Tue, 2022-Jul-26 20:49 (BST)
What I just said. I'm sick and tired of receiving read requests from extremely suspicious accounts that call themselves either filmmakers or students in the process of filmmaking. Every single time there's absolutely no way of exposing these so-called filmmakers that are obviously just out to gather information and/or steal ideas. I have tossed my money at scriptrevolution.com for many months now, and I was hoping that by now, there'd be a way to at least expose these obvious scam accounts. Come on, CJ. You gotta be better than that.
I've been a member for over 4 years now. A rockstar member for almost as long. Yes, I've noticed many bots, scam accounts, garden-variety fakers in 4 years. I've also been online since 1994, so this is nothing new to me. You'll find the same problem on every single website, whether site reveals the info or not. It's the nature of the internet. Sad but true.
However, the way you've worded your post concerns me. "Sick and tired" strongly suggests you're bombarded by hundreds, if not more, read requests a day. And yet, anyone can see on your profile, you only have two short screenplays. I have a lot more screenplays, both short and feature, and I'm not getting that many read requests. I get maybe a few a week. And I'm okay with that.
If someone, somewhere, created a bot to search and send requests (or just hit/tap the button) for profiles that fit criteria (such as two screenplays or less) that would be in line with common bot behavior and definitely a security problem. In which case, CJ should be notified immediately. If only your account out of over 10,000 members has been infected by a bot, CJ should still be notified immediately. Or, on the off chance a real person is involved, then...contacting CJ is still the only option.
Has anyone else been receiving too may read requests from obviously fake accounts?
In terms of "exposing" these accounts, you're right. There isn't, and never has been, a way to expose any account on this website. There are set limits for certain functions, such as minimum character requirement for the bio. The ability to send CJ a message, he'll deal with it as it needs to be dealt with it, or ignore it. So I'm unclear what you're demanding here. Do you really want CJ to waste the time it would take to build a wall of shame web page that could possibly do nothing but give free advertising to bots...?
You're right. I should be a bit more precise. The phrase "sick and tired" isn't just based on Script Revolution alone. I'm on multiple platforms and should've said that in my comment. Sorry about that. I get read and friend/network requests, and very often, it's from a shady profile. No Photo and a vague bio. And when I try to find these people on the internet, there's nothing there. I'm probably not being fair huffing and puffing at CJ because some of the other platforms don't have a report function either.
Ohhh. Thank you for clarifying. So I gather you're frustrated because here you are, doing your due diligence only to find these accounts are fake. Yes, it is bloody annoying.
All social media websites are automated. I can't tell you exactly when that happened, but I do remember being able to request a live chat with a real person more than 10 years ago. A short time later, all social media websites became automated. No real people involved. It's a sad irony. These sites are overrun by bots because they're run by bots. The report function on these sites don't get read by people. In fact, these reports go nowhere. These days, the most you can do is block, delete, and ignore.
That's not to say it's all hopless, because it's not. A few things you can do. Set your profile to private. It won't permanently prevent fake accounts from latching onto your account, but it will slow it down a lot. There is the option to switch to a business account on many sites. It's usually only public personal accounts that get targeted. Check the settings for your accounts. I know, settings are nested links, so they all look hidden. You have to click/tap a lot until you get what you want. Allowing friend request can be turned off. There are a lot of other options in the settings, they're just not immediately obvious.
As an example, on Facebook, I have a private personal account for people I know only, and they're mostly part of my support group for people living with disability. I rarely get a fake requests for that account. I also have a public Facebook page set to a business account, and I never get fake requests for that page. Once, one and only time, I had a stalker on Facebook, but I deleted and blocked him. I've had no problems ever since.
It is a letdown to receive a script request only to be completely underwhelmed by the requester. Anyone can call themselves a filmmaker, producer, etc. but with no verifiable credits, they're likely just blowing smoke. I seem to attract a lot of "students" on this platform--supposedly looking to read my script to "learn the art of screenwriting," but I call b.s. There are plenty of websites offering the scripts of produced movies for free. Wouldn't it be more educational to read those?
All that said, it's pretty simple to just ignore the request. I absolutely love the new read request system, which is a welcome change and certainly cuts down on my anxiety of having "just anyone" download my work. I, too, am wary of limited or questionable bios, and if my online research comes up with nothing, I ignore them. I prefer dealing with someone who has a photo, but it's not a deal-breaker. I understand some people may be uncomfortable with that for various reasons.
I'm not sure how one man can be expected to deal with bots, scammers, etc. (in addition to the work required to maintain this platform) when he has his own writing/projects/career to focus on. It's commendable to create a free platform for other screenwriters, and you certainly won't see me look a gift horse in the mouth. Perhaps requiring a small "Activation Fee" after a short free trial would cut down on these fake accounts while keeping the platform free for non-Rockstar members, but I'm not a techie. Maybe that would be too cumbersome?
Andrea, it would be too cumbersome. Not to mention, turn everyone away from even trying the website. I started with a free account and continued exploring for a couple of months before deciding to pay for membership. I wouldn't want to see that option eliminated.
We don't get to see all the grinding nuts and bolts behind the site, because CJ is nice like that. As a techie myself, I can see he's already doing a lot to prevent malicious content from attacking this website. Believe me when I say it could be a thousand times worse. If he has any plans to implement more security in the future, I'm sure he'll let us know. Website maintenance is a constant work in progress.
As far as I know, every account seems to be getting just as many students begging for free projects as a feather to stick in their hat. I ignore it for the most part.
In all fairness to the students, my heart goes out to them because I did the same thing as a graphic design student. I begged friends and family for any free projects and pleeeease let me use you as a reference. Then after a while, realized it really doesn't help for my career. It just made me look bad. However, all my efforts, while my references were pretty much a joke at that point in time, did help to land my first paying job.
I have a few free short scripts specifically for filmmakers, including students. Do whatever you want with them. For other scripts, because I know the budget is much higher, I usually ignore. Students can't be bothered to read the details on a script page, well, then I can't be bothered.
I am having a hard time understanding the issue:This is on the FAQ page:
Shenanigans are afoot! Who do I contact?
If you believe someone has posted content that shouldn't be on Script Revolution or behaving in a way that's unacceptable, and you are a logged in member, you can use the abuse reporting tools found next to script listings, on script profile pages, and on user profile pages. Otherwise feel free to contact me by clicking here and let's try to sort it out.
What more could you want?
You also have the alternative or granting or denying your access to any of your scripts.
I think this is the only site that does that.
What more could you want?
Meik's word choice was a bit off. His frustration is about several platforms, which he directed at this site and CJ. He apologized. I hope the info on this thread helps everyone to navigate the internet. It can be a wild west out there, and sometimes it's not obvious everyone what can be done.
Yup - I read Meik's original post, your response, his apology, etc., etc. Was merely pointing out that this site does in fact already have a place to report bad actors. Didn't think Meik was aware of that.
I don't want it to look like I'm trying to excuse myself here but it's sadly the nature of the industry and it doesn't get any better as you proceed through it. The biggest issue is that many of the genuine industry members out there who can make something happen for you can easily look like scammers too. I'm very open about the fact I was evasive when Shane first contacted me because I'd become so jaded and assumed he was yet another person with an agenda rather than a box office #1 producer who wanted to make a script of mine.
Since then, I've kinda learned to give everyone the benefit of the doubt because it's too easy to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
For what it's worth, I do a lot of clean up in the background. All 13,000 new accounts have gone through my email and I've tried my best to catch obvious scam/troll/lazy ones to the point of getting out of bed at 3am. Bringing in the read request system has really helped ease that after five years as now the decision is in the hands of the writer as to who reads their scripts.
For all the glitz and glamour (probably because of it, in fact) this is a very scummy and sleazy industry. Sharing specs is a bit of a boot camp in that regard because it does prepare you a little.
CJ - yep!
I have received professionally written, looks totally legit, wine and roses requests from folks with no credentials and one line can I read your request from a heavyweight. Now, you have made it a snap. (1) Look who requested your script (2) research them (3) make a decision on what you want to do.
To be honest, well, I'm always honest, but I'm going to be even more honest than usual. With my graphic design background in publishing, advertising, and marketing, I'm not seeing a difference. In fact, more tiresome and disappointing than anything else, to see so-called industry members behaving like greedy children. Making the same mistakes I've seen a thousand of clients make, that's guaranteed to fail. So whenever some account online tries to sell me on their total waste of money pyramid scam, I see right through it. I've deleted and blocked, many, many times.
Do no harm, but take no shit.