comments for their sites. Well?... :p [/COLOR]

[Queen Asuka]

[color=hotpink][size=1]Yeah, I always wondered how people could have 8000+ visits when I only have 4000+ visits and I'm at 38 or something like that. Word. Back in the day I used to be number 4. Oh well.[/color][/size]

[James]

[color=#707875]I have removed some accounts this week, which were violating our terms of service (one of them had some pretty severe spam/virus related stuff on it and the other was clearly using an auto-hit feature).

But basically, our new backroom system should eliminate this problem. We are changing the way ranking is calculated and it will be a much more secure system. I think everyone will be pleased with that added security.[/color]

[Queen Asuka]

[color=hotpink][size=1]LOL, I was wondering why I was all of sudden 38 instead of 42. Awesome James. I can't wait for the backroomness. It will be good.[/color][/size]

[DDG]

[size=1]Hah, I was wondering the same thing earlier this week. I've been at 165-168 for the past few months and now I'm suddenly 159. I figured that a couple of accounts had been removed or something, though.

I'm glad you're going to have a different way to calculate ranks. It will be so much nicer. Its just so horrible how people would want to be #1 so much that they'd cheat with a hit accelerator. I say if you want to get farther in the ranks, then you got to do the hard way. Plus, why be so concerned with ranks anyway? As long as you've got friends who you know care about you and you care about them, why care about what rank you have or how many visits you've got?[/size]

[Baron Samedi]

[size=1]Don't ya know why? Because, the higher ranked you are, the cooler you must be.

lol. And the opinions of people online are important.[/size]

[James]

[color=#707875]Well, honestly, kids are kids. Many of our myO users are young and rankings and stats are a fun little diversion when it comes to myOtaku.

Those who don't care about the rankings simply shouldn't worry. But those who do can rest assured that the entire system is getting an overhaul very soon.[/color]

[Gavin]

[SIZE=1]Well the news of a new and improved ranking system sounds good to, though since I'm still languishing about at 558 or so it'll be a while before I get the chance to see my name on the top 500. Still we can't all have the popularity of James or Solo, actually interesting side note, if you run a search for OB over the net one of the possible sites of Solo's MyO.[/SIZE]

[DDG]

[QUOTE=Baron Samedi][size=1]Don't ya know why? Because, the higher ranked you are, the cooler you must be.

lol. And the opinions of people online are important.[/size][/QUOTE]

[size=1]Oh, yes. Mustn't forget that you need people who live 500 miles away to think you're cool or your self-esteem might diminish. And if that happened...why, I don't even want to think of the consequences![/sarcasm]

But seriously: the opinions of online people [i]should[/i] be put at the highest importance. It should even be put above bathing or eating!

Well, maybe not bathing. But atleast eating!

Ah, I do hope that the new ratings system will satisfy people who are concerned about what their ranking is on myO. Truly. I, myself can not wait to see it, because it just sounds so marvelous from your teasing hints, James.[/size]

[eleanor]

[color=darkslateblue] Wow. You know, it's pretty sad that a lot of people here are complaining about how some n00b or whatever is getting higher ranking than them. (which raises the question of why we even have a rating system of popularity on an online diary/blog site) Please, just get over it. It's not like your whole world will come crashing down because some other kid desperately wants to be #1 supposedly because it makes them feel special or something.

It just gets really annoying them people who actually post good posts and such have to complain every other post or so: 'God, I'm at like...#87. I used to be #5 blah blah blah' or whatever number their at. I mean, holy crap. Is this really that important to you? [/color]