Care to share why you think this change should be made?

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Newbies could get suckered into sending first to a person who although has a high X value, really just created a bunch of dummy accounts to get an inflated reference count. Not everybody clicks to see the details behind a person's references.

You could still do this by creating a bunch of MOTL accounts, but I'm assuming suspicious activity like the creation of many accounts from a specific IP or something to that extent is moderated by you guys

Another point is: How does one know if those non-MOTL references are legit? A MOTL reference has a MOTL member attached to it, which allows you to check credibility by browsing that member's own reference history. A non-MOTL reference could be from your mom or the guy you sold your cats to. I can imagine somebody just mass mailing his friends with an advance email that says to give him 5's on the reference checker, then sending massive amounts of reference checkers to them. Again, this can be done with MOTL references too if those friends sign up, but they're much more less likely to do it because it's clicking two buttons versus entering information and waiting for confirmation.

quote:

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Originally posted by KMalone999:
Since everybody who glances our H/W sees the "Confirmed References = X" value immediately, it could be deceiving, especially for people less acquainted with MOTL.

Newbies could get suckered into sending first to a person who although has a high X value, really just created a bunch of dummy accounts to get an inflated reference count. Not everybody clicks to see the details behind a person's references.

You could still do this by creating a bunch of MOTL accounts, but I'm assuming suspicious activity like the creation of many accounts from a specific IP or something to that extent is moderated by you guys

Another point is: How does one know if those non-MOTL references are legit? A MOTL reference has a MOTL member attached to it, which allows you to check credibility by browsing that member's own reference history. A non-MOTL reference could be from your mom or the guy you sold your cats to. I can imagine somebody just mass mailing his friends with an advance email that says to give him 5's on the reference checker, then sending massive amounts of reference checkers to them. Again, this can be done with MOTL references too if those friends sign up, but they're much more less likely to do it because it's clicking two buttons versus entering information and waiting for confirmation.

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Anyone who doesn't even look at actual ref lists is begging for trouble. You have to check up and see if they haven't had any recent refs, or if they're getting all 3s or whatever the case may be.

Non-MOTL refs might want to be checked a bit closer, but the reference system is, and always has been, a guide. Why should we punish those who trade on other sites a lot? There simply aren't any cases of abuse that I've heard of. Yes, it could happen, but Slinga could also go rogue and make thousands of dollars in trades, make everyone send first and disappear to his secret lair in Kerbleckistan. Safe trading requires people to take certain steps, and checking up on references is a critical one.

As someone who has almost no non-MOTL refs, it doesn't really affect me, but I just don't see the need for it at all.

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Mort was already aware that love made you feel hot and cold and cruel and weak, but he hadn't realized that it could make you stupid.

Report rules violations.