Questionable Merit History From: deadsea33

[JollyGood]

The person controlling the deadsea33 account could well have been getting away with his nefarious (and non-nefarious) activities for a long time to come had he not started a thread questioning a simple matter such as a neutral tag. That thread inadvertently brought the deadsea33 account to the attention of the wider community and it was discovered he was not the person that created the account back in 2013 and for that reason he has (it seems) given up on trying to use that account.

You can view the deadsea33 merit history and decide for yourself if anything looks suspicious.

Personally I do not feel the cover/excuse that will be given for the merits being awarded will be sufficient if it is based on this thread: deadsea33's "Complete the Word Game and Get Merits" because clearly that was set up in order to find an excusable way to send and receive merits and to present it as a defence if questions were asked about suspicious merits.

The accounts that have received excessive merits and/or questionable merits from the deadsea33 account are free to post here with anything they would like to say. I have no doubt members would welcome their views and comments.

Having said that, at the time of writing this post I will not say the following accounts have engaged in anything suspicious but I will return to this thread when I have time and I will update the OP more accounts if necessary and I will tag any and all accounts I feel have participated in merit abuse.

_Hiloveua_


Hatchy


Rbolisna


Ripon9909

[1714493301]

1714493301

[1714493301]

1714493301

[1714493301]

1714493301

[hugeblack]

There is something strange in this game, if we check the time interval between each response, we will find that it is almost equal for some accounts, even an account that tried to answer some questions, @deadsea33 described him as a scammer and refused to send meris to him.

@Madu$11 You are a cheater, 1st time you copied (RTR~)'s answer, 2nd time you copied (_Hiloveua_)'s answer, you are disqualified from this word game.
Please don't participate in this game again.

And I was online 1:30 hours after starting round 15. I am looking at each post, how many numbers of users are what replying. Hope you understand.

Looks like he was very serious about this game, and this is a reply from @pawanjain regarding the time interval.

Somehow, whenever I check this page, the rounds are already completed and I see the schedule for the next round.
Then, when I visit the page the next day, the rounds are completed once again.

Here he announced that the next round would start at 4:00 AM, guess what it started at 4:51 and again _Hiloveua_ was present after 1 min

Next round will be start, 4:00 AM (Forum time)

and again in Round 20, Round 21, Round 22, Round 23, and Round 24 (1 min between @deadsea33 posting and @_Hiloveua_ answer)

Can the coincidence repeated over more than 6 rounds?

Those accounts may not be for the same user but there may be buying/selling of merits between them.


I have an internal feeling that this account is an alt account of ITExpert aka nlovric but I'm still investigating about it.

If this is true, then this user manages dozens of accounts.

[yahoo62278]

I'm going to kind of feel like an idiot if this _hiloveua_ account turns out to be connected to a farm. I just merited them a couple hours ago in the Countdown to next rank thread. To be fair, I didn't look into their post history. I asked them to read the rules of the countdown thread and tell me why they shouldn't have posted. They answered correct so I gave them the 2 merits they needed.

Find out all the accounts connected and post the proof(real proof) and i'll have no issue tagging them.

[Latviand]

I'm going to kind of feel like an idiot if this _hiloveua_ account turns out to be connected to a farm. I just merited them a couple hours ago in the Countdown to next rank thread. To be fair, I didn't look into their post history. I asked them to read the rules of the countdown thread and tell me why they shouldn't have posted. They answered correct so I gave them the 2 merits they needed.

Find out all the accounts connected and post the proof(real proof) and i'll have no issue tagging them.

I actually saw it but I don't think it's not something you should feel bad about especially if you didn't know, I mean the merit is nothing if it's bombarded by red trust from DT, no point using that account anymore if that person plans to use that account to make money through campaigns which is most likely.

Regarding the suspicious merit history, there's something really fishy about it and the interval in merits aren't that far and wide and the frequency is following some pattern so either it's most likely someone who has bought merits or in the unlikely circumstances, it's a troll trying to mess with people by doing merit abuse.

[JollyGood]

There is something strange in this game, if we check the time interval between each response, we will find that it is almost equal for some accounts, even an account that tried to answer some questions, @deadsea33 described him as a scammer and refused to send meris to him.

The game was rigged and that is clear to see. The thread was designed to give merits to accounts deadsea33 wanted to give merits to. It also facilitated the legitimate manner in which any forum member wanted to send merits to deadsea33 for running the game/thread therefore he was successful in more than one way in his deceit.

I have an internal feeling that this account is an alt account of ITExpert aka nlovric but I'm still investigating about it.

If this is true, then this user manages dozens of accounts.

Hopefully he does not have dozens of accounts but if he does we all need to work together to try to discover them.

I'm going to kind of feel like an idiot if this _hiloveua_ account turns out to be connected to a farm. I just merited them a couple hours ago in the Countdown to next rank thread. To be fair, I didn't look into their post history. I asked them to read the rules of the countdown thread and tell me why they shouldn't have posted. They answered correct so I gave them the 2 merits they needed.

Find out all the accounts connected and post the proof(real proof) and i'll have no issue tagging them.

I was going to wait a couple of days before starting this thread by collating more screenshots but after I saw the 2 merits you gave to the _Hiloveua_ account in the In Merits, Count Down To Your Next Rank... thread, I decided to create this thread prematurely.

I am preoccupied right now but as soon as I complete looking at the merits between all accounts connected to the deadsea33 account, I will tag them all if there is enough evidence. I do not blame you for not looking at their post history before giving merits because we all have done the same thing (and still do from time to time) but your generosity should not be taken advantage of.

Regarding the suspicious merit history, there's something really fishy about it and the interval in merits aren't that far and wide and the frequency is following some pattern so either it's most likely someone who has bought merits or in the unlikely circumstances, it's a troll trying to mess with people by doing merit abuse.

It seems to point very strongly towards merit abuse but one thing is unclear. Is it one puppeteer controlling all the accounts involved as part of a ranking up process on his accounts or is it a deal between other farm operators to send/receive merits between themselves in order to build up the accounts involved. That will be discovered soon.

[logfiles]

I took a look at the merit history a while back, but I realized something was fishy about deadsea33's merit history and the reason behind the word game thread. I will be damned if the top merit receivers in that thread are not his alts.

Do we have any data scraping experts who can help us find out the
1. Number of posts users each user made in that thread
2. Number of merits users who posted in that thread earned from deadsea33

This will help paint a clear picture on his alts.

[Cantsay]

Do we have any data scraping experts who can help us find out the
1. Number of posts users each user made in that thread
2. Number of merits users who posted in that thread earned from deadsea33

This will help paint a clear picture on his alts.

This is the stats I got from using both ninjastic.space and bpip.org for number of post and merits gotten from the said thread respectively. They're arranged in order of most merited in the thread.

_Hiloveua_ [48] Earned 50 merits
Hatchy [27] Earned 20 merits
Liliana1304 [17] Earned 10 merits
Ripon9909 [9] Earned 9 merits
hafiztalha [10] Earned 7 merits
Rbolisna [14] Earned 6 merits
Woodrose [12] Earned 4 merits
E came [4] Earned 4 merits
sokani [7] Earned 3 merits
Cantsay [3] Earned 3 merits
RTR~ [6] Earned 3 merits
IP Update 11.99.6 [2] Earned 2 merits
Justtoons [5] Earned 2 merits
Pmalek [1] Earned 2 merits
ThemePen [1] Earned 2 merits
cytpoway121 [4] Earned 2 merits
xSkylarx [2] Earned 1 merit
Fausto Arta [1] Earned 1
iwantmyhomepaidwithbtc2 [1] Earned 1merit
tabas [1] Earned 1 merit
Madu$11 [6] Earned 1 merit

I excluded those that posted but didn't earn any merit from the thread but if you want to check out the complete list of everyone that posted in the thread, here's the link. https://ninjastic.space/search?topic_id=5457225

Date : All correct answers merit will be sent. 29 July 2023

_Hiloveua_ still has up to 28 pending merits to be sent at the date above.

[Latviand]

~

Is it one puppeteer controlling all the accounts involved as part of a ranking up process on his accounts or is it a deal between other farm operators to send/receive merits between themselves in order to build up the accounts involved. That will be discovered soon.

Imagine if you are right about the latter, you're getting 2 farms because someone in the other farm just messed up their merit cycling which is definitely a bad news for both farms, imagine that this investigation is going to lead to a deeper rabbithole. Hope you uncover more and that this kind of abuse stops because it's unfair to those who try to earn it honestly. If the former is right, I think it's weird that they only messed up this time, maybe this is a new owner or just plain stupid of that person that they got too complacent about hiding their abuse.

[Pmalek]

I remember his game because he tagged me and cygan in his opening post and that's how I got notified about it. We organized the exact same type of word games in the past.
I took part in round #1 of his guess the word game because there wasn't much activity in the thread at that time. I didn't want to take up the spots of other lower ranks in the later rounds.

It's sad that there could be an ulterior motive behind running this game for the community.

[hugeblack]

The game was rigged and that is clear to see. The thread was designed to give merits to accounts deadsea33 wanted to give merits to. It also facilitated the legitimate manner in which any forum member wanted to send merits to deadsea33 for running the game/thread therefore he was successful in more than one way in his deceit.

Unfortunately, @deadsea33 tried to hide the past of that account, it is difficult to know if it was an alt account, but the distribution of merit between him and _Hiloveua_ is sufficient to accuse him of selling merits, if not an alternative account (I note that there is a difference in the local boards and I do not think that _Hiloveua_ speaks Arabic, but uses Google translator)

I have an internal feeling that this account is an alt account of ITExpert aka nlovric but I'm still investigating about it.

If this is true, then this user manages dozens of accounts.

Hopefully he does not have dozens of accounts but if he does we all need to work together to try to discover them.

I also hope that, but so far there are more than 3 active accounts in signature campaigns that may be an alternative to this account. If he is in a country where $500 is enough money, then this may be his full-time job, and then he will have dozens of accounts.

I remember his game because he tagged me and cygan in his opening post and that's how I got notified about it. We organized the exact same type of word games in the past.

Can you add a link?

[JollyGood]

I remember his game because he tagged me and cygan in his opening post and that's how I got notified about it. We organized the exact same type of word games in the past.
I took part in round #1 of his guess the word game because there wasn't much activity in the thread at that time. I didn't want to take up the spots of other lower ranks in the later rounds.

It's sad that there could be an ulterior motive behind running this game for the community.

I was not surprised about the ulterior motive because he is not the only one who has them.

If a member with hardly any posts worth reading and hardly anything positive to contribute to the forum starts a Get Merits thread, that is highly suspicious. When members with little to no history or contributions or newbies miraculously find themselves on that thread receiving merits then that too is highly suspicious.

When the same members are repeatedly given merits seconds after the next game is posted because again they are miraculously online at the correct time, then that too is highly suspicious. Also, what makes it more fascinating is that almost none of the games were posted at the time deadsea33 announced, they were taking place later yet miraculously certain members were there posting and collecting merits.

That is either too many miracles in one thread or something suspicious is definitely going on.

When I originally came across the thread I noticed your name and cygan in the OP and to some degree I think that provided a cover of legitimacy to deadsea33 to carry out nefarious activities including merit abuse. That was also part of his ulterior motive. When members stumble across those boards and notice names of well known and/or respected members in the OP as reference points then it goes a long way to removing the element of doubt.

There was absolutely an ulterior motive therefore I was not surprised deadsea33 was caught out and as usual it is the arrogance that some members of this forum display that brings them down. Had he simply not reacted to the neutral tag placed by hugeblack and had he not started a thread to complain then he would not have had his account analysed.

[cygan]

✂️

I remember his game because he tagged me and cygan in his opening post and that's how I got notified about it. We organized the exact same type of word games in the past.

Can you add a link?

i also remember that day when my notifier bot triggered my nick in relation to this thread/game created by deadsea33. and like Pmalek, i deliberately didn't play in order to give the other users (from the lower ranks) the chance to get more merits

btw here is the thread mentioned: deadsea33's "Complete the Word Game and Get Merits"

[JollyGood]

Unfortunately, @deadsea33 tried to hide the past of that account, it is difficult to know if it was an alt account, but the distribution of merit between him and _Hiloveua_ is sufficient to accuse him of selling merits, if not an alternative account (I note that there is a difference in the local boards and I do not think that _Hiloveua_ speaks Arabic, but uses Google translator)

As of right now we cannot be sure if the relationship between the two accounts is one of merit abuse between one account farmer or merit selling between accounts operated by different account farmers.

Of the most compelling cases of the suspected nefarious activity with the deadsea33 account at the centre it is the _Hiloveua_ account. That account simply stands out the most because not only has the _Hiloveua_ account already received merits on 24 different occasions to the total of 50 merits, deadsea33 posted that he owes 28 merits to the _Hiloveua_ account which will be given on 29th July 2023. The post is here.

I also hope that, but so far there are more than 3 active accounts in signature campaigns that may be an alternative to this account. If he is in a country where $500 is enough money, then this may be his full-time job, and then he will have dozens of accounts.

I think you have said something is a fact. $500 a month is more than the national average in many countries therefore it is driving force for account farming. I have no doubt the puppeteer controlling the deadsea33 account has several accounts. I cannot be confident enough to say how many but it has to be more than the ones connected to his merit abuse thread.

You have clearly noticed the ITExpert account and have a suspicion. I have to say on many occasions the first impression or gut feeling is usually correct but that is a different matter. When I have time I will take a detailed look in that ITExpert account to see what can be discovered, thank you for mentioning it.

I will be busy over the next few days therefore cannot give the investigation the time it deserves and for that reason prefer to not tag accounts periodically but I will tag ALL the accounts associated with the deadsea33 merit abuse at the same time, after I collate evidence.

[DaveF]

I think you have said something is a fact. $500 a month is more than the national average in many countries therefore it is driving force for account farming. I have no doubt the puppeteer controlling the deadsea33 account has several accounts. I cannot be confident enough to say how many but it has to be more than the ones connected to his merit abuse thread.

Slightly OT but that really is the rub isn't it.
If I made my full post quota here every week (I don't) the amount of extra money is nice. But it's not going to make a difference in my life. Don't get me wrong $7500 a year is a nice income to post where I was posting for free anyway.

But, for people in other places it is life altering money. So they get greedy and want more.

Think about it, if you can make more then the national average where you live posting here then farm a few more accounts and make even more.
And then you try to make even more money and.....

Unless they ban sig campaigns all that can be done is fight against it as best we can.

-Dave

[Hatchy]

Today, while checking my notifications, I noticed that I have been mentioned in the investigation of @deadsea33. It is true that I earned a lot of merits from his game, which might be considered merit abuse. However, I want to clarify that I have no connection with @deadsea33, neither as an alt account nor a merit farm. it's my first time hearing such word here on the forum.
Like any other user, I came across his game in late June and decided to join for fun, as it would be my first game since joining the forum in April.




I started playing from round 2 And as you can see,  I attempted his game multiple times during the second and third rounds  but didn't answer correctly. From round 4 to round 7, I earned a few merits and then stopped playing due to other commitments. I returned to the game in round 12 when the pattern changed and it became more difficult, focusing on the names of legendary members. As a new member to the forum, I found it challenging to answer because I wasn't familiar with most legendary members. This made me less interested, and I only played when I had the chance.
Another aspect that discouraged me from playing his game was that he never stuck to his schedule.

Somehow, whenever I check this page, the rounds are already completed and I see the schedule for the next round.
Then, when I visit the page the next day, the rounds are completed once again.
However, this time, I have carefully observed the time of the post and it has already been over 5 hours, yet the round has not started yet.
It's time for me to sleep and I am sure that when I return tomorrow, the rounds will be completed once again  Grin
I guess I am unlucky to take part in this game.
Report to moderator

Like other members, I waited for hours to get a notification about his game, but I never received any. When I returned after some time, I saw that they had already completed more rounds, so I eventually stopped playing and left the game.
Regarding his suspicious activities, I also noticed that an account that had been inactive for a long time suddenly became active, distributing merits, and deleting some posts. This raised suspicions. After @hugeblack tagged him


 he created a post explaining why he became active after a long time.

I registered in this forum in 4/25/2013 . I was regularly active in this forum till 2018. After that suddenly due to family and personal problems I could not active in the forum like before.
Then after becoming active once in 1/3/2021, I thought I will be active regularly from now on, so I changed the password once. My luck was bad then, again I had to fight for my family. Then I thought that after becoming active, I will start from zero. Moreover, many of my posts were of poor quality. So I deleted almost all my posts.
Also, a forum member can delete his own post, this is not an anti-forum act. So anyone can do this.
I forgot the password so i 6/17/2023 date reset the password through email. Then I use new email and strong password to strengthen security.
I don't see anything wrong in doing this for the security of my account. Hope you understand.
And Starting a word game for all forum members especially new members to gain knowledge and share good things

 Many members dropped messages for him to prove ownership of the account,but he never returned to that thread to address their suspicions. In my opinion, he either bought his account from an old member or created the game to gain enough activity quickly and rank up to a full member since he already had enough merits but lacked activity.

And to add up, during his game, he didn't post on other threads or topics and then, he immediately applied for a signature campaign just a few days after finishing his game and ranking up, which raises more questions.


I want to plead my innocence, as I had nothing to do with @deadsea33 and was merely fortunate to have won some merits from his game, just like other members did. If you check my merit history, you'll see that I've earned more merits since leaving his game. merits from his game only gave me a boost. I hope this matter is thoroughly investigated to prove my innocence. Thank you all for listening to me.

Please feel free to mention me if you have any questions, and I'll be happy to answer.

[JollyGood]

btw here is the thread mentioned: deadsea33's "Complete the Word Game and Get Merits"

Thankfully the merit abuse thread created by deadsea33 is locked.

Nice discovery OP. Few of those indeed are questionable, so i'll put them on ignore list for now.

The person currently controlling the deadsea33 account made that thread with the intention of merit abuse. If you ignore them now you will not be able to read their (probably laughable) replies when they post a defence denying wrongdoing.

Slightly OT but that really is the rub isn't it.
If I made my full post quota here every week (I don't) the amount of extra money is nice. But it's not going to make a difference in my life. Don't get me wrong $7500 a year is a nice income to post where I was posting for free anyway.

But, for people in other places it is life altering money. So they get greedy and want more.

Think about it, if you can make more then the national average where you live posting here then farm a few more accounts and make even more.
And then you try to make even more money and.....

That is exactly what it comes down to: money

A large number of members participate in signature campaigns and there is nothing wrong with that. For some it is life-changing to earn more in a month here than in their jobs therefore they mismanage the situation.

If they have farmed accounts which are not used for merit abuse, not used for revenge feedback, not used for revenge trust inclusion/exclusion and not used for DT manipulation and they post enough to meet quota for their campaigns then that is different from using the Reputation board trying to remove a neutral tag and getting noticed. If the signature campaign was of such significance they would have refrained from involving themselves in anything beyond their signature campaign quota.

In many cases at least signature campaign participants have contributed positively in some capacity to this wonderful forum of ours but when the greed (as you put it) takes over they lower the bar with low quality participation via their posts and that too can be seen.

Unless they ban sig campaigns all that can be done is fight against it as best we can.

Thankfully some members are trying to use the Reputation board to post about these types of things, there is no other option.

[Stalker22]

As of right now we cannot be sure if the relationship between the two accounts is one of merit abuse between one account farmer or merit selling between accounts operated by different account farmers.

Of the most compelling cases of the suspected nefarious activity with the deadsea33 account at the centre it is the _Hiloveua_ account. That account simply stands out the most because not only has the _Hiloveua_ account already received merits on 24 different occasions to the total of 50 merits, deadsea33 posted that he owes 28 merits to the _Hiloveua_ account which will be given on 29th July 2023. The post is here.

Another interesting point is that "_Hiloveua_" never once offered a wrong answer in the "Complete the Word Game" , despite the fact that his answers were often given just a few minutes after starting a new round. Even if he found some effective way to recognize words (I do not know if there are online dictionaries that can assist with these types of games), statistically speaking, he should have offered at least one incorrect word matching the given pattern. Unless, of course, he knew all the correct answers in advance, and the entire game was merely a farce for merit abuse.

[Cantsay]

Even if he found some effective way to recognize words (I do not know if there are online dictionaries that can assist with these types of games), statistically speaking, he should have offered at least one incorrect word matching the given pattern. Unless, of course, he knew all the correct answers in advance, and the entire game was merely a farce for merit abuse.

That was the main reason I stopped the game, while searching for words I normally use the "7 letter words with n at the 3rd position" as my keyword and even with that I still come across so many results that would have been a perfect choice but for @_hiloveua_ not missing anyone or making a wrong choice is kinda suspicious.

Sorry to ask, @JollyGood did you PM them about this thread? because I can see that only @hatchy has replied to this thread meanwhile some others are active in the forum but haven't said anything concerning the thread. I doubt that they are using telegram notification bot so it will be a good idea to pm them if you haven't done so already.

[JollyGood]

Another interesting point is that "_Hiloveua_" never once offered a wrong answer in the "Complete the Word Game" , despite the fact that his answers were often given just a few minutes after starting a new round. Even if he found some effective way to recognize words (I do not know if there are online dictionaries that can assist with these types of games), statistically speaking, he should have offered at least one incorrect word matching the given pattern. Unless, of course, he knew all the correct answers in advance, and the entire game was merely a farce for merit abuse.

The merit competition thread was an absolute farce trying to hide behind a false legitimacy of a game of fun. _Hiloveua_ is the main beneficiary of the whole farce when it comes to the number of merits received but others have also benefitted. For the _Hiloveua_ account to post correct replies on numerous occasions within minutes of the questions being posted, is clearly suspicious to say the least.

That was the main reason I stopped the game, while searching for words I normally use the "7 letter words with n at the 3rd position" as my keyword and even with that I still come across so many results that would have been a perfect choice but for @_hiloveua_ not missing anyone or making a wrong choice is kinda suspicious.

Sorry to ask, @JollyGood did you PM them about this thread? because I can see that only @hatchy has replied to this thread meanwhile some others are active in the forum but haven't said anything concerning the thread. I doubt that they are using telegram notification bot so it will be a good idea to pm them if you haven't done so already.

As the Hatchy account has posted/pleaded innocence here, I have sent a PM to the accounts mentioned in the OP but other members will be sent PMs after the OP is updated.

[CryptoHFs]

Another interesting point is that "_Hiloveua_" never once offered a wrong answer in the "Complete the Word Game" , despite the fact that his answers were often given just a few minutes after starting a new round. Even if he found some effective way to recognize words (I do not know if there are online dictionaries that can assist with these types of games), statistically speaking, he should have offered at least one incorrect word matching the given pattern. Unless, of course, he knew all the correct answers in advance, and the entire game was merely a farce for merit abuse.

The merit competition thread was an absolute farce trying to hide behind a false legitimacy of a game of fun. _Hiloveua_ is the main beneficiary of the whole farce when it comes to the number of merits received but others have also benefitted. For the _Hiloveua_ account to post correct replies on numerous occasions within minutes of the questions being posted, is clearly suspicious to say the least.

That was the main reason I stopped the game, while searching for words I normally use the "7 letter words with n at the 3rd position" as my keyword and even with that I still come across so many results that would have been a perfect choice but for @_hiloveua_ not missing anyone or making a wrong choice is kinda suspicious.

Sorry to ask, @JollyGood did you PM them about this thread? because I can see that only @hatchy has replied to this thread meanwhile some others are active in the forum but haven't said anything concerning the thread. I doubt that they are using telegram notification bot so it will be a good idea to pm them if you haven't done so already.

As the Hatchy account has posted/pleaded innocence here, I have sent a PM to the accounts mentioned in the OP but other members will be sent PMs after the OP is updated.

Hilo is a big doubt