Re: How not to start the day

On 03/12/2024 15:40, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

 So, Steam locked my account today.
 And why not? After all, I posted an incredibly suspicious (their
words) comment the other day. It was a response to a review on their
storefront. I forget what the game was, but that review basically
said: 'don't buy this game, even if its on sale, even if it looks
good, it's not worth it.'
 So I replied:
     "It's true. I saw the game. I saw the pretty graphics. I saw
     the negative scores. But I also saw it was on sale and I
     thought, 'it couldn't be that bad'. I was >< this close to
     buying it. Then I saw this review... and I put away the
     credit card. It's like you knew me. Thank you for saving
     me $40USD."
 (that's my content, quoted in full, that Valve found offensive)
 As you can see, it's no surprise that Valve locked the account of
somebody who would say something so dreadful. I'm lucky my NNTP
provider doesn't cancel my account for repeating it here, even if it
was a first-strike by a long-time customer, content provider and
probable 'whale'. Truly heinous stuff, right? Worthy of immediate
locking somebody out of their property.
 Obviously I'm being sarcastic. But I think I'm due to some cynicism
given the stupidity of Valve. It just reinforces my belief that
companies like Valve have way to much power over their customers
 (similarly, Riot games has threatened to lock people out of their
accounts for posting or saying stuff off-platform outside of their
purview. That's right; do something offensive on Facebook and they'll
keep you from playing League of Legends)
 It's not so much a problem of these corporations trying to police
their platforms. With all the misogyny, homophobia, and racism out
there, it's a necessity. But it's the ham-handed, algorithm-led,
shoot-first/investigate-never methodolgy they use. They just depend on
computers to do it, rather than pay for moderators, and trust that
these algorithmic decisions are correct. And then rather than
correspond with the offender first, they just take the nuclear option
and yank the account. It's wrong in every aspect.
 I contacted customer support (which is to say, I clicked on a link and
got redirected to a box where I could type out a comment). I politely
requested that Valve investigate the incident and re-instate the
account. I fully believe they will do so. The comment is so patently
inoffensive that I have no idea why it even triggered an algorithm
      [maybe it was the use of the "> <"  to indicate proximity?]
 But it's annoying that I have to jump through these hoops and that a
black mark is now permanently associated with my account.
 And it's made me distrust Valve --and their DRM-enforced control over
my property-- just a little bit more.
 

Annoying but realistically I'm not sure what Valve can do in general beyond trying to learn from where things went wrong and human interaction* is required somewhere in the process. Facewank is pretty awful in this respect with an algorithm that seems more like a game of pin the tail on the donkey. Oh you want to appeal this seven day ban, well just flag it to get looked at by our team of independent moderators. Oh sorry about that they haven't got time to do it currently so you're still banned.
This one though, locking your account. I mean really, I'd expect that would at least come with fair warning before doing it unless there's some obscure reason to do with account security or you're a repeat offender.
*The World of Tanks forum was a good example of be careful of what you wish for. There was no algorithm and it was all down to human moderators. Sounds good until you realise that they ended up with two volunteer moderators (why pay staff when you can get people to work for you for free) and they we so utterly biased it became basically a joke on the forum. Then again if you have a moderator who thinks they have a spirit guide called Jesus of Nazareth then you're just asking for trouble!