Does anyone other than myself even slightly suspect that some Irish Waze members are cheating in some way or another for points?
Your views and comments would be appreciated. My views and beliefs are obvious and I intend to try and do something to halt the practice or at least assure myself that it is no longer happening!
We are seeing some very high points being recorded but, where is the work? The high amount of points should reflect itself on the Ireland map but falls far short.
Here is a quote from comments I made yesterday in another part of the forum entitled “Waze Cheating”. I have also written Waze on the matter.
It’s not just limited to Ireland unfortunately we have it here too. You definitely did the right thing by contacting Waze. See what their reply is and if necessary press them on it.
Admittedly I have no idea how Waze points can be cheated but I assume there would have to be map changes of some sort to generate the points, so wouldn’t you see those changes on the map in Ireland?
Could it be that there is just a lot of work to be done in Ireland, so there are a lot of things that need fixing, and they go unnoticed on such an undeveloped map?
I’m assuming it is undeveloped by what the OP wrote.
From what I gather, it’s when <redacted>. Depending how far you zoom out this can get quite a lot of points, but does nothing of any benefit to the map. It’s a shame really.
Waze don’t seem interested whether users cheat for points or not. Makes one wonder if they want honest hard-working editors to continue building the map. Maybe I’m writing to the wrong people in Waze. Allowing cheating for excessive points, leaves questions to be answered, a lot to be desired and a reasonable question as to the authenticity behind the whole project. Every effort must be made to stamp out every form of cheating for points.
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Ireland does not have an undeveloped map. Considering we have such sparse high resolution satellite imagery that is available in other countries, the Irish map is great and improving at a fair pace. It just takes a bit more effort! We have some brilliant editors out there doing just that and they should be highly commended.
I’m going to continue to do my own little bit of detective work on suspected cheating and will post my findings.
Cheating for high points is possible because I believe what is stated by eminent editors here:-
To all you Xbox generation wazers (I won’t say wasters), complaining about how some people cheat to get more points to prove they are a bigger wazer than you are. We must congratulate WAZE on a brilliant strategy to get people to work hard for free.
If you have so much free time, why don’t you spend some of it working unpaid for a local charity. Or, you can come and work for me for free…(I will even give you a piece of paper with points written on it. - @ a rate of 10 000 points per hour).
Alternatively why not contribute to Open Street Map (like I do)… but, you won’t get points to boost your ego.
Some further time has been focused on the issue of cheating for Waze points by Irish Waze users and those primarily involved.
A startling surprise or two has been encountered. Naturally some very high point scorers, who show little editing activity on the Ireland map do come to the fore.
An in-depth report will be published when substantial findings and further analysis is completed.
Thanks “Agamicox” :!: I know I will need it. :idea:
I also know I can conduct a successful investigation to determine facts. :shock:
International views on cheating for Waze Points would be welcome.
The PM feedback strongly indicates it is a big turn-off to genuine new editors to see some of the high scores that are attained. No balance. Motivation factor destroyed. A disdain for cheats. Nothing good comes from cheating.
I’m also pleased to note that many who have contacted are, like myself not in it for the points but for “the common good out there on the road”.
My investigations into cheating for Waze points in Ireland continue.
My aim is to out any Waze member suspected of engaging in less than honest means to game the system in order to clock up high points consistently and unfairly. This type of thing is destroying the initiative to recruit additional editors in Ireland simply because they feel left out and see no hope of ever catching up. I’m surprised by the number of PM’s I’ve received from around the country stating this. Those that do take an interest are pointing in a single direction, with which I must concur.
I can state in the main that cheating unfairly for Waze points is centered around three sources in particular. All I will say now is that a transport/logistics company is the main suspect. They know themselves who they are but are probably unwilling to engage or to take any notice of this. I have communicated by PM but never received a response.
I will bide my time until I can categorically state for certain. When I have reasonable prime facie material I will publish it here.
I can guess where those fingers are pointing and I would also have to agree. It has been going on farrrrr too long without providing any real input to the map data other than forcing tile changes which aren’t needed, which in turn cause higher server load, longer tile processing times, and generally spoil for everyone across the board.
Just curious… What actions do they do to cheat?
I’m using Waze daily in my work and I am a Field Service Engineer. Not abusing Reports (often not even reporting at all, just letting Waze report traffic speed itself). Am I considered to be a bad person?
What is that exactly? Just to know if I am not doing this thing by mistake too.
God No Agamicox, you are VERY OBVIOUSLY doing absolutely nothing wrong but everything right and most definitely not a bad person. I respectfully suggest you should have a go at editing too, if not already doing so.
I hasten to add I’m not saying anyone that cheats is a bad person either - no way, we all have some frailties.
In addition to what xteejx states
, could I add without actually doing anything to benefit the map and ultimately users.
There is also another element I will touch upon now whereby I suspect the user/s under notice send a second client device away with a truck driver on national and or international logistical deliveries while they sit back at work base in their IT job and carefully keep their personal client device quiet and out of use over the critical period. There is actual evidence of that. Perish the thought they might send one by arrangement via air transport. It would also appear a dedicated editor other than the user edits on their behalf.
I have taken all of this up with Waze separately. I expect they see that to allow cheating of any sort to continue can only prove detrimental to the overall project.
Exactly. This benefits no one and actually makes a worse product. As I say, those tiles that aren’t changed probably aren’t reprocessed until they’re updated on WME. So to update them for no reason it causes a rebuild and higher server load, making it crap for everyone else.
These people need suspended or removed and banned for good.
Hard to imagine how some people have so little to do with their sad lives that points on a SatNav mean more than getting a job!
Before publicly naming anyone suspected of cheating, the consequences of which I’m happy to accept, I’m openly asking what the stated position of Waze as an organization is on cheating for points and their attitude and views to obvious cheating that exists.
Some of the points generated weekly are simply not justifiable or achievable by editing and or driving or even arranging both 247.
Does Waze have a policy on cheaters and especially those that are reported to them as suspect? Does Waze condone cheating?
I personally do not wish to be associated with any organisation that condones or allows such activity!
I see far too many high ranking editors passing scant comment and accepting as is unfortunately, which really indicates - don’t knock it!
Hi all. First time poster. I use Waze every weekday. Just started to get PMs regarding the subject of cheating. I don’t know are the messages aimed at me or just a friendly note to let me know what is happening on the forum. I can do up to 400 miles a week as a domestic appliance repairman and I like to be active in reporting events on the road, such as traffic jams etc. I don’t do much editing anymore as I found others had done a much better job than me. Just wondering what the full story is regarding the cheating as I noticed recently several members has disapeared off the Waze maps. By the way , even though I get PMs I can’t see any actual message for me. Am I not searching properly? Thanks for reading , look forward to feedback.
No is the simple answer to your query “ikyriakidis”.
Cheating can come in many guises.
Some of the cheap easy cheats are those that flit around a large area of the map re-editing segments where there is no reason for a re-edit. In many instances they leave damage behind - messing up alignment, turns, breaking connections, etc. You can see at a glance their work is careless and not up to scratch. A complete waste of space and of no benefit to Waze and more importantly Waze users. Some of these can easily be identified because they end up getting their name as an Updater on practically every segment. Editing where editing is not required and in a headlong rush to build up points. They will be quick to tell you baloney that they came across a problem! There are not problems on that many segments, especially the number of segments being re-edited, if you understand what I mean, so those types are easily identified. You never see them undertake intricate time-consuming assessment and editing tasks or generating new segments!
Then you have the geek types who can utilise scripts to generate short road segment/s automatically, save the newly generated segment/s, then after a relevant time-lapse delete the segment/s automatically and then automatically re-generate it again. This process can go on for hours generating miles and miles of bogus road segments and earning lots of points. You can look out for these type of things occurring on short road segment ends measuring 40-90 meters in length in cities where there is a large matting of GPS signals. Some just place a 30-50 meter segment which can re-generate at least three segments automatically.
Most of the big points earners engage in cheating. Some editors in some small countries have so many points earned they could have paved to Mars and back! Amazing!
I’ve been out of action for a time because of serious injuries sustained. Now I’m nearly back to full fettle again I’m going to devote more time to rooting out cheats. I’m a bit like a dog with a bone when it comes to cheating.
I would encourage new editors to become active throughout Ireland. Go through the tutorials, become familiar with the Wiki and ask questions in the Forum if need be. You will always receive some level of help to get you started. My harping on about cheating is aimed at mature editors who should know better, so don’t be worried that you might be doing something wrong at any time. We all had to learn so expect to make mistakes. WE know enough to identify genuine editors.
