I just realized I think I could write an app that could slowly increase my score without being detected... Should I try? Or would that be unethical?

What score?

Yeah devRant ++'s ?

That would be unethical, but eh

If we catch anyone using any automated scripts/accounts to inflate their scores we either set them to 0 or delete their accounts. It's only happened once but we look for it.

Ah i come to think of it i actually have a technique in place. But it's not a script or anything software related. It's social engineering.

@dfox oh it already happened, good to know.

I was thinking, an app that simulates the voting patterns and rate of real user where it votes on all ppls rants and comments but has a slight preference for certain users...

Won't do it but actually sounds like a good challenge 🙂

@dfox how to you detect automated ++ bots??

@linuxer4fun well him telling us would also tell us how to get around it. 😁

The way to hide though is to make your bot look human.

... I wish those up/downvoted numbers were still in the API.... the stats maybe interesting on this one., it was -1 ytd

@dfox I love the idea to just reset the ++'s to 0. It's aggressive enough to make a lot of people regret it but it doesn't plainly stop them from participating within the community :)

@darksideplease just post stuff that is interesting is generally the best idea, I agree :D

@SirWindfield I like the delete... After all he's known as dFoxinator 😎

@SirWindfield isn't this thread interesting though?

@SirWindfield there are one or more mechanisms in place ;)