Thread

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Dear Nostr Community, I regret to inform you that today’s Bullish Bounty competition was manipulated. The user @Judith ⚡️S⚡️ appears to have used multiple accounts to zap herself, securing an unfair win over others. The additional accounts— @Patrizia and npub1skj8seswn26k8y3egwu0m90dc026aqg4as4mua0m64qg89p08w7qv5nq8z—bear striking similarities, from their initial notes and Linktrees to their descriptions and profile images, which all feature a comparable anime aesthetic. 🤔 🤔 🤔 Upon further investigation, there’s another account—npub1jp54xt8x4pezxdnmlvzfkkppver2ss263z65v5uadla29m4jr2dqj7xcra—that ties these profiles together. This account appears more active but is linked to the other profiles, allegedly portraying a “family” structure (mom, dad, son, daughter). It’s clear that these accounts are being used to create an illusion of legitimacy while benefiting from coordinated zapping. 🧐 Worryingly, this isn’t an isolated incident. Similar manipulations occurred on December 23rd and 25th, where zaps were exchanged to claim the 2100-sat daily bounty without fair competition. While I acknowledge the cleverness of the approach, this behavior undermines the values of Nostr and @BullishBounty —communities built on trust, transparency, and fairness. 🧡 This conduct is the antithesis of what we stand for. It’s akin to exploiting a system designed to benefit everyone for personal gain, without any genuine effort or proof of work. In any other competitive setting, such tactics would lead to immediate disqualification. 💜 I’m calling out this behavior because it sabotages something meant to uplift the community. I invite npub1jp54xt8x4pezxdnmlvzfkkppver2ss263z65v5uadla29m4jr2dqj7xcra and the associated accounts to clarify their actions and provide a statement. At the same time, I encourage every member of the community to decide how they want to respond—whether through muting, unfollowing, or other actions. Let’s stand together against behavior that erodes trust. 😎 I’ll tag a few individuals below who may want to be aware of this situation. Let’s ensure our community remains a space of integrity and fairness. NOSTR ALL THE WAY! 💜 🧡 💜 @Frogfren17 ⚡️🐸 bitcoin liberation @Sergio @utxo the webmaster 🧑‍💻 @ODELL @Ainsley Costello @negr0 @cryptowolf @MAV21 @Troy @Tara @zettizettler @Ben Justman🍷 @Purple Horse @corndalorian #nostr #grownostr #bullishbounty

Replies (34)

Unfortunately if it can be gamed for sats then it will be gamed for sats. Contests based on highest zap amounts on a post are easily manipulated. The best you can do is bring attention to it and then stop participating and unfollow those involved if nothing changes.
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↩ replying to negr0
Yo me imagino que es una batalla ya perdida contra el ser humano, porque aunque hubiera un update en el Bullish Bounty y se bloquearía la participación de este individuo él u otros fácilmente pueden crearse más cuentas y volver a hacer lo mismo - la pregunta es como vas a comprobar que haya sido un zap honesto? 🥲
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↩ replying to SLCW
Look 👀 on the dad profile (which is the only real account with legitimate interactions) and his statement. Such a shame, I really enjoyed competing in the Bullish Bounty and now to notice that I often lost, because someone zapped himself with fake accounts… PS: How’s the “mining” going? 🧡
The things we do for SATs. 😄 Yes, it's true, it was a family gathering. Condemnable, but it served it purpose, because there is something wrong with my Primal account (Zaps cause an error, zaps go through, but are not accounted to a post as far as the Primal app concerns). Bug reported once again and a few Satoshis collected in the process. 🤯 If it pleases the angry crowd, I promise we won't do it again. 😇 View quoted note →
Again, everyone needs to watch out for scammers... 🗡️
Horszt's avatar Horszt
Dear Nostr Community, I regret to inform you that today’s Bullish Bounty competition was manipulated. The user @Judith ⚡️S⚡️ appears to have used multiple accounts to zap herself, securing an unfair win over others. The additional accounts— @Patrizia and npub1skj8seswn26k8y3egwu0m90dc026aqg4as4mua0m64qg89p08w7qv5nq8z—bear striking similarities, from their initial notes and Linktrees to their descriptions and profile images, which all feature a comparable anime aesthetic. 🤔 🤔 🤔 Upon further investigation, there’s another account—npub1jp54xt8x4pezxdnmlvzfkkppver2ss263z65v5uadla29m4jr2dqj7xcra—that ties these profiles together. This account appears more active but is linked to the other profiles, allegedly portraying a “family” structure (mom, dad, son, daughter). It’s clear that these accounts are being used to create an illusion of legitimacy while benefiting from coordinated zapping. 🧐 Worryingly, this isn’t an isolated incident. Similar manipulations occurred on December 23rd and 25th, where zaps were exchanged to claim the 2100-sat daily bounty without fair competition. While I acknowledge the cleverness of the approach, this behavior undermines the values of Nostr and @BullishBounty —communities built on trust, transparency, and fairness. 🧡 This conduct is the antithesis of what we stand for. It’s akin to exploiting a system designed to benefit everyone for personal gain, without any genuine effort or proof of work. In any other competitive setting, such tactics would lead to immediate disqualification. 💜 I’m calling out this behavior because it sabotages something meant to uplift the community. I invite npub1jp54xt8x4pezxdnmlvzfkkppver2ss263z65v5uadla29m4jr2dqj7xcra and the associated accounts to clarify their actions and provide a statement. At the same time, I encourage every member of the community to decide how they want to respond—whether through muting, unfollowing, or other actions. Let’s stand together against behavior that erodes trust. 😎 I’ll tag a few individuals below who may want to be aware of this situation. Let’s ensure our community remains a space of integrity and fairness. NOSTR ALL THE WAY! 💜 🧡 💜 @Frogfren17 ⚡️🐸 bitcoin liberation @Sergio @utxo the webmaster 🧑‍💻 @ODELL @Ainsley Costello @negr0 @cryptowolf @MAV21 @Troy @Tara @zettizettler @Ben Justman🍷 @Purple Horse @corndalorian #nostr #grownostr #bullishbounty
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Hey @Horszt, thanks for sharing your thoughts! Nostr is open and decentralized, and our goal with Bullish Bounty is to have fun and celebrate creativity. While gaming the system is possible, we’re curious to see how the community navigates this—whether they lean toward integrity or embrace it as part of the free market spirit, treating it like a zapathon. Policing too much feels counter to the platform’s spirit, but we’re open to ideas and love seeing what the plebs post every day. Thanks for being part of it!
It's not that we owe anybody an explanation, but let me provide some context, since that "great exposure of manipulation" became quite popular: So I thought it was funny to zap my wife's post with 103k SATs (because of #Bitcoin dumping to $103k), but that didn't work. There is something wrong with my Primal account, which makes it show an error message when trying to zap a post, the zap nevertheless goes through, but is not accounted to the zapped post. This has happened before, though it was supposed to be fixed with one of the latest updates. Then the kids tried as well, and for them it worked. Bug reported, we had some fun, wife got some Satoshis, end of story. If you don't believe me or think we are in need of scamming a competition for a $2 bounty, #GFY. View quoted note →
Zaps don't carry any signal if the sender and receiver are "colluding", or the same person as there is no economic cost. WoT solves this because it let you discount the zaps that come from brand new npubs. Therefore, to game the metrics you have to use a reputable one, making the trick obvious to everyone who's looking. Doing this will be extremely easy with npub1kpt95rv4q3mcz8e4lamwtxq7men6jprf49l7asfac9lnv2gda0lqdknhmz Stay tuned View quoted note →