MIDDLEBURGH

Middleburgh Last Quarter

The game continues... A few weeks ago I was contemplating withdrawing from playing "IMGUR" and moving on to explore new challenges, but the Chinese Thought Police insisted on playing "down vote" with me.

This is where I post an image about umbrellas, demonstrators or establishment figures(with a "flattering" comment) on IMGUR and they, hunting as a pack, run it to ground and down vote it into oblivion( driving the score to -10 to get it automatically pulled) so that no one using IMGUR might see anything supportive of HK protesters. The fastest they achieved was about 7 minutes (post to gone) and about 400 views. This is actually not very impressive. The image,left, which was posted with title "Hogworts: Generation 2" was "as if by magic" pulled down with net score of -13 votes in less than 4 seconds (ie gone between submiting the image and flicking the screen to view it (1 screen refresh) The Party should review the performance targets it has set it's 50 cent posters - Allegedly it pays 50cents for each posting/scoring action on westerm social media sites, to either push the official line or counter any contrary view - clearly not getting it's monies worth!!

Anyway whilst we (the Chinese and I) were sparring, I finessed my work flow for sourcing, qualifying and posting images to IMGUR (I do process re-engineering in real world .....) .At the same time IMGUR upgraded GIF processing and a bot started to cross post my images. These changes meant that the view rate targets I had originally set myself were invalid (and understated). Effectively it had become a two tier system (GIF/static images) which frankly took the fun out of playing. At that time I was on about 1.3K points ie a mid range poster and I realised that it might not be a big deal to push for a user rating of 6K points (which would put me in top quartile of "posters". Now I personally don't give a rat's turd about how well esteemed I am on IMGUR but I am "competitive" and up for a challenge Under these circumstances I decided to realigned my objectives and tasked myself to get to a user rating of 6K by end of October 2014.

As of this morning (slightly ahead of target ) I have met and exceeded this objective. At time of setting the target I did consider follow on options eg 6K is midway in the "Idolized" band (4K -8K) so the thought was I could then (if motivated) go for 8K+ and get in the "Renowned" band (8K-20K) but, so my reasoning went, 8K is such a naff number that if i could get to 8K (which in Chinese mythology can be associated with "double death") I should go for 10K+ (a much more "well rounded" target) . In the event I blew it ..

One of my earliest posts (Sept 28th 2014) had gone viral getting 0.5M views but only a score of only 60points (compare this to image with the most recent highest score 254 points/20Kviews) . Based on the totality of my posting experience my plan was to post daily a limited group (minimum effort on my part) of "high quality" images with intent of getting a daily total incremental score of about 200-250 points to build my score. I had just started running into problems about maximum number of images on display (225 image cap) and I had no expectation of getting another viral image (although there were a couple which got 100K views) or any images with more that 250 points.

However, in yesterdays batch, there was a gif similar in nature to the previous .5M GIF ie a discrete attractive asian woman who does something unexpected and funny. Since last night its sailed past 0.5M views on its way to 0.66M+? and has 5.5K+ score (still counting) . It has pushed my rating to 12K+ which means I either quit (since I am over above 10K), or focus on some niche objectives ie only post "quality" non GIFs etc for edification of masses, or lots of provocative bums and tits to piss people off , or go for bust and try to get into the "Glorious " band (20K+).

The situation is now under review...... ehm ....I have a backlog of images to post .......

Labels: IMGUR, PROTESTS

Posted at 10/26/2014 05:18:00 pm by David Middleburgh   Permalink

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Middleburgh - Game Report

Here are the half time statistics from the Middleburgh-IMGUR games. It's been hard fought match with lots of interesting learning lessons on the side and occasion moments of "humor".

FYI I was getting bored and contemplating suspending or abandoning play but I have recently been joined by some Chinese Thought Police (much nicer type of person than the Triad bully boys down at Mongkok) They seem to object to "Umbrella's" and want to play "down vote" with me so I might play on for a bit. More on this latter....

In my last post I put up some targets which were based on a statistical analysis of my first 30 posts. I posted a total of 86 images over a 20 day period to 9 September. I caught one snitch (500,402 view and had a near miss (111584 views) A total of 5 images were pulled down (net like less than -10) The median sentiment was 82% ie 4 likes out of 5. There were 4 posts with less than 1000 views, 4 with less than 10 votes, 17 with 0 favorites and 2 without comments. And, not that it matters, as at today I have a user score of 1708 which I understand puts me ahead of 55% of IMGURS users (hence the cryptic reference to half time)

Summary Analysis

	Views	Votes	Favorites	Comments
Total	767421	2392	367	578
Maximum	500,402	213	54	25
Median	1722	22	2	6
Top 20%	2097	35	5	9
20% Target	2000	35	5	10
Minimums	556	6	0	0

Notes

• High views were associated with re-posting onto Reddit and whilst I didn't re-post any of my own posts (too lazy) if you really wanted to boost view rates that's the way to go.
  
• I subjectively suspect that native low view rates may be influenced by a number of factors
  
  • when you post eg noon-3pm HK time seemed lower (when UK and US east coast is abed?) and also Thursdays (had some atrocious response times)
    
  • gallery view: you get a higher view rate if there is a face or something clear with bold colors etc need to be eye catching not drab and unclear (bloody obvious really!!)
    
  • Title: when user mouses over on gallery image IMGUR pops up the title: a short funny and/or enticing one seems to work best - click bait
    
• closer examination of data did not indicate any significant improvement in view rate, scores etc since I set targets - BUMMER!!
  
• high Votes/comments are not linked to high views. The image with highest views (0.5M) only got 82 votes (34 favorites) whereas the image with highest votes(213) only got 7745 views (54 favorites) The biggest surprise was an image taken from Chinese news site of man with a chopper chasing a "policeman" through Foshan(actually a uniformed market inspector)- got 4381 views but only 6 votes and 1 favorite
  
• Images with an orifice (of any kind) are "problematic" They provoke comments about what the orifice should be used for and how thus inviting down-voting.
  
• Misogynous or simply disturbing images such as plate of fingers, ugly people, snakes head etc are similarly scored down
  
• Images which can be associated with North Korea (even incorrectly) also get down voted. I posted an image from a chinese film (superb make up) and a woman (?) posted a comment asserted that "Korean men finds women w/bad teeth very attractive. The more jacked up it is, the prettier she is. In America, it's boobs & butts". I wasn't sure if she was speaking from personal experience or not so I asked her to cite her authority. There also seems to be a similar problem with Romanians - I have no idea why
  

I mentioned earlier that that there were some interesting learning lessons; These included

• exploring search engines and sites for images other than Google particularly in China, Russia, Japan and Vietnam (Those Vietnamese really have a wicked sense of humor!!)These is a treasure trove of hilarious content outside Google - and lots of bums and tits - thats why the missus objected- she was not impressed with argument that I had to wade through jiggly bits to find the funnies. Someone has to do it !!
  
• exploring the functionality of Google image search, in particular searching for instances of same image and then filtering for the oldest/best quality and checking first whether it was already on IMGUR (searching in IMGUR is pitiful - and comments complaining about re-posts are legitimate - unless of course there is a different spin) and secondly whether the source had any other interesting images to share.
  
• searching for quotes/jokes on Google based on image content. In the film "Finding Forester", Jamal starts some of his work by picking up themes from Forester's work. In same way I got ideas for image titles and write overs. Interestingly one person (smart cookie) actually twigged there was a game afoot.
  
• Playing with image tools eg stripping videos from Facebook, editing Movie maker,converting to gifs, compressing etc and brushing up the old GIMP skills
  

And I also mentioned there was some "humorous moments" which more precisely were witty repostes to the images I had posted or to comments incurred.There are some very funny people out there may they live long and prosper .

And now to the Chinese Thought Police..

As you may be aware, currently in HK there is a little difficulty. The head of the "family" has made an unpopular (and if I may suggest unwise) decision which has been challenged by some of the kids. There is a concern that other family members will similarly throw tantrums and disrupt their betters "harmony" . In a patriarchal society this is serious stuff... so kids over the border they have had their internet privileges withdrawn and they are getting an earful from their elders. Concerned neighbors are also being told to "bog off" (concerned comments = interference) and all the aunts and uncles have been told to close ranks and prevent airing of the families dirty linen in public. In practical terms this means that Chinese State in addition to censoring media within china is seeking to manage the debate outside. It is, for example, paying people to post comments on non Chinese websites to counter articles and sentiment which support the students and protesters in Hong Kong. bluntly they are crawling all over social media trying to control the argument (this is what a propaganda machine does and credit to them - they are very good at it)

Now to show solidarity with the students (and exercise my right of free speech while I have still got it ) I posted an image which on one hand laments the student radicalization by the government and on other quotes Mao Tse Tung to remind the party cadres that it's actually their responsibility to sort out the reactionaries in Beijing. (didn't go down too well!) Nor did subsequent images which mocked the use of tear gas against unarmed students. With 2 exceptions (which got missed) these were quickly down voted to get them pulled to kill debate. These are the statistics for these images to date

Summary Analysis

Topic	Views	Status	Uptime
Students	1693	Live	NA
Cancelled Fireworks	1799	Live	NA
Umbrella + Bush	1073	Pulled	60 mins
Umbrella + HM QE2	427	Pulled	30mins
Umbrella + Obama	464	Pulled	30mins
Umbrella + Pope	1423	Live	NA
Umbrella + Space	1150	Live	NA

There is a significant and different pattern in views, votes and comment as compared to my other posts (including the ones with North Korean images). I look at it this way. I have kept someone in gainful employment looking at my posts, I may have amused him/her (I assume they looked at the other images); whilst they are looking at my posts they are not looking at other stuff which might be more "damaging". I have a captive audience and based on what they get pulled I will simply re-post it elsewhere.

Labels: Hong Kong, IMGUR, PROTESTS, SCHOLARISM, TRIAD BULLY BOYS

Posted at 10/04/2014 08:54:00 am by David Middleburgh   Permalink

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Middleburgh - Game on!

I don't play computer games, not really my thing ....well....when I do it's to game the system rather than play the game. ie several years ago I optimised the SEO factors on this blog so that it showed up in the top 10 results for "Middleburgh", and above my cousin's site. As an exercise it didn't materially affect view rates and once done I moved on. FYI I don't optimize this blog now, and it ranks anywhere between 40 and 40 in results and the view rate is negligible.... to point that traffic from behind the Chinese Firewall has recently become conspicuous ...

Anyway, last week, on IMGUR, the "thought police" tagged two of my memes (Exhibit A and Exhibit B) as "Propaganda Bullshit" which brought me to DEFCON 5. In this heightened state of readiness it occurred to me that it might be diverting to try and "game" IMGUR. FYI I wish to make it clear that I am neither a propagandist on behalf of the DPRNK, Ninja Turtles, eBay, Brocks Fireworks or their respective critics.... but if it will gets the view rate up on this blog I will consider it...

I did some research including test uploads to better understand the IMGUR site, it's user base and what works/doesn't work if you are a "normal" user etc . In simple terms, putting aside pretentious aspirations, it is a social media site where users post images which can be viewed and/or rated by other users. Users may also post comments about images or even reply to and score other comments. Images can also be favourited/downloaded/embedded and/or linked etc. The system calculates scores (highest best) which reflects how the user community regards an image or comment and the submitter get a rating. It is essentially all about peer group approval and acceptance.

One possible user goal is to post a viral image/comment ie one which gets get mega scores (the equivalent of catching the snitch in qwidich !!). Another is to build an personal score that identifies the user as an esteemed and valued member of the "community" if not a superstar. The contrary also applies: users with low scores sit at the low tables with the underclasses whilst those with negative scores are deemed outcasts condemned to "walk alone". Users who fail to favorite images are tagged as Scumbags .... and it's a given that a low or negative score on an image or comment represents peer group disapproval. Users who offend the community by posting inappropriate images etc may be sanctioned by having the offending image/comment or account pulled (without right of appeal).

Although there is a function to request an image pull down I believe the system automatically pulls down images if net score drops below -10. This means that organised vigilantes can jump on an image to rapidly drive score down in order to kill it. To date I have had 3 test images pulled (including my targeted response to the 'propaganda bullshit' tagging - apparently the "tagger" is a sensitive soul): One case involved an unintended misogynous undertone which someone picked up on, the other case involved an image of a couple shopping which could be interpreted positively (ie laughs at their close relationship )or negatively (interpreted darkly as a fetish). The first set of comments took the latter view which set mood and so doomed the image. (on reflection these latter pull downs were fair calls) and my take away was:If you don't want images pulled, post ones which cannot be misinterpreted and remember, even if you think they are not controversial there will always someone who disagrees. Frankly I am of an age and disposition that I generally will shrug of such disapproval's so I neither feel like an East Berliner who was informed on and visited by the Stasi or a naughty schoolboy whose been caught playing with himself.

I will however try to moderate future posts to reduce legitimate adverse comments.This goes to the heart of matter, there is no point in posting to the site if you don't want to engage with the "audience". They merit respect and antagonising them is "counter productive".... However engagement is not all about "likes", high scores and pandering to the whim of the mob which brings me back to the objectives of the "game" Personally I share with Groucho the view that I would be reluctant to be a member of a club that would have me as a member. So I am not going to play the "game" of seeking approvals/high scores.

Instead I have set myself a series of provisional engagement targets (KPI) based on available image metrics (ie I am going to play against "myself") I will post a couple of images a day (i have a life after all .... If the targets are met 2 weeks running (assumed weekly review) then I will reset based on actual achievement + 10%. I will play until I'm bored.

Views

Logically if there are no views then there is no audience engagement. They are a prerequisite for other types of action/engagement and therefore the primary indicator of success: Target: 20% of images posted in lats 7 days must have =>2000 views within 24 hrs of posting. (for comparative purposes I am going to post at more or less same time each day and I will worry about whether its the best time of day down the road)

Likes/Dislikes

IMHO a vote takes a view to the next level ie user was sufficiently engaged to both look at the image and vote. Any vote would be an indicator of engagement and it doesn't follow that negative votes are "a priori" worth "less" than positive votes. The image might have been chosen to trigger negative votes (or not) Target: 20% of images posted in last 7 days have total of =>35 votes within 24 hours of posting NB I think the ratio of votes/views may be a quality of engagement indicator and similarly the ratio likes/dislikes (sentiment) but I am not convinced these would be statistically reliable

Favorites

IMHO favoriting takes a like to the next level ie user was sufficiently engaged to look at image, vote and/or favorite; Target: 20% of images posted in last 7 days must =>5 favorites within 24 hours Nb the ratio favorites/views may be an appropriate quality indicator (i may set targets for this later)

Comments

I don't believe too much can be 'read' into actual comments posted against an image. In principle more comments = more engagement but based on those posted against my "trials" the threads seem to take on a life of their own . The first comment then subsequently the "best" sets the tone. You need a good comment which triggers more comments (to build sentiment) but not so good that visitors vote for the comment rather than the image; Target: 20% of images must have =>10 comments within 24 hours of posting

Although I am not playing to maximize my user score I will be tracking the latter (and comparing it to profile provided by imgurleaderboard (excellent piece of work!) I have no confidence in any scoring algorithms which are not published for public scrutiny (IMGUR'S are not- well at least i can't find them ) There may be built in biases favoriting paying subscribers images/comments etc ie may be an uneven playing field comparable to the process of electing the HK CEO in 2017.

I am also tracking how effective images of the supreme leader are (and I will probably set targets for this subset ..... speed of pull down ??? ratio of negative votes/total views ???......)

Labels: DPRNK, games, IMGUR, Public security

Posted at 9/21/2014 11:31:00 am by David Middleburgh   Permalink

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MIDDLEBURGH FLAMES

OK... it was Mid-Autumn Festival and I had a day off work. Before lunch we went for a relaxed walk in a country park with friends. After lunch I continued to identify my active internet accounts with the intent of shutting them down. I discovered that 2 years ago I opened an account on IMGUR, uploaded 1 picture, didn't share it and then .... nothing. Since I have some memes on hand I thought why not...

The first one uploaded (North Korean leader seeks personal grooming tips) got a favorable response (and compared to this blog, lots of views). True there were understandable comments about his "weight problem", and the North Korean regime's abuse of it's own people. However, buoyed by the responses and views I put up three more images. Two (sighting of Ninja Turtles and a comment on recent eBay outage) also featured Kim. The third (Putin seeking partner) leveraged some copy from a "dating" site that seemed "appropriate". Frankly I was disappointed with the response to the latter . It was neither trashed nor applauded although there was an enigmatic comment appended stating that 'in Russia, we have a saying " don't be a pussy"' (I didn't get it either - obviously something doesn't translate well)

Meanwhile I caught reports on the TV that 4 NATO countries were going to supply weapons to the Ukraine (which was subsequently repudiated). This moved me to post another meme (where Poroshenko asks KIM for a nuke). This was not received at all well. I was challenged as to whether I was comparing Ukraine with North Korea. I pointed out that if someone invaded your country it might be appropriate to take fight to them. (Not saying it would be right or wrong or actively inciting etc ) The intention had been to point up the fact that Ukrainians in practical terms stand alone against Russia whatever the West may say. The challenger (fair do's to him) conceded that perhaps there was more that the US could/should do.

I then noticed that the Poroshenko and Ninja Turtles images had been retagged by a troll as "Propaganda Bullshit". Now I have no problem if someone thinks jokes of mine are not funny and scores them down. I can live with that!! I am frequently told that my sense of humour is an acquired taste (if that)..and I can't sing either!!. But I do take exception to this "tagging". Bullshit it may be .....but propaganda it is not..... sorry ah.

Propaganda on whose behalf ??... The Russians, Ukranians, North Koreans, .... or God forbid...the Ninja Turtles ... I ask again ... WHO?. The fact I have "value added some images neither endorses nor critises the DPRNK regime (nor any one else). True because the content may be construed as political in nature but where is the propaganda message in the ninja turtle image ?? and any message inferred from the Poroshenko image is clearly ambiguous as previously indicated. At worst I have lampooned a despised leader of a rouge state - cartoonists do this sort of thing all the time .. take as an example Barak Obahma.

I concluded that the troll was probably objecting on principle either to the use of images of "KIM" or more generally to the use of images from/about North Korea. I wasn't sure if the troll was pro or anti (not that it matters). I took it as a given that futher similar images would be similarly tagged. Such tagging is factually incorrect, disparaging and may constitute defamation. I believe it's intent was to intimidate and discourage the use of such images. This I consider to be an attempt to constrain my right to free speech.... which is never going to happen.

I superbly crafted and uploaded an appropriate meme. On one level it was a legitimate political satire about propaganda pictures put (who could fault that??), and on another level it was a pointed message mocking and preempted the "troll" . Regrettably it was received badly !! There was a quick burst of hostile(?) comments then the image appeared to be pulled down !!! I could see it in maintenance mode - except for the comments but it was no longer visible in shared public mode. It was as if it had never been.... I had been silenced!!!

Not clear if it was officially pulled down by the IMGUR administrators - I checked the T&Cs and User Rules but to be frank could not see where it breached any rules. The other thought that crossed my mind was that the image had simply been hacked by persons unknown. Anyway... it all smacks of censorship .. and repression ....something you might expect from agents of a totalitarian state like the KGB .. or the ayatollah's morality police or ISIS enforcers.

Whilst contemplating this situation I noticed a message displayed against my gallery referring to me as "Scumbag Middleburgh" because I had not Favorited any images yet. My first reaction was "how disrespectful" but under the circumstances I felt I could hardly complain (for all I know they are a rude load of tossers over at IMGUR - and I have a very thick skin), second reaction was "screw you.... not going to favorite anything now" and the third was to closely look at images on site to see if there was anything worth favoriting. So I browsed and searched high and low and yes..... plenty there to amuse or interest me ... but to favorite ? ... sorry .... NO!! Favoriting should say something about the person favoriting ..... So here's the thing .. I don't feel like following the crowd, conforming and favoriting something because some pimple arsed prat tries pressuring me by calling me names ... and I don't mind being in a crowd of one ploughing my own path. It has been said that if I was political and left wing I would be the sort of person that would make Trotsky nervous...(don't you just love it !!) So I imported a picture of Michael Collins, the founder of asymmetric warfare and favourited it ..... then reinstated KIMS poo'y picture that had been taken down..... and Mr President ......I believe Denis Rodman may have KIM's cell number, should you need it ....

Labels: Censorship, IMGUR, Michael Collins, Poroshenko, Putin, Ukraine

Posted at 9/10/2014 09:03:00 pm by David Middleburgh   Permalink

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