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Question - SR Additional Info

Discussion in 'SteamRep General Discussion' started by ryaneus, Nov 18, 2013.

  1. ryaneus

    ryaneus New User

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    There's this box on certain users' SR page where it says "Additional Info from Administrators". It should be more uniform and I think there's about a few variants of the don't add me unless I have <blah>. And the bullets, if necessary, don't really have to be so varying. (You'll see what I mean below)

    Case 1: Vintage Cobra
    Arf Arf, Only I can bark as I can.

    But to be sure you got the right doggie, please check yourself if your dealing with this little bastard ;) as there more doggies out there, who look the same.

    inb4: ppl impersonate me, your job to check if you really deal with this guy.

    Case 2: Xenophobia
    While he may be Pretender, don't accept anyone PRETENDING to be Pretender!

    Case 3: CanadianInvasion
    If his body is not constituted of 99% hockey and maple syrup, it's not the real CanadianInvasion. Make sure you have the real Canadian by licking him, or asking him about the word aboot. Also bags of milk. CANADA

    Case 4: TommY
    ⊙Joined Steam at Nov, 16th, 2004
    ⊙Has 8 badges or more.
    ⊙Has more than 360 games
    ⊙Has 200+ friends.
    ⊙Played Team Fortress 2 for more than 4000 hours.

    Case 5: daemon
    Oderint dum metuant

    Gone but not forgotten.

    A lot of these don't really mean anything, and I'd personally prefer a uniform warning about imposters, rather than customized ones which throw people off. A template for this would be much better.
    Backseatsman and Mattie! like this.
  2. Mattie!

    Mattie! SteamRep Admin

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    Agreed-- this is a bit of a legacy thing. We've been debating the right way to handle them-- we just had bigger fish to fry.
  3. SilentReaper(SR)

    SilentReaper(SR) Retired Staff

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    Back when we established this, we had the stance of that having difference in text would draw more attention to it. Having a standard text would be ignored as much.
  4. Xenophobia

    Xenophobia Retired Staff

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    I don't see anything wrong with mine... except that I changed my name.

    What's wrong with Tommy's?
  5. ryaneus

    ryaneus New User

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    That may be so. But this takes more time to process in the mind.


    Your's is just... weird. It throws people off the scent. People will probably take longer to comprehend what you're saying. Tommy's is not wrong. It's just that the bullet points aren't standardized. Look at Helen's.
  6. SilentReaper(SR)

    SilentReaper(SR) Retired Staff

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    maybe that is the point? that ppl start to THINK before they run into a impersonator?
    I know, I know, its hard, most ppl like to switch their brain off. And after we get the reports with the false accusations, have to TELL them how they should check out whom they ACTUALLY traded via their trading history. And even then they don't check the resulting URL, for they have that default OFF.

    And really, when I look over those texts, its all quite obvious.
    Clive and Thomas Matthias like this.
  7. ryaneus

    ryaneus New User

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    Yeah, but see here.

    1. Arf Arf, Only I can bark as I can.

    2. Oderint dum metuant

    Gone but not forgotten.

    Those don't really help. It just gives an impression that the page is somewhat messy. And from first glance, it just seems like the things people place on their profiles, so people prolly just skip through those. I suggest maybe drawing more attention to that area. Bolding, bright colours and the like.
  8. Thomas Matthias

    Thomas Matthias Retired Staff

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    The problem is not that people do not understand notes but that they do not look at profiles/do not check Steam accounts against SteamRep database on their own.
    How many times people were fooled by impersonators even though the real users had relevant information on their SteamRep profiles? The answer is TOO MANY.

    If you understand what the impersonation really is, you will not need any custom info on SteamRep profile to spot the impersonator.
    It does not mean that there is no need for improvement but I would like to forewarn you of thinking that custom notes have a big impact on how many people become victims of impersonators.
  9. SilentReaper(SR)

    SilentReaper(SR) Retired Staff

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    Oh, and btw, I wrote that text on Vintage Cobra's profile, back then he had a picture of a dog as avatar. As he's now more on a sparta tour, I've been as free to adjust the text to:

    Knucklejoe and Clive like this.
  10. ryaneus

    ryaneus New User

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    Honestly I still think this is way too informal for a database.
  11. SilentReaper(SR)

    SilentReaper(SR) Retired Staff

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    Those we applied such messages on, had significantly less impersonations after. Its not about being "formal", its about what works.
    Now, what works better:
    - A comment with a bit of humor.
    - A lawyer written text that is as formal as it gets and everybody sleeps after the first sentence.

    I could have made that as formal as that, but then it becomes a "standard" text, and once ppl saw that same text over and over, they start to ignore it.

    Same with those installers of software, everybody clicks on "next" or "finish" without ever reading whatever is installed along with the crapware. Hence most ppl have ad-ware on their pc's/laptops/phones/pads etc, and then they start yelling that their device has been hacked.... oh, wait, they do it on purpose. Its called "small print", not because its so small, but because its so formal, and such long text.
    HissTheHeavy and Clive like this.
  12. daemon

    daemon Retired Staff

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    Fair warning - I ignored most of this thread except where I was mentioned (narcissism is one of my finer qualities)

    Allow us this small libation - harmless messages on our own profiles. Being an SR admin is, for the most part, a thankless job. None of us are full-time workers - if we were, we'd be zombies after a week (and also piss-broke). We all have senses of humor (except You Are The One) and sometimes like to show it. Furthermore, each of your five examples in the OP serve a purpose; to some degree, they all warn against impersonation.

    I apologize if my info block is unclear - it was meant to indicate that I am retired from SR and taking a break from Steam in general. It also has my favorite Latin phrase; surely you can begrudge me that? At any rate, I've had my block amended a bit to be more explicit in its meaning.
    DARKLY | Jakk likes this.
  13. HelenAngel

    HelenAngel Retired Staff

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    At least none of our pages have a jingle and then a giant gif of a dude wearing sparkle lipstick and hotdogs flying out of his pants. Ahhh that was pretty hilarious.
  14. SilentReaper(SR)

    SilentReaper(SR) Retired Staff

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    I'll keep the 1 hotdog I have, thank you :p
    NinjaNick and ryaneus like this.
  15. ryaneus

    ryaneus New User

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    Honestly, if anything, I would prefer TommY's example. But you should definitely make the bullets uniform.
  16. You Are The One

    You Are The One SteamRep Admin

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    Anything that needs to be constantly updated is a waste of our time.
  17. DARKLY | Jakk

    DARKLY | Jakk New User

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    I like this. This pleases me. Please continue.
    While uniform is a given in terms of professionalism, there is nothing wrong with the system we have now. A lot of users believe the Admins are robots (From what I have heard on our servers) and that is not the image we would like. This small form of creativity is a nice breakaway to characterize and individualize each and every trader/admin/middleman to each of their own.

    If one really needs more information, it would serve well that their profile is examined prior to smashing the Add to Friends button. That should also be a given/obvious fact.
  18. Eoj Nawoh

    Eoj Nawoh Retired Staff Partner Community

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    Here's mine:




    I went from having 3-4 impersonators a week, if you were to search for any variation of my name, you'd find at least 25 fakes. Now, after that being up, I literally have zero. It works. Mine may not match the others, I wrote it and Helen graciously put it up for me. But the point stands that if something is there, it does help. And at the end of the day, SR is a bunch of gamers on the Internet, jokes and humor are part of the atmosphere. This isn't the Better Business Bureau or the FDA or etc. It's a bunch of volunteers on the Interwebs.



    Beep. Boop. I am a robot, here to take American jobs.
    Clive likes this.
  19. SilentReaper(SR)

    SilentReaper(SR) Retired Staff

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    [​IMG]
  20. Horse

    Horse Administrator SteamRep Admin

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    I don't have anything cool for my additional info... I guess I'm not special.
    Eoj Nawoh likes this.