Removing Negative Feedback.. Why is there no recourse for malicous action?

[Subietuner]

I'm going to try and keep this concise and to the point.

About 3 months ago I had Negative feedback posted to my account here. The link is here http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1269384-Comments-and-complaint-withdrawn/page2 But to sum it up, someone maliciously posted negative feedback on my account.

The malicious person ended up eating his own words, saying in the thread "I learned a lesson". The sour deal was solved within days and other forum members agreed with my side of the story wholeheartedly (Read the linked thread to inquire more)


Now HERE is where the problems begin (yes, the problems begin here, not with the malicious buyer). After said malicious buyer realized what he was doing, he realized he could not reverse the negative feedback he posted on my profile. Both him and I used the "report negative feedback button" and BOTH him and I explained that this needed to be taken down. Mistakes happen. People are idiots. People can be and will be malicous.. Blah blah blah

HOWEVER, nothing happened.... Months later..... nothing. Then I contact "RevDevil" a MOD here, and he explains that "spark" is the only one who can reverse negative feedback and that there is nothing he can do. He also stated that "spark" was "tired" of the drama, and has stopped removing malicious feedback.


I was patient, I did everything I could to let them know this needed to be taken down, even the malicious person told spark that it should be removed, yet NOTHING has happened.


--- To "Spark" I ask... WHY? Why? Why? I just want your input on this, as I feel it needs addressed.. Thanks!! If Spark is reading this, I don't mean anything bad by what I say in this thread. I have the best intentions. I just need to get your attention!


I ask the community to come forward with any other ridiculous situations that are NOT getting resolved in a timely manor. I want bladeforums.com to be the best it can possibly be. And in its current state, it's broken IMO. We need a FULLY FUNCTIONING rating system.

I welcome responses and discussion on this topic. Thanks

My intentions with this post is to better the community as a whole, not start more drama.

 

[mrbear]

:very_drunk:

No idea. I have only dealt with Spark once and he went out of his way to help me find a certain knife I was looking for a long time.

He didn't have to do it but he did step up.

 

[Subietuner]

Some points I want to make clear...

1) If members are paying for membership, they deserve to have a FUNCTIONING feedback system, if it's not functioning, why have it at all???!

2) Mods don't have the power to remove negative feedback... WHY? They are arguably vital to this forum, and yet they are useless when dealing with feedback. If "spark" is done with the drama, the MODS should then be responsible for the drama.

3) Why don't the Mods and Spark care about our members? I'm very active here (even as a "newer" member with 112 posts) and yet when I try to solve negative feedback on my profile which was put there maliciously I get the response... "we can't help you at all, we are sick of the drama"

"we are sick of the drama" That is the absolute lamest and laziest excuse on the planet. It's pathetic.

4) There is a constant stream of malicious people and scams online, this could happen to anyone, at anytime, unexpectedly like it did for me. We all know this fact, yet when it happens there is NO way to remove that malicious feedback on here??? What?!?



I've been staying at Jerzeedevil, the USN, and reddit.com/r/knifeswap for now. I don't want to give up on BF, but if it's not run properly then it's not run properly and I find a site that is. I will not pay any more membership fees here unless I get this resolved. And you shouldn't either. I'm not going to pay for a site where the administration is too lazy to run it properly.

This experience is disappointing more than anything; I wanted to think that bladeforums was the place to be for knives.

 

[Subietuner]

He didn't have to do it but he did step up.

Well he hasn't shown up in months to help me. Let see if he does show on this thread.

 

[hhmoore]

A feedback system that can be modified is inherently broken.
I don't have time for a drawn out explanation; but look at it this way: In today's world, there are a lot of people that get away with what they can. They'll misrepresent, overcharge, etc, and not really care about the complaints...until those complaints are publicly posted and can impact their modus operandi. THEN, they want to appease the whistleblower to insure the damage. Many times, such restitution comes with a price - remove your comments, and I'll give you a refund. The idea of alerting a community to that sellers activities takes a back seat to getting one's money returned.
I could go on; but I have to leave for work.

Oh, and the "do your job" approach isn't one I'd recommend. I doubt that there is a guarantee that the site will protect you from negative feedback, or that such feedback will be removed (I could be wrong about that last, but can't take the time to check). Bottom line: it isn't Spark's job - or that of the moderators - to serve as judge and jury in the feedback system by deciding what feedback entries should be modified or removed.

 

[Esav Benyamin]

1. Spark can't be fired. He owns Bladeforums.

2. He has gone through months of really frustrating work trying to restore Bladeforums from systems problems. It looks like he actually beat them, I haven't seen the major glitches in a while.

3. Spark has recently cleared up a backlog of other -- paid! -- requests for name changes and membership upgrades.

4. I bet he could help you out at this point. You don't have to sweet talk him into it but completely misunderstanding the situation doesn't help. We did go through quite a few spiteful iTrader feedbacks, and that's the drama he was tired of.

 

[Subietuner]

it isn't Spark's job - or that of the moderators - to serve as judge and jury in the feedback system by deciding what feedback entries should be modified or removed.

Okay, I get your point. But then we just let malicious people ruin peoples profiles and accounts?

So if my situation happened to you, you'd just sit by and watch? or what?

 

[Subietuner]

4. I bet he could help you out at this point. You don't have to sweet talk him into it but completely misunderstanding the situation doesn't help. We did go through quite a few spiteful iTrader feedbacks, and that's the drama he was tired of.

Okay, I went to RevDevil, he told me spark is the only one with the power. He then told me, nothing will happen because he is "tired of the drama".

Do you see where someone can get frustrated when someone pays for a membership, then gets told there is no recourse to someone acting maliciously on your account

 

[Subietuner]

A feedback system that can be modified is inherently broken.

And a feedback system that cannot be modified is inherently broken as well because there are liars, thieves, and people who act maliciously for no reason. There will bound to be negative feedback placed which shouldn't have. And there should be a way to act on it and get it removed.

A feedback system that removes malicious feedback when warranted is ideal.

 

[Subietuner]

1. Spark can't be fired. He owns Bladeforums.

Can not be fired, and should not be fired are two very different things. Just cause someone can't get fired. Doesn't mean they shouldn't


I don't truly think he should be fired just for a lack of working on the feedback system. I'd have to get to know him better to make any real judgments... But I also don't think that "I'm tired of the drama" is a justifiable excuse

 

[Esav Benyamin]

Just to mention this, but moderators get frustrated, too. RevDevil puts in an incredible amount of time and effort in keeping the forums, especially in the Exchange, remaining responsive. Sometimes we do throw up our hands in despair. What do we do when everything goes wrong at once?

 

[wolfmann601]

Maybe it is time for Spark to assign this duty to his Super moderators. I know that each is more than capable of deciding fair from unfair and trust their decisions.

Esav and/or Rev would do a great job.....................

 

[Subietuner]

Maybe it is time for Spark to assign this duty to his Super moderators. I know that each is more than capable of deciding fair from unfair and trust their decisions.

Esav and/or Rev would do a great job.....................

Exactly. I'm not bashing the mods or spark. I'm bashing the lack of getting unwarranted feedback removed.

I think any of the super mods would be fantastic at removing feedback in a timely manor. They have the right judgement and fair and neutral stance to do so.

 

[benchwarmer380]

I remember that thread and it looked as though that both parties started a thread about the other and left negative iTrader ratings while still going through (albeit failing at the time) return/refund negotiations. Rev's last post in the Feedback thread is spot on in my book.

Closing this for now. Report your negative feedback through the itrader system, the site owner will review and determine if it is worthy of reversal. Due to several members being trigger happy with negatives lately, I would not expect any immediate action if any in that area. There should be some accountability when it comes to leaving a specific rating and some argue that if you leave someone a bad rating, it should stay. Not being too quick on the trigger as it were. Moderators cannot reverse or modify feedback scores.

I'm glad you guys got the situation resolved amicably.

 

[Subietuner]

Just to mention this, but moderators get frustrated, too. RevDevil puts in an incredible amount of time and effort in keeping the forums, especially in the Exchange, remaining responsive. Sometimes we do throw up our hands in despair. What do we do when everything goes wrong at once?

I understand if everything went to shit, there isn't much one person or even two or three people could do about it.

BUT... My case was SO clear and cut dry. The malicious person admitted they were so. I was patient, it's been months. My thread where he admits his wrongdoing would have disappeared into the archives if I didn't do something quick!

 

[Subietuner]

I remember that thread and it looked as though that both parties started a thread about the other and left negative iTrader ratings while still going through (albeit failing at the time) return/refund negotiations. Rev's last post in the Feedback thread is spot on in my book.



I'm glad you guys got the situation resolved amicably.

I never started a thread about him, just replied to the one he started.

I left negative feedback on his profile only after he did mine. It was literally my only recourse available. Everywhere else I turned was a dead end. And someone that malicious deserves the negative feedback.

 

[benchwarmer380]

If I were you, I would open up your sale thread that the negative was left in and paste the link to the Feedback thread at the very top of your first post.

I know i always look at peoples iTrader when i see a negative and look through it. Sometimes its warranted. Sometimes is someone who intended to post a positive rating and messed up. Sometimes it's an odd, trigger happy situation like this one.

1 negative, while not that pretty, isn't the end of the world.

 

[Subietuner]

If I were you, I would open up your sale thread that the negative was left in and paste the link to the Feedback thread at the very top of your first post.

I know i always look at peoples iTrader when i see a negative and look through it. Sometimes its warranted. Sometimes is someone who intended to post a positive rating and messed up. Sometimes it's an odd, trigger happy situation like this one.

1 negative, while not that pretty, isn't the end of the world.

I actually have been doing that for months! It works well too, people understand!

HOWEVER, eventually that thread will become unreachable in the archives of bladeforums and then what? People have to take my word that it was malicious feedback? I doubt many would trust just my word. I know I wouldn't!

 

[benchwarmer380]

I never started a thread about him, just replied to the one he started.

I left negative feedback on his profile only after he did mine. It was literally my only recourse available. Everywhere else I turned was a dead end. And someone that malicious deserves the negative feedback.

You sure? If memory and deductive reasoning serves, post #3 was a different thread that was merged by rycen. Though I've been wrong before.

 

[Subietuner]

I'd like to add that I take pride in my listings here. I'm always professional with fair prices and great pictures. Feel free to go through my started threads!!

I love this community, I just want to be on here without this malicious feedback, so people don't question my intentions. I don't think that's too much to ask for considering I pay to use this site every year!