cheating

Having watched certain sites fairly closely over the last 6+ months I have to say that it's fairly dissapointing that so much cheating goes on.. it makes this topsites list pretty useless in my mind.. take the centre for reptile and amphibian reaserch for example, the other day they got 5242 hits from 25 unique visitors. PATHETIC. if that isnt cheating what is? it's been going on for a long time and they are not the only ones!

What are the rules re cheating sites here?

if it's allowed then i'll jump on the bandwagon too, if not then how about doing somehting about it?

watchdog

Originally Posted by watchdog

Having watched certain sites fairly closely over the last 6+ months I have to say that it's fairly dissapointing that so much cheating goes on.. it makes this topsites list pretty useless in my mind.. take the centre for reptile and amphibian reaserch for example, the other day they got 5242 hits from 25 unique visitors. PATHETIC. if that isnt cheating what is? it's been going on for a long time and they are not the only ones!

What are the rules re cheating sites here?

if it's allowed then i'll jump on the bandwagon too, if not then how about doing somehting about it?

watchdog

Yeah, I know some website webmasters cheat on the stats. They want to be on the first page of the site and will do whatever is necessary to accomplish that. I have caught several and slapped them with the evidence. Most flatly deny it even when the evidence is overwhelming.

So tell you what. You make a list of everyone who is cheating, your reasons for believing that, and provide as much evidence as you can to prove the cheating, then contact those webmasters and get back to me. I'll take it from there.

Originally Posted by watchdog

Having watched certain sites fairly closely over the last 6+ months I have to say that it's fairly dissapointing that so much cheating goes on.. it makes this topsites list pretty useless in my mind.. take the centre for reptile and amphibian reaserch for example, the other day they got 5242 hits from 25 unique visitors. PATHETIC. if that isnt cheating what is? it's been going on for a long time and they are not the only ones!

What are the rules re cheating sites here?

if it's allowed then i'll jump on the bandwagon too, if not then how about doing somehting about it?

watchdog

Pointing out that some sites are engaged in dishonorable activity is fine: the BOI was founded to point out, and ferret out the bad guys. I personally feel that this particular site is run with integrity, but your specific example from another site was excellent and illustrative of the behavior your wished to point out.

But saying that if permitted, you would jump on the bandwagon?
To me, cheating is wrong. It doesn't matter who does it, it is wrong. I agree that when one sees others doing something that is obviously dishonorable, and doing it with impunity, it is galling. I think it would be good to take the high road and help expose such misdoings, which your post helped to do.

I should not have said that i'll jump on the bandwagon, I wont. I disslike cheats, it's unfair, it's wrong. I have approached a couple of webmasters, all i got was f***off and mind your own business from repti farm. their stats are also really sad, I fail to see how 300 visits can equate to 4300 pagehits.

Pangea is another one.

One of the other webmasters I contacted decided to not be on the list rather than not cheat after presenting him with "statistics!"

I sent another message to reptile and amphibian research centre, i don,t expect a reply from them.

Thanks for being concerned
watchdoggie

PS, Lucille, what is also BOI?

Pangea has a very active Rhac forum hooked to the site. Does this contribute to the numbers in any way? I know, myself, will add several hits a day. Somehow I just think Matt has more to do than sit around and click refresh all day.

Originally Posted by watchdog

PS, Lucille, what is also BOI?

The BOI is the Board of Inquiry: a forum on this site dedicated to making the reptile commercial experience safer for us all by allowing those who have had personal experiences with vendors and individuals to recount them in public. 'Good guys' those who are honest and ethical are presented by satisfied customers and hopefully get more business because of their sterling character.

The slimeballs of the reptile world are exposed by people who have been cheated and scammed, and these scammers also will hopefully reap what they sowed.

All in all, one of the finest example of commercial justice in the modern world; and an expanded version for commerce in general is being trialed by this webmaster on another site.

Originally Posted by watchdog

I have approached a couple of webmasters, all i got was f***off and mind your own business from repti farm. their stats are also really sad, I fail to see how 300 visits can equate to 4300 pagehits.

Pangea is another one.

One of the other webmasters I contacted decided to not be on the list rather than not cheat after presenting him with "statistics!"

I sent another message to reptile and amphibian research centre, i don,t expect a reply from them.

Thanks for being concerned
watchdoggie

Exactly........... Which is why I am reluctant to step my foot into that pile..

An interesting phenomenon I have noticed is that if you catch someone lying, cheating, or stealing, and accuse them of that, with ALL the facts on your side, YOU become the bad guy in their eyes and they will usually hate your guts for all eternity because of it. So with that in mind, perhaps it is best to just leave things as they are and let astute viewers make their own decisions, based on the stats they can see and interpret, about the people running those sites.

it's frustrating but your right webslave. while topsites lists work off pagehits and not unique viewers this problem will always exist.

As for sitting back clicking links all day, anyone who calls themselves a webmaster should be able to think up at least a dozen ways to cheat using scripts etc if they wanted to, it's just too easy.

Watchdoggie

sad to say repti-farm has not slowed down with stats cheating, if anything they're getting worse.. almost 5000 hits from 300 users is a joke and very unfair on those who do it properly.

repashy is just as bad, some days they forget to cheat, it's pretty obvious

Whats wrong with you people?

Originally Posted by Hurley

Pangea has a very active Rhac forum hooked to the site. Does this contribute to the numbers in any way? I know, myself, will add several hits a day. Somehow I just think Matt has more to do than sit around and click refresh all day.

I have to agree with this statement...I have met Matt on several occasions and I am sure he has a busy enough day that he would see this as a waste of his time...besides I am not sure he could sit still long enough to make a difference...LOL
I have been to his site several times as well...and had at least 10 page hits while I was there...and I have never been in his forum...so how can you reliably decide who is and who is not a cheater without a list of IP's and their respective hits?

I have another question...if anyone can answer it.
With all the worry about cheating the system to get higher ranking...can anyone tell me what kind of volume the LIST is doing FOR these businesses? It HAS to be trackable...

I guess I am just curious whether all the time these "cheaters" spend is actually in vain in the first place...which would make it laughable...or if the volume of traffic directed to them is so large it is worth the hours they might spend watching a screen refresh.

Personally I have only used the list once...and I actually went through it pretty far...looking for websites I haven't seen...not the top25 that everyone has seen before...