I read conchobar/peachysoo 's blog early in the morning when my mind was kinda fuzzy. But I'm sober now that it's 7:30 in the evening. 

LISTEN, just because the featured author did it, it doesn't mean that it's how things work here in AFF. We don't buy upvotes. WHA- Guys, this is not the norm.

Ah perhaps you've seen election candidates buy votes but it doesn't change the fact that vote buying is illegal. In Khan Academy, if  you were caught in a bidding ring ("I vote your program, you vote mine"), you'd be banned. The penalty is worse than plagiarism. When you plagiarize, your program just won't show up.

Oh maybe, it's those beauty contests where the contestant with the most number of tickets sold wins. But that's not part of the mechanics here in AFF.

In order for your fic to get featured, you have to earn the highest number of upvotes in a certain period of time (how many days? three?).

Sure, we are allowed to purchase karma points to buy layouts in the Layout Marketplace, to advertise via AFF's bidding system, to change our usernames, etc.

But nowhere in the FAQ does it state that karma points could be used to buy upvotes. Why? Because upvotes are meant to be freely given by the readers. It is their way of saying that they like your story enough to get it in the frontpage. 

Now, if you buy upvotes for your story... and it got featured... what does it say about you or your story?

It's like the case of that one featured user who created dummy accounts just to get featured. That was during the time when the number of subscribers is one of the criteria for getting featured. That user was banned. 

Or that featured user who put "click me" link baits which is actually the upvote button in disguise. (DON'T EVEN TRY. Besides, it doesn't work anymore.)

Or that featured user who transferred her fic to one of her accounts just so the six-month feature ban won't apply.

Now this. 

It's 2015 and I shouldn't be blogging about something we know without another person telling us. For sure, your teachers and parents have told you time and time again, not to cheat. Why? When you cheat, you only cheat yourselves. 

Sure, you got a high score in the test, but did you learn anything?

You got featured, but do you honestly feel you deserved it?

This is just sad. I am not bothered because I want to be featured. I've stayed far too long in this site to realize that there are more important things than a star in your fic.  

But the fact that users would think that vote buying is the norm is frustrating. Yes, they may enjoy temporary fame but they won't succeed in life if they always cheat their way to everything. 

And then there are those users who dream of getting featured, who deserve getting featured. (Just because it's not my goal, doesn't mean I would callously put them down. I do believe that there are authors out there who deserve that spot in the front page.)

And guys, you are not required to upvote a story just because the author tells you to. No. Even if he/she threatens you that he/she wouldn't update. You're better off not reading the story if the user's motivation of writing is the number of upvotes.

ANYWAY, that's just me and my attempt not to bring further headache to our mods and admin. 

Let's play nice, kay?