Frauds in PA?

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   Hi, I was wondering about the following. 

If I were in a prog band (I assure you I'm not a musician, and I hope I'm not giving ideas to any musicians out there) and released an album, I could ask all my friends and family to post 4 and 5 stars ratings and enthusiastic reviews for my album.
A band with 4 or 5 members could very easily get at least 40 or 50 high ratings in this way, which would put the album in a very desirable position for PA readers.
Sure enough, if the album was not good, "real" reviews and ratings would eventually put it back to where it belongs, but by then many of us might have bitten the dust.

Of course this would be stupid since if it was ever found they would totally loose their face and ruin their reputation forever but you know, there's no lack of stupid people out there...

Has such kind of fraud ever been found in PA?
Would there be any ways of monitoring, detecting, preventing or punishing such behaviour?

When I see a highly rated album but which has only very few reviews / ratings (such as the "Top 100 little known but highly rated studio albums of all time" list), I can not help thinking "this looks like it could be a lost gem but hey, be careful, these could be the band member's themselves or some of their friends, or the mums and omas of the guys".

Edited by Gerinski - August 14 2010 at 05:19

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Gerinski Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: February 10 2010 Location: Barcelona Spain Status: Offline Points: 5154	Topic: Frauds in PA? Posted: August 14 2010 at 04:27
	Hi, I was wondering about the following. If I were in a prog band (I assure you I'm not a musician, and I hope I'm not giving ideas to any musicians out there) and released an album, I could ask all my friends and family to post 4 and 5 stars ratings and enthusiastic reviews for my album. A band with 4 or 5 members could very easily get at least 40 or 50 high ratings in this way, which would put the album in a very desirable position for PA readers. Sure enough, if the album was not good, "real" reviews and ratings would eventually put it back to where it belongs, but by then many of us might have bitten the dust. Of course this would be stupid since if it was ever found they would totally loose their face and ruin their reputation forever but you know, there's no lack of stupid people out there... Has such kind of fraud ever been found in PA? Would there be any ways of monitoring, detecting, preventing or punishing such behaviour? When I see a highly rated album but which has only very few reviews / ratings (such as the "Top 100 little known but highly rated studio albums of all time" list), I can not help thinking "this looks like it could be a lost gem but hey, be careful, these could be the band member's themselves or some of their friends, or the mums and omas of the guys". Edited by Gerinski - August 14 2010 at 05:19

Easy Livin Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin Joined: February 21 2004 Location: Scotland Status: Offline Points: 15585	Posted: August 14 2010 at 05:18
	We do find spam ratings from time to time. There are various ways of detecting them, by far the most effective being the eyes and ears of our members.

chopper Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: July 13 2005 Location: Essex, UK Status: Offline Points: 20033	Posted: August 14 2010 at 05:44
	People do give false ratings just for the hell of it (I remember one guy who gave every Beatles album 1 star) but the ratings algorithm gives more weight to collaborators reviews and hopefully they're above this sort of thing.

toroddfuglesteg Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Retired Joined: March 04 2008 Location: Retirement Home Status: Offline Points: 3658	Posted: August 14 2010 at 06:01
	Basically, when we find frauds, we get the fraudster's IP address. From that, we discover his/hers/it's geographic address. Then we send Chopper's dog (see avatar) to that address. That is why there is no repeat offenders in ProgArchives. Joking aside, why anyone wants to manipulate ProgArchives by spam reviews is beyond belief. I call creatures like that Darwinism Bypasses. Not even chimps would see any sense in trying to manipulate ProgArchives.

Easy Money Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin Joined: August 11 2007 Location: Memphis Status: Offline Points: 10680	Posted: August 14 2010 at 06:11
	Various bands and artists have pulled some creative stunts to boost their ratings on here. They usually get found out eventually. After you have looked at a lot of reviews you develop a sixth sense for things that don't look right.