We take several measures to ensure a fair and authentic voting experience while preventing spam and vote manipulation. These measures form a robust system that relies on advanced detection techniques, community engagement, and adherence to guidelines.
Overview of the Voting System
Product Hunt aims to create a trustworthy platform by maintaining vote integrity and discouraging fake accounts, voting rings, and other manipulative practices. The voting system relies on a combination of automated tools, community participation, and manual efforts to achieve this goal. The objective is to ensure a level playing field for all product launches.
Detection and Prevention Mechanisms
To safeguard the platform against abuse, Product Hunt utilizes the following mechanisms:
Automated Detection Systems
Advanced algorithms monitor unusual voting patterns, repetitive behavior, and potential spam.
These tools highlight suspicious activity for further review.
Community Reporting
Users can report any suspicious behavior they notice, contributing to a safer community.
These reports are reviewed by our team, enhancing the platform's integrity.
Manual Moderation
Our team reviews flagged content and user actions to ensure compliance with community guidelines.
Actions include removing content, restricting accounts, or other necessary interventions to protect vote authenticity as aligned with our Community Guidelines, and Terms of Service.
Guidelines for Authentic Engagement
Being transparent and ethical in encouraging engagement is essential to maintaining a successful Product Hunt launch. When sharing your product with followers or newsletter subscribers, first, check out How do I share my post?, along with following these recommended practices:
Encourage Genuine User Interaction
Announce your launch in a way that aligns with Product Hunt’s guidelines.
Avoid overtly coordinated campaigns that might appear artificial to detection systems.
Promote Compliance Among Supporters
Advise your audience to follow platform standards when creating accounts (such as a complete, personal account) and engaging with launches.
Organic interaction improves credibility and minimizes the risk of flagging or vote removal.
Measures for Handling Suspicious Activity
If suspicious or invalid voting activity is detected during a launch, Product Hunt takes the following steps:
Removes any votes deemed non-genuine or contrary to community guidelines.
Monitors point fluctuations during a launch to ensure ongoing compliance.
These steps are necessary to maintain a fair competition while deterring activities that compromise our platform's standards.
Best Practices to Prevent Moderation Actions
To ensure a smooth launch and avoid moderation actions, follow these best practices:
Review Product Hunt’s Launch Guide, Community Guidelines, Featuring Guidelines, and Terms of Service before your launch.
Encourage your audience to actively engage in authentic ways, such as leaving meaningful comments, trying the product, or creating genuine accounts.
Avoid behavior or incentivized campaigns that might trigger automated detection systems or raise red flags.
These protocols and recommendations aim to uphold the integrity of Product Hunt's voting system while ensuring every user has a fair chance to showcase their product. Maintaining these standards can help you create an incredibly credible and impactful presence on Product Hunt.