PvXwiki:Biased Voting

Multiple Accounts and Sockpuppetry
Allowing multiple accounts to edit PvXwiki from a shared IP address raises the natural question of biased voting and sock-puppetry. If the accounts are in fact created by a number of distinct users they are likely either related to each other or friends with each other which leads to biased voting, the practical equivalent of sock-puppetry. However, there is also nothing to prevent a single user from creating multiple accounts and claiming that those accounts are controlled by his friends or family members. On the other hand, there is nothing wrong per se with two family members creating distinct accounts and editing. Thus, rather than seek to limit the number of account per IP address, this policy seeks to address the question of what should be done in cases where a number of accounts share a single IP address. The idea is to allow multiple users to share an IP (and to allow them to do so without raising questions of sock-puppetry) while still limiting the possibility of actual sock-puppetry.

The actual solution is relatively simple. While a number of accounts may edit PvX from a shared IP address, they may not vote on builds which another user who shares their IP has created.

Author Voting
Although authors are allowed to vote on their own builds according to Real Vetting, this can often lead to biased votes. The expectation is that authors believe there builds to be good or great, they often believe their builds deserve nothing less than a 5-5-5. We often allow normal users (i.e. ones who are not the author) to use reasons like "Good Build" or "Bad Build" when they vote. However, since the author is naturally more biased than most, authors are expected to substantiate their votes (particularly in cases where their vote is abnormally high and/or on non-meta builds) giving comparatively detailed, objective reasons why their build deserves such and such rating.

Miscellaneous
Votes may be biased for reasons other than those detailed above. Two in particular are seen with some frequency on PvX and other wikis. One instance is where a user retaliates against other user(s) who have either given poor ratings to his builds or who he feels have spurned him in another manner. The other involves cases in which a number of guild members all log on to give a high rating to a build which they have been running as a Guild.

The key when dealing with any kind of situation which merits vote removal is discretion. If say two users who share an IP begin to copy each other (i.e. vote in exactly the same manner on exactly the same builds), then for all intents and purposes, they can be considered sock-puppets. This policy is designed to outline instances where biased voting may occur; however, votes that do not fall into one of these categories may still be biased.