Animal Toy Blog changes

[sbell]

Okay, wasn't sure how people approach it.

[AnimalToyForum]

I've temporarily set the star rating so only logged in reviewers can vote. It sounds like bots or dedicated spammers are up to no good, there are definitely lots of dodgy ratings. I need to see if there's a way to beef up security for the star rating...

[Gwangi]

I've temporarily set the star rating so only logged in reviewers can vote. It sounds like bots or dedicated spammers are up to no good, there are definitely lots of dodgy ratings. I need to see if there's a way to beef up security for the star rating...

Are the reviews with spam votes going to be cleaned up at all @AnimalToyForum ?

[Shane]

I'm still trying to wrap my head around why a bunch of bots would downvote animal toy reviews. What's the point? I remember a similar thing happening on the DTF. I just don't get the "why".

[AnimalToyForum]

I've temporarily set the star rating so only logged in reviewers can vote. It sounds like bots or dedicated spammers are up to no good, there are definitely lots of dodgy ratings. I need to see if there's a way to beef up security for the star rating...

Are the reviews with spam votes going to be cleaned up at all @AnimalToyForum ?

I've changed a setting and reopened the ratings to the public. We'll see if it does any good.

Cleaning up the spam votes is a bit of a bother, it means going into the database which I'm never comfortable doing, but I'll do my best. I wish I could reset an entire post's ratings back to 0 rather than manually remove individual votes one by one.

Why do spammers and bots do this? Because they can.

[AnimalToyForum]

I've tidied them up as bet as I can, let me know if there are any obvious examples of suspicious votes I've missed.

[Gwangi]

I've tidied them up as bet as I can, let me know if there are any obvious examples of suspicious votes I've missed.

Thanks! I appreciate it. So much drama over this voting mechanism makes me wonder if it is even worth having. 

[AnimalToyForum]

I've tidied them up as bet as I can, let me know if there are any obvious examples of suspicious votes I've missed.

Thanks! I appreciate it. So much drama over this voting mechanism makes me wonder if it is even worth having. 

I wonder if a partial solution is to remove the ratings from the archives and front page snippets, so they only appear on the full review pages. That would make it more difficult to vote 'in bulk'.

[Gwangi]

I've tidied them up as bet as I can, let me know if there are any obvious examples of suspicious votes I've missed.

Thanks! I appreciate it. So much drama over this voting mechanism makes me wonder if it is even worth having. 

I wonder if a partial solution is to remove the ratings from the archives and front page snippets, so they only appear on the full review pages. That would make it more difficult to vote 'in bulk'.

Seems worth a try!

[AnimalToyForum]

I've tidied them up as bet as I can, let me know if there are any obvious examples of suspicious votes I've missed.

Thanks! I appreciate it. So much drama over this voting mechanism makes me wonder if it is even worth having. 

I wonder if a partial solution is to remove the ratings from the archives and front page snippets, so they only appear on the full review pages. That would make it more difficult to vote 'in bulk'.

Seems worth a try!

I'll see how it goes with the new setting fist, and if the spam continues then I'll restrict ratings to full review pages only.

[AnimalToyForum]

Implemented the same change as on the DTB: https://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=270.msg378156#msg378156

[bmathison1972]

Implemented the same change as on the DTB: https://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=270.msg378156#msg378156

@AnimalToyForum - what about review samples where we are encouraging business for Happy Hen Toys and Toymany's site. Could this not be contradictory with what's in the body of the review?

[AnimalToyForum]

Implemented the same change as on the DTB: https://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=270.msg378156#msg378156

@AnimalToyForum - what about review samples where we are encouraging business for Happy Hen Toys and Toymany's site. Could this not be contradictory with what's in the body of the review?

Yeah, it's a bit fuzzy, but I don't think so. HHT have never stipulated exclusivity, so I think it's fine so long as HHT and Toymany get the banners and links that have been agreed within the main body of the specific reviews. I think it will make the blog useful if there is a list of purchase options, including our recommended option.

I mean, if we want to get serious when it comes to these professional partnerships, we should really write up a legal contract with each one, but I don't think anyone wants that! The informal verbal approach is much easier, but this is why it's probably important for me to be involved in any negotiations with partners - the pros are obvious but sometimes there are cons to consider. I would always stipulate non-exclusivity of 'ad-space' on the blog unless we came to a specific agreement otherwise.

By the way, there have always been Ebay and Amazon links on all review pages, only now they are product-specific instead of general links. Going forward I'd like to add a link to HHT (and maybe other stores) on all reviews of products they sell, so that might be something we can explore - but I don't think the review samples would justify it.

[EpicRaptorMan]

I feel like this is a good addition, but only with short-term usage. As years go by more and more of the figures reviewed will get to be retired and increasingly rare. We all know the internet is 'permanent' so wouldn't all of the inevitable dead links just make the AnimalToyBlog appear abandoned?

[AnimalToyForum]

I feel like this is a good addition, but only with short-term usage. As years go by more and more of the figures reviewed will get to be retired and increasingly rare. We all know the internet is 'permanent' so wouldn't all of the inevitable dead links just make the AnimalToyBlog appear abandoned?

The linked content will be generated afresh each time it is clicked, so in the case of the Ebay links at least, there will always be new results, or the chance of new results. The links don't link to product pages but search results.

Amazon is more likely to be less useful in this regard as products are retired. Indeed, many of the existing Amazon links for vintage figures won't yield any results, but I don't think it hurts. I can't really pick which reviews have Amazon links and which ones don't unless I can find a clever way to automate it.

[AnimalToyForum]

I've updated the navigation in the side bar and also added it to the bottom of each page, moved the side bar to the right side, and removed the side bar completely from mobile devices.