I've little to add to this except the observation that kids today think that clicking a dislike button automaticaly proves them right about something, because this is the species that we have created apparently.

I'm adding this because I think your OP is a worthy cause to kick up a fuss about, even though I never venture into the workshop myself.

It's just so petty. I've since learned one does have to spend money to vote on the workshop. You have to own a copy of the game. This latest example I received four downvotes one right after the other. I expect to receive some downvotes here and there but when they come several at a time it's clearly one person doing it. That's four copies of the game/four steam accounts. When I taunted them I received another four downvotes. I've since received another three. Other authors have gotten as many as 30 or more downvotes. These are popular authors who do good work and are generally well liked so for their work to receive so many downvotes is an anomaly.

I can see why Valve might be reluctant to do anything. The person is spending a bunch of money and I don't know if they've really broken any rules but I really don't like that downvotes carry so much weight that one person can leverage that to manipulate the workshop front page. I'm not sure what can be done about it though.

if it is person or people organizing to target you, this is harassment and is a support issue.

It is a known issue for some game hubs. Contact the developers.

Originally posted by =Snappy=:

if it is person or people organizing to target you, this is harassment and is a support issue.

^This.

I assume one of the possibility if you have someone harassing repeatedly for no cause behind it.
A. The person watching whatever you do, and tells his/her friends to downvote you every chance they get.

B. The person made multiple accounts to downvote you, if this these are free to play games you're posting your workshop.

C. You're posting edgy, advertisement, or stolen content.

D. You started something that cause the drama to bring everyone to target you, which is the cause of (A. & B.) and we don't know about the whole truth behind it.

I'm just assuming the possibility what could cause this problem you have now.


If you know the user that been continuing harassing you, visit the person profile, and report them, also I suggest contacting the game devs if you able to, to notifying them of the harassment you have been receiving.

A) Probable they are doing this as well.

B) I suspect they've done this...made multiple accounts and it's not a free to play game so they're spending a big chunk of change to do so. It's very telling when I called them out for their behavior in the comments the item immediately received another four downvotes.

C) Negative.

D) Negative. I'm not really sure who's doing this although I suspect it's because I'm friends with several other authors they have a grudge against. Others have reported this to Valve as well as the developers. Nothing has been done as of yet and since a search reveals this issue is ongoing across the entire workshop and that it spans years I don't expect anything will be done, possibly because they're at a loss as to how to stop it.

Heya Seige, love your uploads and yeah I had the same issue. It feels like ZeroG guys are the ones doing it. I caught Jenniphur trying to pass a design of mine off as his own, defended by some cult fanboy named Frigidman. A day later every thing i had submitted had 5 downvotes added.

Uploaded this https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1984985383 recently, and as SOON as it hits the workshop front page (despite the 5 downvotes from the same people), its pulled somehow, vanishes from the page and is now gone from even the top 30.

Magically replaced by two submissions from ZeroG members, Sulusdacor sporting a very similar hovertank with snarky disclaimer referencing my own, and and other clone design of my space fighter from jenniphur, using Jrandall textures (which had 40+ ratings after a couple of hours of being submitted)

I think you're right, definitely petty abuse of the downvote system going on.

3 and 4 are good suggestions.

Heya Losttree, thanks.

I have to be honest I'm friendly with Jenniphur and the ZeroG crew. They seem like good people. Jenniphur is big on giving credit to original authors and she's pretty friendly so if you've got an issue you should be able to talk to her about it. They and the people over at Xcalibur's corner of the net have all mentioned having problems with downvoting. It's become something of a running joke with how regularly it happens.

I don't really have any insights as to who might be responsible. I just know it affects a lot of people. One of the issues with voting is that downvotes are weighted a lot more heavily than upvotes. Something like 15:1. It's really hard to overcome that unless you've built up a following like some of the more popular authors. I had a couple hundred followers at one point and couldn't really keep ahead of it for long. For newer authors a few downvotes can knock something right off the front page and keep it off.

It's a shame because a lot of really good builds end up being missed. I like to go through recent submissions and leave positive comments on the ones that really catch my interest but anything that catches my interest enough to get me to click gets an upvote even if I don't leave comments. I also like to browse their workshop just to check out what else they've made. Chances are I'll find other things I like. I'm not really a fan of downvoting personally so I don't use it even with someone that might have issues with me.

Honestly I'm not sure why Valve continues to have downvoting on Steam. I've seen other places that don't have that option and it seems to work just fine.

I thinking you are jumping to conclusions @Lostree. The reality of the matter is we are all getting downvotes. i guarantee i get far more than you do, but i am not the only one either. there are alot of builders that get them as well. Even jrandell gets tons of them. I could go on and on but hopefully you get the point.

If you ever want to talk more in depth on the issue I am always available to talk. my discord is the best way to reach me.

Also my only problem with you was i forgot to credit you when i first uploaded Starscreamer. I was told of this and corrected it as soon as I realized this. in fact you also thanked me and added a link of Starscreamer onto your Celtic Fire upload. Which I commented on saying I was inspired by it. Its a great build and was only trying to flatter.

But now you are playing victim when your friend came in and blew profanities in my comment section. But seems like you left that little detail out.

Anyways I urge you to reach out to other builders and hear them out. We are all in this together so its best for us to work together rather than butting heads.

Also please dont take my words in anger I am only trying to inform you that this is a highly known and much bigger issue than you might understand.

Again reach out to me or others. Take care!

I don´t think name calling and accusations will solve the problem. I know that a lot of builders are being affected by ridiculous amounts of downvotes. Even the people you have mentioned. But a lot of people are dealing with far more than ´just´ 5 negative votes. Especially at the end of January downvotes went crazy. I got 30 downvotes within the first 5-10 hours on this build:

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1982578853

...making the build disappear from the weekly top 30 in no time. 2 weeks of work gone down the drain because of some ♥♥♥♥ heads that .. I don´t know, are jealous, selfish, childish or just like to troll in general.

One guy of the steam support that I know meanwhile investigated my case (it´s not the first time I spoke to him, he is aware of the downvote problem and collects data) and told me, the downvotes didn´t come from a single person / account in my case. He said that it´s likely some people who have grouped up to intentionally to bomb the workshop with negs and push up themselves with ups.

Those certain people are under watch by steam support, thou.

Another thing that I have noticed is, that the first downvotes came in the same minute I have released the ship. The build wasn´t even visible on the new entries page, nor have I announced it on any discord or forum.

So either someone from my friend- or someone from my follower list has to be responsible for that BS.

CrazyZ, it's probable some of these people have followed authors they want to vote bomb and might be running some kind of bot to do the downvoting.

Siege you are correct. The problem is you cannot block a suspected person to make them unfollow you. These people will follow you and youll never know who is doing it.

As CrazyZ mentioned we are aware of much more than what these downvoters think we do. The problem is Steam has to do something about it. So we are in limbo until that day comes.

Also note that its takes about 10 upvotes to overcome a downvote. Starscreamer has 25+downvotes. so in that regard its off the pages.

I really do not care and still will upload despite the downvotes I receive.

I was also thinking of a possible bot system, yes. But stem support didn´t confirm it yet.