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http://www.mahalo.com/answers/mahalo-answers-community/mahalo-response-to-recent-inquiries
This past week, one of our long-time top users, Darcy Logan, requested a pay-out of some of her Mahalo Dollars. As her money was being processed, our team noticed that many of her questions had been voted up or selected as "Best Answer" by a different Mahalo Answers user with a similar name. These votes occurred between December 20, 2008 and February 10, 2009, and stopped when Mahalo Answers began revealing votes publicly.
Further investigation revealed that this second user was using the same computer as Darcy, and was most likely Darcy herself using a "sock puppet." Voting for yourself, of course, is a direct violation of the spirit of Mahalo Answers, and could be considered fraud, as it artificially inflates the support for a user's answer and makes it more likely that he or she will receive extra points and tips. Fraud is very serious issue and the community can not function properly if people create multiple accounts to out-vote their fellow community members.
We presented our findings to Darcy and, rather than offer an explanation or appeal, she chose to simply close her Mahalo account. We accepted her decision.
According to our terms of service, Mahalo's policy is to suspend or terminate any user account that is suspected of fraud: "Mahalo may suspend or terminate your account if we suspect, in our sole judgment, that you (by conviction, settlement, insurance or escrow investigation, or otherwise) have engaged in fraudulent activity in connection with the Site or have engaged in activities in violation of the terms of this Agreement." The Mahalo Dollars Darcy earned illegitimately during this period will be recirculated back into the system in the forms of tips on new questions.
We are sorry to lose Darcy, who has been a major presence on our site since its very inception. But we owe it to our other users, earning points and money in Mahalo Answers in good faith, to identify and investigate anyone who is taking advantage of the system and attempting to cash out unearned tips.
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http://www.mahalo.com/answers/mahalo-answers-community/mahalo-response-to-r...
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A panel of black and brown belts should have reviewed the evidence. Hard cases should be reviewed by the upper belts.
A few items bother me about this situation:
1. Darcy has no way of representing herself (guilty or innocent)
2. The fraud patterns were not discovered until Darcy was ready to cash out.
3. No defense was offerred for Darcy, no rebuttals were posted. The only action Darcy could take was to ask for her account to be deleted.
4. A vote should have been taken by the belts
Mahalo should act quickly against fraud. Fraud can damage the company.
Con jobs usually are not caught unless the person confesses. Did Darcy confess to selecting her own questions? What are the restrictions on who can vote for your answer? Does the person voting have to have an unique machine name and ip address? TOS does not clearly define the rules for voting.
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For more info see: http://www.mahalo.com/answers/mahalo-answers-community/mahalo-response-to-recent-inquiries
Now an aside:
This has really been bothering me. Darcy is not a bad person. Yes, she used a sock puppet to vote for herself, and that is a disappointing revelation, but that doesn't change the fact that otherwise she was almost always helpful and nice to everyone else, and her answers were usually helpful. That was the reason she was a prominent member of the community, even before being the (quasi-)first black belt. Xds, the reason she was so convincing as a good hearted person is because as far as I know her through MA, she generally was.
So, yes, this is disappointing, and you can be disappointed in her, but it doesn't mean that she was a bad person because of it.
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http://www.mahalo.com/answers/mahalo-answers-community/mahalo-response-to-recent-inquiries
Basically she says:
- She had a second id called DarcyL, from long before Answers started
- She used it for testing stuff, and playing around to see how things worked
- She wasn't trying to intentionally get Best Answer, just testing things
- Mahalo didn't give her a proper chance to explain.
As in my comment to Darcy's post, I hope Mahalo will let us know exactly what evidence they have. Like how many answers she's supposed to have voted for herself on.
Having an id called DarcyL certainly doesn't sound like anything intended to be deceptive.
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Answered Question
M$1
April 15, 2009 09:19 PM
what happened to Darcy Logan?
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| April 15, 2009 09:30 PM |
http://www.mahalo.com/answers/mahalo-answers-community/mahalo-response-to-recent-inquiries
This past week, one of our long-time top users, Darcy Logan, requested a pay-out of some of her Mahalo Dollars. As her money was being processed, our team noticed that many of her questions had been voted up or selected as "Best Answer" by a different Mahalo Answers user with a similar name. These votes occurred between December 20, 2008 and February 10, 2009, and stopped when Mahalo Answers began revealing votes publicly.
Further investigation revealed that this second user was using the same computer as Darcy, and was most likely Darcy herself using a "sock puppet." Voting for yourself, of course, is a direct violation of the spirit of Mahalo Answers, and could be considered fraud, as it artificially inflates the support for a user's answer and makes it more likely that he or she will receive extra points and tips. Fraud is very serious issue and the community can not function properly if people create multiple accounts to out-vote their fellow community members.
We presented our findings to Darcy and, rather than offer an explanation or appeal, she chose to simply close her Mahalo account. We accepted her decision.
According to our terms of service, Mahalo's policy is to suspend or terminate any user account that is suspected of fraud: "Mahalo may suspend or terminate your account if we suspect, in our sole judgment, that you (by conviction, settlement, insurance or escrow investigation, or otherwise) have engaged in fraudulent activity in connection with the Site or have engaged in activities in violation of the terms of this Agreement." The Mahalo Dollars Darcy earned illegitimately during this period will be recirculated back into the system in the forms of tips on new questions.
We are sorry to lose Darcy, who has been a major presence on our site since its very inception. But we owe it to our other users, earning points and money in Mahalo Answers in good faith, to identify and investigate anyone who is taking advantage of the system and attempting to cash out unearned tips.
Source(s):
http://www.mahalo.com/answers/mahalo-answers-community/mahalo-response-to-r...
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Helpful: drmatt, dumblonde, morriss003, hartwell
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Other Answers (6)
April 16, 2009 02:58 AM
Why is the evidence being presented, now? The deception didn't sound clever. Why didn't the Mahalo team consider the possiblity in design? A panel of black and brown belts should have reviewed the evidence. Hard cases should be reviewed by the upper belts.
A few items bother me about this situation:
1. Darcy has no way of representing herself (guilty or innocent)
2. The fraud patterns were not discovered until Darcy was ready to cash out.
3. No defense was offerred for Darcy, no rebuttals were posted. The only action Darcy could take was to ask for her account to be deleted.
4. A vote should have been taken by the belts
Mahalo should act quickly against fraud. Fraud can damage the company.
Con jobs usually are not caught unless the person confesses. Did Darcy confess to selecting her own questions? What are the restrictions on who can vote for your answer? Does the person voting have to have an unique machine name and ip address? TOS does not clearly define the rules for voting.
Source(s):
Process
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April 16, 2009 03:40 AM
A con must establish credibility and trustworthness. Next, they must establish a payout to build greed within their victims.
People feel betrayed but that is the Madoff scenario. Madoff did not expect his scheme to work, but people made it work. If Darcy gamed the system, it was because people wanted her. The demand allowed her to accumulate money, fast; then plan a departure; then a sudden disappearance.
If Darcy is innocent then I hope to see her back in the social network. I hope justice will prevail and the truth will be discovered.
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People feel betrayed but that is the Madoff scenario. Madoff did not expect his scheme to work, but people made it work. If Darcy gamed the system, it was because people wanted her. The demand allowed her to accumulate money, fast; then plan a departure; then a sudden disappearance.
If Darcy is innocent then I hope to see her back in the social network. I hope justice will prevail and the truth will be discovered.
April 16, 2009 04:55 AM
Well. It seems that Darcy herself opted to quit instead of submitting to an investigation. But the truth is that IP logs don't lie. I mean there is a chance that there was someone else in her household voting for her but even that is sketchy. For example, here in my house we have 6 computers, two are mine, one is my sister's, one is my mom's, one is my dad's, and we have a family desktop that no one uses cause it's old. When any computer connects because they are all on the same router, the external IP is the same for all computers even if the IPs on the intranet are different.
But having a family member vote up your answers still sounds like gaming to me.
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But having a family member vote up your answers still sounds like gaming to me.
April 16, 2009 06:03 AM
Are you serious davepamn, a black/brown panel? Your telling me that upper level belt holders are qualified to review in depth logs regarding server logs (robbrown seems that he could, but still...)? This isn't American Idol we don't need to vote whether or not cheaters stay here at Mahalo Answers. All the questions you throw out have been discussed and analyzed by the staff at MA, I'm sure, or she would have not been informed of her actions. Just because they didn't tell every detail, doesn't mean that it wasn't considered in their investigation.
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April 16, 2009 02:14 PM
The Black belt board would be given the evidence by the Mahalo team and the board would receive appeals for leniency from the accused and reasons.
The accused needs to have the right to face and rebuttal their accusor. One should not conclude that technology is an absolute reason for determining guilt. Technology raises the question and presences the pausiblity of wrong doing.
The arguments for IP address fraud is suspicious but not conclusive. Should a computer expert system decide your guilt or innocence? No, never will happen. Hence, the existence of an adversial system for justice.
The black belt board could hear the argument for and against the accused. Vote and major rules.
There is a chance the Mahalo term of service agreement is vague.
Mahalo TOS says it can withdraw the user account for "any reason". Dismissal can be done quietly. Does that sound fair?
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The accused needs to have the right to face and rebuttal their accusor. One should not conclude that technology is an absolute reason for determining guilt. Technology raises the question and presences the pausiblity of wrong doing.
The arguments for IP address fraud is suspicious but not conclusive. Should a computer expert system decide your guilt or innocence? No, never will happen. Hence, the existence of an adversial system for justice.
The black belt board could hear the argument for and against the accused. Vote and major rules.
There is a chance the Mahalo term of service agreement is vague.
Mahalo TOS says it can withdraw the user account for "any reason". Dismissal can be done quietly. Does that sound fair?
April 16, 2009 08:07 PM
In response to robbrown's answer on http://www.mahalo.com/answers/mahalo-answers-community/mahalo-response-to-recent-inquiries
Jason Calacanis said that she admitted to doing it.
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Jason Calacanis said that she admitted to doing it.
April 16, 2009 05:23 AM
She was caught using an alternate account to vote for her own answers as best answer. From what I've heard, she confessed and asked for her account to be removed. For more info see: http://www.mahalo.com/answers/mahalo-answers-community/mahalo-response-to-recent-inquiries
Now an aside:
This has really been bothering me. Darcy is not a bad person. Yes, she used a sock puppet to vote for herself, and that is a disappointing revelation, but that doesn't change the fact that otherwise she was almost always helpful and nice to everyone else, and her answers were usually helpful. That was the reason she was a prominent member of the community, even before being the (quasi-)first black belt. Xds, the reason she was so convincing as a good hearted person is because as far as I know her through MA, she generally was.
So, yes, this is disappointing, and you can be disappointed in her, but it doesn't mean that she was a bad person because of it.
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April 17, 2009 12:20 AM
I agree... I don't think she is a bad person. She did a bad thing and I personally hoped she would react and say something like "I did something wrong in the heat of competition and I regret it. I'm willing to give back the money and lose the points from that period of time and move forward in good faith if the community will let me. "
Instead she responded by saying "close my account."
Sad.
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Instead she responded by saying "close my account."
Sad.
April 16, 2009 05:41 AM
Darcy has now given her side of the story here: http://www.mahalo.com/answers/mahalo-answers-community/mahalo-response-to-recent-inquiries
Basically she says:
- She had a second id called DarcyL, from long before Answers started
- She used it for testing stuff, and playing around to see how things worked
- She wasn't trying to intentionally get Best Answer, just testing things
- Mahalo didn't give her a proper chance to explain.
As in my comment to Darcy's post, I hope Mahalo will let us know exactly what evidence they have. Like how many answers she's supposed to have voted for herself on.
Having an id called DarcyL certainly doesn't sound like anything intended to be deceptive.
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She gamed the system. It happens, surprising because of how high profile she was. Too bad.
I was thinking the same thing!
"Darcy" really lost it!