Topsite Cheater? Advice Please

[Toby]

No Referer will also include anyone using a browser or "anonymizer" that either blocks or fails to include the referrer info in the HTTP headers. However the occurance should be reasonably consistant across all of your topsite accounts.

An excessively high "No Referrer" stat relative to your other accounts is a pretty good indication that there is something less than honorable taking place to inflate hit count.

[oast]

Thanks for the reply Toby

I knew about the anonymizers... most sites have 1 or 2 "No Referers" a week, so I guess that is what they are.

I am pruning my lists again, starting with the ones that haven't sent any hits for 3 months, plus the 'obvious' cheaters. Just wanted to be sure I wasn't missing something before deleting legitimate users.

If a site, like the example above, was sending a good number of 'real voters' as well as the cheat votes; would you delete the account or do what I originally thought and just not count the non-referring hits?
This would have to (i.e be easier to) apply to all accounts rather than pin-pointing a few.

Thanks again

Steve

[Toby]

Originally Posted by oast

...If a site, like the example above, was sending a good number of 'real voters' as well as the cheat votes; would you delete the account or do what I originally thought and just not count the non-referring hits?
This would have to (i.e be easier to) apply to all accounts rather than pin-pointing a few...

A very good question. The problem lies in the fact that many No Referrer votes are legit. I'd hate to not count these when it may have a substantial effect on the overall rankings of your list over the short term. I hate turning away any good traffic, but I also hate dealing with cheaters. I'd probably delete the account, but that's a choice you'll have to make yourself.