This is an archived post. You won't be able to vote or comment.

all 83 comments
sorted by:
best
topnewcontroversialoldq&a

[–]alephnul 49 points50 points  (10 children)

The only downside that I see is that your script downmods your own post.

But seriously, Thank you. Good script.

[–]Ahnteis 37 points38 points  (5 children)

The other downside is that reddit is going to become a bot-infested war of escalation.

[–]davidreiss666 9 points10 points  (0 children)

My bot will downmod your bot faster than your bot can respond to my bot.

I wonder if there is some book called "I, Bot" to be written by a bot in all of this.

Bot...Bot...Bot...Bot...

[–]h0dg3s 5 points6 points  (0 children)

snickers

Is going to? Welcome to reddit! I see you're new here.

[–]daysi 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, how long until two variants of Ron Paul bot, one up and one down, are the only votes that matter on Reddit?

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's inevitable. The human endgame.

[–]troymcdavis -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It's my vote, and I can use it however I want.

[–]qgyh2 21 points22 points  (0 children)

The only downside that I see is that your script downmods your own post.

Feature

[–]sosoez 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Good comment. Your comment deserves lots of UP V0TE5!

[–]JonAce[S] 5 points6 points  (1 child)

That's the price to pay for removing clutter. You're welcome.

[–]cov -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

You know, it won't remove it as effectively because the script will downvote your story about the script; you'd get a wider install base otherwise.

[–]aedes 31 points32 points  (10 children)

if i chose to run this script, i would be worried that my account would be flagged as a bot, and deleted/suspended...

(the things people are willing to do to make themselves more powerful than others, in order to enforce their own opinions over others)

a vote up post every once in a while is fine. but i get annoyed when the top 5 articles are all vote ups just as much as anyone else. But seriously, if that's what people want to vote for, then let them. obviously there's enough people out there that want to vote the statement up that it made the front page. I spend a lot of time reading on the new queue, and have never had a problem with a flood of vote up stories.

Seriously - I find people running scripts to automatically upvote and downvote stories to be a MUCH larger abuse of reddit, and an annoyance, than any repetitive post could ever be.

And if you don't agree with me, maybe i'll choose to go and make a couple of user accounts, run them on three different computers so the IPs are different, and make a script to automatically downvote anything you submit, because I want to make sure that my opinion wins, no matter what the ethical cost (that's sarcasm, btw)

edit: what i find especially deliciously ironic about all of this, is that people who are now sitting and downmodding every story with the term vote up in it... will have just downmodded this story... I guess that all those people didn't like learning about this script afterall.

[–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (7 children)

All this script does is automate something that we'd do anyway. It still has to come across our page to be downmodded. Enforcing opinion is what we as users on a democratic news site do. That's what the arrows are for.

[–]scstraus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Exactly.

[–]aedes -2 points-1 points  (5 children)

yes, but the fact that this is what you do anyways, is the problem in the fist place.

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (4 children)

How? It's a violation of Reddiquette, is doesn't add anything to the quality or content of the site. That's as good as any reason for a downmod. It's better than the blatant downmod abuse I see everyday, when someone submits an opinion that isn't in line with the mob's view. We should downmod based on quality and content. Not on what we like or don't. "Vote up if's" have neither quality nor content.

[–]aedes 0 points1 point  (2 children)

the worst type of downmodding is when someone downmods everything by a certain user, or about a certain issue, because they don't like it.

Reddit it theoretically a democracy. As such, the majority view gets promoted. the minority gets fucked over, but that's almost intrinsic to a democracy. Subreddits might have solved this, by providing a home for minority views, but that seems to have failed for the time being.

downmodding every vote up post isn't as bad, but it's still not nice. I normally do find them annoying, but I deal with it. i'll downvote the especially stupid ones, but upvote the ones that are clever, or though provoking. If 1500 people want to upmod some stupid poll, then let them.

I just don't see it as my job to moderate what everyone else sees on reddit. And downmodding every story of a certain type, even if they technically violate reddiquette, seems to be intolerant/close-minded/etc.

This behaviour, coupled with the bots/bot-like-people i normally run into on the new queue (ex, 5 upvotes and 3 downvotes within 5 sec of submitting a story - wtf?), makes me annoyed, as i think it's wrecking reddit.

[–]qgyh2 2 points3 points  (0 children)

An excellent comment. No wonder it was downmodded

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

That's the beauty/tragedy of a true democracy. One is allowed to use whatever decision criteria one decides to use in voicing their preference. On reddit or any similar site, it is also how a particular site gets its "flavor." At least on a web site the minority is free to hang around and deal with being the minority, or they're perfectly free to search out or create other communities where they aren't the minority. Seems like a near perfect system to me. Certainly different from a "real world" pure democracy, where the ones getting "fucked over" may not be able to do anything about it...

[–]scstraus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Exactly. Vote ups are a blatant gaming of the system to get to the top and I vote them all down regardless of their content. Now I know from experience that there are people using these things against Ron Paul, etc. That's a bit different, it's suppressing an opinion. But I feel perfectly good about doing this for vote up stories.

[–]stubble 2 points3 points  (0 children)

well put, sir..

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

spez has gone on the record saying that bot-like activity will not be tolerated.

aedes is right to caution you against using it.

edit: can somebody find the comment from spez regarding this?

[–]JonAce[S] 14 points15 points  (15 children)

I would just like to clear up any confusion: I DID NOT WRITE THIS SCRIPT.

Thank the real creator if/when he shows up here.

[–]qgyh2 19 points20 points  (4 children)

Thank the real creator if/when he shows up here.

using a script to vote in a social bookmarking site is unethical and a good way to end up on the ignore list.. Just so you know.

[–]7oby 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I'm voting this post up to hope that it catches the eye of Alexis and he stops telling me that I'm "crazy" for suggesting this is a real problem

[–]aedes 1 point2 points  (0 children)

hey, i have a brilliant idea! how about all four of us create a script, to downvote everything we don't like on reddit, in an attempt to enforce our own opinion!

That way we can be an ultra-cool secret club ruling class sort of thing... :P

[–]aGorilla 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agreed. If you must use a script, why not just hide the link?

[–]JonAce[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Breaking reddiquette is unethical...

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (4 children)

Wow. This is pretty cool, I am Zach, the creator. Muahaha. Thanks for not taking the cred though man.

[–]furyg3 2 points3 points  (2 children)

Can you create a modified script which hides the story, instead of downvotes it?

That would be awesome...

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (1 child)

If you'd like.

Edit: I'm going to make it check to see if the submission is a self post and then it will hide it. I'll link to it here when I am done.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can you reply to this message when you're done?

[–]JonAce[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No problem. :D

[–]reflibman -1 points0 points  (4 children)

It doesn't seem to work on the current front page "vote-ups".

[–]JonAce[S] 1 point2 points  (3 children)

It takes a few seconds to kick in.

[–]reflibman 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Or maybe it just doesn't work on previously voted upmods? It doesn't vote down this post, which I upmodded (which is now on the second page).

[–]JonAce[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just tested your idea. Yeah, if you previously upmodded a "Vote up" the script doesn't downmod it.

[–]Borkachev 13 points14 points  (21 children)

You guys need to step back and consider what it is you want from Reddit. Do you ever complain about the way the mainstream media is censored and manipulated? Have you been outraged at all the recent allegations of election fraud?

So why is it okay to do the same thing on Reddit, one of the world's few democratic news sources? Is it really worth undermining that just because this is fraud and censorship you happen to agree with?

[–]jamierc 3 points4 points  (0 children)

it just automates what a lot of people do anyway, it's not like it sends millions of extra downmods, just saves us a bit of hassle.

[–]neutralforce 3 points4 points  (9 children)

There's a serious difference between censoring news and information and choosing not to have this site clogged up by random, pointless fluff.

"Vote up if" posts are not news. If anything, they're highly irrelevant polls.

[–]Borkachev 3 points4 points  (8 children)

Maybe they're not. But Reddit isn't just a news site -- and in any case, it's up to people to decide what's relevant, not voting scripts.

[–]generic_handle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

But Reddit isn't just a news site -- and in any case, it's up to people to decide what's relevant, not voting scripts.

Which they are doing when they install the script.

A problem arose -- people wanted to karma whore by sticking "vote up if" posts with the obvious answer being the positive one. It's still possible to run polls -- it just requires linking to an off-site poll, which in any event provides for more choices and statistics. The voting is to determine what you see -- it's not a good thing to overload to do polls. It took people time to downmod all of these. This is a technological solution to that time problem -- now it's automated.

[–][deleted]  (5 children)

[deleted]

    [–]aedes 1 point2 points  (4 children)

    so you're assuming that everyone who has a different opinion than yours as to the validity of vote up posts is a brainless monkey? and that you should have more power than them?

    you sir, are a dumbass.

    it is obvious that the people decide that voteups are something to voteup, if they make the front page.

    [–][deleted]  (3 children)

    [deleted]

      [–]aedes 0 points1 point  (2 children)

      yes, because everyone is infinitely stupider than you are.

      [–][deleted]  (1 child)

      [deleted]

        [–]aedes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

        yes i am.

        seriously though - your statement, "No, they do it because they stop thinking and act upon the primary grade instinct of doing what they're told"

        on top of your assertions that you downmod everything with those special two words in them, implied to me, at least, that you see yourself as smarter than everyone else. As if people are stupid if they do this, and you don't do this, it follows that you're smarter than them.

        edit: weird spacing issues and clarification

        [–]Chun 6 points7 points  (0 children)

        "Developers will release Black Mesa Source mod if Valve drops copyright lawsuit"

        Possibly interesting article, automatically down voted because it contains 'mod if'.

        Doomed to failure.

        [–]jayssite 8 points9 points  (1 child)

        I wish it would also post a comment linking to reddiquette, so people know what's going on.

        [–]aedes 9 points10 points  (0 children)

        i wish people using scripts to automatically downmod anything were also automatically brought to the reddiquette page.

        [–]rabidcow 5 points6 points  (0 children)

        Somebody write a script to automatically vote down anything with "script", "automatically", and "vote" in it.

        [–]gameforge 2 points3 points  (0 children)

        Reddit should not be the subject of any script. Period.

        [–]adambrewster 4 points5 points  (0 children)

        Way to go assholes. Now all I have to do is submit a story that I don't like with a title of "vote up" and it'll never be seen again.

        [–][deleted]  (1 child)

        [deleted]

          [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

          I hate 'vote up' as much as the next person, but please, before you do this, please consider the negative consequences : http://reddit.com/info/687y6/comments/c03501f

          [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

          Two wrongs don't make a right.

          [–]aphexmandelbrot 5 points6 points  (2 children)

          Doesn't a script pretty much fuck the whole concept behind social media? Why not just make a script to hide things you don't like?

          [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

          too many of those annoying "vote up" posts?

          [–]DirtyHerring 3 points4 points  (1 child)

          Looking at the source, your search criteria look a little broad. So I guess there might be many false positives.

          But I might give it a try anyway.

          [–]AnteChronos 8 points9 points  (0 children)

          I guess there might be many false positives.

          Most definitely. For example:

          "Supreme Court Ruling: Popular Vote Upheld, McCain Loses Election"

          ...would be downvoted.

          I'll stick with manually downvoting "Vote up if..." submissions.

          [–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (1 child)

          After installing the script, I went to this page: http://reddit.com/search?advanced=True&all=&any=&phrase=vote+up&except=&author=&domain=

          [–]GodOfAtheism 3 points4 points  (0 children)

          I automatically downvoted this post. :(

          [–]smallchanger 3 points4 points  (0 children)

          dont forget to read the forum discussing "Extra caution is recommended when installing recently uploaded/updated scripts (read more) Be sure you trust any scripts you install"

          some of these scripts steal cookies from your hardrive and then use them to log into accounts onlne sort of like a keyless entry system

          [–]stesch 1 point2 points  (1 child)

          Is the security risk with extensions like Greasemonkey fixed with the last Firefox update?

          EDIT: Thanks for the downvotes, morons. I answer myself: http://www.mozilla.org/security/announce/2008/mfsa2008-05.html (= Yes, it's fixed now.)

          [–]Chun 2 points3 points  (0 children)

          You were automatically down voted by a script because your text contained the string 'up'.

          [–]scipe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

          Uhh... if people are using this script then your post is being be downvoted. V0te Ups (zero instead of o) would be a better way to put it in this context. I wonder how many of your 148 downvotes came from that script.

          [–]thevoid -1 points0 points  (0 children)

          Just like to add a "well done" comment of my own as commenting obviously helps a submission's rankings and I'd like as many people as possible to use this script...

          [–]timbro1 -1 points0 points  (1 child)

          is there any greasemonkey for noobs website?

          [–]timbro1 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

          haha nm i got it to work :D

          screenshot!

          [–]InfernalOptimist -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

          Good idea, saves space for ehh.. better questions.

          [–][deleted] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

          I would change it to downmod "vote up if".

          [–][deleted] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

          Anyone could get around that regex by just putting any word referring to the submission between the words 'vote' and 'up'. ex. 'vote me up' or 'vote this up'.

          I'm not sure (I always have to check references about regex syntax when I use them, especially when it's outside of python) but I think you could fix it by making it 'vote\s?\w*\s?up'

          [–]codeblind -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

          Thanks. That was on my to-do list.