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PSA: Lemmy votes can be manipulated (feddit.nl)
submitted 1 year ago by koper@feddit.nl to c/fediverse@lemmy.ml
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The best part of the fediverse is that anyone can run their own server. The downside of this is that anyone can easily create hordes of fake accounts, as I will now demonstrate.

Fighting fake accounts is hard and most implementations do not currently have an effective way of filtering out fake accounts. I'm sure that the developers will step in if this becomes a bigger problem. Until then, remember that votes are just a number.

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[-] patatahooligan@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago

Ok, but what would the reputation score be based on that can't be manipulated or faked?

[-] badcommandorfilename@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

Well, you see Kif, my strategy is so simple an idiot could have devised it: reputation is adjusted by "votes" so that other users can up or downvote another.

Thus solving the problem, once and for all.

[-] patatahooligan@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

I'm assuming this is a joke based on the Futurama references you used, but just to be clear for everyone: this won't work because it simply moves the problem one step further. How do you prevent bots from upvoting other bots to build a reputation?

[-] thoralf@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 year ago

As mentioned: It's not the silver bullet solution but something that raises the bar for abuse. The reputational score is build up over time on the specific server based on the up- and downvotes you received.

So, yes, this can be abused itself as well - but it requires a lot more effort.

this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2023
2266 points (97.6% liked)

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