Now with 8,249,499 points in the month and nothing the week.
Phenomenon.
Agora está com 8,249,499 pontos no mês e nada na semana.
Fenomêno.
@marciojmendes ~ I am sorry that you are so flustered by the activity of some users on Memrise. I have seen your name on leaderboards many times and have read many fine comments you have posted on the old forum (and now on this new one). You have much to offer to the Memrise community. Please don’t let the activity of some negate what you have to offer and contribute to others.
In this world there will always be some who want to skirt whatever rules are in place. We see speeders on the highways, and while it bothers us, we still continue to drive. We see people avoiding paying taxes, and while it bothers us, we still pay our share. Memrise should be no different. Some people will try to game the system, but they are really only gaming themselves. Please don’t let it bother you.
The Memrise experience should be about learning (for ourselves, and others). You have a long history here, on both sides of that experience. I hope you continue to learn and to help others with your comments and suggestions. Maybe someday Memrise will deal with users who have less than ethical reasons for using their program, but I would assume they are pretty much focused on issues that are larger than this (like fixing things that are broken, or creating new avenues of learning for all of us in the future).
So, I hope you reconsider. It is always a good thing to see your name on a leaderboard or in a forum posting and know that you are there because you want to be, are eager to learn, and are trying to help others learn. That is what Memrise is about - not negative ones, but positive ones. I hope you continue to be part of the positive experience of Memrise.
7 Likes
You are one of my “motivators.” 
This dispute is pleasant because I see that we are really doing the lessons and learning.
And I’m sure that, like me, by the amount of hours you are studying, you know it is IMPOSSIBLE someone make the number of points that these “phenomenon” get.
Você é um dos meus “incentivadores”.
Essa disputa é agradável pois vejo que estamos realmente fazendo as lições e aprendendo.
E eu tenho certeza de que, assim como eu, pela quantidade de horas que estamos estudando, você sabe que é IMPOSSÍVEL alguém fazer a quantidade de pontos que esses “fenômenos” conseguem.
Now with 15,477,097 and no points scored this week.
Is not it time to memrise research and resolve these bugs?
Agora está com 15,477,097 e não tem pontos marcados nessa semana.
Será que não está na hora de memrise pesquisar e solucionar esses problemas?
@marciojmendes - he hijacked one of my courses too. http://www.memrise.com/course/579305/no-typing-1000-noun-frequency-list-media-news/
As many before have said, maybe he will get caught and banned and maybe not. I could easily make that course private and keep him from using it to rack up points, but that would interfere with the “true learning” being done by the other course takers.
At this point, I have decided to just focus on creating great courses for myself and others. Also, I want to learn as much as I can regardless of points. Points will not help you learn another language.
As @pdao has said, I hope you stick around. Memrise needs its dedicated learners.
2 Likes
@marciojmendes ~ please don’t let people like this bother you. @jaimebrasil has the correct mindset in wanting to just focus on creating great courses for himself and others. That is what the Memrise experience is supposed to be about. We have adequate tools to use in Memrise to create and learn courses of unimaginable variety. Our options are as wide as we want them to be.
Please don’t let the foolish, childish ways of others diminish the hope and opportunities available to you to learn or teach, or both. As @jaimebrasil eloquently states: “points will not help you learn another language”. That’s a good mantra to remember. The focus should be on learning, not on points, and I think all the ethical users of this system understand that and take it to heart.
There are thousands of educated, helpful, caring users on Memrise, and I hope you (@marciojmendes) will continue to be one as well. Don’t look at what others do, please just look at what you do, and can do. The future with Memrise can be as bright as you want it to be. The same outlook on life holds true away from Memrise. It’s all in one’s perspective.
And @jaimebrasil ~ I hope you don’t make public courses private because of potential abusers, for as you say, doing so would be disenfranchising the “true learning” that is going on. That’s a good attitude/outlook to have. The focus should be on the positives, not the negatives, and on the users and what we can provide for them.
Life is short. Our ability to give to others is limited sometimes. Lets take advantage of the opportunities to give in Memrise. It has its rewards in return. Not always in points, but in self satisfaction. What goes around, comes around. It’s all about perspective.
I’ll get off my soapbox now…
4 Likes
I appreciate the words of encouragement.
Thank you very much.
Agradeço as palavras de incentivo.
Muito obrigado.
Anger at others or oneself or at the whole world, creates serious blockages in one’s energy. It is the most complex inner enemy.
Just for today, try not to be angry.
Letting go of anger, brings Peace into the Mind. 
3 Likes
61,534,733
Over the past 4 years, every now and then someone on the Memrise staff has taken the time to clean up the leader board and either remove users who appear to be accumulating points at an inhuman rate, or simply re-set their points to a value that more-or-less matches their learning.
Memrise staff has never done the clean-up daily, but they have usually gotten around to it before the suspect points have put a user into the all-time lead. Hey Memrise staff - it’s time now. @Lien?
I think sometimes it takes a while because the give the user time to respond to an email or two to explain their unconventional study methods.
I think that Memrise staff probably thrives on developing cutting-edge, innovative memory tools. I appreciate that. Cleaning up the leader boards is probably about as exciting as cleaning up Pirate and Chomsky’s hair balls. We all face those daily struggles with priorities. Sometimes if you just ignore the cat vomit long enough, someone else will decide to clean it up…
4 Likes
This whole leaderboard issue involves more than just one user. Some are more “extreme” in their methods of point farming, but there are many of them now. Maybe it’s because it is summer and the schools are closed so people have more spare time on their hands to play around on the computer. Who knows. But Memrise should really take a look at things. They were usually pretty good at this in the past (remember Mr. Santa Claus, and the headphone guy, etc.). But again, they also have a lot on their plates as it is, so this is probably not a high priority.
One thing I don’t understand about this issue though - and bear in mind that I am not speaking from a programmer mindset or background - is why can’t Memrise just put some coding in the program where the transaction records are stored that states something to the effect that if a transaction comes in at MORE than 150 points (the highest possible “legal” transaction limit) just take the figure and multiply it by zero, therefore it would never count.
It seems that some people score hundreds of thousands or even millions of points at a swoop now. Not by re-doing courses over and over again, but in just a matter of seconds or minutes. A zero figure would negate that. But again, I am not a programmer. Just a user, and course creator.
The other thing to consider is that this is also something of a public relations issue for Memrise. Has it become a popular thing to try to hack into their system and farm points ? What kind of image does that send to the public about their security ? If someone could farm points, could they also do other things with the Memrise program code ? Change it perhaps ? And what about where the confidential information is stored (like credit card numbers for Pro members, or e-mail addresses) are they secure ? Maybe I think too much, but like I said, I am not a programmer.
Anyway, back to learning and course creating for me…
3 Likes
@pdao - [quote=“pdao, post:38, topic:2702”]
And what about where the confidential information is stored (like credit card numbers for Pro members, or e-mail addresses) are they secure ?
[/quote]
Exactly! Why would they not fix this? @Lien
Clearly there is a security flaw in “points of the month.” If you pay attention to this THIEF HFGW will easily realize that his monthly points go up with no points (or few) in the week.
It is absurd.
69,405,492
The bandit does not stop.
O bandido não para.
I think memrise team should do something about these cheaters.
the Robbery does not stop.
70,286,294
I found an English course (while googling about something else), called “Easy Points”. It comprises 122 words, each word is the same - simply one letter “q” and the answer to each and every one is “q”. Truly pathetic. Here’s the link - http://www.memrise.com/user/thezachmeister/courses/teaching/