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Can I game the system?

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  • Tom's Hardware
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October 1, 2014 8:57:20 AM

I've been looking at things and made a new discovery - I noticed there was a badge associated with adding tags to a question. When I add tags, all posters on the thread suddenly shows proficiency badges on their posts (if htey have any, that is).

Since those badges are awarded when BAs are selected, it lead me to wonder if I go into old, unassigned questions marked as "solved" and I add tags, will I add proficiency counts to me and all other posters on that thread?

There are a number of ways the system for proficiency badges can be gamed if this is workable in some aspect. I've also not detailed all the various permutations that one could experiment with - including hostile removal of tags (just came to my mind as I was typing this). .

More about : game system

October 1, 2014 9:08:38 AM

Why?
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October 1, 2014 9:10:04 AM

This is trolling.
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October 1, 2014 9:24:23 AM

No, it's a serious question since I spotted what I think is a vulnerability in the Toms forum system.
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October 1, 2014 9:29:20 AM

Oh.
I don't see why it's an issue to have a badge that you get from adding tags. :p  :) 
(I have one)
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October 1, 2014 9:37:47 AM

The mod team is generally pretty good at spotting people who do this, and their punishments are handed out with little remorse. Gaming the system is heavily frowned upon.
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October 1, 2014 2:44:45 PM

Titillating said:
The mod team is generally pretty good at spotting people who do this, and their punishments are handed out with little remorse. Gaming the system is heavily frowned upon.


To avoid falling foul of "the mod team" are there any guidelines on what to do? There are guidelines on how/when/who can do Best Answer selection, so maybe....?

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October 1, 2014 4:27:54 PM

If the tags are relevant, and the question/discussion is still active, then yeah, feel free to add a few extra tags. It can help others search for it, and some users target specific tags for their badges, so it's not the worst thing to do. Just don't go overboard. There have been users who would add 20+ tags to a thread, often custom ones that benefit nobody. That would be an instance of gaming the system, adding useless tags just to get the tagging badge. Usually the forum system automatically adds the most appropriate tags based on key words, but sometimes it can miss something, due to language/grammar issues or just a poorly stated question. That would be another appropriate instance to add tags to a thread.
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October 1, 2014 5:06:58 PM

Yes you can, and no you shouldn't.
Your not the first to figure this out.

In a nutshell, be reasonable with any tags you add to a thread, particularly ones linked to badges. If its a graphics card question definitely tag it with Nvidia/AMD/whichever if the system didnt already. If the OP just mentions he has an Intel system, theres no need to add an Intel tag to it unless its directly relevant (a chipset driver is messing with the GPU or something). There is definitely no need from there to add tags like Samsung, Storage and other badge linked tags to it, and their presence in unrelated threads does cast doubt on whoever got the BA in the thread.
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October 5, 2014 2:56:25 PM

If you see wildly inaccurate tags by all means change them or notify a moderator. The only one I saw in that thread that was wrong was CPUs and I removed it and added the Storage tag.
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October 9, 2014 12:18:23 AM

Some people just don't know what tags to add. I know a lot of people who believe the CPU is the whole computer, so they would add a CPU tag to a question about a GPU. Changing it helps them by allowing people to find the thread and help them. As for changing things for your own gain, the mods are on top of things and will notice you pretty quickly.
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October 14, 2014 12:08:41 PM

ewok93 said:
Some people just don't know what tags to add. I know a lot of people who believe the CPU is the whole computer, so they would add a CPU tag to a question about a GPU. Changing it helps them by allowing people to find the thread and help them. As for changing things for your own gain, the mods are on top of things and will notice you pretty quickly.


Many people don't add any tags. I often come across NVIDIA and AMD (graphics) related questions and there is no NVIDIA or AMD tag. Example: "GTX 970 problem?" with no NVIDIA tag.

Isn't this a good example of when to add the tag, and add a graphics card tag, too? I often see that there is no "graphics cards" tag either.

Edit: Off topic, but is anyone else getting 404 and 500 errors on Tom's today?
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