Reddit overhauls upvote algorithm to thwart cheaters • Hacker News Board

Re: Reddit overhauls upvote algorithm to thwart cheaters

#11

Post by gohrt » Wed, Dec 07, 2016, 5:16 PM UTC

Silly that the announcements give so much attention to scores going up (due to a change in scale) and not to the content of the change. It would be trivial to keep the scale magnitude the same by multiplying by a factor ("old average frontpage post" / "new average frontpage post") or applying a logarithmic transform.

Makes me think that they are intentionally kicking up dust around the scale change, to draw attention away from the substantive changes to weighting/ranking.

https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/5goxk4/upcoming_ch...

https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/5gvd6b/score...

Re: Reddit overhauls upvote algorithm to thwart cheaters

#12

Post by wu-ikkyu » Wed, Dec 07, 2016, 5:17 PM UTC

mark242 wrote: post #10

I still don't understand why, after having grown to a sufficient size, Reddit doesn't just enforce two-factor at account creation time. Tie a user to a phone number at the very least.

A lot of people would rather not give reddit their phone number.

Re: Reddit overhauls upvote algorithm to thwart cheaters

#13

Post by schwap » Wed, Dec 07, 2016, 5:17 PM UTC

mark242 wrote: post #10

I still don't understand why, after having grown to a sufficient size, Reddit doesn't just enforce two-factor at account creation time. Tie a user to a phone number at the very least.

That seems to me to pretty severely contravene reddit's basic philosophy.

Re: Reddit overhauls upvote algorithm to thwart cheaters

#14

Post by ozpri » Wed, Dec 07, 2016, 5:17 PM UTC

now what are they doing about that censorship issue...

Re: Reddit overhauls upvote algorithm to thwart cheaters

#15

Post by binarymax » Wed, Dec 07, 2016, 5:17 PM UTC

mark242 wrote: post #10

I still don't understand why, after having grown to a sufficient size, Reddit doesn't just enforce two-factor at account creation time. Tie a user to a phone number at the very least.

Because having anonymity on public forums is important.

Re: Reddit overhauls upvote algorithm to thwart cheaters

#16

Post by dbg31415 » Wed, Dec 07, 2016, 5:19 PM UTC

Seems like just more censorship geared at shutting down people who support Trump. Timing is suspicious... they need to stop trying to have it both ways. Either ban Trump or get over it.

Re: Reddit overhauls upvote algorithm to thwart cheaters

#17

Post by williamscales » Wed, Dec 07, 2016, 5:21 PM UTC

mark242 wrote: post #10

I still don't understand why, after having grown to a sufficient size, Reddit doesn't just enforce two-factor at account creation time. Tie a user to a phone number at the very least.

Metafilter had a great system. If you want to register an account, you pay $5 toward site maintenance. Presumably this would heavily discourage bots while still allowing folks to maintain alt accounts.

Re: Reddit overhauls upvote algorithm to thwart cheaters

#18

Post by lintiness » Wed, Dec 07, 2016, 5:21 PM UTC

so instead of editing user posts, they're going to change the scoring to prevent the political sub they don't like from filling the front page.

Re: Reddit overhauls upvote algorithm to thwart cheaters

#19

Post by jdubs » Wed, Dec 07, 2016, 5:21 PM UTC

mark242 wrote: post #10

I still don't understand why, after having grown to a sufficient size, Reddit doesn't just enforce two-factor at account creation time. Tie a user to a phone number at the very least.

Too much signup friction, that would go against the status quo of growth = revenue.

Re: Reddit overhauls upvote algorithm to thwart cheaters

#20

Post by jstanley » Wed, Dec 07, 2016, 5:22 PM UTC

mark242 wrote: post #10

I still don't understand why, after having grown to a sufficient size, Reddit doesn't just enforce two-factor at account creation time. Tie a user to a phone number at the very least.

Tying a user to a phone number does nothing but invade the privacy of most users, and slightly increase the costs for those who value their privacy.

Source: at https://smsprivacy.org/ I run an online service offering completely anonymous phone numbers for ~£3/mo. And note that you only need 1 month in order to get the account validated. Most places check the phone number once at account creation time and then never again.