Deprecating rank for inactive users

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Andrew Lee
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Deprecating rank for inactive users

#1 Post by Andrew Lee »

I am throwing out this suggestion that might help with a problem: entries that have been upvoted by users who are no longer active i.e. they have not login to TPFC for awhile.

Frequently, when webfork or someone else identifies an entry that should be taken private for whatever reason (eg. they have gone adware or shareware), I find that they might have been upvoted by users who have not been active for a year or two. Hence, there is no way to contact them to downvote that entry.

My idea is to remove the votes of inactive users (eg. have not login for 1 year). That might help with this particular problem. If ever they become active again, their votes will automatically be added again.

What do you think?

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SYSTEM
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Re: Deprecating rank for inactive users

#2 Post by SYSTEM »

Sounds good to me. It's a major problem that entries which have been upvoted by now-inactive users are essentially impossible to remove without your intervention.
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Specular
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Re: Deprecating rank for inactive users

#3 Post by Specular »

Would this affect the public status of entries solely or partially upvoted by inactive users? That is, when in effect would some entries automatically be made private due to insufficient vote count due to the original users' rank not counting, or would currently public entries remain public?

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SYSTEM
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Re: Deprecating rank for inactive users

#4 Post by SYSTEM »

Specular wrote: Mon Jul 15, 2019 1:21 am Would this affect the public status of entries solely or partially upvoted by inactive users?
Yes, that's the whole point.
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Specular
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Re: Deprecating rank for inactive users

#5 Post by Specular »

SYSTEM wrote: Mon Jul 15, 2019 1:38 amYes, that's the whole point.
It seems the core problem described in the OP was specifically if active users want to downvote an entry (due to some current issue/change of license/adware/etc) they can do so without the inactive users' votes counting.

However the solution proposed of mass de-ranking inactive users could also have the side-effect of potentially making some (unknown how many) entires of programs with no current issues (ie: no reason to be downvoted/made private) disappear from public view. If that is what would happen the current users would have to go and find which entries were still useful of those affected and re-vote for them again, though it's unclear to me how we'd effectively go through the DB and differentiate such entries affected (ones private due to lack of original votes vs those unwittingly affected by the de-ranking vs those intentionally de-ranked, and also judge their usefulness without testing them all).

If however there was a way for already public entries to remain public and only upon active users downvoting would the inactive user votes not count it could avoid the issues above.

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SYSTEM
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Re: Deprecating rank for inactive users

#6 Post by SYSTEM »

Specular wrote: Mon Jul 15, 2019 1:59 am If however there was a way for already public entries to remain public and only upon active users downvoting would the inactive user votes not count it could avoid the issues above.
It would be more complex, and not really worth it IMO.

It would be possible to generate a list of entries which became private with this de-ranking and share it here in the forums.
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Specular
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Re: Deprecating rank for inactive users

#7 Post by Specular »

SYSTEM wrote: Mon Jul 15, 2019 2:15 amIt would be more complex, and not really worth it IMO.

It would be possible to generate a list of entries which became private with this de-ranking and share it here in the forums.
Perhaps. If it was a small enough collection of entries affected it mightn't matter that much. I guess I'd get a better idea knowing how many entries would be unintentionally affected by this.

If though in years to come the list grows due to some voting user(s) becoming inactive for a year such a list may grow in size and would place the responsibility on the active voting userbase to maintain re-voting. OTOH since some of the key voting users on the site have been able to remain active for many years, having voted on many entries, so long as they continue to login now and then it might never be a significant issue.

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Midas
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Re: Deprecating rank for inactive users

#8 Post by Midas »

I second Specular in that it appears to me that OP strategy may prove problematic down the line, resulting in the artificial slimming of TPFC's database. Couldn't it be restrained to those problematic entries instead?

Memory of less popular programs is an important service provided by TPFC, IMHO.

billon
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Re: Deprecating rank for inactive users

#9 Post by billon »

Very bad idea, many entries will become private, maybe up to 70% of entries.
Don't forget the votes of such long-term TPFC veterans, now inactive, like Baas, joby_toss and Checker who helped to made public majority of entries, or even older users who inactive for more than decade but actively participated in early years of TPFC.
It's undoubtedly more reasonable and simpler couple times in year to downvote some entry if "eg. they have gone adware or shareware" with Andrew Lee's super-administrator killing power than to put off-line almost all database and after painfully recover "innocent" entries.
If Andrew Lee have no time for that, maybe he should give that downvote power to webfork.

And again, reminder

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Andrew Lee
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Re: Deprecating rank for inactive users

#10 Post by Andrew Lee »

Thanks for all your feedback.

I agree that giving active users the ability to downvote seems to be a better solution than the one I originally suggested. It is like having the super admin user weigh in, but in this case, it is a collective decision made by active users.

I am thinking of adding one additional function. So now we have:

- This app rocks (+R)
- This app sucks (-R)
- Remove my vote (0) [This was previously done by "This app sucks")

So "This app rocks" continues to perform the same function.

"This app sucks" now downvotes the app. So if the app score is +15, it now becomes +10 (assuming a R5 user downvotes on it).

The new function simply removes your existing vote if you have previously given it your vote.

Comments?

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Midas
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Re: Deprecating rank for inactive users

#11 Post by Midas »

Voiding malicious behavior, it sounds good to me. If possible, I suggest that entries downvoted below the threshold of public visibility be flagged to moderators, just to make sure. 8)

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Andrew Lee
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Re: Deprecating rank for inactive users

#12 Post by Andrew Lee »

Midas wrote: Tue Jul 16, 2019 8:47 am Voiding malicious behavior, it sounds good to me. If possible, I suggest that entries downvoted below the threshold of public visibility be flagged to moderators, just to make sure. 8)
Duly noted.

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Andrew Lee
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Re: Deprecating rank for inactive users

#13 Post by Andrew Lee »

As discussed, the new function is now active. We can now downvote an entry back into "private" status if there is enough support.

You can view the list of "demoted" entries here, with RSS feed. It is currently empty.

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SYSTEM
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Re: Deprecating rank for inactive users

#14 Post by SYSTEM »

Andrew Lee wrote: Fri Jul 19, 2019 4:17 am As discussed, the new function is now active. We can now downvote an entry back into "private" status if there is enough support.

You can view the list of "demoted" entries here, with RSS feed. It is currently empty.
Thank you! :)
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billon
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Re: Deprecating rank for inactive users

#15 Post by billon »

Yeah, thank you
Let's finally remove all Chromium-based shit

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