Hi,

Over the period of time that I have played iSketch and during recent weeks especially, there has been abuse of the voting system.

One player comes to mind, who is known to the various admin since this person most likely has a dynamic IP and logs on/off, booting players constantly.

Since iSketch has difficulty in dealing with this player, would the best course of action be to set up registrations using domain email accounts? i.e. an account registered with your ISP provider, microsoft or business etc.

These won't include Hotmail nor Yahoo since multiple accounts with these mail services can be made with ease!

Now, having domined emails will not be completely foolproof but this will almost certainly reduce the number of vote abusers including a small proportion of young children, who most (I hope) do not hold adminstrative rights on the home CPU and have no access to registrating email accounts with the household's ISP.

If children fear they can't access the site if such registrations were brought in, then one option could be that each registered user can allow a limited number of guests on their account.

Not only will this allow younger gamers to continue playing iSketch, but it would also allow respectable parents control on how much their children play, if accurate records of their gaming stats are kept, such as time spent online.

This will also deter amateurish imposters/stalkers in making feeble attempts of causing disruption to the game and other players.

if they do put that in, they should do it after a month where if someone enters a username and password for no reason, it's also a way to have a registration. but they keep it secret!

Firstly, to be honest I disagree with requiring registration to use iSketch.

Secondly, With your idea, some of the ISP's don't provide their OWN email services and recommend/request you use one of the free options. And then there's users who's ISP's OWN email system allow free registrations to non customers too.

Thirdly, at the end of the day, these kids, who abuse the system, will most likely abuse the registration system just as much to avoid getting caught, so to be honest, the registration system should be used as a privileges system NOT a means of combating abuse.

I speak on these matters as an IRC Administrator with experience dealing with nuisance users, who will go as far as registering accounts to abuse if they have to, and no amount of restricting those registrations to ISP only email addresses will prevent them abusing the system.

I agree with registration to a certain extent but as the current situation stands, anyone, unless they're banned for naughtiness, can access iSketch.

This allows for a lot of people to play a game free of charge, (happy days), but also allows ANYONE, i.e. run of the mill nutters, perverts, cheats, stalkers, chavs and anyone else you may not wish to mix with, (not so happy days) to also play said game.

They're not entirely unmoderated, but even if they were, it doesn't matter. The game is free, the person running it has absolutely no obligation to do anything for you at all. A non-registration iSketch (as I believe it will always remain given the responsibilities attached to a site wherein there is a charge or registration) allows for the Hobson's choice iSketch we have now.

If you don't like it, move rooms or don't play... nobody is making you: that's your choice as a player. I'm not saying that's how I'd have it... it's just the way it is.

Governing bodies in the UK are currently investigating sites which could be deemed unfit for children and even though I think it is a parent's responsibility to observe their child's online behaviour, it could be that iSketch and other sites like it (a lot of adult content but easily accessible by minors) might be forced to make changes long-term. To me this would be a shame, it's like banning a violent video game because a young man's parents bought it for him...

I don't know about registrations... but as the internet and young people becomes more of a IRL concern, it appears changes might be forced by way of more nannies than at a goat's W.I meeting.

Great post Buffers. I am with you on this 100%.

I also strongly believe that if you paid for this game this would make the creator accountable for a lot of things that 'could' happen (and I have said this before :razz:)

pay? I don't think the'll make you do that for you to play. then nobody would play!

I think there's a difference between a legal obligation and a moral obligation to protect users of and moderate the content on any site, especially one which, intentionally or not, appeals to minors - such as iSketch. We've all heard the argument that iSketch was designed for adults but, like it or not, it's not primarily used by them and so the content and regulation of usage should reflect that.

As the Admin on a couple of forums which, like iSketch, are free to join I might not have any legal obligation to protect one user from the abuses of another, nor to moderate the content of posts, but I do have a moral obligation to do so, which I take seriously - and both of those forums are strictly 18+, not open to minors.

I no longer play iSketch anything like as much, this is purely because of the abuse I've personally suffered and the abuse I've seen others suffer over the years - some of it even coming from iSketch Admin - and nothing ever gets done to stamp it out, however much information feedback is supplied. If a player draws a rude picture they get warned or banned but it often seems players are free to harass, abuse, stalk and intimidate other players, safe in the knowledge that feedback is highly unlikely to even respond to requests for help much less intervene. This is a very sad indictment of iSketch in my opinion and, until Rob takes responsibility, I can't see matters improving. The answer of "Well you don't have to play" is a cop out from those that turn a blind eye to online abuse and in doing so condone it. Yes, iSketch is free - but, in my opinion, that doesn't absolve Rob of responsibility when abuse of his service is made apparent to him. It sometimes amazes me that this forum takes it's responsibility to protect members more seriously than the site it was designed to support, for that Pete and the team should be heartily applauded. It's depressing that if a member here was abusing another member they would get banned from the forum yet would almost certainly be free to continue that abuse on iSketch!

On the subject of registrations; they're long overdue and badly needed to help the Admin to monitor abuses of the system. With regards payment; I'd not like to see iSketch become a paid registration site, it will deter new players, but perhaps a voluntary donation system would be a compromise - many freeware software sites supply their programs free but give the option to donate if they enjoy using it. I'm sure Rob would receive more than enough in donations to ensure iSketch ran at a healthy profit.

Another point I forgot to mention, a lot of ISP's these days allow you to set up temporary aliases for your ISP email account like gjhk26313@<domain> which you can use for signing up to sites and then dispose of when you're done so as to avoid getting any junk mail too.

Now I know if I wanted to be abusive, and iSketch registrations were limited to ISP email accounts, I'd make use of my ISP's temporary email aliases feature to register more then once.

That's yet another reason why restricting it to ISP accounts won't prevent abuse. :sad:

On the topic of paid registrations, I think the best compromise is something like 3 levels, unregistered (like now), basic registered, and paid registered. Where you could play as a guest like you can now but be a lil restricted (not much), or register for free with a basic account offering server stored stats and reserved name, and the paid registered option which allows users to donate to iSketch, but at the same time gives an insentive to donate by giving a few extra privileges that users, even now, don't currently have. With this scheme however, I would NOT like to see voting absuive players out of a room as a privilege that requires payment to use, but however I would like to see it restricted to registered (basic and above) accounts. That way it can easily be taken away from an account permanently if required.

I'm okay with basic. and that would be great for doppelgangers too.