what a joke!!?? this is ridiculous!!!

[supervike]

um yeah is right...

It seems almost all of Robius\' entries (that were entered last week) have averaged over 50 votes per day, with well over 200 views per day.

Fredy\'s work has averaged only about 17 votes per day, and about 165 views per day.

Haleys\' latest has averaged about 25 votes, and well over 300 views per day.

Kaple\'s 30 votes per day, about 250 views per day.


These were all taken from the top 10/last 7 days area...

They all seem to be a similar, although Robius\' vote average seems to be much higher....

Why more votes? Is it the categories that he/she enters the submissions in?

 

[finn17]

Robius is very, very talented...

But he also, clearly, has a small army of fans who believe he can do no wrong. Nothing wrong with that, it\'s not against the rules, but annoying nonetheless for equally talented artists on this site.

 

[Sturmhalo]

Technically speaking, the guy seems to be a skilled sculptor, but aesthetically that piece just seems like a number of different models stuck together!

 

[beltane]

I noted he has a lot of comments but almost ALWAYS are from the same persons: look at their profiles, ALWAYS without pictures and with very similar description(painter/painter and sculptor and so on...).
I really think those comments are false...and it\'s ridiculous!!
Personally I don\'t think he sculpted the dragon and the dragon bust...and frankly I don\'t think he has the quality for his ranking.
Only my two cents
But I hope Robius will be able to explain such strange things about his works...lol

 

[finn17]

I have tried to determine the IP of the people who have posted comments....

...but without any success so far.

I might ask CA if this is possible....???

 

[supervike]

hmmm

while I am not quite ready to make the leap that Beltrane has made, something does seem to be awfully fishy about many of the \"comment givers\".

I count no less that 7 unique names that all have a very similar \'about me\' line in the profile, none with any posted pics (not that that is any sort of indicator). All with similar style of comments.

As I said, the jury is still out, but something doesn\'t add up here....

 

[MalleusMiniArt]

Originally posted by beltane
I noted he has a lot of comments but almost ALWAYS are from the same persons: look at their profiles, ALWAYS without pictures and with very similar description(painter/painter and sculptor and so on...).

Well, I`ve noticed that too and I also think that`s strange...
I must admit I don`t like accusing others of cheating etc (mostly because I prefer to think that people are genarally good and honest ) but I`ve been wondering about Robius stuff for some time.
While I could understand high votes on the sculpts but in my opinion some of his scenery is far overrated. It`s good , but I don`t think as good as ManorHouse terrain for example.
Also this piece seem to have strange score:
http://www.coolminiornot.com/67246
especially when compared to:
http://www.coolminiornot.com/37049

 

[finn17]

Hmmmmm....

I am also slightly disturbed by the linguistic similarities between many of the comments. Particularly when referring to a previous negative comment. \"Don\'t be absurd!\" Don\'t manipulate!\" etc.

 

[darthfoley]

Also quite interesting how many of the comments seem to be the same thing over and over...broken Babelfish translations like \'It is fantastic and sensational idea!\'. Very much, in fact, like the way Robius himself seems to \'speak\'.

Combined with the astronomical votes in a short period of time...IMO, something peculiar be going on.

*shrug*

*edit* Finn beat me to it...but yeah, that\'s what I meant.

 

[Sturmhalo]

I have to admit I had noticed the similarities of the language used.

 

[Valander]

Ok, I\'ve got some concerns here, as well.

As others have mentioned, the number of votes he\'s gotten in a mere 4 days is astounding. He\'s got to be advertising it somewhere else, because if he waited for the regular random routine of the site, it would take him at least 3 months to get that many votes (speaking from personal experience here).

But the thing that bugs me the most about it is this strange feeling that I\'ve seen it (or at least parts of it) before. There\'s something just too familiar about it.

Now, I\'m not necessarily saying that he cut pieces from other stuff and put them together. For all I know, he didn\'t. But there are a lot of similarites to He-Man figures (as others pointed out), and the size sounds similar. But, like I said, for all I know, he may have just looked at a few pieces of old action figures or whatever for sculpting guidance, and that could explain the strange sense of deja vu that I have looking at this model.

(For some comparisons of arms and such, check out http://www.he-man.org . )

EDIT: And, as others above mentioned, the language in many of the comments just seem too similar. Babelfish would definitely create stuff like that, so who knows, it\'s possible that he\'s got several non-English speaking friends who all posted comments that ran through Babelfish. Still, I agree that it\'s a bit concerning.

 

[Primeval]

Originally posted by supervike

I count no less that 7 unique names that all have a very similar \'about me\' line in the profile, none with any posted pics (not that that is any sort of indicator). All with similar style of comments.

As I said, the jury is still out, but something doesn\'t add up here....

Ah, you beat me to it - I had just noticed the same thing.

EDIT: After looking through his gallery, I have to say, if there is foul play here, WHY? There is some damn good work there, and he would surely have a market for his work regardless.

 

[Valander]

Hmmm... the comments are starting to bother me a bit more.

Looking at two of his things, the dragon bust and the smaugator, I notice that on both, there are comments from the same group of people. Now, ok, this alone is not a big deal, since we know that if you post something and have a few friends, they\'ll all leave comments (especially if you post a RFC).

But, what bugs me, is that the comments are almost identical between the two models. Finn, as a comment moderator, can you see when the comments were left? That may be a clue into whether or not they\'re stuffed, as some have indicated they feel might be the case. (I don\'t know either way; but I agree that these models are WAY overrated...)

EDIT: Ok, now I\'m really paranoid. I\'ve seen the same phrases used by several commentors in different pictures. In particular, \"I duly appreciate your great work. I love it!\" shows up a couple of times, from different \"commentors.\"

 

[finn17]

Well.....

Originally posted by Valander
Finn, as a comment moderator, can you see when the comments were left?

Once I have approved/deleted a comment, that is it...it has gone. Unfortunately I am also unable to see who the artist is, only the person submitting the comment.

However, I can \'see\' the IP of forum posters and I have asked Chern Ann if there is anyway that this could be done with comment posters. That might help to clear up some of the questions people are asking...

*EDIT* Before anyone gets too carried away about the comment similarities...I understand Robius is Polish and if his fans are too...and all use Babelfish or some other translator, then that may explain the similarities. I have to use a translator when moderating comments...and believe me..they are a pain in the arse...:flip:

 

[Sturmhalo]

I smell a hangin\' comin\' on!

 

[SaxonAngel]

I agree it is rather odd that he can achieve more votes in two days than most of us can get in a year on a figure.
[size=-2]I\'m not going to say anything about the many, MANY IP addresses this guys has access to. Must be nice!... Uh Whups! D\'oh! Did anyways. [/size]
:wow::duh:

He has talent, but is undermining it and the whole of our community with the sheer amount of friends that vote on his stuff in 24 hours or less.

Some of the stuff rated highly has serious technical errors. Especially the terrain and the Ent.
My suggestion to him on one of his terrain peices was to look at a photo of something like the real thing.

After saying this though, I fully expect to get about 200 votes from his fan club that will put me humbly back in my place..

Robius should dispense with the vote spamming. He is upsetting more people than he is impressing and losing a great deal of respect from the community for it.
We can see he certainly has capability, I just wish it wasn\'t forcefully shoved down our throats.


Just my two cents Canadian

:innocent:

 

[Greymane]

pointless

what is the point of doing this ?

a fragile ego in need of a massage or a lets see if we can beat the system.???

As we can all see there are too many votes and too many comments, maybe the point is we have all looked.

Still at least we can see that no one can get past the sharp eye\'s of \' The Forum\' *hums super hero type music*

 

[ZaPhOd]

huh?

So only Polish folks who can\'t speak english use Babel Fish? The french folks, adn german folks and spanish folks have no qualms about leaving comments for their friends or countrymen in their own language....

I\'m not finding Polish in *my* babelfish list... Must be somethign else yeah... Or not... even.

 

[finn17]

Err yeah....

It was just a suggestion, an attempt at being even-handed and considering all the options. I\'ve always believed in \'the benefit of the doubt\' and \'innocent until proven guilty\'.

Just some of my strange little foibles...

This isn\'t a Frankenstein film and we are not villagers with a grudge to bear...so lets not light the burning brands just yet...

*EDIT* Plenty of time for that later if the situation warrants it...

 

[Wappellious]

checking it out..

I\'m glad to see that some people have the know-how to possibly solve this bizzare circumstance.

I was doing some calculations, and I had come up with an average of nearly 60 votes a day! We are lucky to get that many votes on a mini (no matter what the make/model) in a month.