"A user review you upvoted has been banned" - 1 month suspensions

[cyricsservant]

I know this constructive criticism probably won't be reviewed by Valve, but I wanted the opportunity to vent.

I was recently exposed to one of Steam's more vexing policies: the decision to ban users who upvoted "banned" reviews. The punishment for voting on a ToS violating review is apparently a month long suspension from certain features.

The whole concept is kind of surprising. In my case, I bought a visual novel in May or June of 2022. One of the top positive reviews at the time (with 18 votes) played a big role in convincing me to buy the game. The review itself was published on November 3, 2021, so I'm guessing it had been a front page review for close to 7 months. I ended up upvoting it.

Fast forward to March of 2023. I get an e-mail informing me that the review has been "banned." It won't let me see the review, so I'm left scratching my head trying to remember what it said when I read it like . . . 9 months ago. The only thing Steam has to say about the review is that it was removed for "attempting to scam users or other violations." That obviously doesn't tell you anything, other than that the review somehow violated the ToS.

Normally I wouldn't care, but Steam apparently has a policy in place where it punishes anyone who actually engaged with or relied on the review. So suddenly me and 18 others are dealing with a month long suspension of certain features (e.g. reviewing, voting), all because Valve staff saw something on a popular front page review that had already been published for close to fifteen months.

The whole policy is just . . . bizarre. Even more so if the review really was intended to "scam users," which suggests the developer might have planted a fake positive review. Why is Steam's response to people who were "scammed" by a fake positive review is to suspend them? The policy is just . . . super bizarre and surprisingly anti-consumer for Valve. It also makes me not want to review games or vote on other content, if only because you never know when Steam might decide to arbitrarily suspend you 2 or 3 years later for relying on a "bad" review the moderation team no longer likes for undisclosed reasons.

My hope would be that Valve reconsiders this weird anti-consumer policy. I know it's a long shot, but meh, at least posting here felt a little therapeutic.

Let me know your thoughts on Steam's suspension policy. Even if you support it, I'm always a fan of reading different perspectives. Thanks all.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

引用自 cyricsservant：

"A user review you upvoted has been banned" - 1 month suspensions

I know this constructive criticism probably won't be reviewed by Valve, but I wanted the opportunity to vent.

I was recently exposed to one of Steam's more vexing policies: the decision to ban users who upvoted "banned" reviews. The punishment for voting on a ToS violating review is apparently a month long suspension from certain features.

The whole concept is kind of surprising. In my case, I bought a visual novel in May or June of 2022. One of the top positive reviews at the time (with 18 votes) played a big role in convincing me to buy the game. The review itself was published on November 3, 2021, so I'm guessing it had been a front page review for close to 7 months. I ended up upvoting it.

Fast forward to March of 2023. I get an e-mail informing me that the review has been "banned." It won't let me see the review, so I'm left scratching my head trying to remember what it said when I read it like . . . 9 months ago. The only thing Steam has to say about the review is that it was removed for "attempting to scam users or other violations." That obviously doesn't tell you anything, other than that the review somehow violated the ToS.

Normally I wouldn't care, but Steam apparently has a policy in place where it punishes anyone who actually engaged with or relied on the review. So suddenly me and 18 others are dealing with a month long suspension of certain features (e.g. reviewing, voting), all because Valve staff saw something on a popular front page review that had already been published for close to fifteen months.

The whole policy is just . . . bizarre. Even more so if the review really was intended to "scam users," which suggests the developer might have planted a fake positive review. Why is Steam's response to people who were "scammed" by a fake positive review is to suspend them? The policy is just . . . super bizarre and surprisingly anti-consumer for Valve. It also makes me not want to review games or vote on other content, if only because you never know when Steam might decide to arbitrarily suspend you 2 or 3 years later for relying on a "bad" review the moderation team no longer likes for undisclosed reasons.

My hope would be that Valve reconsiders this weird anti-consumer policy. I know it's a long shot, but meh, at least posting here felt a little therapeutic.

Let me know your thoughts on Steam's suspension policy. Even if you support it, I'm always a fan of reading different perspectives. Thanks all.

Valve isn't lifting this restriction.

The extra restrictions were added back in October 2017 due to banned accounts mass abusing the voting of scam items in game hubs and was extended to reviews when the hijacked bot accounts moved their scams to reviews.

[cyricsservant]

I appreciate the insight into why the policy exists.

Even if Valve keeps it, I suppose my suggestion would be to use a bit more discretion when enforcing it, instead of implementing it as a "zero tolerance" policy.

In my case, the reviewer with the offensive "scam" review apparently hasn't had their account banned. I can still access it and look at it, and they're still playing games. If this person was actually trying to scam steam customers, you think Valve would be a little harsher with them and bit more lenient with their victims. Punishing the scam victims instead of the perpetrator seems counter-intuitive. But again, I don't know what prompted the policy in the first place so there may be some sort of logic behind it. The logic just isn't self evident.

[Ettanin]

Don't upvote reviews that seem to violate the rules.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

引用自 cyricsservant：

I appreciate the insight into why the policy exists.

Even if Valve keeps it, I suppose my suggestion would be to use a bit more discretion when enforcing it, instead of implementing it as a "zero tolerance" policy.

In my case, the reviewer with the offensive "scam" review apparently hasn't had their account banned. I can still access it and look at it, and they're still playing games. If this person was actually trying to scam steam customers, you think Valve would be a little harsher with them and bit more lenient with their victims. Punishing the scam victims instead of the perpetrator seems counter-intuitive. But again, I don't know what prompted the policy in the first place so there may be some sort of logic behind it. The logic just isn't self evident.

It's done automatically when the review is banned.

They are harsher on the reviewer which can prevent them from writing reviews and/or be given a community ban preventing them from posting anything.

The "victims" in your case, they get a slap on the wrist and for 30 days just can't rate reviews.

[rawWwRrr]

引用自 cyricsservant：

Normally I wouldn't care, but Steam apparently has a policy in place where it punishes anyone who actually engaged with or relied on the review. So suddenly me and 18 others are dealing with a month long suspension of certain features (e.g. reviewing, voting), all because Valve staff saw something on a popular front page review that had already been published for close to fifteen months.

A couple things to consider. User generated content (UGC) is so massive in quantity that no one is actively policing it, so if any action is taken it's going to be due to a report on the content filed by another user. Also, those aren't going to be acted upon in timely manner. So while it may have seemed like a review that Valve was fine with for several months and then decided to change their minds, it's a far different chain of events that led to the review being removed.

Also, it could have been a benign review to start and was fine when you upvoted it, but then later on it was edited to include whatever violated Steam's SSA and content rules. You wouldn't have known since no one who votes on a review gets notified when an edit takes place.

引用自 cyricsservant：

The whole policy is just . . . bizarre. Even more so if the review really was intended to "scam users," which suggests the developer might have planted a fake positive review.

As you rightfully pointed out, the policy isn't just about scams though. The message "attempting to scam users or other violations" includes anything that could be a rule violation.

引用自 cyricsservant：

Why is Steam's response to people who were "scammed" by a fake positive review is to suspend them?

Because they can't determine the motive behind everyone's upvote. Valve isn't going to play the role as investigator and interview everyone that upvoted the review to weed out the rule breakers from the genuine users. As I said earlier, the UGC is massive. They don't have that kind of time.

It's only a temporary restriction, so you will get the ability to upvote reviews again. And you're not going to be told what happen to the user that posted the review, but they're not let off the hook either.

引用自 cyricsservant：

It also makes me not want to review games or vote on other content, if only because you never know when Steam might decide to arbitrarily suspend you 2 or 3 years later for relying on a "bad" review the moderation team no longer likes for undisclosed reasons.

I only upvote the reviews of my friends when I see them in my activity feed. I never upvote just anyone's review. And not because of the policy, really, just because I don't care that much to do it.

[Maria]

引用自 cyricsservant：

"A user review you upvoted has been banned" - 1 month suspensions

So u got banned from upvoting a random review, wtf?

It has been a habit of me to almost upvoting any reviews that my friends made in the Activity. This is kinda unsettling. Even if i want to, there is no way i could go back and check every single reviews that i upvoted lmfao

[cyricsservant]

Interesting. Thanks for letting me know how the system works.

I can't say I really like the automated nature of the process. When the only tool in your arsenal is a hammer, everything becomes a nail. Legitimate scam? Nail. Endorsement of an offsite fan mod? Nail. Astroturf dev review no steam user has a way of knowing is astroturfing? Nail. Off-color joke? Nail.

Still, I understand staffing limitations and the like. Policing has to be at least somewhat automated. It's just weird to me a front-page review can go 15 months without getting screened . . . unless reviewers can edit their reviews at a later date to include objectionable content, but I guess that's a whole other can of worms.

Anyway, I've said my piece. Thanks for the responses, cSglmc-Hotsauce.

[cyricsservant]

引用自 rawWwRrr：

引用自 cyricsservant：

Normally I wouldn't care, but Steam apparently has a policy in place where it punishes anyone who actually engaged with or relied on the review. So suddenly me and 18 others are dealing with a month long suspension of certain features (e.g. reviewing, voting), all because Valve staff saw something on a popular front page review that had already been published for close to fifteen months.

A couple things to consider. User generated content (UGC) is so massive in quantity that no one is actively policing it, so if any action is taken it's going to be due to a report on the content filed by another user. Also, those aren't going to be acted upon in timely manner. So while it may have seemed like a review that Valve was fine with for several months and then decided to change their minds, it's a far different chain of events that led to the review being removed.

Also, it could have been a benign review to start and was fine when you upvoted it, but then later on it was edited to include whatever violated Steam's SSA and content rules. You wouldn't have known since no one who votes on a review gets notified when an edit takes place.

引用自 cyricsservant：

The whole policy is just . . . bizarre. Even more so if the review really was intended to "scam users," which suggests the developer might have planted a fake positive review.

As you rightfully pointed out, the policy isn't just about scams though. The message "attempting to scam users or other violations" includes anything that could be a rule violation.

引用自 cyricsservant：

Why is Steam's response to people who were "scammed" by a fake positive review is to suspend them?

Because they can't determine the motive behind everyone's upvote. Valve isn't going to play the role as investigator and interview everyone that upvoted the review to weed out the rule breakers from the genuine users. As I said earlier, the UGC is massive. They don't have that kind of time.

It's only a temporary restriction, so you will get the ability to upvote reviews again. And you're not going to be told what happen to the user that posted the review, but they're not let off the hook either.

引用自 cyricsservant：

It also makes me not want to review games or vote on other content, if only because you never know when Steam might decide to arbitrarily suspend you 2 or 3 years later for relying on a "bad" review the moderation team no longer likes for undisclosed reasons.

I only upvote the reviews of my friends when I see them in my activity feed. I never upvote just anyone's review. And not because of the policy, really, just because I don't care that much to do it.

This is a really thorough, comprehensive response. Thank you for this! It's appreciated. I think I have a better understanding of why the policy is in place and why it's perceived as necessary.

I'll feel a little bad ignoring thoughtful reviews that I think deserve more exposure, but going forward I'll probably scale back my engagement with reviews a bit.

[Dontasciime]

Don't up vote or review anything or interact with the game community is the lesson to be learned. I got one this morning for something in 2019 so with that comes the frustration of doing nothing wrong and told off. I don't care that I can't review anything for a month. I don't play anything from my collection but it is another nail in the coffin for valve with me as I'm buying even less from valve now.

[Ogami]

What is when a user modifies their review at a later point?

1. Writes normal review
2. Gets upvotes
3. Modifies review to contain malicious links/scams
4. Review gets banned

Do the upvoters also get a ban in this case?
Because THAT would be incredible unfair.

[MadBone12]

引用自 Ogami：

What is when a user modifies their review at a later point?

1. Writes normal review
2. Gets upvotes
3. Modifies review to contain malicious links/scams
4. Review gets banned

Do the upvoters also get a ban in this case?
Because THAT would be incredible unfair.

I have seen complaints on the forums that this can and does happen - a review is modified to break the rules and everyone who upvoted it before that happened were still banned. Not sure if people are just being dishonest about that or if that is a thing.

[Anxiety]

引用自 Ogami：

What is when a user modifies their review at a later point?

1. Writes normal review
2. Gets upvotes
3. Modifies review to contain malicious links/scams
4. Review gets banned

Do the upvoters also get a ban in this case?
Because THAT would be incredible unfair.

Seems like that's exactly what's happening.

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/10/3817410974683527873/

[StickyPawz]

引用自 cyricsservant：

I'll feel a little bad ignoring thoughtful reviews that I think deserve more exposure, but going forward I'll probably scale back my engagement with reviews a bit.

If you just have the single review-upvote *ding* on record, then you hardly need to start worrying about adjusting your upvote habit.

[matt]

The review probably had a URL at the bottom and said something like "make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more reviews!" Someone reported the review, and Valve banned the reviewer from making further reviews because of promoting their YouTube channel. Then everyone who upvoted the review got banned as a potential shill.

That's just one scenario. It could be lots of other stuff, too. Maybe the reviewer linked to the gray market key reseller where they bought the game. Or maybe they linked to instructions on how to disable an annoying feature, and Valve interpreted that as bypassing the game's DRM. Use your imagination. I wouldn't worry so much. Just use common sense when upvoting.