Forum posts held for moderation

[anonymized-11892634]

Over the past few weeks I’ve noticed that all my posts show this message – https://i.imgur.com/r3jLCdk.png.

I’m not doing anything differently than the previous years using the forums. So I was wondering what might be triggering the automated system?

[Steven Stern (sterndata)]

It appears you have used more than one account here and have been using reviews to post links to your own sites, both of which are no-no’s.

[Jan Dembowski]

*Looks*

About a year ago you left 2 reviews for a plugin using two accounts. That’s considered Not Cool™ and your account was flagged when that was cleaned up.

I’ve removed the moderation flag from this account. Your other account will remain flagged.

[anonymized-11892634]

Hi guys, thanks for checking this for me!

Is that with regards to this review and this review? I only ever add a review if I actually use a plugin from the company I work for (@pipdig). If I was trying to game the system, I’d 5 star all the plugins.

I might be looking at the wrong reviews though. Let me know where I’ve messed up and it won’t happen again 🙂

[Samuel Wood (Otto)]

If I was trying to game the system, I’d 5 star all the plugins.

We would have caught that too. Only in such a case, we probably would have banned all your accounts instead of just putting you on moderation watch.

Don’t try to fake out our systems, even by a little bit. You know right from wrong. Use that knowledge to make things better.

[anonymized-11892634]

Thanks for the tips …I think!

I’m still not entirely sure what I’ve done but I’ll try and be extra careful in future 🤯

[Jan Dembowski]

Really? It’s not that hard and I’m honestly surprised this conversation even is a thing.

1. If you work at a company
2. You leave a review for your company’s plugins or themes
3. You do not disclose that you work there or have a relationship with that company
4. Bonus points for gushing about the plugin/theme/author/support
5. SUPER BONUS POINTS for talking with the author in a conversation and praising their support (it happens)

Then you’re a sock puppet. When that happens the reviews get pulled, the new accounts get blocked or flagged and the author is sternly told to cut that out.

*Re-reads*

This isn’t hard. Doing the above is at least disingenuous. At worst it’s dishonest when people do that.

[anonymized-11892634]

Guys, I know you probably deal with a lot of bad eggs on these forums, but I feel like I’m being pretty ganged-up on here. I basically have 3 mods saying I’ve done something wrong, but as far as I can tell it is fairly common practice to leave a review in such a way. For example:

https://wordpress.org/support/topic/easiest-way-to-move-to-siteground/

Look at this from my perspective – and hey, maybe even consider a “innocent until proven guilty” methodology:

1. My account was held for moderation.
2. I contact the forums to ask if there has been an issue.
3. I’m ridiculed and accused of something without any confirmation of what that was, and no chance to defend myself. Even after asking for help.

I apologise if I’ve broken any rules, honestly. I’m just trying to figure out what I need to avoid in future.

If you look at the two reviews, I am describing my personal experience with a plugin that just so happens to be created by a company I am associated with:

https://wordpress.org/support/topic/works-for-our-support-site/
https://wordpress.org/support/topic/quick-and-easy-149/

However I agree, it is misleading to not include a disclaimer that I am associated with the plugin. I’ll go back and edit them now (EDIT: I can’t edit the posts as they are now locked. So please just go ahead and delete them).

All you had to say was “Even though you might be using those plugins, it would be best if you at the very least included a disclaimer. However we prefer it if you don’t leave reviews on plugins you’re associated with. Please refer to rule X on Y page here”.

I’ve been a part of this community for a while (helping on trac, plugins, translations, support etc) and this whole experience has been …surprising. I know people have bad days, so I’m just going to assume you’re all over worked and under paid (I know you’re volunteers, I get it).

Thanks for clearing the moderation flag. Let’s just move on.