Newgrounds.com — Everything, By Everyone.

At 12 hours ago, Austerity wrote: We definitely need to band together to vote 0 on all these things and not vote 2 for those extra save points, tempting as they are.

While I can appreciate that sentiment, we are NOT a blamming club, and we do NOT group vote on anything. To be more accurate, if we ALL vote fairly, and all recognize what each flash is for what it's worth, the blams will occur naturally.

At 1 minute ago, Gimmick wrote:

a company that produces dressup games and ones that are just for +1 flash?

They're doing it for the money. The more games they have out the more ad revenue they get. Pumping out a few of the same exact game several times a day means a steady stream of money. I'd like to know who is making these and where they come from, if they have a sweatshop somewhere where they force people to pump these out just so one person can get all the money. Like a pimp in a way.

You are correct - a "cookie-cutter" account that produces the same type of flash over and over again with only minor graphic changes (such as the "Meet and F**k" and "Spot the Difference" games) is doing it for recognition, and not for the betterment of Newgrounds. Theoretically, the flashes themselves my not be in violation of the rules here, but the quantity of all of the look-alike flashes that they pump out can be considered a form of spamming.

It may be advantageous that if an account is reported as "cookie-cutter" or "mass-producer", it should be flagged as such, and every flash they submit would show some sort of banner / message / visible notation on the voting screen that the flash is submitted from a mass-producer; this would then let the voting community be aware of the intentions of the account and their flashes so they could vote accordingly.

It's a borderline subject, but in the end, as long as you vote fairly according to your own opinion, and don't vote just for stat points, the true crap will get voted out of the portal.

At 13 hours ago, MistyEntertainment wrote: and who can forget those biking games that are basically the same thing over and over with different backgrounds?

I'm not sure what flash you're referring to?

on an unrelated note, yay silver whistle.

Congrats! If we hadn't eliminated the flash flag system, or I got whistle points for all the flash I've reported to Wade and that he deleted, I'm sure I'd have my deity whistle by now lol.

At 1 hour ago, byteslinger wrote:
While I can appreciate that sentiment, we are NOT a blamming club, and we do NOT group vote on anything. To be more accurate, if we ALL vote fairly, and all recognize what each flash is for what it's worth, the blams will occur naturally.

I was about to say something to that extent. There should be no discussions about group voting. There should be a discussion about how to vote fairly and accurately, without stat whoring. Even though we know what is implied, and what Tom himself has said.

Needless to say, I don't see anything wrong with saying that I believe that those type of flashes which are crappy, recycled flashes submitted twice daily lack complete originality and to me deserve a big fat zero.

It's your choice how you wish to vote ;)

but the quantity of all of the look-alike flashes that they pump out can be considered a form of spamming.

I have to agree, but we both know that spamming is kind of allowed here to a certain extent. I'll see if I can discuss this further with Wade when he's not too busy.

It may be advantageous that if an account is reported as "cookie-cutter" or "mass-producer", it should be flagged as such, and every flash they submit would show some sort of banner / message / visible notation on the voting screen that the flash is submitted from a mass-producer; this would then let the voting community be aware of the intentions of the account and their flashes so they could vote accordingly.

I don't know how much this would help. I mean if the regular user who votes on a flash like this, can't even pay attention enough to realize that it's that kind of flash in the first place, I strongly doubt a message like that would help any. They won't pay anymore attention to it then necessary.

It's a borderline subject, but in the end, as long as you vote fairly according to your own opinion, and don't vote just for stat points, the true crap will get voted out of the portal.

But..... I ..... want..... the points....so....badly......uuuuggggghhhhhhhh.......

At 7 hours ago, SpiffyMasta wrote: I'm not sure what flash you're referring to?

Almost every single "biking" or "racing" game submitted here. They're practically all the same. I remember seeing one of them at a 3.50 but then downvoted in a few minutes to a 3.24.

Congrats! If we hadn't eliminated the flash flag system, or I got whistle points for all the flash I've reported to Wade and that he deleted, I'm sure I'd have my deity whistle by now lol.

I have Tom to thank for that for frontpaging "The Minecraft Community" and "Gay William Johnson." Also, I forgot how many things you have to flag to get a deity whistle, do you know?

but the quantity of all of the look-alike flashes that they pump out can be considered a form of spamming.

I have to agree, but we both know that spamming is kind of allowed here to a certain extent.

^this

I remember in 2009 when I'd really want a daily award, but now that I have many, I don't care because they're really easy to get.

At 3 hours ago, Austerity wrote: OMG so much blammed flash!

Wow! I don't think there has ever been a day since I've been a member where there has been completely no blams at all. Even on Clock Day there is usually at least 4 blams. I'm starting to worry that they will become extremely rare and everybodys ratio will just get worse and worse until most users have 1 blam to every 200 saves. I guess that it is time to stop caring about my ratio.

At 50 minutes ago, Decky wrote: I guess that it is time to stop caring about my ratio.

Well, that's just one day -- it may get better soon, or over time the voting may shift, that is, most cookie-cutter flash get blammed by the users, just like it shifted to saves instead of blams, eventually the cookie cutter flash may get blammed when enough people think "That's it, enough is enough!" or they have a high enough voting power, in their opinion, that they think that they can 0 vote them and finally, when they all have a high VP, they'll 0 vote the heck out of them and prevent them from coming...

My theory?

At 17 hours ago, MistyEntertainment wrote:
I have Tom to thank for that for frontpaging "The Minecraft Community" and "Gay William Johnson." Also, I forgot how many things you have to flag to get a deity whistle, do you know?

Nobody knows actually, but we do know that flagging flashes carried more weight in points than flagging reviews.

At 5 hours ago, Decky wrote: Wow! I don't think there has ever been a day since I've been a member where there has been completely no blams at all. Even on Clock Day there is usually at least 4 blams. I'm starting to worry that they will become extremely rare and everybodys ratio will just get worse and worse until most users have 1 blam to every 200 saves. I guess that it is time to stop caring about my ratio.

You should never care about your ratio. You shouldn't even care about getting points. You should care about voting fairly. That's it ;)

At 1 day ago, MistyEntertainment wrote:
igirlgames
Argon025
smileydressup

At 1 day ago, byteslinger wrote: You are correct - a "cookie-cutter" account that produces the same type of flash over and over again with only minor graphic changes (such as the "Meet and F**k" and "Spot the Difference" games) is doing it for recognition, and not for the betterment of Newgrounds. Theoretically, the flashes themselves my not be in violation of the rules here, but the quantity of all of the look-alike flashes that they pump out can be considered a form of spamming.

It may be advantageous that if an account is reported as "cookie-cutter" or "mass-producer", it should be flagged as such, and every flash they submit would show some sort of banner / message / visible notation on the voting screen that the flash is submitted from a mass-producer; this would then let the voting community be aware of the intentions of the account and their flashes so they could vote accordingly.

So I've brought this up to Wade and he sad this would be something they would address with the new flagging system, and that it will be portal mods job to stay on top of those items. He does consider spamming, since they are essentially just mass producing these items to generate more ad revenue and send people to their sites. He just doesn't have time to handle it, and even if he deletes the accounts, they will just create other accounts and continue.

To me, it's the equivalent of trying to just post something to advertise your website, which is considered rule breaking. And it certainly doesn't make Newgrounds any better.

Just thought I'd keep you all in the loop.

At 16 minutes ago, SpiffyMasta wrote: So I've brought this up to Wade and he sad this would be something they would address with the new flagging system, and that it will be portal mods job to stay on top of those items. He does consider spamming, since they are essentially just mass producing these items to generate more ad revenue and send people to their sites. He just doesn't have time to handle it, and even if he deletes the accounts, they will just create other accounts and continue.

To me, it's the equivalent of trying to just post something to advertise your website, which is considered rule breaking. And it certainly doesn't make Newgrounds any better.

Just thought I'd keep you all in the loop.

Thank you, Spiff! I appreciate your follow-through and efforts, and as we move forward, we can hope that the portal mods and flagging systems will help keep this spam at bay. Well done, soldier!

*Salutes*

Just as an added two cents: Tom has also stated that there might be a "shovelware" flag option for these accounts. If enough people click it, or if a portal mod / admin sees a new one, the shovelware flag will render their flashes invisible to the portal (i.e. they don't show up in it, the new games / movies sections, or anywhere besides the account's own flash list). Ergo: No more revenue from flash views = mass-uploaders aren't making any money = this problem goes away on its own.

...Well, after the inevitable months of desperate attempts to make new accounts faster than the site can ban them, but meh; that's just Newgrounds for you.

P.S: If a "shovelware" button is made, I'd like to see a newspost version of it too. Some of the things the newspost spambots have started to advertise are outright dangerous (Read: Fake medication, firearms, get-out-of-DUI-ticket free cards etc.). I know the whole section has been hidden, but it seems some of them have upped their spamming even more as if to compensate for the lack of viewers now. Being able to hide some of them even more would probably do the site some good in the long run, and if they're making the base code for the portal already, then why not? :D

At 7 hours ago, SpiffyMasta wrote:

You should never care about your ratio. You shouldn't even care about getting points. You should care about voting fairly. That's it ;)

I was considering joining the EGB once I improved my post quality and got to 2,500 B/P points, though my blam to save ratio is roughly 1:6.

At 51 seconds ago, Austerity wrote: My original 2004 account has a blam to save ratio of 11 to 1.

back when blams were more common than saves.

btw, looks like the admins fixed that judgment exploit where you could go to the author of an UJ flash and see a rough estimate of its score

At 2 hours ago, Austerity wrote: My original 2004 account has a blam to save ratio of 11 to 1.

Why don't you log back into it and start using it again? I didn't know you had signed up in 2004.

At 2 hours ago, MistyEntertainment wrote:

At 51 seconds ago, Austerity wrote: My original 2004 account has a blam to save ratio of 11 to 1.

back when blams were more common than saves.

I wouldn't mind more saves than blams, it shows improvement in the portal's quality, that it has attracted genuine artists rather than shitty people looking for a place to dump their five-minute-flashes. However, I wouldn't mind a relatively even ratio, as opposed to one that's incredibly the fuck off balance. If you have more than three times as many saves as you do blams, then you're voting wrong.

At 56 minutes ago, Scarface wrote:

I wouldn't mind more saves than blams, it shows improvement in the portal's quality, that it has attracted genuine artists rather than shitty people looking for a place to dump their five-minute-flashes. However, I wouldn't mind a relatively even ratio, as opposed to one that's incredibly the fuck off balance. If you have more than three times as many saves as you do blams, then you're voting wrong.

Though less and less flashes get blammed.
Austerity's screenshot pretty much sums it up.

At 3 minutes ago, MistyEntertainment wrote: Though less and less flashes get blammed.
Austerity's screenshot pretty much sums it up.

I suppose you're right, quality or no quality there's never a reason so have no blams in an entire 24-hour span of time. I fear that this site may be heading downhill, though unlike many people, I do not believe the redesign to be the cause. I fear simply that this was inevitable. For every mature, intelligent, responsible voter there is on the site, there are at least a dozen more 5-all fuck-heads who don't know the definition of a good flash. I fear that this will become the dumping grounds of websites without open portals like ours, such as Kongregate or Armorgames.

I mourn the days where Stickpage and Flashplayer were cool websites who had their own style, Addictinggames didn't give a fuck about the layout, Armorgames was still Games of Gondor, and Anitude still existed. Goddamn, those were good times, and it's a shame I was too young to appreciate them.

My shameful nostalgia aside, it is up to us and the other few remained users devoted to guarding the portal to do so. Forgive me for speculation, but perhaps the fall of Newgrounds is inevitable. But god damn it, we will slow it down as best we can, and we will fight the spammers and inexperienced 5-alls every inch of the way. We will never let Newgrounds go without a fight, and even then, we'll hang on.

At 1 hour ago, Scarface wrote: Forgive me for speculation, but perhaps the fall of Newgrounds is inevitable. But god damn it, we will slow it down as best we can, and we will fight the spammers and inexperienced 5-alls every inch of the way. We will never let Newgrounds go without a fight, and even then, we'll hang on.

Yep, NG is definitely declining. Within the past three years, the daily flash output has been cut in half, and flashes get daily awards at about 0.80 less than years back. The redesign makes accessing the movies harder to newcomers, so more and more flashes fly under the radar.

I can understand them getting rid of Turd; I haven't seen a single spam submission yet. Though since the redesign, they also got rid of an updated RCP, Underdog and King of the Portal.

At 31 minutes ago, MistyEntertainment wrote: Yep, NG is definitely declining. Within the past three years, the daily flash output has been cut in half, and flashes get daily awards at about 0.80 less than years back. The redesign makes accessing the movies harder to newcomers, so more and more flashes fly under the radar.

I thought it was the same as the old version: using the //portal/ link to go to the portal, click on the flash name and then vote. It hasn't changed in a bit.

At 3/23/12 11:08 PM, Austerity wrote:

At 1 hour ago, Gimmick wrote:

At 2 hours ago, Austerity wrote: My original 2004 account has a blam to save ratio of 11 to 1.

Why don't you log back into it and start using it again? I didn't know you had signed up in 2004.

I forgot both the password and email account that I used for it, so I decided to start with a fresh account when I came back to this site.

If you remembered any private details (for example, the school field) that you filled in, you can PM wade and provided you can convince him nobody else knows the school you were in (the field that you filled in) then he can probably unlock your account.

If you left it blank then...well I'll feel sorry for ya.

This is probably the first time I've seen a stolen audio submission.

• 
  Evanescene-Going Under by dora434434

  evanescene rules!

  Score

  0.00 / 5.00

  Type

  Song

  Genre

  General Rock

  Popularity

  3 Views

• Loading...

Anyone know an audio mod in the EGB? Who should I PM, SuperSteph54, Travis, RampantMusik or someone else?

At 3/25/12 05:07 AM, Gimmick wrote: This is probably the first time I've seen a stolen audio submission.
http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/477920
Anyone know an audio mod in the EGB? Who should I PM, SuperSteph54, Travis, RampantMusik or someone else?

PM SuperSteph54 quickly. It is really bad that anyone can download the song from Newgrounds right now. Although I thought that users and their first song has to get approved, so I am not sure how it got there in the first place.

At 3/25/12 05:16 AM, Asandir wrote:

At 3/25/12 05:07 AM, Gimmick wrote: This is probably the first time I've seen a stolen audio submission.
http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/477920
Anyone know an audio mod in the EGB? Who should I PM, SuperSteph54, Travis, RampantMusik or someone else?

PM SuperSteph54 quickly. It is really bad that anyone can download the song from Newgrounds right now. Although I thought that users and their first song has to get approved, so I am not sure how it got there in the first place.

I got a reply!

"He wasn't approved, (he was still in the approval waiting list) but since the redesign, for now everyone who posts an audio submission for the first time will get it posted on their profile but just not in the Audio Portal (unlike before when people would have to get approved first before it gets posted anywhere). Anyway, I've banned the person and I'm contacting Wade to delete the submission.
Nice find, thanks for notifying me."

At 3/24/12 05:48 PM, SCTE3 wrote: I know it will be removed soon but I think this is the dumbest thief I've seen thus far.

He's just been one-upped:

• 
  Grounds os (2001) by Cyanshake

  A part of newgrounds history. . .

  Score

  Under Judgment

  Type

  Game

  Popularity

  291 Views

  Rated

  Ages 13+

Yes, we've actually found the holy grail of stupidity here. Someone has gone even further than stealing well-known games, and has uploaded an old version of Newgrounds itself... to Newgrounds.

F.
A.
I.
L.

hey remember when somebody who would only steal one thing would get deleted?
i don't either.