Computer Chess Club Archives


Search

Terms

Messages

Subject: Re: People Posting Without Real Names

Author: Detlef Pordzik

Date: 18:05:37 12/21/98

Go up one level in this thread


On December 21, 1998 at 10:28:38, Robert Hyatt wrote:

>On December 20, 1998 at 18:23:57, Detlef Pordzik wrote:
>
>>On December 20, 1998 at 13:21:59, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>
>>>On December 20, 1998 at 05:16:27, Amir Ban wrote:
>>>
>>>>On December 20, 1998 at 04:12:57, Dave Gomboc wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On December 20, 1998 at 03:14:03, Will Singleton wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>On December 20, 1998 at 02:02:48, Bruce Moreland wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>On December 19, 1998 at 23:27:24, Will Singleton wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>There have been a number of messages recently pertaining to the moderator
>>>>>>>>election, that have been posted by unknown members, usually using only a first
>>>>>>>>name.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Just for informational purposes, I would support restricting memberships to
>>>>>>>>those who provide a full legitimate name, with a valid email address.  And,
>>>>>>>>mambers must show a track record of legitimate computer chess posts prior to
>>>>>>>>posting on procedural issues.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Actually, if you look into it further, you will discover that some of these
>>>>>>>people have been using secondary email sites (I don't know what they are really
>>>>>>>called), which let you make a new email address to order, effectively.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>The use of these things can cause a lot of problems here, for instance someone
>>>>>>>can vote many times in the moderator election, and someone can attempt to
>>>>>>>legitimize their viewpoint by agreeing with themselves, which is actually a very
>>>>>>>powerful rhetorical tactic, as you'll know if you ever have it used on you.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>I think it is possible that this is happening in the "ChrisW Nomination Snow
>>>>>>>Job" thread, where at least three "different" responders have been using these
>>>>>>>things, and all have expressed similar viewpoints.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>I think it might be worthwhile to allow votes only from accounts established
>>>>>>>before the election schedule became public, unless it is possible to reliably
>>>>>>>detect users with multiple accounts.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>bruce
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Copyright (C) Bruce Moreland, 1998.  All rights reserved.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>I would support the idea of allowing votes only from members who have had active
>>>>>>accounts for at least 60 days.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Will
>>>>>
>>>>>There are any number of reasonable suggestions, but now is perhaps not the best
>>>>>time to be tinkering with the rule set.  I'm not sure how it is really possibly
>>>>>to enforce OPOV (one person, one vote) when people can have multiple accounts,
>>>>>but it is probably worth a shot.  But before we start from scratch, I think we
>>>>>should clearly identify the rules that were in force for the previous election.
>>>>>
>>>>>ICD is the sponsor of the site, and perhaps these sorts of issues will require a
>>>>>statement from them.  Given the Christmas rush, perhaps ICD may prefer to
>>>>>delegate dealing with this situation to the moderators?  It seems that ICD is
>>>>>content to host the site, and not really get involved too much in the details of
>>>>>its governance, so long as the charter is upheld.  (In general, this is probably
>>>>>a good thing.)
>>>>>
>>>>>Some food for thought:
>>>>>
>>>>>Are there any authenticity checks performed on the names provided?  (I don't
>>>>>know, but I suspect not.)
>>>>>
>>>>>If not, how realistically can we say that OPOV is enforceable?  (If the answer
>>>>>to the first question is no, then the answer to this one is "not very".)
>>>>>
>>>>>Many people read the posts on-site, without posting themselves.  Do they have
>>>>>less of a right to determine the future moderation direction of this group?  (I
>>>>>think "clearly, no".)
>>>>>
>>>>>There's also this mix-up regarding Chris W., but I have never been a player in
>>>>>what went on and how.  I guess I will watch to see what shakes out on this one.
>>>>>
>>>>>Dave Gomboc
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>I share Bruce's concern, and I think the danger is very real. I didn't think of
>>>>this before, but now I think it's quite probable that if we would let Chris run,
>>>>he would be supported by many new signups, all of whom would never be heard of
>>>>again.
>>>>
>>>>Anyone who remembers the "Evans" family, and the "Steve" series, starring "Steve
>>>>Blatchford", understand that this is not only possible, but has been done here
>>>>before. It seems that yesterday we saw another wave of that.
>>>>
>>>>I propose to limit voting rights to people who were registered as members on the
>>>>16th (last Wednesday). This is good enough for now.
>>>>
>>>>Amir
>>>
>>>
>>>Personally I have long since "had it" with this anonymous junk anyway.  I would
>>>like to see a policy that simply outright rejects applications from known
>>>remailers...  Yes it would hurt a few...  but I'd immediately reject hotmail.com
>>>as one example, since you can create 100 id's there if you want to.  If we only
>>>accept applications from "real" domain names (ie aol.com is difficult to "trick"
>>>since you have to pay to play there.  Ditto for most places, although it would
>>>be very difficult to enforce.
>>>
>>>This is just one example of how things go wrong.  Does anybody remember
>>>"thedodo" as one example?  Or the "evans family" as another?  It's a serious
>>>problem.  Maybe we need to resort to "paper votes" as most modern computer-based
>>>organizations use.  IE discuss it here, but physically send ballots to
>>>verifiable addresses, since the post office won't deal with fakes very easily...
>>>And since using a fake mail address is a Federal crime, it might make this work
>>>a little cleaner?
>>
>>As far at hotmail is concerned, I agree with you - we both had this bad
>>experience with Mr. xyz some time ago.
>>In general, you target the supposed bad - and hit the brave ones, as well.
>>Just like Eddie, for example - where it needed Steve's word, to take the man out
>>of the negative - for - nothing discussion.
>>To make it as easy as possible :
>>I've been called " ELVIS " for 28 years now - most times I sign contracts in
>>music business with " ELVIS " -
>>who's the one who wanted to discuss the useage of this Acronym with me, for
>>example ?
>>On the other hand, if someone asks for my name with sense, he'll get it - no
>>doubts.......and if you read this carefully, I'm sure you'll recognize the prob.
>>
>>DPordzik
>>a.k.a. ELVIS
>
>Your case is an interesting one.  But notice I haven't said much about "handles"
>as everyone knows who "Komputer Korner" is.  But crossing the line to make the
>handle intentionally anonymous to defraud others of their votes doesn't sound
>good.  And is something that needs control.
>
>I have no problem with "handles" here, just so the handles trace back to a real
>email address that someone can confirm as legitimate.  To prevent the Sean Evans
>fiasco from happening again.  IE our polls mean *nothing* now, since he could
>have voted nearly 100 times for the choice(s) he favored...
>
>That's the part of this I have a big problem with..

That's an interesting suspicion - and a real outrageous one, as well.
Somehow I haven't got the slightest doubts, that this Mr. would do so - yet :

as far as I know - there is a cut up to members, in the club at Dec. 16th - so,
worries about fakes should get a little more relative - at least, I hope so.

Keep rockin'

DPordzik
a.k.a. ELVIS



This page took 0 seconds to execute

Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700

Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.