Trust based moderation

• US 8,171,388 B2
• Filed: 11/15/2007
• Issued: 05/01/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yahoo Assets LLC
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Zaltzman, Ori, Le, Quy Dinh
• Primary Examiner(s): HUYNH, CONG LAC T
• Application Number:
  US11/941,009
• Publication Number:
  US 20090132689A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,629 Days
• Field of Search: 715/273, 715/200, 715/255
• US Class Current: 715/200
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management

Abstract

A network device, system, and method are directed towards detecting trusted reporters and/or abusive users in an online community using reputation event inputs, such as abuse reports. When an abuse report is received for a content item, the combined trust (reputation) of previous reporters on the reported content item and the trust (reputation) of the content author are compared to determine whether to trust the content item. If the content item is un-trusted, the content item may be hidden from public view. In one embodiment, the content item might still be visible to the content author, and/or members in the author'"'"'s contact list, or the like, while being hidden from another user in the community. In one embodiment, the author may appeal the determined trust, and results of the appeal may be used to modify a trust of at least one reporter.

Claims

1. A network device for selectively managing display of content items on a content system over a network, comprising:

a transceiver to send and receive data over the network; and

a processor that is operative to perform actions, including;

receiving at least one abuse report from a plurality of abuse reporters indicating that a content item is considered to be abusive by each reporter;

determining a content item abuse reputation based, in part, on an accumulation of determined reputations for each reporter of the received at least one abuse report for the content item;

determining for an author of the content item an overall content creation reputation for the content item; and

selectively hiding a display of the content item on the content system based on a comparison between the determined content item abuse reputation and the determined overall content creation reputation for the author for the content item, wherein selectively hiding the display of the content item on the content system further comprises inhibiting display of the content item on the content system to at least one visitor to the content system, while enabling at least the author of the content item to view the display of the content item on the content system.

2. The network device of claim 1, wherein determining an overall content creation reputation for the author for the content item further comprises:

determining an aggregation of the author'"'"'s reputation for the content item based, in part, on a reporter'"'"'s input;

determining an aggregation of the author'"'"'s confirmed abusive reputation; and

determining the overall content creation reputation for the author for the content item by combining the determined aggregation of the author'"'"'s reputation with the determined aggregation of the author'"'"'s confirmed abusive reputation.

3. The network device of claim 1, wherein determining the content item abuse reputation further comprising:

determining an abuse reporter'"'"'s reputation for each reporter of an abuse report for the content item based in part on at least one of a confirmed abuse reporter reputation or an abuse reporter bootstrap reputation determination; and

combining the determined abuse reporter'"'"'s reputations for each reporter to determine the accumulated abuse reporter reputation.

4. The network device of claim 3, wherein the bootstrap reputation determination further comprises:

determining for each reporter an abuse suspicion reputation;

determining for each reporter an historical investment in the content system;

determining for each reporter a confirmed abusive reputation; and

combining at least one of the abuse suspicion reputation, the historical investment, or the confirmed abusive reputation to determine a bootstrap reputation for each reporter.

5. The network device of claim 3, wherein the confirmed abuse reporter reputation further comprises determining the confirmed abuse reporter reputation based, in part, on at least one of a status of an appeal by the author for the content item, or a status of the display of the content item on the content system.

6. The network device of claim 3, wherein the abuse suspicion reputation is determined based, in part, on a detected activity for each reporter at the content system.

7. A method for use in managing display of content at a content system over a network, comprising:

receiving at least one abuse report from each of a plurality of abuse reporters indicating that each abuse reporter considers a display of a content item on the content system to be abusive, in violation of terms of service or guideline, inappropriate, or illegal;

determining an accumulated abuse reporters'"'"' reputation for the content item based, in part, on reputations of each abuse reporter of the received at least one abuse report;

determining a reputation of an author of the content item;

selectively hiding a display of the content item on the content system based on a result of a comparison between the determined reputation of the author for the content item and the determined accumulated abuse reporters'"'"' reputation;

if the content item is determined to be selectively hidden, notifying the author of the content item of an availability of an appeal process;

receiving a request from the author of the content item to employ the appeal process; and

employing an outcome of the appeal process to modify at least one of a reputation of at least one abuse reporter or the reputation of the author of the content item.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein determining the reputation of the author of the content item further comprises:

determining the reputation of the author based on a comparison of an aggregation of the author'"'"'s confirmed abusive reputation to an aggregation of the author'"'"'s positive reputation based on positive input from at least one user of the content system; and

if the author is determined to be a new user to the content system, modifying the determined reputation of the author to induce an initial positive reputation of the author for the content item.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein determining the accumulated abuse reporters'"'"' reputation further comprises:

determining a reputation of each abuse reporter based, in part, on a confirmed abuse reporter reputation that is determined based on at least one of a status of an appeal for another content item in which the reporter provided an abuse report or a positive report, or an activity of a customer care for the other content item in which the reporter provided the abuse report or the positive report.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the reputation of each abuse reporter further comprises:

determining an abuse reporter bootstrap reputation for each abuse reporter based, in part, on at least one of a confirmed abuse reporter abusive reputation, and determined community investment reputation for the respective abuse reporter; and

determining the reputation for the respective abuse reporter based on at least one of the abuse reporter bootstrap reputation and the confirmed abuse reporter reputation.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein determining a reputation for each abuse reporter further comprises employing, for each respective abuse reporter, at least one of an outcome of a previous abuse report by the respective abuse reporter, an investment in a community for the content system by the respective abuse reporter, or an abusive behavior by the respective abuse reporter.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein selectively hiding of the display of the content item at the content system further comprises enabling at least the author of the content item to view the display of the content item at the content system, while inhibiting display of the content item at the content system to another user of the content system.

13. A system for use in managing display of content over a network, comprising:

a content server configured and arranged to display submitted content items; and

reputation service configured and arranged to receive at least one of an abuse report or a positive report for at least one user generated content item, and to perform actions, including;

determining a content item abuse reputation based, in part, on an accumulation of determined reputations for each abuse reporter of a plurality of abuse reporters providing an abuse report for the content item;

determining for an author of the content item an author reputation for the content item;

selectively hiding a display of the content item on the content system based on a result of a comparison between the determined content item abuse reputation and the determined author reputation for the content item; and

if it is determined that the author of the content item to be selectively hidden is a repeat abusive author, enabling deletion of each content item automatically from the content server, absent notification to the author.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein determining the author reputation further comprises:

determining an author'"'"'s good reputation for the content item based, in part, on at least one positive report for the content item;

determining an author'"'"'s abusive reputation based, in part, on activities by the author that are confirmed by at least one customer care entity or administrator; and

combining the author'"'"'s determined good reputation with the author'"'"'s determined abusive reputation to determine the author reputation for the content item.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein determining reputations for each abuse reporter further comprises combining at least one of a status of an appeal process for another content item in which the respective abuse reporter submitted an abuse report, or a status of another content item in which the respective abuse reporter submitted an abuse report with an abusive reputation of the respective abuse reporter.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein determining reputations for each abuse reporter further comprises determining an abuse reporter bootstrap reputation based in part on network activities determined to be abusive by network addresses determined to be related to a network address of the respective abuse reporter.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the reputation service is configured to perform actions, further comprising:

providing an appeal process to the author of the content item;

receiving a request from the author of the content item to employ the appeal process; and

employing an outcome of the appeal process to modify at least one of the determined accumulated abuse reporter reputation or the author reputation.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein a determined reputation for each abuse reporter further comprises:

determining a confidence level that a report is associated with a single abuse reporter as opposed to a plurality of reporters based on a percentage of previously detected abusive users out of a total of active users using a same identifier during a defined time period; and

employing the confidence level to modify the determined reputation for a respective abuse reporter.