5 ms·

Most likely cheap idiot contractors. Looks like whoever is managing moderation sucks at their work or doesnt care.

by rasz 4y ago

somenameforme 4y ago
It says on the page, "This review has been banned by a Steam moderator..." Probably not even a contractor, but just a volunteer. And now Valve is taking a significant PR hit because of their ineptitude. You get what you pay for.
- still_grokking 4y ago
  It's not about the censored review. The story here is about the fact that people who marked this review as helpful got punished for doing so. And that's an order of magnitude more severe fuck up.
- LorenPechtel 4y ago
  And that they didn't quickly step in and reverse it. Mistakes will happen, how they are addressed matters.
makeitdouble 4y ago
I always wonder why people keep attributing this to cheap/unskilled labor. At one level it really doesn't matter as the company is choosing who works for them, and the outcome of their action is the company's action. It's Valve's fuckup anyway we look at it. At another level, qualified and well paid employees also take shitty actions. I'd argue they're often less prepared and less professional than contracted customer support.
- somenameforme 4y ago
  Because it's out of character. On Steam there are practically no restrictions whatsoever on what you can say in reviews. Even completely irrelevant, off topic, risque, or meme spam reviews are perfectly kosher. A reasonable and relevant review being removed makes 0 sense, and is not something Steam would ever do. So it's obviously somebody who's working for them, that shouldn't be. Of course I do agree with you on accountability. Companies should not use volunteers for remotely relevant positions. If they do, and those volunteers screw up, it's on them.
- bhelkey 4y ago
  Because it's ridiculously expensive to operate at scale without any room for error.
  - makeitdouble 4y ago
    I totally agree. But I'd contrast that with the reaction when people get rejections from the AppStore for instance. They're not blaming some proverbial intern for that, they'll rightfully blame Apple, either for inconsistent decisions depending on the reviewer, or lack of clear rules, etc.
balls187 4y ago
Pure speculation: my initial thought was a moderator was bribed remove the review (or multiple reviews).
- rasz 4y ago
  Thats how it works at Amazon with account managers rolling in the $ https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-investigates-employees-leaking-data-for-bribes-1537106401 https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-investigates-employees-l... https://sourcingjournal.com/topics/technology/amazon-china-bribery-scandal-119176/ https://sourcingjournal.com/topics/technology/amazon-china-b...

Most likely cheap idiot contractors. Looks like whoever is managing moderation sucks at their work or doesnt care.

by rasz 4y ago

Most likely cheap idiot contractors. Looks like whoever is managing moderation sucks at their work or doesnt care.

It says on the page, "This review has been banned by a Steam moderator..." Probably not even a contractor, but just a volunteer. And now Valve is taking a significant PR hit because of their ineptitude. You get what you pay for.

still_grokking 4y ago
It's not about the censored review. The story here is about the fact that people who marked this review as helpful got punished for doing so. And that's an order of magnitude more severe fuck up.
LorenPechtel 4y ago
And that they didn't quickly step in and reverse it. Mistakes will happen, how they are addressed matters.

makeitdouble 4y ago

I always wonder why people keep attributing this to cheap/unskilled labor. At one level it really doesn't matter as the company is choosing who works for them, and the outcome of their action is the company's action. It's Valve's fuckup anyway we look at it. At another level, qualified and well paid employees also take shitty actions. I'd argue they're often less prepared and less professional than contracted customer support.

somenameforme 4y ago
Because it's out of character. On Steam there are practically no restrictions whatsoever on what you can say in reviews. Even completely irrelevant, off topic, risque, or meme spam reviews are perfectly kosher. A reasonable and relevant review being removed makes 0 sense, and is not something Steam would ever do. So it's obviously somebody who's working for them, that shouldn't be. Of course I do agree with you on accountability. Companies should not use volunteers for remotely relevant positions. If they do, and those volunteers screw up, it's on them.
bhelkey 4y ago
Because it's ridiculously expensive to operate at scale without any room for error.
- makeitdouble 4y ago
  I totally agree. But I'd contrast that with the reaction when people get rejections from the AppStore for instance. They're not blaming some proverbial intern for that, they'll rightfully blame Apple, either for inconsistent decisions depending on the reviewer, or lack of clear rules, etc.

balls187 4y ago

Pure speculation: my initial thought was a moderator was bribed remove the review (or multiple reviews).

rasz 4y ago
Thats how it works at Amazon with account managers rolling in the $ https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-investigates-employees-leaking-data-for-bribes-1537106401 https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-investigates-employees-l... https://sourcingjournal.com/topics/technology/amazon-china-bribery-scandal-119176/ https://sourcingjournal.com/topics/technology/amazon-china-b...