We wanted to give you a quick update following the excitement that occurred over the weekend. (Yes, we followed it too.)

48 hours ago none of us had heard of Starcraft. That was before Klazart posted his book on the site and started to invite support from the Starcraft community. His efforts were spectacularly successful and he has reaped the rewards of these newcomers’ support. We do not consider his actions to be breaching any site rules and his book will not be removed by us. Unfortunately the subsequent behaviour of a very small number of individuals – both his supporters and detractors – was considerably more questionable and in many cases was deeply offensive. This will not be tolerated: authonomy is for everyone. Please continue to use the ‘report abuse’ links to alert our moderators to any complaint.

Once again there has been much questioning of the book chart. We agree there is still room for improvement, but it is far from broken. We are willing to admit that the recent events have shown up real flaws in the algorithm behind the talent-spotter ranking. Some excellent suggestions have already been made and we’ll be considering these.

Finally, we need to apologise for the performance issues which are dogging the site at the moment. We appear to have a fault in our hosting infrastructure. It is not related to the activities at the weekend and we really should have more than enough capacity in the servers for the task at hand. We are investigating and service may be at erratic until this is resolved. Please bear with us on this one. We are making this a priority.


Posted: 23/03/2009 18:13:24

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Thank you, HC, for looking into these issues. We really appreciate your time in working this out. My main confusion is how lower-ranked newbies could kick so many of us out of our high TSRs. Very odd.

Thanks again,
~Cheri

Posted: 23/03/2009 18:17:37

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Thanks HC for the maintenance I am just trying this trick one more time. I am clearly shown as logged out, but hey I can send you a message in the forum. difficult to logout when one has to login.....but wow, I am logged in without logging in......now why would I want a fool proof silly old password, if I can just go click, click???.....or should I thank others for this great new feature.....

Posted: 23/03/2009 21:34:17

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Taken from another thread who blame Klazart for what's happened.

also Authonomy is grateful we crashed the car.

"Finally, we need to apologise for the performance issues which are dogging the site at the moment. We appear to have a fault in our hosting infrastructure. It is not related to the activities at the weekend and we really should have more than enough capacity in the servers for the task at hand. We are investigating and service may be at erratic until this is resolved. Please bear with us on this one. We are making this a priority. "

Now they know the bottlenecks of their infrastructure and everyone will benefit from a better experience on here.

No need to thank Klazart, of course, since he is a great person to blame for everyone's problems.

you all sound like communists/socialists wanting turns instead of seizing the opportunity infront of you.

Posted: 23/03/2009 21:38:43

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We wanted to give you a quick update following the excitement that occurred over the weekend. (Yes, we followed it too.)

48 hours ago none of us had heard of Starcraft. That was before Klazart posted his book on the site and started to invite support from the Starcraft community. His efforts were spectacularly successful and he has reaped the rewards of these newcomers’ support. We do not consider his actions to be breaching any site rules and his book will not be removed by us. Unfortunately the subsequent behaviour of a very small number of individuals – both his supporters and detractors – was considerably more questionable and in many cases was deeply offensive. This will not be tolerated: authonomy is for everyone. Please continue to use the ‘report abuse’ links to alert our moderators to any complaint.

Once again there has been much questioning of the book chart. We agree there is still room for improvement, but it is far from broken. We are willing to admit that the recent events have shown up real flaws in the algorithm behind the talent-spotter ranking. Some excellent suggestions have already been made and we’ll be considering these.

Finally, we need to apologise for the performance issues which are dogging the site at the moment. We appear to have a fault in our hosting infrastructure. It is not related to the activities at the weekend and we really should have more than enough capacity in the servers for the task at hand. We are investigating and service may be at erratic until this is resolved. Please bear with us on this one. We are making this a priority.

Dear HC,
I have to say how deeply disappointed I am to read your response to Klasart's manipulation of the system. I tried to log on over the weekend and failed, and only discovered today what had happened. I watched the youtube video, which had little to do with reading the book and all to do with artificially inflating its ranking.
If this book stays and receives a gold star at the end of this month then I feel that one end result will be the destruction of the credibility of the 'top 5' slots. All it will mean is that someone has a hugh network of friends - it will say nothing about the quality / appeal of the writing, or indeed if anyone has bothered to read the book.

More seriously, Klasart's gold star will call into question the integrity of everyone else who subsequently achieves that status.

Is this something that HC wants?

When I joined I assumed the 'not yet ranked' status was supposed to help avoid manipulation of the system.
If all these new people who joined over the weekend began as 'not yet ranked' then how did their votes for Klasart's book propel him up the rankings? Was it the sheer volume of numbers?

I also assumed when I joined that HC wanted the rankings of books to mean something in terms of the writing, this response appears to suggest that you don't.
If you are really looking for new talent, then surely it is essential to have a ranking system that depends (as far as possible) on honest reading / critiquing of books.

I hope you will respond to these queries,
Thank you,
Margaret













Posted: 23/03/2009 21:46:46

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We wanted to give you a quick update following the excitement that occurred over the weekend. (Yes, we followed it too.)

48 hours ago none of us had heard of Starcraft. That was before Klazart posted his book on the site and started to invite support from the Starcraft community. His efforts were spectacularly successful and he has reaped the rewards of these newcomers’ support. We do not consider his actions to be breaching any site rules and his book will not be removed by us. Unfortunately the subsequent behaviour of a very small number of individuals – both his supporters and detractors – was considerably more questionable and in many cases was deeply offensive. This will not be tolerated: authonomy is for everyone. Please continue to use the ‘report abuse’ links to alert our moderators to any complaint.

Once again there has been much questioning of the book chart. We agree there is still room for improvement, but it is far from broken. We are willing to admit that the recent events have shown up real flaws in the algorithm behind the talent-spotter ranking. Some excellent suggestions have already been made and we’ll be considering these.

Finally, we need to apologise for the performance issues which are dogging the site at the moment. We appear to have a fault in our hosting infrastructure. It is not related to the activities at the weekend and we really should have more than enough capacity in the servers for the task at hand. We are investigating and service may be at erratic until this is resolved. Please bear with us on this one. We are making this a priority.

Can I have my name back please and why has it gone?

Thank you,

Annabelle

Posted: 23/03/2009 22:00:51

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What about the sock puppet business?

Absolution has stated (on a recent thread) that two of the top five on the ed's desk have been using underhand methods. Will you do something about this?

I don't have a book up so no axes anywhere that need grinding, just a deep sense of unfairness

you must not know how the internet can be exploited. Using proxies + Flushing your IP address, you can literally make thousands of accounts if you dedicate enough of your time to register.

Of course if HC would make a "confirmation" email to all new members, it would cut off tons of the sock puppets as you call them.

easy fix for an easy problem.

Posted: 23/03/2009 22:00:54

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Dear HC,
I have to say how deeply disappointed I am to read your response to Klasart's manipulation of the system. I tried to log on over the weekend and failed, and only discovered today what had happened. I watched the youtube video, which had little to do with reading the book and all to do with artificially inflating its ranking.
If this book stays and receives a gold star at the end of this month then I feel that one end result will be the destruction of the credibility of the 'top 5' slots. All it will mean is that someone has a hugh network of friends - it will say nothing about the quality / appeal of the writing, or indeed if anyone has bothered to read the book.

More seriously, Klasart's gold star will call into question the integrity of everyone else who subsequently achieves that status.

Is this something that HC wants?

When I joined I assumed the 'not yet ranked' status was supposed to help avoid manipulation of the system.
If all these new people who joined over the weekend began as 'not yet ranked' then how did their votes for Klasart's book propel him up the rankings? Was it the sheer volume of numbers?

I also assumed when I joined that HC wanted the rankings of books to mean something in terms of the writing, this response appears to suggest that you don't.
If you are really looking for new talent, then surely it is essential to have a ranking system that depends (as far as possible) on honest reading / critiquing of books.

I hope you will respond to these queries,
Thank you,
Margaret

Perhaps you are under the impression that every new member just comes, puts Lesser SIns on their bookshelf and then leaves the site for ever. In fact, hundreds are becoming active members (such as myself).
So yes, many of us are ranked. And the longer we stay, the more our votes will count. I think that many bitter users here will come to realise that Klazart's rise is legitimate and within the rules.

Posted: 23/03/2009 22:05:52

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@mskea
That said, this system must be flawed, considering that I am currently ranked 292 whereas a veteran like yourself is at 1550.

Posted: 23/03/2009 22:07:37
Last Edit: 23/03/2009 22:08:57 by inlagdsil

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Also...a number of members here seem to still think that this site is under attack by hackers. Can some sort of statement be made either confirming or clarifying this?

Posted: 23/03/2009 22:07:45

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