An AFF rule that I don't quite understand...

I like everything about this site, except one rule, but maybe it's only me.

If someone sees the point of this rule, could you explain it to me, please? Thank you!

 

This is the rule from the AFF FAQ, I was talking about, and the explanation of it:

Q: Why do I need to have at least 10 karma points to vote on a story?

A: It's one way of many to curb vote manipulation and reduce the incidences of multiple shell accounts all trying to raise votes for a story.

 

 

And this is my own point of view:

I feel like with this rule, the authors are punished somehow, instead of being rewarded.
Why rewarded? Because they do a good job for AFF,  they actually  bring new users for the site, with their work. And for that, the authors are deprived from those newbies' well deserved votes.
Probably a big number from these new users wouldn't be here if not for the authors' stories, whom about they learned somewhere and sometimes...just sayin'

 

PS: How many shell accounts could you create anyway, for this issue to be such a big threat?  

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Nichiren #1
Hi, I'll chime in here. There are members with literally thousands of accounts many of which also have verified emails to my surprise. The 10 kp restriction is a bit onerous, I agree, but the community deemed the cheating to be too much at the time when stories with no subscribers would get featured. The restriction slowed the fraud down but even now, not entirely.

Good news is that I've removed this restriction for the next gen app I'm making for the site since there are other ways to reduce fraud in apps. The app should be released in a few weeks. It won't replace the current app but it's the one I'll be working on from now on.
JaeKnight #2
Back when upvoting is available to everyone who had 25kps, there were more than a couple of upvoting shops here and there. One user may be too lazy to create multiple accs, but they have an option to go to upvote shops. It’s dirty play imo. But i do kinda agree/understand about the 10kps alone. Just verified account alone should be enough to upvote a story. If they really want to prevent shell accounts then verify all accounts upon registration
Kuro1412 #3
Aff wanted to prevent foul play, like creating multiple acc just to upvote your own story. It's just a method of prevention the creator did, but i don't know the details so don't shout at me :(
I think it's a good way to prevent fake and scam acc, but it caused trouble for some 'only readers' acc. But if that system isn't created, many acc could cheat?
Let's see from both sides since it has plus minus on it's own
QueenMoona #4
Yeah, I agree that feature is annoying. I see it most of the time after I place a bid to advertise my stories, but I've never won a bid so then I find a good story and then can only subscribe because I don't have enough karma points. It is annoying and I don't understand it either
Charlot1081 #5
For Aff, it's not mandatory to confirm your email account. So you could make multiple accounts to up vote your story. However, I do agree. If the reader is just a reader, and too shy to comment, how is the reader supposed to get 10kp? Back when I first joined Aff, I think it was between 20kp-25kp that I needed to have before being able to up vote. So I wasn't able to up vote any of the stories I loved to read for awhile. But then I got involved in Aff more and commented on blogs and such. My stories weren't popular at all at the time, so I couldn't get kp from subs XD At the end of the day, we could just make a new account and send kp to it so we can up vote our own stories. So.. I don't think I'm really helpful with this, sorry >.<'
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