- Nov 16, 2018
- 26
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You know. Even if we are shown these "indisputable" IP logs, there's nothing to say they weren't faked by the admins here.
For what purpose? Why would the admins target this game in particular, what benefit would taking it down give to them individually or F95 as a whole? This reads like a conspiracy theory.if you look at the facts and what has happened here int he past, its hard to deny that it looks less like a greedy dev who wanted more attention, and more like a corrupt system with people who have it out for him.
I've been following Zimon and CoR for 7 months. I've seen every rant, every breakdown, everything. And though all of that, not one time has he struck me as a person who would fake reviews.
Really? Cause I wasn't surprised by it in the slightest. 5 star reviews raise the visibility of the game in the top games list, more visibility means more of his precious "thread interaction". From my interaction with him in the past I could totally see him thinking that the low star reviews were "haters attacking him for no reason" and trying to "even it out" by putting 5 star reviews in there.I fail to see how 5 faked reviews would benefit him in any way. It's not like people talk about reviews. He had nothing to gain from that.
All of this has happened to several different games I follow not just CoR, it's the result of a buggy system not a directed attack on one random dev.Updates magically not getting promoted, the last updated date changing to over 2 years ago, making the game appear abandoned (a point before CoR even existed), etc. I get the occasional problem, but each time it seems like its a targeted attack on Zimon.
There are several suspicious reviews dating back months, where "someone" made an account to post a single 5 star review, left no comments or anything and never logged back into the account afterwards. This doesn't seem like a one time thing.fun fact he was asleep when that happened i suggest joining the discord and getting more information from there
maybe cus he liked the game and wanted to support it by leaving a review duhThere are several suspicious reviews dating back months, where "someone" made an account to post a single 5 star review, left no comments or anything and never logged back into the account afterwards. This doesn't seem like a one time thing.
(Not to mention that you're just taking his word that he was asleep)
Zimon logged into his main account using the same IP as one of the alts 40 minutes after the fact. His main accounts last activity on that day was 1:36AM UTC, the last of the spam reviews was posted at 12:58AM UTC.fun fact he was asleep when that happened i suggest joining the discord and getting more information from there
It's a residential IP, and the cross over between accounts is less than an hour.Even if they weren't, its not difficult to change your IP address, or have one shared by multiple people. College campuses don't have an individual ip per computer, they have one per exit point of the campus network. So several hundred people could "share" an IP. IP alone is not enough for anything.
We can only promote a thread when we are notified about it. If he updates the thread and then doesn't report the OP, we don't know about the update, and so it doesn't get promoted.Especially given he has had other problems with F95 before, I wouldn't be surprised if this is yet another attempt by the mods to cause problems for him.
Unfortunately devs using alts to post fake reviews is actually quite a common occurrence. As long as the developer owns up to the "mistake" and promises to not do it again then we're fine with giving them a second chance and not posting a public message. However, it's clear that in this instance, from the messages posted on Discord, that there was zero remorse plus a denial of wrongdoing, so we no longer felt comfortable giving him the benefit of the doubt that this was a one time thing, and enforced our rules more stringently.What kind of fucked up system is being run here where someone is forced to admit to something, accepts a punishment, informs the other communities about said punishment, then is further punished.
This is the first time I've had any interaction with him, and I haven't even played this game. Do you seriously think I randomly go around targeting innocent developers just for kicks? In the past 5 years we have banned reviews on 3 games including this one. This is an incredibly rare occurrence and an action we do not take lightly.but each time it seems like its a targeted attack on Zimon [...] corrupt system with people who have it out for him.
how many reviews where postedZimon logged into his main account using the same IP as one of the alts 40 minutes after the fact. His main accounts last activity on that day was 1:36AM UTC, the last of the spam reviews was posted at 12:58AM UTC.
It's a residential IP, and the cross over between accounts is less than an hour.
We can only promote a thread when we are notified about it. If he updates the thread and then doesn't report the OP, we don't know about the update, and so it doesn't get promoted.
Unfortunately devs using alts to post fake reviews is actually quite a common occurrence. As long as the developer owns up to the "mistake" and promises to not do it again then we're fine with giving them a second chance and not posting a public message. However, it's clear that in this instance, from the messages posted on Discord, that there was zero remorse plus a denial of wrongdoing, so we no longer felt comfortable giving him the benefit of the doubt, and enforced our rules more stringently.
This is the first time I've had any interaction with him, and I haven't even played this game. Do you seriously think I randomly go around targeting innocent developers just for kicks? In the past 5 years we have banned reviews on 3 games including this one. This is an incredibly rare occurrence and an action we do not take lightly.
8 reviews, going back to July. All 8 used the same French VPN node. The 8th and final review was posted at 12:58AM UTC yesterday, whilst the account was registered using the same VPN node as the previous 7 reviews, it also logged in using Zimon's main residential IP - I'm guessing he accidentally disabled his VPN whilst still logged into this alt.how many reviews where posted
you mean they come from france8 reviews, going back to July. All 8 used the same French VPN node. The 8th and final review was posted at 12:58AM UTC yesterday, whilst the account was registered using the same VPN node as the previous 7 reviews, it also logged in using Zimon's main residential IP - I'm guessing he accidentally disabled his VPN whilst still logged into this alt.
We were obviously monitoring the situation due to the previous 7 reviews, however once we had concrete evidence with the 8th account we took action.
We are also suspicious of another 3 accounts, but haven't taken action as it can't be 100% proven like the 8 mentioned above.
Re-read my post. All 8 accounts used the same VPN node, the 8th account also used Zimon's residential IP address, thus proving the 8th account was Zimon's alt, and linking the previous 7 accounts to the 8th account.you mean they come from france
That was the part I was curious about, having a bunch of good reviews come from the same IP is suspicious but could just be an over zealous fan, having them come from the same IP the dev used is damning.Zimon logged into his main account using the same IP as one of the alts 40 minutes after the fact. His main accounts last activity on that day was 1:36AM UTC, the last of the spam reviews was posted at 12:58AM UTC.
The VPN was in france that doesn't mean the person is, there is no "Haha but Zimon doesn't live in france" moment here.you mean they come from france
Zimon logged into his main account using the same IP as one of the alts 40 minutes after the fact. His main accounts last activity on that day was 1:36AM UTC, the last of the spam reviews was posted at 12:58AM UTC.
It's a residential IP, and the cross over between accounts is less than an hour.
We can only promote a thread when we are notified about it. If he updates the thread and then doesn't report the OP, we don't know about the update, and so it doesn't get promoted.
8 reviews, going back to July. All 8 used the same French VPN node. The 8th and final review was posted at 12:58AM UTC yesterday, whilst the account was registered using the same VPN node as the previous 7 reviews, it also logged in using Zimon's main residential IP - I'm guessing he accidentally disabled his VPN whilst still logged into this alt.
We were obviously monitoring the situation due to the previous 7 reviews, however once we had concrete evidence with the 8th account we took action.
We are also suspicious of another 3 accounts, but haven't taken action as it can't be 100% proven like the 8 mentioned above.
I don't frequent F95 much, so I didn't know it was a more widespread issue. I only know about it when it happens to CoR. In fact this is the only thread I've ever really looked at.All of this has happened to several different games I follow not just CoR, it's the result of a buggy system not a directed attack on one random dev.
There are several suspicious reviews dating back months, where "someone" made an account to post a single 5 star review, left no comments or anything and never logged back into the account afterwards. This doesn't seem like a one time thing.
(Not to mention that you're just taking his word that he was asleep)
Unfortunately devs using alts to post fake reviews is actually quite a common occurrence. As long as the developer owns up to the "mistake" and promises to not do it again then we're fine with giving them a second chance and not posting a public message. However, it's clear that in this instance, from the messages posted on Discord, that there was zero remorse plus a denial of wrongdoing, so we no longer felt comfortable giving him the benefit of the doubt, and enforced our rules more stringently.
This is the first time I've had any interaction with him, and I haven't even played this game. Do you seriously think I randomly go around targeting innocent developers just for kicks? In the past 5 years we have banned reviews on 3 games including this one. This is an incredibly rare occurrence and an action we do not take lightly.
haha but zim doesnt live in franceThe VPN was in france that doesn't mean the person is, there is no "Haha but Zimon doesn't live in france" moment here.
Sam can you share who were the 7 accounts, or at least their activity on the forum? Did all 7 just post a 5 star review and nothing else?I appreciate you replying with this information. I was not aware of any of that. Certainly food for thought. Hard to deny if the account was made with the VPN and used his IP. Although that would only make it certain 1 of the alt accounts was used for that purpose, not all 8.
There is no point in sharing since each was used only to boost this game, they joined, liked the op posted 5 star review and were discarded.Sam can you share who were the 7 accounts, or at least their activity on the forum? Did all 7 just post a 5 star review and nothing else?
so they created an acount to support a game they liked isnt that normal to do when you like a game creating an account to support it on different platformsThere is no point in sharing since each was used only to boost this game, they joined, liked the op posted 5 star review and were discarded.
Out of curiosity, in a case like this are there any other actions taken against the game developer? I mean, one could suppose that since this dev is bringing in over $3000 per month that some (most?) of that support is coming from users on this site and therefore might be partially based on the 'bad' reviews?There is no point in sharing since each was used only to boost this game, they joined, liked the op posted 5 star review and were discarded.
If they were actual people, sure.so they created an acount to support a game they liked isnt that normal to do when you like a game creating an account to support it on different platforms
guess what im doing right nowIf they were actual people, sure.
But there's definitive proof it was all Zimon, which is (obviously) against the site rules.
He tried to scam the system and got caught, you can't defend him.
and do you have any proof he did the only people that have that are the mods so you cant attack himIf they were actual people, sure.
But there's definitive proof it was all Zimon, which is (obviously) against the site rules.
He tried to scam the system and got caught, you can't defend him.
You're totally right, the mods have the proof, you literally had the SysAdmin explain to you earlier how they know it could only be Zimon.and do you have any proof he did the only people that have that are the mods so you cant attack him
Fact: 8 reviews came from 8 accounts all made by the same person.8 reviews, going back to July. All 8 used the same French VPN node. The 8th and final review was posted at 12:58AM UTC yesterday, whilst the account was registered using the same VPN node as the previous 7 reviews, it also logged in using Zimon's main residential IP - I'm guessing he accidentally disabled his VPN whilst still logged into this alt.