Triond’s Major Flaw

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Triond’s Major Flaw

Posted on October 28th, 2008 in Online Writing by Paula Mitchell Bentley

Some users have discovered Triond’s major flaw recently.

While I was reading about Triond’s latest update today, I ran across some comments that uncovered Triond’s major flaw. It seems that people have been impersonating others through the comment section. I’ve always thought that it was odd that the name portion of the comments was not automatically filled in. I used to think that maybe it was a good thing because then you could comment on another’s work without fear of retribution. Most users of Triond are very friendly, supportive, encouraging, creative, and clever. I’ve unfortunately discovered that this is not always the case.

I read an interesting article recently by one of my Triond friends, Liane Schmidt entitled Why Deleting Comments Does a Writer Good. In this article she details the differences between constructive and destructive criticisms. She relates instances where she has deleted a reader’s comments from her work and how this has helped her to maintain her writing inspirations. I have read dozens and dozens of these delete-able comments on writer’s works.

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These readers who feel inclined to write such childish comments should have their words deleted. You’ll notice on comments such as these, the name is only “Jim” or “Suzy”. They rarely, if ever, provide their actual name. In one of my articles, a reader made some very immature comments on the style of my writing as compared to his. Shockingly, he wrote his real name. When I checked out his work, it was just as I thought — he was clearly jealous of the level of success I have achieved here on Triond. His work was subpar and although he claimed to be writing novels, that was clearly not the case. This is important to remember writers: these comment writers are intimidated by your success, by your writing abilities. If they were not, they would not stoop so low as to make these sorts of comments. I agree with Liane — sometimes deleting comments does do a writer good.

These recent incidents of impersonations go beyond petty and immature comments though. It is unbelievable to me that Triond would allow people to ruin people’s good names through the anonymous capability of the comment button. This major flaw of Triond could become the fatal flaw if it is not corrected soon. No one will be able to take any comments seriously — all comments will be viewed with suspicion and distrust. Comments should be used for constructive criticisms, for positive comments, for agreeing or disagreeing with the writer, for ideas and more information about the topic in question. Triond really needs to take a firm stand against people who would sink so low as to use another writer’s good name. There is no reason why the comments should be able to be used anonymously any longer. This loophole must be shut!

Feel free to leave comments in your own name below and help me take a stand against those users out there who are abusing the system.

UPDATE:

Triond administrator’s have responded to this situation with the following:

“In regards to comment fraud, we have isolated the person who is posting fraudulent remarks and are working on resolving potential abuse within our commenting system. Please know that Triond’s features, including comments, are a valuable part of our community. We hope that every individual represents themselves openly and honestly. Please know that we can and will track down offending users and take the appropriate action to warn, ban, and if necessary, delete accounts.”

Best,
Kim

UPDATE PART 2:

You’ll now notice that beneath the comment section you can check a box to post your comment along with your Triond credentials. If you click it, you have to enter your user name and password. This should thwart most cases of comment fraud.

Thanks Triond! Great move!!

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Tags: anonymous, childish, commenter, comments, criticism, flaw, immature, impersonation, major, name, nasty, reader, triond, writer

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15 Responses to “Triond’s Major Flaw”

Liane Schmidt
October 28th, 2008 at 11:34 am

Dear Paula,

Thank you with all my heart for writing this wonderful article. I am touched beyond words to see how vastly this issue has touched our good Triond community. Your article eloquently exemplifies the seriousness and scope of this issue unfolding why this needed to be remedied urgently; and Triond’s immediate resolution shows the value they hold for their writers which makes me feel protected and cared for.

Your work is beautiful, skillful and uplifting – any obstacle will only make you “younger, stronger & wiser”!!

Blessings.

Sincerely,

-Liane Schmidt.
Liane Schmidt
October 28th, 2008 at 11:35 am

P.S. I am deeply humbled and grateful to you for mentioning my name in your article.

Limitless blessings & success to you always kind, gifted lady.

Blessings.

Sincerely,

-Liane Schmidt.
Brian Daniel Stankich
October 28th, 2008 at 1:23 pm

Isn’t it great that Triond is so responsive? And your article was somewhere in that momentum loop!

I appreciate your comments on the negative criticism we sometimes receive. I do think that we can learn from negative comments, even if they are not constructive. There may be an element of truth in the attack. This is true in our personal and work lives as well as in our relationships.

In addition, negative comments are not always destructive to me. In fact, if everyone agreed with everything I wrote, I would feel like I wasn’t putting out my opinion fully or trying to make a difference with my writing. Receiving negative comments helps me to realize that the person understand what I was trying to communicate. Thus, negative comments can be a positive source of feedback. Hey, maybe there is an article idea in there! I better go right it before someone else does.
Ancient Aspie
October 28th, 2008 at 3:47 pm

I hadn’t thought about the possiblity of fraud, but it’s certainly there. I can comment whether I’m signed in or not. I see that member’s names are now linked to their profile, which I have always thought should be possible. If Triond really wants us to be able to attract readers, this is the most obvious way. I’ve often wanted to check out someone, based on their comment, but usually didn’t bother because it was such a hassle. So, even though this change is apparently a response to immature commenters, it serves a more important purpose. Thanks for the article and the update.
Ursula Banteux
October 28th, 2008 at 4:26 pm

Very speedy response. I’m actually going to have to update one of my recently published articles which indirectly touches this issue. Well done! I was waiting for Triond to add a feature such as this!
Eden Emersen
October 28th, 2008 at 5:41 pm

I appreciate being able to learn from fellow users and am blessed to have a potential problem corrected before it becomes an issue for me. Thank you for the article and bless the Triond staff for their quick response!
jhenz
October 28th, 2008 at 8:51 pm

wow! this is indeed a good article and i was really curious about it — good thing i read it.

yeah, i’ve been thinking about how easily the comment system could be abused and good thing too that they’ve worked on it.

nice article. we could use a few of these type of articles around. a wake up call, that is.

keep up the good work and more power!
Rohan Agrawal
October 28th, 2008 at 9:52 pm

I am curious about witnessing the flaw. Or is the glitch done yet?
Richie Montalbo
October 28th, 2008 at 11:59 pm

So now I know that this article has been the reason why we can comment with our Triond credentials now. That is what I am rooting for.

Thank you very much!
mdegenhardt
October 29th, 2008 at 9:41 am

That change surely gets my vote and all for the same reasons. Thank you for expressing the need and thanks Triond for listening. Michael
eddiego65
October 30th, 2008 at 8:33 pm

Excellent tackle on a very serious concern! Triond is such a great site and responds quickly to the needs of its members.
Rookie Expert
November 1st, 2008 at 3:01 pm

This article has definately made a difference, so thank you for writing it!
Mark Bentley
November 12th, 2008 at 12:04 pm

I am impressed with how quickly Triond acted to fix this.
Gail Gunter
June 1st, 2009 at 4:24 pm

Glad this was realized and is being handled.Great job!

Gail Gunter
xNarutox
June 3rd, 2009 at 5:17 am

Great article, Paula.

I also noticed that on some articles that I read and wanted to comment on, but I always type either my real name or my Triond user name where it asks- I don’t think it matters which, as long as you’re being truthful.

Now on many articles it has a little message above the comment box that reads: “You are commenting as [user name].”

– xNarutox