L/P Platers Not Allowed for Sofirn

LUsernameChecksIn on 29/03/2023 - 18:09
Last edited 29/03/2023 - 18:51 by 2 other users
Thanks to discussing from OzBargainers: Storefronts that have potentially been caught sockpuppeting in the past would subsequently be unpublished to deter new user creation behaviour

https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/765618

Just saw three consecutive posts get unpublished

Curious what this interesting reason means

Nothing came up on quick search
Will see whether this forum topic comes up now

Would be good in cases where moderation completely removes visibility, context and potential remarks

Deal Unpublished by Moderator

You do not have permission to access this page.

Reason: L/P platers not allowed for Sofirn

Aside:
For the other posts
These were noteworthy as they were also unpublished in short order - contrary to behaviour where we see the titles updated in-place
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/765619
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/765615
Sometimes posts appear to be updated; other times unpublished and subsequently reposted or not at all (?)

As unpublishing loses associated threads - it is unclear whether there is a consistent and explicit guideline for when to update in-place moving forward - or whether these are case by case

-
Update: this one has been reposted now rather than updated in-place. Interesting post history from a longstanding associated user angusmao @ etoshaoz - Twix often moderates by updating in-place.

Wonder whether jv comments on both posts!

Site Discussion

Comments

  • ozhunter on 29/03/2023 - 18:12

    New users with a L or P next to their username cannot post deals for that store/website.

    • UsernameChecksIn on 29/03/2023 - 18:13
      +1

      Looking for context behind the literal words

      Do other stores have similar restrictions?

        • UsernameChecksIn on 29/03/2023 - 18:15
          +2

          Sorry that looks to be general information on L and P

          Could you be more specific?

          If there are defined L / P restrictions on deals on would wonder why they could post for a specific store in the first place

          Looking for the rationale

          • Savas on 29/03/2023 - 18:17
            +3

            @UsernameChecksIn: just ignore him.. lol

            • UsernameChecksIn on 29/03/2023 - 18:20
              +1

              @Savas: lol

              Replying sincerely on benefit of doubt people engaged here to help

          • ozhunter on 29/03/2023 - 18:19
            +1

            @UsernameChecksIn:

            If there are defined L / P restrictions on deals we wonder why they could post in the first place

            I think it's just to indicate they are new users to the site/posting and hopefully members here won't be so harsh on them.

            For some reason that store is off limits to new users posting deals from it. Maybe mods have noticed that deals posted for that store are sockpuppets.

            https://www.ozbargain.com.au/wiki/help:banned_items

            Other stores have been banned for not following the rules.

            • UsernameChecksIn on 29/03/2023 - 18:21

              @ozhunter: Thanks

              Interesting R4 cards explicitly top the list

              Country bans!

              • ozhunter on 29/03/2023 - 18:25

                @UsernameChecksIn: Oh L/P is what new drivers use when learning to drive a car if it wasn't obvious and I guess they just decided to use that system here.

  • djones145 on 29/03/2023 - 18:18
    +2

    prolly too many sockpuppets in the past

    employees or associated people ceating accounts to post and add votes

    • UsernameChecksIn on 29/03/2023 - 18:20

      Unfortunate

      Will get another OzBargain-popular product (e.g. taotronics clone seller) banned!

      • djones145 on 29/03/2023 - 18:45
        +2

        dont ban david jones
        i promise not to post any david jones deals

  • deme on 29/03/2023 - 18:40

    Inb4 DisabledUser1234

    • UsernameChecksIn on 29/03/2023 - 18:41

      lol

      Not my posts, though

      Would be interesting how many users get disabled for discussion

  • rompastompa on 29/03/2023 - 18:47
    +1

    As stated above, the likely reason is that they've been caught sockpuppeting in the past.

    So, it will be fine for a regular user to post a deal for Sofirn, but the system will auto-unpublish L or P platers from posting.

    • UsernameChecksIn on 29/03/2023 - 18:49

      Makes sense

      Did not look like an auto-unpublish (otherwise why allow the submission as the user would have been a new user at time of posting) though I have not experienced these reasons in many other posts on the feed

      Wonder whether they set the flags for both their AliExpress and Amazon storefront

      • rompastompa on 29/03/2023 - 19:04

        Probably scripted to look AFTER post to eliminate constant queries to check each user & store. This means it's already written to the DB and can be viewed by a mod at any time rather than a validation on submission and being denied. It'll also mean that an un-published post can be re-published if it's a legit post.

        It's a feature, not a bug ;)

        • Moderatormoocher on 30/03/2023 - 10:18

          Sort of. For Aliexpress, the system needs time to scrape the page indicated by the deal URL and then parse the contents to figure out which seller the deal is referring to. This can take 10 seconds or more. If we had to block the submission in the first place, we'd be blocking the deal poster while waiting for the request to finish. So instead we allow the deal to be submitted, the system does its parsing then raises a report for moderators if it finds that the deal has violated some restriction on that particular marketplace seller.

          Edit: For amazon, most of the time the seller can be determined at deal submission time and blocked immediately (if necessary).

  • Tim Mc on 30/03/2023 - 15:50

    For transparency, there is a Sofirn Torch AU Group on Facebook for customers who want to talk about Sofirn torches or see upcoming sofirn-au deals for Amazon Australia (store rep: Vivi). I suspect that customers in the FB group are sharing on ozbargain and not employees/affiliates/friends/family of Sofirn.

    Two of the FB members are store reps in China.

    I posted about a dozen deals before ozbargain restricted Amazon 3rd party affiliates (I've received a few torches in the past to perform a technical review).

    Other deals for the Sofirn Official Store on AliExpress are managed by a different team. Not affiliated with the FB group. The parent company is Sofirn though. How different teams conduct themselves probably doesn't matter from ozbargain's perspective.

    I'd be surprised if sofirn-au on Amazon AU is sockpuppeting. I wouldn't have bothered posting a dozen deals if they can login easily and share a deal. Instead, customers are likely posting.

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