What to do against cheaters?

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  • zappsan
    Senior Member
    • Sep 2004
    • 1143
    • 3.8.x

    What to do against cheaters?

    Well, I'm looking for advice for my situation.

    There is a forum which has got the same topic as mine.
    It's about the same size and therefore, a direct competition with mine.

    However the admin seems to be so desperate to get new members and posts, that they are creating them themselves.
    Today a bunch of new accounts were created, and I'm sure that weren't registered users, since the admin was in the adminCP at the same time.

    They've already more members than us through this method, they also don't use any bot protection for no reason, it seems like they just want more new accounts, even if they are bots.

    Now, how can a fight a forum like this with such a terrible behaviour?
    I don't want to sink down to their level, but it's sure that they'll end up to be the bigger forum in the end if they continue like this.

    Any tips would be appreciated.
    *Insert text here* :)
  • Reeve of Shinra
    Senior Member
    • Sep 2001
    • 4325
    • 4.0.0

    #2
    You must form Voltron!
    Plan, Do, Check, Act!

    Comment

    • Steve Machol
      Former Customer Support Manager
      • Jul 2000
      • 154488

      #3
      Honestly, a forum like that will die from it's own actions. You don't build up a forums that people want to participate in witrh Bots and phony users. It's content that matters most.
      Steve Machol, former vBulletin Customer Support Manager (and NOT retired!)
      Change CKEditor Colors to Match Style (for 4.1.4 and above)

      Steve Machol Photography


      Mankind is the only creature smart enough to know its own history, and dumb enough to ignore it.


      Comment

      • zappsan
        Senior Member
        • Sep 2004
        • 1143
        • 3.8.x

        #4
        Yes, but to my experience, bigger forums are more likely to attract new members than smaller ones.

        Their forum is growing fast, because they make about 20 new accounts every day and also use them to post.

        And their members seem to be believing it.
        *Insert text here* :)

        Comment

        • Adrienne
          Senior Member
          • Dec 2006
          • 190
          • 3.0.7

          #5
          Why fight them at all? At least your users are real people who have other real people to talk to, and you don't have to make pretend threads and posts and worry about your forum imploding when everyone realizes they are talking to people who don't exist.

          Wouldn't hurt to send in Voltron, though.

          Comment

          • Neal-UK
            Senior Member
            • Feb 2004
            • 935
            • 5.6.4

            #6
            Why not offer a link exchange and help each other?

            Someone with a similar forum is not necessarily a bad thing, as each person / member likes their own thing and will either visit all or stick to one that's right for them.

            IMO as Steve says, it's content that matters.
            [URL="http://www.aviationweb.net/"]Aviation Web[/URL="http://www.aviationweb.net/"]

            Comment

            • AndMcgr
              New Member
              • Mar 2007
              • 26

              #7
              Make your community look better, be more easy to use and have a great sense of community.

              Comment

              • RedTyger
                Senior Member
                • Dec 2006
                • 335
                • 3.8.x

                #8
                Don't worry about it. They might have a few more people signing up but if they're signing up to talk to fake users they won't stick around.

                Stay the course.

                Comment

                • zappsan
                  Senior Member
                  • Sep 2004
                  • 1143
                  • 3.8.x

                  #9
                  Originally posted by Neal-UK
                  Why not offer a link exchange and help each other?

                  Someone with a similar forum is not necessarily a bad thing, as each person / member likes their own thing and will either visit all or stick to one that's right for them.

                  IMO as Steve says, it's content that matters.
                  I already did that, but the removed my link without telling me.
                  I'd also never affiliate with a forum like that again, also because they've stolen a lot of ideas form other forums.
                  I'm yet to see something they thought up on their own.

                  Originally posted by Mrs. Blaileen
                  Why fight them at all? At least your users are real people who have other real people to talk to, and you don't have to make pretend threads and posts and worry about your forum imploding when everyone realizes they are talking to people who don't exist.

                  Wouldn't hurt to send in Voltron, though.
                  I doubt they'll realize though, seeing as most of their members are rather n00bish.

                  Originally posted by RedTyger
                  Don't worry about it. They might have a few more people signing up but if they're signing up to talk to fake users they won't stick around.

                  Stay the course.
                  Well, the problem is, it's not just a few people, it's around 50 accounts which are created a day, which is quite much for a smaller forum.
                  I won't be able to catch up with them any time...
                  They are about to get their 1000th user, which is quite a milestone, which will still take me long to reach...

                  Originally posted by AndMcgr
                  Make your community look better, be more easy to use and have a great sense of community.
                  I'm already trying to do my best to make everyone on my forums feel comfortable and welcome
                  *Insert text here* :)

                  Comment

                  • zappsan
                    Senior Member
                    • Sep 2004
                    • 1143
                    • 3.8.x

                    #10
                    Ok they "reached" their 1000 "members" now.

                    Anyway, I've got another problem with that forum.
                    They've taken a lot of stuff and ideas from other forums I hardly see anything from their own.

                    No they just accused another forum of stealing which I think is terrible.
                    They should probably just look at themselves.
                    They also complained that the guest welcome message would be the same which is the default message of the welcome headers hack from vB.org
                    Since when is nobody else allowed to use it?

                    On a side note the admin has also taken avatars made for another forum and claimed them as their own.

                    What can you do against people like this?
                    I just can't see how people with such a terrible behaviour are on the internet.
                    *Insert text here* :)

                    Comment

                    • Steve Machol
                      Former Customer Support Manager
                      • Jul 2000
                      • 154488

                      #11
                      The truth? You can't do anything about people like this. The best thing you can do is let it go and concentrate on doing whatever you can to make your forums the best of it's kind.
                      Steve Machol, former vBulletin Customer Support Manager (and NOT retired!)
                      Change CKEditor Colors to Match Style (for 4.1.4 and above)

                      Steve Machol Photography


                      Mankind is the only creature smart enough to know its own history, and dumb enough to ignore it.


                      Comment

                      • ---MAD---
                        Senior Member
                        • Jun 2005
                        • 2522
                        • 3.8.x

                        #12
                        Originally posted by Steve Machol
                        The truth? You can't do anything about people like this. The best thing you can do is let it go and concentrate on doing whatever you can to make your forums the best of it's kind.
                        Yeah, spending time on that forum is just wasted time that could be spent making interesting threads and replying to threads in your own forum.

                        MAD

                        Comment

                        • Omri.L
                          Senior Member
                          • Oct 2005
                          • 171
                          • 3.5.x

                          #13
                          You should send Jack Bauer to stand in by the lobby.

                          Comment

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