The 2009 T.A.G VoteBot Recovery Plan

[jimrbsn]

Done and Done....

T.A.G.'s videos have awesome content!

It was not at all difficult to rate up his vids.... thanks for the tip RabidApe.

[TheUnmaskedMagician]

I just got hit with a votebott LOL

[robbo916]

You are like Homer Simpson! Never realised that before. You make great videos 5*

[FantasticBabblings]

subbed and now rating.

[Paxmax]

Whew! done it!

[GospelOfJesusChrist]

This votebot thing is so sad. As a Christian I want to say that this kind of thing should not happen.

[RabidApe]

Thanks, John.

I wish more of us, to quote our new President, could "disagree without being disagreeable".

[elvismilk]

Yeah cry all the tears you can, because your imaginary friend killed millions during Noah's cruise. LOL

[pandstar]

I've been a T.A.G. subscriber for quite a while!

Great stuff. Definitely under appreciated.

Thanks for the view of your dirty underwear in the basket in the back...

[RabidApe]

those are clean!

on the way in, not out!

[QuasiMolko]

I think RabidApe is a pretty cool guy, eh rallies against votebots and doesn't afraid of anything.

[666norton420]

WTF is everyone bitching and whining about being votebotted?

i mean really.

my account was shut down for a day and vote botted to hell....

i haven't really told anyone, cause it's not important.

we should counter the vote bots with our own...

besides that, i think all this moaning should stop.

;d

[waltermh111]

first, we shouldnt stoop to the level of the christians or we undermine our message

Second, its complained about because people want to be seen and voting allows them to rise up in the recommendations, but votebtting drops the videos in that sense which hurts a users ability to be seen.

So it depends on how much you think your message matters, is worth seeing.

[666norton420]

"first, we shouldnt stoop to the level of the christians or we undermine our message"

what i was speaking of was the idea that we should use bots to counter act bad bot.

vote bots can give a 5 star rating just as easily as a 1 star.

we'd be stooping to no level.

;d

[Keylimedelight]

wow, you did get vote botted to shit...

[qanazir]

Does YouTube even care about this problem?

[ZerqTM]

consider it promoted :3

[phoenixshade3]

Thanks for pointing this guy out, RabidApe.

By the way, if anyone cares to extend the fight against votebots, I was hit pretty hard on April 14 with 800 1-star ratings on videos that had previously been almost exclusively 5-star ratings. Since I've done little to publicize the attack, my channel has yet to recover from it. And indeed, I have noticed that my videos that formerly showed up high on the "related" list have dropped significantly, and my daily views have fallen correspondingly.

[Misterb0z]

All videos rated, subb'd and looking forward to viewing your stuff properly soon!

[CarnifexAaron]

You're a good friend RabidApe ;)

[Hereticbooks]

ok, I've done my part. Now I can see many hours of actually viewing them through to the end coming up.

[billymatronics]

why can't peple just create vote bots to 5 star in reverse?

how come youtube cannot prevent computer programs doing this ... surely it's only 1 vote per account

[AbdultheImpailler]

actually you can but is that really fair or honest? we have to take the high road and not behave like the people that employ votebots

if you get boted or know someone who has been let justsaynotobots know about it and they will give that person a shout out

[billymatronics]

yes true... it's quite a lot of work to get hundreds of people to counter it, and it must really effect the average badly... e.g. matching 5 x1 stars with 5 x 5 starts only leaves a 2.5 rating.... you would need 10 times as many 5 starts to bring it back to level shame youtube can't decipher and discount the 1 start votes

thanks...

[phoenixshade3]

"why can't peple just create vote bots to 5 star in reverse?"

Because unlike religious robots, most of us have a sense of ethical duty to SOCIETY AT LARGE, not so some imaginary sky-daddy who instructs us against bearing false witness (unless we are doing so to glorify His name.)

"1 vote per account"

Not entirely true. It's one vote per video per SESSION. Session data on most websites is only stored for about 5 minutes. When you visit the site again, a new session starts.

(more)

[phoenixshade3]

(con'd)

Furthermore, votebots work by algorithmicly creating MANY accounts and hitting videos with one-star ratings from all of these accounts.

One way to discourage this: Disallow ratings until the video has been viewed from start to finish. (YouTube does collect this data and uses it in Insight to show "Hot Spots.") That would definitely curb the phenomenon.

[billymatronics]

ok thats intgeresting thanks... if there is a clear spike of eg 800 1 start bots though, then it's hard to get back to five stars .. eg 800 5 stars would result in an average of 2.5 .... so I wouldn't blame you guys for counteracting a vote bot 5 stars to get back on track ... but you'd need about 8000! in that eg

[Thanat0s67]

5 starring all his videos now.

[kalsolarUK]

Thanks for the heads-up on that...I've been subbed to Todd for ages and he's definately worthy of more subscribers.

[DeadBabyJesus]

I like you rabidape, and I've been subscribed for a long time. However, are you on drugs? Honestly, you seem to ramble on like you are on drugs...no offense, if I am wrong, it just seems speedy.

[Domzdream]

I just subbed to him. You're right, Rabidape. What a truely nice and balanced person with insightful and controlled arguments. It's like he lets the content explain and win itself.

[antikristuseke]

votebot attack recovery operations started, thanks for the link to this particular user.

[ToddAllenGates]

Thanks SO much - the support I'm receiving on this is overwhelming! (in a very good way that is). I woke up this morning to find almost 200 new subs and hundreds of new comments as well! (Your subscribers are awesome!!)

[RabidApe]

my pleasure!

you are VERY welcome!

[lednerg]

Hey, Todd. We got your back. ;)

[ToddAllenGates]

> Hey, Todd. We got your back. ;)

Thank you--my "back" feels very well supported! It's been less than 24 hours and I've received over 300 new subs!

[lednerg]

Totally agree about TAG. I've been subscribed to him for a while now. Good guy.

[M0THERKN0WSBEST]

Your enthusiasm is almost as endearing as that perpetual grin.

[ivarbt]

PaulHarrison1976 has been suspended!

[lednerg]

ivarbt: "PaulHarrison1976 has been suspended!"

Wow. He has been mirroring a lot of stuff from all over lately, so we shouldn't be too quick blame the fundies on it. But damn.

[natewheatshelf]

I'm rate/comment/favoriting all 77 of his videos now, captain!

[DontCryItGetsBigger]

( is still partial to the homer simpson approach tho hehe)

[j01tz0r]

I think todd is a pretty cool guy. eh refutes christianity and doesn't afraid of anything.

[DontCryItGetsBigger]

i love how rabidape gets excited for other peoples channels and material. less ego and lots of topical commitment. good stuff. thx for the heads up

[NixuzE]

Todd is great. I love his videos. It is great that you are doing this.

[RodHullIOnceWasHim]

I have a recommendation... Rather than all this false bullshit why doesn't every atheist simply have 4 links to recommended users at the bottom of the description of every single video they post...? Change them each time...!

Imagine how quickly the community would grow then...

All this, help me help me, I have 2000 less stars today is doing my head in... I'd have unsubscribed to Todd if I hadn't only subscribed yesterday... Need to check his other vids out obviously first...

[RabidApe]

not a bad idea

[crazycrazycaleb]

DasAmericanAtheist also rec'd this guy, so I suppose I'll sub to him. haha

[AgainstAllGods]

Are you ever gonna write a book?

[RabidAp3]

I keep thinking about it.

If nothing else, I could probably cull material from all of the videos I've posted and rework them. I just need to figure out what my "angle" or "thesis" would be first, I think.

If I did, would you buy it?

:D

[RabidApe]

and yes, that was really me right there... :P

[AgainstAllGods]

Absolutley, I would buy it!!!

[DisforDubby]

Hey I know of Todd! I'm subscribed to him and he is great!

[obsleet]

Thanks for the distress call assist RabidApe.

I'm headed over to supply support now.

:)

[RabidApe]

thanks!

[AtheistAtLARGE]

Ape if you need some hair, I could cut some of mine off for ya ...

[RabidApe]

lol

you've got plenty to spare