rater:mark-suspicious

Marks or unmarks a rater as suspicious for moderation purposes.

Overview

This command allows administrators to flag users whose rating behavior appears suspicious or problematic. It supports both marking users as suspicious with documented reasons and unmarking them if the suspicion is unfounded.

Key Features: Reason documentation, reversible actions, audit trail, moderation support.

Usage

php artisan rater:mark-suspicious [options] <rater_id>

Arguments

rater_id: The ID of the rater to mark or unmark as suspicious.

Options

--reason=TEXT: Reason for marking the rater as suspicious (required when marking).
--unmark: Remove the suspicious flag from the rater.

Marking Process

When marking a rater as suspicious:

Validates rater exists in the database
Records the reason for the suspicious marking
Updates rater status to suspicious
Logs the action for audit purposes
Applies rating filters to exclude suspicious ratings

Examples

php artisan rater:mark-suspicious 12345 --reason="Unusual rating patterns detected"

Marks rater ID 12345 as suspicious with the specified reason.

php artisan rater:mark-suspicious 67890 --reason="Posting spam reviews"

Marks a rater for spam behavior.

php artisan rater:mark-suspicious 12345 --unmark

Removes the suspicious flag from rater ID 12345.

php artisan rater:mark-suspicious 11111 --reason="Automated rating behavior"

Marks a rater suspected of automated/bot activity.

When to Use

Recommended Usage Scenarios

When unusual rating patterns are detected
After receiving reports of spam or abuse
When investigating coordinated rating attacks
To temporarily exclude questionable ratings
When reversing previous moderation decisions

Suspicious Behaviors

Common reasons for marking raters as suspicious:

Rating Patterns

Mass Rating: Rating many games in short time periods
Extreme Scores: Only giving very high or very low ratings
Coordinated Activity: Similar patterns with other suspicious users

Content Issues

Spam Reviews: Posting irrelevant or promotional content
Abusive Language: Using inappropriate or offensive language
Copy-Paste Reviews: Identical reviews across multiple games

Technical Indicators

Bot Behavior: Automated or scripted rating activity
IP Patterns: Multiple accounts from same IP address
Timing Anomalies: Ratings submitted at unusual intervals

Impact of Marking

When a rater is marked as suspicious:

Effect	Description	Reversible
Rating Exclusion	Ratings excluded from averages	Yes
Review Hiding	Reviews hidden from public view	Yes
Audit Trail	Action logged for review	No (permanent record)
Investigation Flag	Marked for further review	Yes

Audit Trail

All marking actions create audit records including:

Action Timestamp: When the action was taken
Administrator: Who performed the action
Reason: Documented reason for the action
Previous Status: What the status was before the change
Evidence: Any supporting information or references

Unmarking Process

To unmark a suspicious rater:

Verify the rater ID is currently marked as suspicious
Remove the suspicious flag from the rater record
Restore rating visibility in calculations and displays
Log the unmarking action for audit purposes
Update aggregate scores to include restored ratings

Quality Control

The suspicious marking system helps maintain:

Rating Accuracy: Excludes problematic ratings from averages
User Trust: Protects legitimate users from rating manipulation
Content Quality: Reduces spam and abusive reviews
System Integrity: Maintains reliable rating data

ratings:import - Import ratings (excludes suspicious raters)
ratings:backfill - Backfill ratings with filtering

Last modified: 01 June 2025