Abusing the Like/Dislikes and Level/Trophy Ratings?

[?anna?]

Forum URL: gibbysplace.freeforums.net/forum

We have always allowed our members to like ( or dislike although this function is invisible now ) as many posts as they wish instead of restricting the likes/dislikes to one an hour. Unfortunately we may have an abuser on the forum.

We also had this level/trophy rating installed recently. The suspected abuser's rating soared to level 17 the highest on the forum and his trophy number increased while the ratings of other highly ranked members' mysteriously declined. I suspect the likes or dislikes can be increased on the same posts by liking/disliking repeatedly or perhaps the abuser seeks out old posts that are not viewed and likes/dislikes them. On our forum it is possible to like one's own posts. Our admin supposedly disabled the Dislike Plug in, but it still appears on posts. Perhaps it is still active. 
We are not informed if someone dislikes our posts. How can we activate this function?

If the dislike button is disabled why does it still appear on posts?

Is it possible to determine and prove beyond doubt who is posting this excessive number of likes and dislikes ( assuming the later is not truly disabled )?
I know for a fact that before the upgrades another pb admin identified all the abusers of the like/dislike system and revealed these members on her forum. Can this still be done?

Also can an admin modify away the excessive likes and dislikes given to lower the status of members' profiles and like up his own status?
At the moment likes are only visible on the mini profile and dislikes are invisible.

[m2marsh]

I don't use any plugins, but as an administrator using the default system for Likes, I can see exactly who likes every post.

[Brian]

Hi, ?anna? .

The dislike button is added via a plugin, so you'd need to contact the plugin author to get any sort of notifications built into the plugin.

Based on what I'm able to see the Dislike System plugin is still active on the forum. It looks like you disabled the Dislike System Companion plugin and not the Dislike System plugin itself.

We do not have a tool that allows us to immediately pull up who is liking or disliking posts on the forum. However, if you visit the recent posts of a user who is receiving an overabundance of likes on the forum you should be able to see who is liking each of their posts and narrow it down relatively easily.

[?anna?]

Feb 16, 2016 9:48:42 GMT -8 Brian said:

Hi, ?anna? .

The dislike button is added via a plugin, so you'd need to contact the plugin author to get any sort of notifications built into the plugin.

Based on what I'm able to see the Dislike System plugin is still active on the forum. It looks like you disabled the Dislike System Companion plugin and not the Dislike System plugin itself.

We do not have a tool that allows us to immediately pull up who is liking or disliking posts on the forum. However, if you visit the recent posts of a user who is receiving an overabundance of likes on the forum you should be able to see who is liking each of their posts and narrow it down relatively easily.

Thanks Brian ! I'll informe our admins, who are overburdened at the moment.

I suspect the abuser may be disliking old posts in forgotten threads. Either that or maybe there's a flaw in the works and you can dislike the same post over and over to slam someone....just a suspicion.

[?anna?]

Brian can the Level + Trophy ratings be influenced or manipulated by members or anyone for that matter. Is this supposed to an "impartial system" that runs on it's own? 

[Brian]

Technically speaking, due to the nature of Javascript and depending on your key settings the data saved to plugin keys can be manipulated if a user knows exactly what they're doing. However, this is not a simple feat to accomplish.

[♥ ℒʊ√ ♥]

?anna? , this new notification plugin by P̌̓aͧś̀t̀u͒le͆o͂2̀3̃̓ should notify of post dislikes.

[?anna?]

Feb 16, 2016 15:39:03 GMT -8 Brian said:

Technically speaking, due to the nature of Javascript and depending on your key settings the data saved to plugin keys can be manipulated if a user knows exactly what they're doing. However, this is not a simple feat to accomplish.

Some of our members have been suddenly pushed down as many as 3 levels on this Level/Trophy rating system. At the moment the same member who massively abused the dislike system has the highest rating according to this Java system at Level 17 with 23 trophies. Now I have the impression the system is frozen in place.
I've heard of dark web sites that have the know how to disrupt websites and forums with names like "TrollsUs", etc.. For a fee they'll allegedly instruct or do the bidding of someone and cause problems for websites.

Can the history and functioning of our Level/Trophy system be monitored and double checked to see if it has been manipulated?

for your help Brian !

[Brian]

I don't have a means of checking your key history for that plugin. I can only see what's presently visible.

[?anna?]

Feb 17, 2016 9:18:27 GMT -8 Brian said:

I don't have a means of checking your key history for that plugin. I can only see what's presently visible.

Could abusing the dislike function be causing the sudden demotions of members 2 or more levels down on this level/trophy system? None of these members did anything wrong. I haven't been watching the trophies, but suspect they disappear too.

Are such demotions normal with this rating system Brian ?

[Brian]

I'm not familiar enough with the plugins that control those two features within your forum to provide a proper answer to that. Those questions would be best posed to the plugin authors of each respective plugin as I have no idea whether or not they tie into each other in any way.