Unprovoked neg ratings - "cry me a river"

I left SL for a break last week, intending to maybe take a week or two off to get away from a lot of stress that was building up over various things.

Yesterday I got the feeling that a lot of that stress has gone away, the forums were lightening up a bit, and I was considering making a return this weekend.

However, today that has all turned around again and I'm back at ground zero for being irritated, pissed off, stressed, etc.

Why? Out of nowhere, I get an email:

"Zuda Zidane rated you negatively: you have been avenged! "

I send an email reply to ask why this was done and all I get back was "oh well." and "cry me a river"

I don't even know this person, never met him/her, nor have I even been in-world for nearly a week to have provoked anything.

Their messages make no sense. It's just irrational abuse of a broken system that gets me (and many others) all bummed out and/or pissed off at the whole thing.

Now I'm upset again, my stomach is in a knot and it's just not worth it...

And it's not for lack of desire to return. I love SL and it's driving me nuts not to log in, but being nuts is better than being frustrated, angry, and stressed out over stupid stuff...

[
Edit: Just to add, I miss you all, and it's hurting me to stay away, which only compounds my frustration; but the stress is not good for my health (physical or mental).
]

Thanks for reading...

-- Kex

Yeah, it should have been, "You have been revenged!"

No one who matters is going to think you're suddenly a bad person because of this neg rating. It probably won't make a noticeable difference to your bonus, if you pay attention to that. This person is being small and petty so don't worry about it.

Yer not the only one whos been gettin all tied up in this stuff kex.. it happens to alot of SL's best and brightest...

Part of it is the systems fault for being so condusive to abuse.... part of it is people making stressors out of things that really shouldn't be.

I could go into it for pages and pages but i think whats best is people need to just relax in general... and take their own edge off.

While anyone on earth can and probably will do something to stress you out.. ultimately its you who actually responds to the stressor with the stress itself...

Time away can be a good thing for people, theres no denying that... but SL is SL and eventually i think what it comes down to is if you really want to enjoy SL .. or even RL to a degree... the chances of someone learning to manage and absolve the stressors so they're just not as stressful are much much better than the chances of SL (or RL) suddenly being totally free of stressors to begin with.


that bein said kex we sure miss you and hope you can relax abit more and enjoy yourself... on or off the game *hug*

** deleted **

Kex, yeah, that sounds like a pretty much unprovoked attack via the ratings system.

First off, this supports pretty much every argument you have made about the presence of flaws in the present system. Users like Zuda Zidane provide an excellent illustration of how the malicious-minded can use the system to launch unprovoked attacks.

Let's consider the source:

Zuda Zidane

1. Born 3/5/2004
   
2. Behavior +0 -0
   
3. Appearance +0 -0
   
4. Building +0 -0
   
5. Given +7 -18
   

Okay, This is somebody that has clearly not earned any respect in the community. In fact, they have given out more neg ratings than positive ratings. My hypothesis would be that this is an account purchased by somebody whom we likely all know with which to take pot shots. The lack of received pos rates and profile information supports this hypothesis.

While I'm not necessarily opposed to the practice of sending *legitimate* neg rates out via a screen of anonymity to comparmentalize the damage from a hypothetical return-neg attack salvo, that is not what has happened here. The "good" way to use a neg rate is to protest a specific mal-behavior. The few times I've done this, the other user has corrected their behavior and I've allways followed up with a pos rate.

Although I do not know Zuda Zidane or the user that is likely hiding behind Zuda, I can say that somebody who gives out unprovioked neg rates (e.g.: neg attacks) is a nasty griefer doing their darndest to perpetuate the SL version of libel.

That all said, eltee is 100% right. You have to ask yourself to what degree you want this person to manipulate your feelings. Would you let the unprovoked insults of some random person on the street faze you, or would you think they are a freak? Same thing applies here. Nobody who knows you is going to look at your your ratings, see the neg rates, and care. It's understood that negative ratings are all but meaningless here.

Yeah, see? It's not just me

This is yet another reason why the ratings system is broken, busted, blown up.

Yes, we can all just say "well, golly, it's only one negative rating", but there are a ton of people, many old timers, even, who take a lot of stock in how many negative ratings someone's accrued.

It definitely makes one raise an eyebrow when you see double digit negative ratings across the board, ON TOP OF 60-70 negative ratings given.

Who knows if they're warranted or not? At least in my mind, someone with that many negative ratings is probably a rabble rouser, or at least at odds with a significant portion of the community.

Also, it should be said that launching negative rating torpedoes from an alternate, "newbie" account and saying stupid things like "you have been avenged!" (I got the same message) is childish and pointless. If you're going to dislike somebody, do it to their face. Walk up to their av, push them into the river, give them the finger, then fly off. Don't play any of this namby-pamby guerrila subterfuge balarkey.

LF

Enough talk! Angry mass neg rating mob! WHO'S WITH ME!?! Lol I wanna see the first person who ows money to the linden every week for a bad rating!

btw we miss you kex! I looked you up a couple times and you wern't online

Now I am realy glad I neg rated you. Isn't it a violation to post my name in the forums for neg rating you?

I have my reasons but I dont have to explain myself to anyone. So yeah "cry me a stinking river"

zuda, a negative rating is hardly "personal information". It's a public ratings system.

now alternate accounts... that's private information.

So, er, cry me a stinking river too, i guess.

LF

Talk about a witch hunt! LF this is exactly what I mean by "weed your own back yard".

Uh, how?

Are you even familiar with the term witch hunt, or its connotation?

A witch hunt would be if I had called for the investigation and banning of anyone negative rating someone, or perhaps a massive "lets' all negative rate this person" event.

Disagreeing with someone's post is NOT a witch hunt, however badly you may want it to be.

LF

um Oh ok then so calling this person out into an open forum by name to tell ppl that he neg rated you is not an implied witch hunt. Yeah and I have some swamp land for anyone who believes that crock of !@#$. Your so busted, now stop squirming.

I'd love to see where i 'called them out by name'.

Honestly, cath, your attempts to try to "bring me out" and "bust me' are getting tiresome. If you've really got a beef with me, talk to me in game. otherwise, drop it.

this is the third response to your "vigilantism" against me that I've made today. I don't take attacks on my character lightly.

Continue making wild accusations if you wish, I will continue relpying to them.

LF

Oh please I think the world now sees you for what you realy are. So stop with the back peddling now. You can not set out to do harm to anyone then "claim" innocence.

This is you MO.

Going back to the forum topic...

Kex, I know is easy for someone else to say it when they aren't walking a mile in your shoes, but do not take this negative rating to heart. You are a sweet and caring person, who is also a great friend and a l33t scripter. Nobody will think bad of you because you have 2 or 3 neg ratings (expecially when you have a lot more positive ones ).

Ratings only mean something if you let it. No matter where you go, whether it's online or r/l, you're going to meet petty people who will take offense to something you did (or didn't). Only difference here is that in SL they can neg rate you out of pettiness.

All my ratings are near zero, even though I've been here since late November 2003. Reason is, I've never bothered with the rating system, so the only ratings I have are from those who are very conscientious with using the system, or just wanted to lash out in a petty way.

An undeserved negative rating is nothing to get upset over in my opinion. If you know you didn't deserve it, then why worry about it? The people who know you know for themselves what you are like, and dont need to review your ratings. As for those who need to review your ratings before dealing with you, well.....if they rely only on the ratings report and dont spend time to get to know you, then you're clearly not losing out on anything important.


Just my two cents,
- Newfie Pendragon

It could be, but that's discretionary. No precedent has been set for remarking to others on who neg rated you, and I doubt one will be since such conversation is ubiquitous.
HAH well too bad for you that you can't do anymore neg rating on me without revealing your main account or buying another alt.

So /nya

BTW, this whole fiasco was the catalyst for me leaving my break and returning in-world, so I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for that.

hee an we're glad to have you kex ^.^

jus think of all the cool stories ya can tell people...

'yeah i got this neg back in april '04 when me'n some buddies were hostin an event in the welcome area. This one over here's even better, took two hits to the leg tryin ta make it through jessie to save the sarge'

j/k

neg-mule user= dirty stinking coward worthy of nothing but contempt. IF that.