The opinion blocker.

Scintilla · Post by **Scintilla** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 4:35 pm

So somebody puts up an AMV on YouSendIt and posts it to an LJ community after having found it on BitTorrent from a different LJ community. People love it; it's a hit.
I find that it's the same as one listed on the Org, and I give the link to the info page and tell everyone that it would be nice if they could go leave an opinion if they liked it.

And then somebody asks me why it's telling her she has to download the video in order to leave an opinion, even though she already has it, along with everyone else who got it from either the torrent or YSI.

(The aforementioned video is <a href="http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members ... 9860">this one</a> -- it's not even mine.)

I'm sure that similar situations are popping up every day.

And people who get their AMVs from P2P networks, YouTube, random direct links on the Internet, and/or even direct and indirect links from the Org (all assuming that local links exist for the videos in question) are going to keep having this problem. They're just as qualified to leave ops as anyone else who's seen the videos, yet they can't do it without redownloading. Which is a waste of bandwidth (and therefore money).

I know I'm not the only one who has a problem with this. I'm aware of the issue of fraudulent/mistaken opinions that it was instituted in order to solve, but I don't think it's worth it.

So, basically... how much opposition would we have to generate in order to get the opinion blocker removed?

SarahtheBoring · Post by **SarahtheBoring** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 10:22 pm

Does doing so legitimize YouTube and its ilk, which are basically vehicles to redistribute AMVs without the editors' permission? (Why would people bother using YSI anyway? Seriously. It's a meme among people who don't know what web hosts are.)

Does the benefit of that one situation (seriously, apart from your friends, how many people are REALLY going to care about who originally made it, let alone want to give them ops) outweigh the abuse that will definitely happen if people get to throw ops at things they haven't even bothered to download, let alone watch?

Can I speak in sentences that aren't questions?

Help?

The answer to the LiveJournal newb is "because it's the rules over there." On LJ you know certain house rules, like anon flames are rude, and ask before you friend people. On the org, there are rules like "bother signing up and downloading before you can op something." When in Rome.

Arigatomina · Post by **Arigatomina** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 10:50 pm

I'm all for finding a way to recognize downloads using direct/indirect links here on the org, since those are as legitimate as the local link. Then, people who access the direct and indirect links from other forums (by clicking the vid description page and visiting the org) can review on the org. If they're getting it somewhere else, it has nothing to do with the fact that the same video just so happens to be listed on this website.

I see no reason to go out of the way to worry about people distributing in outside communities (livejournal, youtube, p2p networks). Most of those communities have a 'reply' function or a 'IM function' or even an 'email' function, so there's no need to send them here to reply to something they didn't get from here. If you spot a video being distributed without the creator's say you can link them to the creator's email so they can contact him. If they aren't linking to the org vid description page to download it from here, I don't see why people from other communities should sign up here to respond to the vid. People using direct/indirect links don't even have to sign up as members here, so half of them wouldn't be able to review, anyway. The review system is for org members to use, not livejournal members who don't like to send emails.

godix · Post by **godix** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 12:57 am

Are opinions really that important? If anyone is worried they're missing ops because of these rules just put your email in the video profile and ask people who can not op to send responses there. Case solved.

downwithpants · Post by **downwithpants** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 1:43 am

afaik, blocking opinion submissions from members who haven't downloaded the video is meant to hinder the practice of creating sock puppet accounts and leaving many all 10 ops or all 1 ops on particular videos - the idea being that the person would need to spend more time to redownload the video on each sock puppet account to leave an opinion.

Flint the Dwarf · Post by **Flint the Dwarf** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 2:40 am

godix wrote:Are opinions really that important? If anyone is worried they're missing ops because of these rules just put your email in the video profile and ask people who can not op to send responses there. Case solved.

VOTE GODIX FOR MOST HELPFUL IN THE VCAs

Kalium · Post by **Kalium** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 10:55 am

Arigatomina wrote:I'm all for finding a way to recognize downloads using direct/indirect links here on the org, since those are as legitimate as the local link. Then, people who access the direct and indirect links from other forums (by clicking the vid description page and visiting the org) can review on the org. If they're getting it somewhere else, it has nothing to do with the fact that the same video just so happens to be listed on this website.

There are rather large vergining on insurmountable technical issues that get in the way with direct and indirect links. All the Org can tell is that you clicked one.

downwithpants wrote:afaik, blocking opinion submissions from members who haven't downloaded the video is meant to hinder the practice of creating sock puppet accounts and leaving many all 10 ops or all 1 ops on particular videos - the idea being that the person would need to spend more time to redownload the video on each sock puppet account to leave an opinion.

That's exactly what it's for. Sockpuppeting is enough of an issue as it is, and removing the block would bring it roaring back.

YouTube · Post by **Ileia** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 1:02 pm

Flint the Dwarf wrote:
godix wrote:Are opinions really that important? If anyone is worried they're missing ops because of these rules just put your email in the video profile and ask people who can not op to send responses there. Case solved.
VOTE GODIX FOR MOST HELPFUL IN THE VCAs

x2