Topic: Possible red tag offences (Read 276 times)

One thing to point out is that feedback (be it negative, neutral or positive) does not abide by some strict ruleset to consult on the do’s and don’ts. There are a few posts here on the Forum that point in a certain direction, and guidelines created by forum members, but there are some controversial and contradictory uses of the Trust System that often bring along heated discussion (when not retaliation).

Of course from an operational point of view, some feedback is, on first impression, more relevant than others, since it affects the numbers that we see on the Trust Scores. DT in general, or those included in your Customized Trust list (if you have one) will be more relevant in that sense, although all feedback should be read to try to get a general composition (alongside considering who submitted the feedback, and the reason that can sometimes be clearly derived).

I personally prefer the more core commercial related motives for providing feedback (that includes scams), but rather differ from those related to merit abuse, clear gut retaliation, and I am even sceptical about tagging bought accounts, lest they move on to shady actions (I’d prefer a clear rule here, that a subjective tag by means of negative feedback). I do not support this course of action at all (account purchasing), but since it not disallowed per-se (but rather frowned upon), it does not clearly mean that there will be any commercial damage (potential to some extent yet, but so is any account potentially).

No user has been banned on the forum because that had multiple accounts, you are allowed to do so, but you can be tagged if you enroll more than one account in the same bounty, that will get your account red tagged, not banned.
You must not be a recognised or reputable member of the forum to have an alt account, even if you're a newbie who just created an account today, you're allowed to have alt accounts, and it's entirely your decision to make your alt accounts public, you can decide to keep it to yourself or the reason why you created it to yourself, it doesn't matter.
On abuse of the trust system, users should ensure they read LoyceV's thread I linked in the op, it contains all the details for proper understanding of correct use of the system.
On merits abuse, it's hard to ascertain when merits is being abused by a user(the issue being subjective)and theymos advices that unless it's proven that the merits were sold or sent between alts, users should not be tagged.

And one of the most frequent reasons why people are red trusted...
Do not user multiple account in the forum: Do not use multiple accounts in the forum epecially when you cheat bounty campaigns with it, hundreds if not thousands of accounts has been banned or red trusted for this very reason.
Ofcourse there are exceptions but you have to be a very recognised member of the forum like what LoyceV did, he announced his Alt from the beginning and specified a reason why he needed the alt so that he could stay in contact with his mobile device or login in untrusted locations.

Do not abuse the trust system or cycle merits: People want to rank up by all means I n this forum and one of the ways to do that is to meet the required merit for each rank, so this has led many people to try to either buy merits or cycle it within themselves, this is a very bad practice and it is an abuse on the fundamentals of this forum itself because it is goes against the basic principles of this forum which is that only positively contributing members of the forum can rank up.

It is a challenge for newbies to investigate sites and judge they are legit or not before advertise for them. So I would prefer to give newbies an advice that:
Only follow and apply to join campaigns which managed by professional, trusted, and experienced managers. They (managers) will help you to skip investigation steps because they all do their in-depth investigations before accepting to manage those campaigns.

By not reading LoyceV's Beginners guide to correct use of the Trust system before tagging someone, you will most likely get tagged for abusing trust like what happened to this user

If a user creates a flag, and you go through the evidences put forward by the creator of the flag, you can freely support it, there is nothing wrong with that, and also for fair play, there is also an option to oppose the flag.

Also regarding red tagging a user because other have done so, is not bad imo, as long as its obvious the user is guilty of the offences, you do not have to be directly involved, in very few cases would you even be involved, as for retaliation, as long as the user is not on dt or on your trust list, I don't think it'll make a difference.

Add one more, avoid simply red-tagging a member just because the others did.

If you're not directly involved, chances are that the recipient might reciprocate.

Is sort of my go to when it comes to merit and tags. This is a little out of context as it was regarding a merit source  wondering about people negging them for meriting posts. I still believe the intent is there to deter people from negging people for anything less than selling merit, that's why I believe the neutral works best here. Some people have tagged members for merit begging, but I believe most have now moved to neutrals - I really don't keep track of others unless I roll into a situation and take stock of it myself.

I do agree they shouldn't do it, but I just don't want people to get the idea that negative feedback is the norm in this situation.

Thanks for raising this point, and I've added that to the op, to make things more comprehensive and for complete digest of the system.
I know it's harsh, and maybe not necessary to tag someone for this offence, but I think I've come across this few times when a user gets tagged for this, that's why I added it to the OP. Also if it's an offence that needs to be tagged or not, it's one that newbies should avoid, so maybe it could just be some sort of deterrent.

Definitely a good subject to warn users about. I think it's important to point out you can actually be tagged for anything, there is nothing stopping someone from tagging you because they don't like your name. People need to understand how trust and feedback work, and know that there is an intended use to the system. You might want to consider pointing users to the thread created by LoyceV - LoyceV's Beginners guide to correct use of the Trust system

It would also be a benefit to quote theymos's intent about how tags and flags should be used. This would help back up your explanations on why people may be tagged.

The last point though I disagree with. People shouldn't be negged for merit begging. Ignored sure, neutral feedback why not I'm not the boss. Spamming Pm's the same thing unless the content requires a tag. If it is a forum rule being violated then the forum should dole out the punishment - there have been reputable users who have received bans for Pm's.

Again can't be stated enough there is no hard and fast rule for what will get you negged, and that some Negs mean more than others. Learn the whole trust/feedback system.

There are some very obvious reasons why users get red tagged or flagged, and with the update by theymos on the trust system, we now understand that a user can only be flagged for being a proven scammer, and not for some other offences. But for the newbies who probably aren't aware of some of offences that can get them red tagged on the forum, I'll love to bring some of them to their notice.

1)Do not default on loans/do not request for no collateral loan unless the loaner says so/do not request for loans when you have no means to pay back: Many users have had their accounts tagged due to the fact that they defaulted on their loan agreement, if you know you have no means to payback a loan, do not request for one, also as a newbie you can simply get red tagged for just asking for a no collateral loan(no one will give a newbie that)
2)Avoid renting out your account/borrowing your account to friends: We have seen issues like this in the past when users after being caught with plagiarised posts on their account claim they were not the ones handling the account at the moment those posts were made. The user you give your account to, can do shady things that will get your account tagged, you account is your private property.
3)Do not advertise or market a website you aren't sure of its legitimacy: Some users brings some shady website to the notice of others, and a few times they are not even aware that those websites are shady sites, this leaves dt members with no choice than to tag those accounts. We had an issue sometime of a newbie posting websites where one can recover lost btc by paying a particular amount of money, that user was tagged for promoting a scam website.
4)Avoid account buying and selling: Going through many ratings left by dt members, I think this one tops the list: "Account buyers and sellers are not to be trusted", many users here started from the bottom to get where they are today, buying an account is fraud and will get you red tagged, the original owner could even have plagiarised posts, could later come back claiming the account was hacked, or you could even pay and not get the account in the end.
5)Spamming pm's begging for merits/adverting a product: If you want to earn merits, make good posts, it will definitely be seen by sources and other members, and even if you must pm a merit source, let it be to review your post history, do not beg them for merits. Also the services board is there for users to advertise, if a user hasn't requested for a discussion on a product in their pm, do not send one, it can get you into trouble.

Edit: you can learn more from this threads: Trust flags
LoyceV's Beginners guide to correct use of the Trust system