Votebot Attack (mirrored from ffreethinker's original)

[xESOTERlC]

That NathanForst looks like a complete tool

[rodalbbutgar321]

These creationists are really desperate!! They realized they can't refute neither one argument!!!

[panthera50]

Well...well....the history deniers are at it again ?

*sigh*

[Waranoa]

They took my stars!!!

[Eloeem]

Can't you just votebot them back up to 5 stars? XD

[ZeroToOneee]

no, they are to noobish :/

[RecluseOfTheStars]

"And I can eat you."

[ananiasacts]

This doesn't seem like enough of a problem to worry about. Eventually someone at google will write a program that identifies the bogus ratings and removes them. Perhaps they're letting the dollar damages accumulate because there's not enough to make a criminal case.

Ultimately though, isn't this just the same arms race between producer and parasite that's responsible for pretty much every bit of invention on the planet?

Perhaps a 20 minute delay between ratings from a given IP address.

[ABFox]

I am sure something like this is in effect, problem is, 5 minutes worth of coding and the use of a proxy and I can simulate any IP address I want...

[LividImp]

@snivelingchairguy

New cameras and lighting...good idea.

So, are you buying? Or are you a cheapskate?

C'mon rich guy, pony up or shut up.

[nashertheatheist]

Come back when you know what you're talking about.

[SteevDragon67]

I'll mirror this if it will help.

[jbreezes]

This also happened to vlog channels, chemtrail channels and patriot channels.

[Skep155]

Ive been hit and i only have 23 subs. But i think i know whose hit me with a votebot. Theres only so much attention you can draw with 23 subs without knowing exactly who your annoying.

[jscience]

ViolentCosmonaut's account is closed

[photodube]

Good point.

[lwahlberg100]

Another user who was hit (somebody I know in person, actually): DasAmericanAtheist

[BrightRaven0]

love Cheekamoomoo's finish, awsome.

"may you be reincarnated as a plant, and i can eat you..."

[alixinthemiddle]

=O.... it's... JESUS!!!

[WilhelmXXVIII]

lol

[GnosticDjinn]

Subscribed to every single user.

Thanks.

[photodube]

Has any prominent pro-religion, pro-creation member of YouTube ever denounced votebots?  I have never heard one.

[shraleina]

Typical tactic of some of the small minded cowards who call themselves believers. Can't live by the tenets of their own faith and are too insecure in their own beliefs to allow opinions that don't line up with their own.

I'll say again: COWARDS

[daymyth]

Can't you just votebot the other way around? and get your self back up to original ratings? And then as a result isn't the rating system flawed?

Shouldn't youtube be preventing votebot attacks because it negates their searching mechanic?

[ethalin]

Anyone know the music in the background?

[kimlovesart]

no idea but i like it. someone let me know about the music at the end. votebots are pathetic and shows just how weak they really are

[GaleAnders]

Let's go to stoning.

- or maybe a good book burning

Sieg Heil to the brave new (old) world of theo-fascism.

[noblessus]

Theists trying to quiet knowledge, now thats a new tactic!

[RougeWaterPoloPlayer]

lol

[clericalerror]

I actually dissagree with you there, silencing knowledge has always been their primary weapon.

[noblessus]

I know. I was being sarcastic. :)

[clericalerror]

Yup i see it now, i can't believe it, i should of put more attention to that exclamation sign my bad hehe.

[Xanthippaa]

This is one for all, and all for one!!!

Freedom of speech is essential to a healthy society. This censorship has GOT to be de-normalized!!!

[RedDaVincy]

What the fuck is a goo-stappo? Also, boo hoo to most of these idiots.

[metfan89]

if that is your response. why are you even on youtube. if you dont care about rating sabotage then why are you here? i'll be blunt. your simply pathetic...

[Rahhelthethird]

Exactly!

[xOrangexJuicex]

FUCK YOUTUBE AND THEIR FUCKING BACKWARD VOTE SYSTEM

/endrant

[TenshihanQuinn]

To bipass YouTube's bullshit - we all need to DISABLE ratings entirely on our videos and SELF-network our channels to each other, ...maybe THAT will keep these assholes from controlling our decisions.

[Paomnnehal]

No disabling, that is not the ways of the people listed on the right!

[MikeOfKorea]

Boycott YouTube.

[JoeyMarvelous07]

I'm a medium savvy YT viewer, and I'd never heard of anyone shown here before seeing this. Clearly vote-bots kept them from relevant searches...Also GOOGLE may or may not care that the vote-bot frustrates 3rd party participation. When I was new to YT, I reserved 5* for perfect vids like AronRa while near perfect (like the esteemed DonExodus(how the F! are you still a Theist?)2 below got 4*. Now anything half decent gets 5* to outweigh votebots, and 2-4 is meaningless. Uncool.

[DonExodus2]

Isnt it funny how creationists disable ratings on their vids, but for different reasons?

[VeritasLiber]

I just saw a follow up video that many of these votebot victims have had dramatic increases in subscibers as a direct result of the community banning together in support. Seems the votebotting has an unexpected result....attention and awareness.

[Crit0]

If one believes himself to be morally superior, any means can be used to justify his ends. Whether it is as simple as creating a vote bot or as grand as mass murder, the philosophy is the same and only those who subscribe to that philosophy do not see it.

[operationturkey]

I just subscribed to nearly everyone hit by the votebot, so yeah, the idiots have really shot themselves in the foot.

[OnWisconsin42]

how can you tube not restrict one vote per video per IP address? I know message boards can restrict based on IP addresses why can the same not happen here?

[classicrock5]

There is a function used to regenerate the proxy servers and vote once per proxy visit.

[anselmo666666]

Why is it that youtube can't just restrict each computer to one vote per video??

[Hamhark98]

Watch "atheist comedian on prayer in school". Its a great clip. I am not a spam machine so feel free to ask questions. Its a great clip though so check it out.

Votebot bad!

[Rahhelthethird]

Not really.

We would just condescend to their level, if we do such thing.

What NathanForst1 said at 3:11 holds a lot of truth. People will just keep going to those videos, because someone considers them indecent and it is kind of an avertisement campaign for us.

[wolfeedarkfang]

If youtube was smart they would take their implementation of the "captcha" image verification system and force it to be used to vote on videos. It will most likely stop the bots.

[veilen]

I'm a programmer and I can imagine it wouldn't be a very hard job to write a votebot. There could be some issues to overcome but these would be the problems programmers like to solve.

I could write a bot giving 5 stars to all aforementioned videos. Most programmers I know could do it, probably even better and faster than me.

But I don't think it would be right. When you cheat the cheater you became a cheat. The rating system is there for a reason, let's not destroy that.

[DeadlyChinchilla]

Yes, but this also disables the ratings.

See how it loses? The point of them is to get ratings and be listed higher. Disabling the ratings is basically just giving up... and we know we're too stubborn for that, eh? ^_^

[Prodigyexam12]

It's not about giving up. It's about the fact that people should be able to rate the videos on how shitty/good they think the video is. That's why rating's aren't disabled, 'cause people should be free to express their opinion.

[DeadlyChinchilla]

Thats... basically what I was saying, if you read the progression of comments...

[Prodigyexam12]

I'm sorry, just read that comment and tough I'd say something about that. DIdn't see your previous ones.

[DeadlyChinchilla]

S'okay, it happens.

[VColossalV]

There are some sad saad people in this world.

[Prodigyexam12]

If this is religious people's way of making other human beings believe in their shit then that's pretty low

[zenigel]

true true

[waffles497]

Not saying I don't believe the people in the video but isn't it possible that (example only) like a church of say 400 people has 30 members who have youtube accounts, and all of them have gone around rating 1 stars on every atheist video they see? I'm sure votebots are a reality but it seems more likely to me that some preacher put his church up to attacking youtube atheists. Come on, we all know christians don't believe in technology, lol.

[JJR93]

If that were true then the number of views would = the number of votes. They don't--not even close---which is evidence of "votebot" activity.

[Rahhelthethird]

That would be like giving up.

The programmers would have won.

[Mnementh2230]

his hair is... stunning beyond words.

[24blue24knight24]

well I'm a bit confused I checked on a couple of the channels and didn't find excessive low ratings. Did Youtube fix the problem already? (would be kinda quick for YouTube lol

[JohnK75136]

I think what you are seeing is the effect of efforts (such as this video) to let the YouTube users know that there is a problem, so that they can go to those channels and vote on the affected videos, diluting the effect of the votebots.

It's not a real solution, just a way of attenuating the problem.

[Corrup7ioN]

What are you muppets talking about? Science is all wrong. There's no such thing as votebots or computers.

[dompoodle]

haha aaaahhhh was that a joke or should i be worried :S

[falwk]

This man speaks the truth.

[WolfmanNougat]

lol nice one!

[xrw175p6mq4]

Lol I googled vote bots and there's all kinds of sights with people soliciting programmers to make vote bots. Prices seem to be 100-200 dollars for one.

[SexyMelon]

Oh cool. Technological warfare.

[Vogter2100]

Tes and from creationists mostly.. people who are so stuoid they think sience is a consopiracy LOL

[malignantpoodle]

As I look at this, there are 210 views, and 296 ratings. Anyone care to explain that?

[datRock]

Perhaps the youtube system for counting views and counting ratings are different. This may lead to a different refresh rate

[malignantpoodle]

Yep, you're right, I just noticed the same thing on Tf00ts new video, but there are more comments than views so that part must be lagging.

[cstrand31]

jesus tap-dancing christ! how many times are people going to still bring this up? there is no conspiracy, ratings refresh in real-time, video views do not.

[malignantpoodle]

I didn't say it was a fucking conspiracy.

[CyanideSovereign]

Veiws don't rate at the same time as ratings. Ratings update instantly, veiws hourly.

[Panman38]

All the votebot users are really doing is bringing attention to lesser known youtubers.

[mintyformula]

why hasn't any one made a fivestarbot?

it would seem the only logical action would be to vote bot every ones videos to five stars.

[jimmy202500]

Naa, don't become a monster fighting one.

[RivieraKid34]

Troutsniffer?

Its been awhile since I've heard that word!

[datRock]

Again I would like to point out to you all that not only does everyone sound like a whiny martyr, but that nobody knows who is actually doing the votebotting. Suck it up and show us the data to prove you were attacked. Then, after that, find out the IP addresses of the votebots. It would also be interesting to see if the attacks are theme oriented (ie. does anyone actually know if it's targetting anti-religious channels?). Everyone is crying bloody murder but no one has any facts. 煩い

[Skaryon]

How are they supposed to find out who it actually was? The only ones who could do that are the guys from youtube and I doubt they will ever take action.

But when all of your videos drop from 5 to 1 start in just one night, it's rather obvious, isn't it?

[datRock]

Yes, I mostly agree. But not knowing who it is cannot make our guesses any better. We would end up looking just like the religious nuts out there. Youtube gives the video makers the ability to see time evolution of votes which will give you the evidence for an attack ie. "I remember having a 5 star rating" just doesn't cut it. When enough examples have ammassed and a trend in genre is assessed, then take it to youtube. The necessary organization is still lacking in crap videos like this

[Skaryon]

I think the point is that youtube doesn't seem to really care to do anything against it so they create those videos to get attention.

[UrinationNation]

The fact that someone takes their time to actually program these votebots and then someone else who is so much against freespeech that they try to silence the voices of those they disagree with using these coward programs or DMCA attacks or whatever. I mean how fucking small do your balls have to be to try to win your arguments by trying to censor the other person. It really says volumes about the kind of pissants that patrol youtube, unable to articulate them selves they just cheat, how noble

[Bockatadi]

just how jesus would want it! "winning" with votebots, when traditional cencorship fails. pussies!!!

[AutodidacticPhd]

"The fact that someone takes their time to actually program these votebots..."

Sadly, these things are easy to write. I have a shaky grasp of Java at best, and I could probably write one on a lazy afternoon with a few google searches, a little cut and paste and maybe an hour of tweaking. Not that anyone really needs to write their own, as I'm sure it wouldn't take long to simply find one ready to use.

[LordoftheJamesClan]

why doesnt yt just make it so you can only vote once?! they do it on tons of other sites

[KaseyAkira]

Gais, I just thought of something...

Why dont we make a vote bot of our own? A vote bot that increases our videos ratings???

Come on, they've got their army... WE'VE GOT OURS!!!

[AutodidacticPhd]

"Why dont we make a vote bot of our own?"

A botwar would simply make honest voting a meaningless activity. I would honestly find it as offensive as the malcontents who started the trend in the first place.

[xlioilx]

I don't care about vote bots on my videos I have something more powerful its called the power of I don't give a fuck!

[cozmikzen]

ARG! votebots got me

Thanks for helping!

[dragonmatt5]

I find votebots a fine example of overruling the opinions of others. You simply take what would be a fair means to express opinion, a means democratic in nature, and decide that you are not only more correct then everyone else but that you have the right to drone out their voices. That is most pathetic.

I do worry though, if votebots aren't being used to artificially increase the ratings of some videos...

[DansLookingGlass]

AronRa, Love your videos, the fundamental falicies. But I hate when my people play in a cliche. It's seen in your mirror.

[oEQjet]

hurray another person on this planet can see how retarded this is.

Seriously this sucks, i came in thinking this was worth subscribing to. I even cataloged the FFOC series because i thought they were well written. I'm SERIOUSLY forced to believe i was taken in by showmenship. You can't be smart enough to make that kind of valid argument and dumb enough to post this. Or... wait did AronRa not make those videos? That would make alot more sense...

[DansLookingGlass]

"You Can't be smart enough."

I was addressing AronRa. I could be wrong; let me read again. Yeah, I was right.

So, stupid-fucktard, unless you're AronRa or have something worthwhile to say to me, shut the fuck up.

[nomis101uk]

seriously, the scope of these votebot attacks makes it far far more likely that is a few creationists rather than some random kid(s).

There's an obvious pattern of attacking anti-religious channels, beginning with the big players. Then once that was stopped, its moved to a huge swathe of smaller channels - all of the same theme. Sure it could be some kid, but thats simply the far less probable explanation. And dont doubt that there really are religious people THAT batshit crazy.

[oEQjet]

one guy with a botnet could hit youtube with well over 1000 dedicated votes on as many targets as he wants. One scriptkiddy with a cihp on his shoulder could do all of this easily. or hey maybe its just one guy who thinks his vote matters more then other people, which is hard to fault him.

Assuming its some kind of creationist tactic to silence the atheist community is suprisingly stupid, because EVERYTHING gets hit by botnets. not just atheists.

[kaduisaui]

Does anybody consider this campaign could be waged by youtube as a way to lower video ratings based on the content so they can promote puppies, comedy skits and commercials?

I thought the question should be raised for the sake of discussion.

[TruthSurge]

Is there one drop of evidence that would make you think that? I have no idea who's doing it but the common theme seems to be an attack on non-religious channels.

[kaduisaui]

No. I have not seen any evidence to suggest that Youtube would engage in ratings manipulation. It's an idea not a claim. I understand religious people consider what they do as God's work or fighting the good fight, defeating the devil and standing up for the truth. We all simply know it as censorship. Saudi Arabia does it, Israel does it, China does it. Even Fox News does it. Christians, Catholics, Mormons, Muslims, Jews and the American Government employs censorship simply to avoid the truth.

[TruthSurge]

yep. When your worldview is so fragile that it is ready to crumble under the least amount of scrutiny, desperate measures have to be taken. :)

[datRock]

Can I be honest, I will only take these votebot attack claims seriously when I see some legitimate graphs and figures outlining the rapid change. Please get us some numbers. Thunderf00t showed one, I would like to see them from others, too. It's just that whining about being oppressed without actual numbers sounds like an appeal to emotion. Cheers

[oEQjet]

WTF

you guys can not be serious.

what the fuck you guys sound like but hurt fags blaming all of creationism for the act of some scriptkidy with a chip on his shoulder, more then likely all he wanted was to piss you off, and standing 3 inches away from your web cam with the most serious face you can muster saying "YOU WILL NOT SILENCE ME, OMG FREE SPEECH"

creationist blame evolution for all sorts of unrelated shit, here you fagots are doing the same thing.

[cappastrano]

This isn't just random blaming, its a consistent pattern of abuse by the same people.

[datRock]

Are we sure that we know who it is? Is it possible that someone is attempting to claim martyrdom? Is there anyway to find out who is using these tools. I am not just going to take empty claims at invisible foes.

[TheDarkKnight987]

Wtf? Where did it say they blamed creationists? Watch the video again you retard.

[ReligiouslyAtheist]

"If you strike me down now, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine."

Anyone who wants their videos votebotted back up, PM me

[shubidubar]

POOR JESUS DUDE :(

[stuartp2006]

Wouldn't the ideal solution be having an option between Ratings disabled, and Allow Ratings?

Like, users only rating? That way, which users voted what can be recorded, and thus votebots can be rooted out (and also many users would have to be created to facilitate the bot).

[nomis101uk]

only users can rate as it is...which only confuses me even more as to how these vote bots work

[oEQjet]

every time you send information to youtube (for example clicking a rating) then your computer sends information, capture that packet. Then redistribute that packet from various proxies or send that packet to a bot net.

it's not complicated, it only really takes one person, and seriously who the fuck takes ratings for any religious content seriously? I can think of no other measure of a videos quality more fundamentally bias then the star rating under an argumentative video.

[stuartp2006]

Shouldn't there be some tracking system so that you can see who voted what?

I mean, there are disadvantages of that, but if the user was warned that "this vote will be recorded" then all users who vote on that video will know that the video creator could, at any time, see who was voting for what.

[lulz2344]

Anon strikes again!?

[HeadoftheHydra]

I hadn't heard of any of these people except Eddy...So the votebotter accomplished only one thing: Getting them more attention.

Good job, asshat.

[ShellySummers]

vote bots are a form of censorship fraggin bs! If a vote bot person sees this than stop being a piece of crap!

[SexyScientist6]

It's extremely foolish to use votebots. I'm religious but I'm not bored enough to use votebots because of videos I don''t agree with.

[prodigy00073]

I fucking hate these votboters. You religious nut jobs will never silence us.

[Mahoivlich]

They are flagging a lot of peoples vids as well. These methods deserve more concern as accounts are being closed. Time to find a new site me thinks. We are preaching to choir anyways. You can always count on the "faithful" to be at least ignorant and usually deceitful.

[OminousVoice]

Thanks for your support AronRa. I really appreciate it.

[donnieharrison2]

indiscriminate after they or that person has decided to attack someone.

[isegoria1]

Nice to see yet another upload of this.

[Link10893]

Ooh