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I seem to have been getting a lot of "review tests" these past few weeks. I got one a few seconds ago and another one yesterday. Is this a random process and I've been unlucky or have I been singled out for some reason? Have I been a bad reviewer (gasp)?

I realize that it is a good idea to have these tests to catch people who just randomly click through the review queue just to get a badge. However, I have to admit I find these tests mildly annoying. There is something condescending and mommy-like about the idea of being congratulated by a piece of software for paying attention :). Once every few dozen reviews I can understand, but the frequency with which I've been getting them seems much higher.

So, what is the frequency with which these tests are administered and are certain users singled out for more frequent tests? Also, if others share my feeling that these tests are coming too often, could we dial their frequency down a notch?

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    I can't comment on the frequency without looking at the statistics a little more (will probably do that later), but let's just mention that I also already had 8 or 9 audits for suggested edits. So, even mods aren't exempt from this :)
    – slhck
    Mar 23, 2013 at 17:40
  • Maybe you've been a baaad reviewer too :).
    – terdon
    Mar 23, 2013 at 17:41
  • I had wondered, in my reviewing about the frequency of "quality-check" questions. One of my problems is that my knowledge of Windows has (intentionally) degraded, so sometimes, I don't know what to do with questions/answers related to Windows. And I was wondering if that was getting me additional quality-check targeting.
    – killermist
    Mar 24, 2013 at 18:04
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    For what it's worth, I've only ever run into a review audit here on Super User (three or four of them). I've never gotten a review audit on any of the other Stack Exchange sites where I'm active.
    – ale
    Mar 25, 2013 at 12:52

1 Answer 1

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Is this a random process and I've been unlucky or have I been singled out for some reason? Have I been a bad reviewer (gasp)?

The review honeypot posts are inserted automatically, and I'm fairly sure it's a random process.

We do not single out users and put them to the test. If we observe unusual reviewing behavior, we'd rather check that manually and contact the users in private about it. The system takes care of the rest, i.e. if you fail too many audits, you will be temporarily banned from reviewing.

Once every few dozen reviews I can understand, but the frequency with which I've been getting them seems much higher.

You only got four audits within the last 30 days, so, that's really not a lot. The frequency of tests should be relative to the number of reviews you make in total, which also makes sense since they are supposed to catch reviewers who are just there to aim for the badges and click through everything they see.

Just to illustrate that we're not singling out users and that the process tries to test users who participate a lot in the current queue: The suggested edits queue is always visible to moderators, while it only shows for others when there are at least 2 edits pending. This means that moderators get to review edits much more often than regular users, and so they also get more review audits.

If others share my feeling that these tests are coming too often, could we dial their frequency down a notch?

I can understand that if you're trying to be an honest reviewer, the feeling of having someone (or something, in that case) watching your actions seems annoying. I think most of the reviewers would say that they're of course trying to do a good job.

Please keep in mind though that – other than through these tests – we have no way of finding out whether someone's really trying to clean up the site, or is just here for the shiny badges. Unfortunately, for these users, tests sometimes don't come often enough. Once they're banned, they leave a trail of unactioned posts behind, many of which should have been reviewed more carefully.

All in all, I'd be not inclined to ask for the number of review tests to be lowered—quite the contrary. If you could see what kind of posts underwent review and simply were dismissed (including obvious spam), you'd be okay with getting tested here and then. I'm sure that these tests aren't the perfect solution to the underlying problem, but they are working pretty well at the moment…

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    Fair enough, thanks for taking the time to review the stats. I could have sworn I'd gotten more than that, turns out I was wrong then.
    – terdon
    Mar 24, 2013 at 14:08

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