Community Moderation Guideline: "Score Cheating"

Preface: these guidelines have been developed collaboratively by the Community Moderator volunteers.

They're open for discussion and update, via the OGS forums.

Although you can, please don't edit these unless your edits have been endorsed in a suitable way.

The Guidelines

1. Score-cheating (SC) definition. This category consists only of incorrect scoring alterations made to the board during the stone removal phase. “Score cheating” is a jargon term of convenience for an action, not necessarily for a motivation. See Guideline #2 for examples where the accused may be innocent of any cheating motivation.

2. False reports caused by non-malicious factors. The most common examples are open borders, autoscored aji detection, legitimate scoring ignorance (seki, ko, Bent Four in the Corner, etc.), and system errors. If the CM believes that one of these factors exists, the report can be recategorized as “Other,” which will put it in the full-mod queue (due to a bug, the report will also remain in its old category on the CM side). Alternatively, one can vote no cheating after the first vote and place a dissenter note of explanation (if necessary), a feature that will be implemented shortly. In addition, a PM of explanation may be sent to the players if the CM wishes to do so (not required, see Guideline 14), or they can list the report in this thread: Reports Needing Follow-up

3. False reports caused by miscategorizing the event. The most common examples (and their proper category) are repeated resumptions (Stalling), failure to accept (Stopped Playing), and denial of an undo request (not a reportable offense). The CM can and should recategorize the first two and other non-SC complaints. Caution: The system will bump you to the next report in the queue, so you will need to back up to cast a vote.

4. Score cheating that does not change the outcome. This may be done by the loser, in which case the vote would be to warn. However, sometimes the legitimate winner cheats by claiming most or all of the loser’s live stones and territory. In that case, the cheater should still get a warning even if the cheating was successful (i.e., altering the score without changing the outcome). Although the warning says “attempted,” we must make do with the messages we have.

5. Self-cheating. This is a rare form of SC, done by either party, presumably with the goal of causing trouble for the opponent. If SC has occurred, but not by the accused, then vote “no cheating.” If the CM wishes, they can file a new report against the real cheater, or list the report in this thread: Reports Needing Follow-up. But they are not required to do either action.

6. Unranked SC. If the wrong person won, then vote this as “Annul and warn.” The annulment is not necessary for the ranking, but the game will display as annulled in the game tab and the history.

7. Score cheating plus stalling or escaping. Many players who fail to win by stalling will then attempt to score cheat, and they may escape if their victim resists. If such games have been reported for stalling or escaping, they should be recategorized as SC. Caution: The system will bump you to the next report in the queue, so you will need to back up to cast a vote.

8. Score cheating in progress. Usually, it is possible to tell who the winner is and who is cheating. If so, vote to call the game; if not, then wait until the game concludes.

9. Repeat offenders. If someone has already received a warning for SC, then a second report should be escalated (if the offense is verified) for final warning, and a third report should be escalated for possible suspension.

10. Annulment. “Frustration wins” (a term coined by mark5000) should be voted “Annul and warn.” These bogus wins occur because the legitimate winner tires of the opponent’s repeated score cheating and chooses to resign or escape.

11. Dissenter’s note. When a CM clicks a choice that differs from an existing vote, a box appears where an explanation can be given. This can be used to point out a mistake in the earlier vote or a mitigating factor. Its use is optional and should be anonymous.

12. **Deleted accounts. **If a game was successfully cheated by a deleted account, you can and should still vote to “Annul and warn.” The warning message will be meaningless, but the annulment will still work.

13. Reading the Game Log. Normally, clicking autoscore creates four thumbnails in the Game Log, two for each player. These are identified as “auto-scorer update,” meaning that the autoscore, not the players, marked those boards. Typically, these follow an order of no dead stones marked, dead stones marked, dead stones marked restored (or unmarked), dead stones marked dead. (The gray screen behind auto-scorer thumbnails helps to highlight that these were marked by the system.) Thumbnails that the players mark for scoring alterations or for acceptance are identified with the player. Additional clicking of the autoscore button will produce four more thumbnails (or sometimes only two). Sometimes the four autoscore thumbnails will be out of order, a meaningless random event.

14. If you’re unsure, it’s okay to press the “Ignore” button and move on. Let other CMs worry about reports that don’t seem clear to you.

15. Explanations to players. In limited circumstances, a CM may send a PM of explanation to a player or players if the CM wishes, or may list the need in this thread: Reports Needing Follow-up. Neither action is required. The circumstances include honest misunderstanding of the rules or system errors. The message should be a simple informative statement. For example, in the case of a seki dispute, the template would include the following:

Introduce yourself as a participant in the OGS Community Moderator program (but not a full moderator) who just voted on their report about [insert game URL]. State that the disputed position was a seki and reference Sensei’s Library.

Do not get drawn into a debate. We have never had a negative response, but if abuse occurs, block and report harassment.