Recently, we have had to give out warnings to several members who were possibly abusing the Refer-a-Friend system.
The traits are typically as follows:
- Several "friends" are referred.
- IP address is identical to referrer, identical amongst friends, or very similar
- Each friend posts a string of non-substantial 1-line replies over a very short period of time, and stopping after 5 or 6 posts. Typically, that would be the last we ever hear from them.
In most of the above cases, the referrer will not get any points anyway, so that referral is a wasted exercise if gaining points was the objective. Unfortunately, the posts also end up excessively cluttering the board, and in the case where points are automatically awarded, this is unfair to members who make legitimate referrals. Please don't get me wrong - posting occasional one-liners is fine, so long as that's not all you're doing and OVERALL you're genuinely contributing to the forum. And we're actually pretty lax with these things until it becomes obvious that there is an abuse situation going on.
Please note that the behavior of the 'friends' in the above situations will be treated as the behavior of the referrer (regardless of whether the referrer and friends are indeed the same people), and it is the referrer's responsibility to make sure that the above behavior does not happen.Failure to ensure this may result in one or more of the following things:
- removal of points
- suspension of all related accounts
- ban of of all related accounts
- ban of all related IPs
Warnings may or may not be given, depending on the circumstances.
Thank you everyone for your cooperation!
Digg
