RegisterLog in
Main forum

Revenge downvotes cast - you know what to do

3 year(s) ago • 37336 views • 284 replies

Christian Graugart
Christian Graugart
Black belt 4th degreeVerified4349 forum posts40905/1000
2 year(s) ago
...and some people are pissed off, but i see no real cussing
I did delete a few posts where people were calling someone dickhead and fucktwat, to be fair 😂
Timo Rissanen
Timo Rissanen
Black beltVerified185 forum posts6170/1000
2 year(s) ago
Question to Christian:

Earlier someone proposed that there should be a "need more evidence" button in addition to "Yes" and "No" buttons where you confirm or dispute a rank.

Do you see that it is possibly to add such a button or will this site crash and burn if you do so?
Joshua Blake
Joshua Blake
Purple beltVerified12 forum posts2685/400
2 year(s) ago
I did delete a few posts where people were calling someone dickhead and fucktwat, to be fair 😂
Fucktwat is a world class insult though in all fairness.
Christian Graugart
Christian Graugart
Black belt 4th degreeVerified4349 forum posts40905/1000
2 year(s) ago
Question to Christian: Earlier someone proposed that there should be a 'need more evidence' button in addition to 'Yes' and 'No' buttons where you confirm or dispute a rank. Do you see that it is possibly to add such a button or will this site crash and burn if you do so?
The wall is a much better place for that already 🙂
Bobby McMasters
Bobby McMasters
Black belt 1st degreeVerified1276 forum posts13440/1000
2 year(s) ago
Fucktwat is a world class insult though in all fairness.
Maybe a separate thread for hilarious insults you could throw at someone, but definitely not on beltchecker since it's illegal?

I rode the bus to/from public school in the Rust Belt in the '90's, so I'm pretty good at this game.
Mark Gilston
Mark Gilston
Black belt 3rd degreeVerified223 forum posts7380/1000
2 year(s) ago
I've always been fond of "poltroon". Calling someone a "pusillanimous poltroon" is my favorite redundancy. Much better than "pussy" which is what it has devolved into.
Philip Dunlap
Philip Dunlap
Black belt 3rd degreeVerified1045 forum posts60960/1000
2 year(s) ago
I did delete a few posts where people were calling someone dickhead and fucktwat, to be fair 😂
But people call me that all the time I thought it was a compliment
Lux
Lux
Purple beltVerified38 forum posts5770/400
2 year(s) ago
The wall is a much better place for that already 🙂
Why do you think the wall is better? I don't feel right disputing a black belt ever unless I really think they are fake. I'm not going to write on their wall asking them for details, I'm just going to not vote and move on... but if I had the option to just 'vote' that their profile needs more evidence, I would use that a lot. Plus they would have x number of people who think they should upload some more evidence vs 1 person they have never met disputing their rank. It is easy to see how it comes off as disrespectful.
Edited 2 year(s) ago
Johan
JohanOP
Black belt 3rd degreeVerified1443 forum posts11665/1000
2 year(s) ago
Question to Christian: Earlier someone proposed that there should be a 'need more evidence' button in addition to 'Yes' and 'No' buttons where you confirm or dispute a rank. Do you see that it is possibly to add such a button or will this site crash and burn if you do so?
I have three main reasons why I think direct downvotes are still often useful in a quite early stage.

*Marker for differentiating well deserving upvotees from can't-ever-botherers in the Need votes list. Some of the members with still no evidence but positive scores, I have clicked a dozen times hopeing there's something there to verify and I'm sure the same goes for many others. There's only so much time you wish to spend helping people you don't know get verified. Every minute that is wasted on can't-ever-botherers takes one minute away from well deserving upvotees. So putting a profile in the negative can be a marker helping more of the others get verified and lessening a bit of frustration for those willing to spend time verifying strangers. A need-more-evidence-score" visible in the Need votes list (and pushing them to a place further down the list) is actually a quite good idea. Perhaps also sorting them not totally random but placing those profiles neither verified nor edited further and further down the Need votes list.

*Incentive, which for most is only there until they are verified. Then many become c an't-ever-botherers because really, why ever bother when clearly accepted by the community as a whole`already? Also, a downvote (even from evil me) seems to make others more hesitant with placing an upvote, which slows down the process and further increases chances of them putting up good evidence. Really wouldn't be necessary to downvote for this reason if there were only a more widespread culture on Beltchecker not to upvote without evidence. On the other hand, I've seen a lot getting stuck on the half way mark for ages, getting a bit annoyed of a downvote but adapting and then finding themselves both getting my upvote and the rest needed for verification very quickly. With need-more-info-points, the bar for verification could perhaps be raised by 50% of those points or something? Something like that would make it a better alternative to downvoting in lack of evidence.

*Avoiding verifications which become carved in stone. There are so many more members holding of their vote when seeing an unverified profile with a downvote than there are members who actually revoke their upvote or downvote when a profile is shown to contain false information, no matter how solid the evidence is. Remco is a good case here - I don't think anyone has put forth any arguments that he actually was promoted to BB in 1996 or was a BB level practitioner at the time (he himself has earlier spoken against it) while you just need to go to his FB page to see clear evidence from as late as this year contradicting his new claims. But the vote-and-forget mechanics of the site are strong and it doesn't look like there's a chance that the verification will be turned.

He actually did a quite clever thing that made it even more difficult to stop early, by only entering a no-degree BB at first, which really made him look humble and amass thousands of upvote points. No one (not even me) really gave any more thought to the stated year (1996) - why be the least suspicious with a legend liike Remco claiming a no degree BB? Only he then suddenly used the thousands of upvote points to claim a 6:th degree.time-served BB (same degree as Draculino, who was the one who really promoted him to BB in 2007, has today). So that was really a clever and succesful exploit of a weakness in the voting mechanics of Beltchecker.
Edited 2 year(s) ago
James Jones
James Jones
Black beltVerified1310 forum posts6800/1000
2 year(s) ago
I have three main reasons why I think direct downvotes are still often useful in a quite early stage. *Marker for differentiating well deserving upvotees from can't-ever-botherers in the Need votes list. Some of the members with still no evidence but positive scores, I have clicked a dozen times hopeing there's something there to verify and I'm sure the same goes for many others. There's only so much time you wish to spend helping people you don't know get verified. Every minute that is wasted on can't-ever-botherers takes one minute away from well deserving upvotees. So putting a profile in the negative can be a marker helping more of the others get verified and lessening a bit of frustration for those willing to spend time verifying strangers. A need-more-evidence-score' visible in the Need votes list (and pushing them to a place further down the list) is actually a quite good idea. Perhaps also sorting them not totally random but placing those profiles neither verified nor edited further and further down the Need votes list. *Incentive, which for most is only there until they are verified. Then many become c an't-ever-botherers because really, why ever bother when clearly accepted by the community as a whole`already? Also, a downvote (even from evil me) seems to make others more hesitant with placing an upvote, which slows down the process and further increases chances of them putting up good evidence. Really wouldn't be necessary to downvote for this reason if there were only a more widespread culture on Beltchecker not to upvote without evidence. On the other hand, I've seen a lot getting stuck on the half way mark for ages, getting a bit annoyed of a downvote but adapting and then finding themselves both getting my upvote and the rest needed for verification very quickly. With need-more-info-points, the bar for verification could perhaps be raised by 50% of those points or something? Something like that would make it a better alternative to downvoting in lack of evidence. *Avoiding verifications which become carved in stone. There are so many more members holding of their vote when seeing an unverified profile with a downvote than there are members who actually revoke their upvote or downvote when a profile is shown to contain false information, no matter how solid the evidence is. Remco is a good case here - I don't think anyone has put forth any arguments that he actually was promoted to BB in 1996 or was a BB level practitioner at the time (he himself has earlier spoken against it) while you just need to go to his FB page to see clear evidence from as late as this year contradicting his new claims. But the vote-and-forget mechanics of the site are strong and it doesn't look like there's a chance that the verification will be turned. He actually did a quite clever thing that made it even more difficult to stop early, by only entering a no-degree BB at first, which really made him look humble and amass thousands of upvote points. No one (not even me) really gave any more thought to the stated year (1996) - why be the least suspicious with a legend liike Remco claiming a no degree BB? Only he then suddenly used the thousands of upvote points to claim a 6:th degree.time-served BB (same degree as Draculino, who was the one who really promoted him to BB in 2007, has today). So that was really a clever and succesful exploit of a weakness in the voting mechanics of Beltchecker.
Maybe don't " help" people unless they ask would be a better strategy for you.

Not sure you understand what helping is.
Lux
Lux
Purple beltVerified38 forum posts5770/400
2 year(s) ago
Also, a downvote (even from evil me) seems to make others more hesitant with placing an upvote, which slows down the process and further increases chances of them putting up good evidence.
I think instead of just giving people pause upon seeing a lone dispute, they would be more likely to join in and vote for more evidence without actually disputing and THAT would go a lot further in encouraging someone to upload more. Right now it is easy to dismiss you as a troll, but it would be much more difficult to ignore a handful of votes that more evidence is needed before verifying.

I think the counter arguments that have been made are MUCH stronger than any of your arguments. Disputing someone new to the site just leaves them with a bad taste and is much more likely to either start a fight or run them off from the site. Moreover - if you run off a blackbelt because they now view this site as just a bunch of keyboard warrior trolls, you may have also ran off anyone else under them. No matter how many times you type "I'm not disputing your rank" you actually did hit dispute and that feels disrespectful if they aren't a fake BB. There is a big difference in disputing if they are a black belt vs asking for evidence of dates between certain events.

Mark Gilston
Mark Gilston
Black belt 3rd degreeVerified223 forum posts7380/1000
2 year(s) ago
Why do you think the wall is better? I don't feel right disputing a black belt ever unless I really think they are fake. I'm not going to write on their wall asking them for details, I'm just going to not vote and move on... but if I had the option to just 'vote' that their profile needs more evidence, I would use that a lot. Plus they would have x number of people who think they should upload some more evidence vs 1 person they have never met disputing their rank. It is easy to see how it comes off as disrespectful.
Not speaking for Christian, but using the wall does allow for specific criteria requests or explanations of why you feel there's not enough evidence. Whereas a "Insufficient evidence" button really doesn't help the person understand what's missing. Of course if there's really no evidence excepting something like a picture on a podium for a no gi tournament or a class group photo, then an "Insufficient Evidence" button might be acceptable. Actually, I rather like the idea of an Insufficient Evidence button COMBINED with an explanation on the wall.
Edited 2 year(s) ago
Lux
Lux
Purple beltVerified38 forum posts5770/400
2 year(s) ago
Not speaking for Christian, but using the wall does allow for specific criteria requests or explanations of why you feel there's not enough evidence. Whereas a 'Insufficient evidence' button really doesn't help the person understand what's missing. Of course if there's really no evidence excepting something like a picture on a podium for a no gi tournament or a class group photo, then an 'Insufficient Evidence' button might be acceptable.
I was suggesting a 3rd option that works just like the verify/dispute options, but without points either way. This would allow for comments along with the vote.
Johan
JohanOP
Black belt 3rd degreeVerified1443 forum posts11665/1000
2 year(s) ago
I think instead of just giving people pause upon seeing a lone dispute, they would be more likely to join in and vote for more evidence without actually disputing and THAT would go a lot further in encouraging someone to upload more. Right now it is easy to dismiss you as a troll, but it would be much more difficult to ignore a handful of votes that more evidence is needed before verifying. I think the counter arguments that have been made are MUCH stronger than any of your arguments. Disputing someone new to the site just leaves them with a bad taste and is much more likely to either start a fight or run them off from the site. Moreover - if you run off a blackbelt because they now view this site as just a bunch of keyboard warrior trolls, you may have also ran off anyone else under them. No matter how many times you type 'I'm not disputing your rank' you actually did hit dispute and that feels disrespectful if they aren't a fake BB. There is a big difference in disputing if they are a black belt vs asking for evidence of dates between certain events.
I still don't think getting your belt and evidence of it checked should come as much of a surprise on Beltchecker, but I think we both would like to see how a request-more-evidene-point-system would play out.

My impression is that the Creator(s) launched Beltchecker with a philosophy along the lines of pandeism (the theological idea of a god creating the world and it's mechanics but then leaving it to it's fate without further interference). So my idea of having more-evidence-needed-points raise the points bar to verification might not be compatible. But more-evidence-needed-points which don't interfere at all with the core vote mechanics might still be a possibility.
Timo Rissanen
Timo Rissanen
Black beltVerified185 forum posts6170/1000
2 year(s) ago
Not speaking for Christian, but using the wall does allow for specific criteria requests or explanations of why you feel there's not enough evidence. Whereas a 'Insufficient evidence' button really doesn't help the person understand what's missing. Of course if there's really no evidence excepting something like a picture on a podium for a no gi tournament or a class group photo, then an 'Insufficient Evidence' button might be acceptable.
But you can write novels after pressing the verify or dispute buttons. The same applies to "need more evidence" button.
Mark Gilston
Mark Gilston
Black belt 3rd degreeVerified223 forum posts7380/1000
2 year(s) ago
But you can write novels after pressing the verify or dispute buttons. The same applies to 'need more evidence' button.
Good point. I hadn't thought of that.
Johan
JohanOP
Black belt 3rd degreeVerified1443 forum posts11665/1000
2 year(s) ago
But you can write novels after pressing the verify or dispute buttons. The same applies to 'need more evidence' button.
Should perhaps be placed among the votes, but with a special marking. Questions on the wall can be deleted, unlike vote comments, which can make for poorer transparency and an easy way out when critical questions are asked..
Timo Rissanen
Timo Rissanen
Black beltVerified185 forum posts6170/1000
2 year(s) ago
Should perhaps be placed among the votes, but with a special marking. Questions on the wall can be deleted, unlike vote comments, which can make for poorer transparency and an easy way out when critical questions are asked..
Yes.
James Jones
James Jones
Black beltVerified1310 forum posts6800/1000
2 year(s) ago
I still don't think getting your belt and evidence of it checked should come as much of a surprise on Beltchecker, but I think we both would like to see how a request-more-evidene-point-system would play out. My impression is that the Creator(s) launched Beltchecker with a philosophy along the lines of pandeism (the theological idea of a god creating the world and it's mechanics but then leaving it to it's fate without further interference). So my idea of having more-evidence-needed-points raise the points bar to verification might not be compatible. But more-evidence-needed-points which don't interfere at all with the core vote mechanics might still be a possibility.
How do you still not understand how obnoxious what your doing is.

That you can easily go about it slightly differently and then no one would have a problem.

Write on someone's wall.

Send them a message.

Give them a week to get use to the site and how it works.

How difficult is that dude?
Megaton
Megaton
Black beltVerified566 forum posts7175/1000
2 year(s) ago
That you can easily go about it slightly differently and then no one would have a problem. Write on someone's wall. Send them a message. Give them a week to get use to the site and how it works. How difficult is that dude?
So in Johan defense I have seen where he has done exactly what you stated. What then? people still had a problem. He shared on posts AFTER the problem went public where he sent messages, wall posts and had back and forth with the individual.

Now do i agree fully with every downvote? 100% NOT. I use my up vote to help negate that disagreement.

James Jones
James Jones
Black beltVerified1310 forum posts6800/1000
2 year(s) ago
So in Johan defense I have seen where he has done exactly what you stated. What then? people still had a problem. He shared on posts AFTER the problem went public where he sent messages, wall posts and had back and forth with the individual. Now do i agree fully with every downvote? 100% NOT. I use my up vote to help negate that disagreement.
When he does what was stated above everyone else will be more supportive of his jihads.
Benoit Zenthner
Benoit Zenthner
Black belt 4th degreeVerified520 forum posts12495/1000
2 year(s) ago
As we all can see the downvote isn't working, if you have a group behind you even with a fraud, people may be verified only because of their followers. It also put everyone on nerves because it's quitte negative. Also true praticioners didn't deserve that if they are legit but just not yet ready with their profile...

So why not image having just "Yes" and "Fraud alert" buttons ? because it's pretty obvious to me that finding fraudes is more important for us than downvoted people who are active and legit on rank.

Pete Zawadzki
Pete Zawadzki
Black beltVerified197 forum posts5375/1000
2 year(s) ago
Questions on the wall can be deleted, unlike vote comments.
You can easily change your vote comments. I do it all the time whenever I discover a typo or sth similar in my comments
Johan
JohanOP
Black belt 3rd degreeVerified1443 forum posts11665/1000
2 year(s) ago
You can easily change your vote comments. I do it all the time whenever I discover a typo or sth similar in my comments
I think it erases all comments unfortunately. And the comments themselves have to be deleted and replaced if you want to make changes.
Tum Energia
Tum Energia
Black beltVerified40 forum posts5270/1000
2 year(s) ago
the problem is there will always be voting disputes on an open voting system. we all should know this because we are smart enough to know what this site is. Wouldn't it be great if a person could go to the one disputing them and have a private conversation and come to an agreement? this is what the civilized world can do. rise above the petty name callings and show your maturity. show the community how a well-rounded, mentally tough blackbelt handles business. make an example for everyone else to follow. (we are all way better than this forum thread)
That's actually what I dit these past days. I did not agree with Johan but provided him with the evidence he wanted through private messages. Yesterday he removed his downvote on my page. Problem resolved and solved.

Side note: the whole thing was, and still is, difficult to wrap my head around. I understand there are some issues with Remco Pardoel's grading? But to then downvote the student of the students of remco (who are all legit and have no more ties with him) is just hard to understand.
Brandon Belew
Brandon Belew
Purple beltVerified107 forum posts1610/400
2 year(s) ago
Not speaking for Christian, but using the wall does allow for specific criteria requests or explanations of why you feel there's not enough evidence. Whereas a 'Insufficient evidence' button really doesn't help the person understand what's missing. Of course if there's really no evidence excepting something like a picture on a podium for a no gi tournament or a class group photo, then an 'Insufficient Evidence' button might be acceptable. Actually, I rather like the idea of an Insufficient Evidence button COMBINED with an explanation on the wall.
A need more evidence button would be kinda cool. If anything just to ping the person to check back in without some sort of automated periodic nag.

That said it would also be nice if someone hasn't been on for X months, no substantial positive votes on their profile, if they fall lower in the sort of "people needing votes". Maybe if they get relegated to a stale accounts list after not acknowledging wall comments, etc, they'll be more likely to put in a little work to stay active.
Daniël Bertina
Daniël Bertina
Black belt 3rd degreeVerified881 forum posts15810/1000
2 year(s) ago
The wall is a much better place for that already 🙂
* THE SYSTEM IS PERFECT THE HUMANS ARE FLAWED * BEEP-BEEP-BLOB-BEEP * END DISCUSSION
Daniël Bertina
Daniël Bertina
Black belt 3rd degreeVerified881 forum posts15810/1000
2 year(s) ago
For what it's worth, I asked Draculino about Remco. This is what he said.
Let's not forget. In the wild west days of early 90's BJJ, there were a few cases of high ranking masters in BJJ bumping up their students STRAIGHT to black belt.

This was done - probably - to get some sort of footprint in new developing countries.

GM Behring did that to a few Belgian guys, if memory serves. They went from (blue?) straight to black belt.

So what the Federation did to Remco wasn't completely unusual.

Post a reply

Add a quote
 
Changes saved
Success
An error occured
Required fields missing
This person is already on Beltchecker.