Suspicious positive up votes on Huawei phones!

clubhonda on 30/05/2019 - 17:17

If you look at the recent deals for Huawei phones, the comments are overwhelmingly negative and anyone with half a brain won't be buying their flagship phones at current prices.

Where are all these big up votes coming from? I put in a neg on the recent MC offer and it was removed by having 12 negs to my comment. It's not hard for amy company to register 12 accounts which will alow them to neg all negative comments and engineer/game oz bargain to look good. Are the mods looking to see if the vendors are playing fair? Some of the recent activity looks seriously suss especially when these mobile phone sellers stand to lose a lot of money on their existing Huawei stock!

Site Discussion

Comments

  • Iam12 on 30/05/2019 - 17:22
    +5

    Agreed(mainly because people should always share your opinion)

    • clubhonda on 30/05/2019 - 17:27
      -2

      I have no issues with people disagreeing, but have a look at the Huawei posts. People are OVERWHELMINGLY in favour of holding off on these flagships, for obvious reasons. The number of positive votes and how negs have disappeared just doesn't seem right.

      • spackbace on 30/05/2019 - 17:31
        +6

        how negs have disappeared

        It's happened like any other neg getting revoked, it got downvoted. As of now, you've had 21 neg votes on this comment when all you needed was 8 to get rid of the vote. The rest are just people who don't agree.

      • [Deactivated] on 31/05/2019 - 22:49

        Illuminati is real.

  • spackbace on 30/05/2019 - 17:29
    +9

    Not everyone cares about the politics of it. If you go to the effort of looking at every voter (I just did), only 1 member out of the 100+ voters has a vote on only Huawei deals. No one is fresh to the site as of today.

    So just relax buddy, it's just people that think it's a good deal, which they're perfectly entitled to.

    • kahn on 30/05/2019 - 17:35
      +2

      Bit bored huh?

      • spackbace on 30/05/2019 - 17:35
        +5

        It's fun looking for sockpuppets lol

        • peterpeterpumpkin on 30/05/2019 - 21:24
          +6

          If I was a sockpuppet I would comment on topics about sockpuppeting to deflect attention away from myself. Exactly like I'm doing now.

          Hehe. Oh, well. Guess I'll have a break now. Maybe I'll snack on a chocolate-covered wafer bar confection. Like a Kit Kat. Or something. But probably a Kit Kat.

          • spackbace on 30/05/2019 - 21:38
            +6

            @peterpeterpumpkin: As if Kit Kat would need to advertise. It's too good with that creamy chocolate covered wafer with that perfect snap sound. Perfect to share (if you want to!)

            • Clear on 01/06/2019 - 20:15

              @spackbace: Unless it's cookie dough. That's a massive disappointment. Bring back peanut butter!

  • Moderatorneil on 30/05/2019 - 17:45

    I put in a neg on the recent MC offer and it was removed by having 12 negs to my comment. It's not hard for amy company to register 12 accounts which will alow them to neg all negative comments and engineer/game oz bargain to look good.

    Disagree. This is literally the bulk of what OzBargain staff do every day.

    Are the mods looking to see if the vendors are playing fair?

    Always. 28 stores banned in April

    Your comment

    Votes: 8 positive, 21 negatives, net -13.

    20 accounts on Australian IPs, 1 overseas (not China)

    Mostly long time contributors to the site.

    Negative Voter accounts:

    • Created in 2019: 0
    • Created in 2018: 1
    • Created in 2017: 2
    • Created in 2016: 2
    • Created in 2015: 1
    • Created in 2014: 4
    • Created in 2013: 2
    • Created in 2012: 4
    • Created in 2011: 5
    • Created in 2010: 1
    • spackbace on 30/05/2019 - 18:00
      +22

      I can't up-vote your comment, but here have a gold star ⭐

    • crentist on 30/05/2019 - 19:49
      +13

      What I'm seeing here is that these sockpuppets have been operating under the radar of ozb staff all the way back to 2010

      jk nice work, interesting to see

  • clubhonda on 30/05/2019 - 18:37
    +2

    Wow, that's pretty comprehensive. It looks like you guys have looked into it quite thoroughly. Before, we had no idea of knowing so props to Neil for demystifying it.

    Looks like there are quite a lot of people that thinks they are a bargain at the current prices then lol. I have no problem if they think that.

    • iforgotmysocks on 30/05/2019 - 19:47
      +7

      Or they have been planting sleeper agents for years.

      • bdl on 30/05/2019 - 23:29

        Winnie the Pooh will get you

  • peterpeterpumpkin on 30/05/2019 - 20:56
    +1

    I've noticed suspiciously over-reactive voting patterns before. Since there are many reflex deal voters, and a network of sockpuppets could simply not vote on deals but simply downvote oppositional comments, exposing a correlation is nearly impossible for a non-moderator. Excluding the possibility of an "inside job", the conclusion is in fact even more depressing. I bring you the "black sheep effect".

    I've tested the effect myself and had interesting results.

    Write a down-votable comment on a popular deal. Wait for the negative votes to roll in. Edit the comment to an objectively neutral one.

    You'll notice the negative votes might still roll in. It might be as punishment for someone that read your pre-edited comment, but there's a chance that there are people that see -5 and simply join in on the party. Other than groupthink or the black sheep effect, I think a pre-existing negative vote can sway perception of an ambiguous or sarcastic comment.

    You can also post the same comment once the deal is no longer fresh and see if it gets down-voted to oblivion. If so, it's more likely that the OP, a deal subscriber or SEO employee is sock-puppeting.

    The last point is that humans love to stir the pot. Mediocre deals that highlight guns, sex, religion or politics will be up-voted/downvoted simply for the mayhem it causes.

    • Moderatorneil on 30/05/2019 - 22:04

      Write a down-votable comment on a popular deal. Wait for the negative votes to roll in. Edit the comment to an objectively neutral one.

      You'll notice the negative votes might still roll in. It might be as punishment for someone that read your pre-edited comment, but there's a chance that there are people that see -5 and simply join in on the party. Other than groupthink or the black sheep effect, I think a pre-existing negative vote can sway perception of an ambiguous or sarcastic comment.

      You can also post the same comment once the deal is no longer fresh and see if it gets down-voted to oblivion. If so, it's more likely that the OP, a deal subscriber or SEO employee is sock-puppeting.

      Comments are locked from editing after a certain amount of minutes (<60) or if someone has replied to the comment as to prevent this.

  • MagicMushroom on 30/05/2019 - 21:08
    +3

    Rubbish. Nobody should be paying $1.2k for a phone that will probably never get any more updates.

    Prices are only going to keep falling. Nobody smart will touch them as they are falling. Maybe eventually when it presents a big bargain, but not at present prices.

    How not to receive so many negs

    Looks like there are quite a lot of people that thinks they are a bargain at the current prices then lol. I have no problem if they think that.

    I think you do

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