Why do downvotes count more than upvotes? It is being abused.

[AutoMcDonough]

My experience is as follows:
There seems to be a small group of users, or one user with bots, using negative ratings to manipulate the Workshop spotlight. In my case, I am seeing this with Space Engineers. It is a comparatively small community compared to other games, so a simple matter of 6 or 10 downvotes has a very large impact on Workshop item visibility.

Please consider removing how much impact a downvote has, it should match upvotes 1:1, not 10:1 or 15:1 as it is now. This is not being used as a rating tool, it’s being used to manipulate rankings.

Also please review data, if there are accounts handing out large amount of downvotes then I would like human eyes on it. These accounts probably don’t even own the game or subscribe to Workshop items, they only exist as Workshop ranking manipulation tool.
Perhaps there are actually humans consistently dishing out 6 downvotes to every mod, but the timing and frequency is extremely consistent.
Should an account that does not even own the game be allowed to vote on it's workshop content?
Please look into it, thank you.

[Satoru]

downvotes dont count more than upvotes though......

[AutoMcDonough]

as far as the workshop spotlight is concerned? We think it is 15:1

[Count_Dandyman]

AutoMcDonough の投稿を引用：

as far as the workshop spotlight is concerned? We think it is 15:1

You think that but you are wrong while your content seems better than the usual standard we see here complaining about this it is still rather bland and you have to learn to accept it won't always be liked or popular.

[Washell]

AutoMcDonough の投稿を引用：

as far as the workshop spotlight is concerned? We think it is 15:1

Valve is data driven. They'll be doing statistical analysis on all their algorithm based listings to see if there's nothing wonky, including manipulation. If they're not interfering, you may have to accept it's working as intended.

Or start doing the same thing you suspect others off. It'll either work or you get a personal confirmation Valve does in fact punish people for it. ;)

[AutoMcDonough]

It's not just me. Literally every modder in the SE community has noticed this, an instant 6 downvotes. It is a small community, not hard to piece together this data.
It has nothing to do with the quality of my work.
The other downvotes that trickle in over time, sure I'll take that. But this is not a matter of discerning artists.

[Crazy Tiger]

Think about it, what would be the point or benefit for Valve to give more worth to a downvote than an upvote? None.

[Count_Dandyman]

AutoMcDonough の投稿を引用：

It's not just me. Literally every modder in the SE community has noticed this, an instant 6 downvotes. It is a small community, not hard to piece together this data.
It has nothing to do with the quality of my work.
The other downvotes that trickle in over time, sure I'll take that. But this is not a matter of discerning artists.

Every modder in every community that isn't sitting at the top of the pile always loves to claim this because its so much easier to say you are being sabotaged by a bad system then it is to admit you are not the best.

People claiming they think something is happening doesn't mean it is.

[Crazy Tiger]

Count_Dandyman の投稿を引用：

People claiming they think something is happening doesn't mean it is.

Aye, this bring me back to the numerous discussions on game forums about RNG in games, especially Blood Bowl. People love to blame "hardcoded advantages" instead of accepting bad luck.

What people perceive is not always what there is. And if it's a small community then 10 downvotes will have impact, yes. Doesn't mean those downvotes aren't legit or equally counted.

[AutoMcDonough]

What you guys are saying is not informative, factual, nor appreciated.

Workshop items with 100+ upvotes tumble down the list and fall behind items with only 20 upvotes when they receive only a few downvotes. Don’t tell me they are equally weighted, I know this happens for fact.
And again, this is not just me. If you did not study the data, then do not reply.

[Satoru]

AutoMcDonough の投稿を引用：

What you guys are saying is not informative, factual, nor appreciated.

You mean the part where we ask you for actual proof of said claim because you know there's pretty much no proof of what you claim right?

And again, this is not just me. If you did not study the data, then do not reply.

Did you study it? Becuse by definition you don't actually have any 'data'

Anecodtes are not 'data'

[AutoMcDonough]

Well, it’s more than you guys brought.

[Satoru]

AutoMcDonough の投稿を引用：

Well, it’s more than you guys brought.

You didn't bring anything other than anecdotes, then scream at us for 'not looking at the data' which you don't even have.

You didn't bring anything to the table, yet make a VERY DUBIOUS claim with no evidence or data to support it in any way.

Yet then you wonder why everyone is extremely skeptical of said dubious claim backed with no data or evidence

Then you have the gall to say 'look at the data' that doesnt exist

If you're gonna make the claim, YOU HAVE TO PROVE IT

Anecdotes are not data

Anecdotes are not evidence

You want us to 'study the data' yet you provide no data and nothing of substance. What is there to 'study' if you don't provide said data.

Do you have data? Show it. Its YOUR JOB to convince people of your stance. And yes your claim is utterly dubious, which means you need to bring A LOT of evidence to support your claim. That is ON YOU. We are not here to fall down and take your word for it 'just because'.

[Crazy Tiger]

AutoMcDonough の投稿を引用：

What you guys are saying is not informative, factual, nor appreciated.

Workshop items with 100+ upvotes tumble down the list and fall behind items with only 20 upvotes when they receive only a few downvotes. Don’t tell me they are equally weighted, I know this happens for fact.
And again, this is not just me. If you did not study the data, then do not reply.

It's a public discussion, not your echo chamber. You don't get to decide who can or cannot reply.

You're making accusations, then give some hard proof of those facts. If you can not provide those, you're only making assumptions.

[🅂🄸🅂🄺]

I can confirm that there is a something going on with the workshop in SE. As soon your mod is the spotlight you will receive ~6 down votes at once.
I mean literally at the same time.
I always monitor the start of my mods and mods that are not as popular get no dislikes.

Never thought about an uneven like/dislike ratio, but there is definitely something with the SE workshop.
Mod vs Blueprints rating is not even.

Another popular SE mod creator wrote this on his discord

Meridius_IX / Lucas の投稿を引用：

Hi @everyone

I want to talk about something that's been going on in the Space Engineers Modding community as of the last couple months. Please note that the following does not only affect me, but many other modders in the community.

There has been a group of people (or possibly just 1 with multiple accounts / bots maybe?) that has been leaving negative ratings (down-voting, etc) on just about any mod that hits the first page of the Most Popular section of the Steam Workshop as of lately. When it happens, the mod in question usually gets hit with about 6-7 negative ratings/votes all at once, which is usually enough to bury most mods from coming up on that first Most Popular page.

I've talked with many others in the modding community and they've all noticed this behavior as well. A good amount of them really get discouraged by this happening, considering all the hard work and time that often goes into building a mod - it really sucks to see something you've worked on get buried like that for no good reason. It also results in a lot of mods ending up with a 3 star rating by the time they've gotten a star rating, which could make players wary of using said mod - again, for no good reason.

So here's what I'm asking, and I understand that the following dead horse has already been beaten into a puddle of primordial goop by the likes of the Youtubers, etc :P

If you see a mod on the workshop that you really like, please make the effort to Thumbs-Up/Rate-Up/Up-Vote/etc. Even if it's something that you don't plan to use or subscribe to, but still think the author did a good job - give it that rating!

The more positive reinforcement that modders receive for their work, the more likely it'll be that they will continue making awesome mods for you to enjoy. :D

Thanks for reading!

P.S.

Feel free to share this announcement with others :smiley:

[Washell]

That's an issue that needs to be reported to and handled by support. You don't need to go overboard to get people's id cards when it's just one guy with six accounts.