itch.io Community » itch.io » Ideas & Feedback

Enforce tag accuracy/stop tag spam

A topic by Java Cake Games created 11 days ago Views: 164 Replies: 6

Viewing posts 1 to 3

2026-06-12: Support got back and delisted accounts, suspended infringing downloads. Thanks all, that's all.

This is a follow-up to the emails I sent to itch support on 7 May (request 364672) and 30 May (request 371134), neither of which I received a response to beyond the automated "[Request received]" message.

I understand it is difficult to ensure tags are always accurate, but in egregious cases surely moderation can step in. This user still has 538 games inaccurately tagged (picked all inputs/accessibility/multiplayer/AI-assisted options and random languages, by the looks of things), and is thus dominating smaller tags such as Voice control, Oculus Rift, Leap Motion, Wiimote, Kinect, NeuroSky Mindwave, Accelerometer, OSVR (Open-Source Virtual Reality), Dance pad, Google Daydream VR, Google Cardboard VR, MIDI controller, Magic Leap, Oculus Go, Windows Mixed Reality, Valve Index, Motion controller, Racing wheel, Flight stick, Light gun, Webcam, Eye tracker, Guitar controller, Microphone, Gyroscope, Stylus, Drum controller.

Looking at his YouTube videos (which are across two separate YouTube channels), it appears they may just be drawings of cars? I'm not asking for this user to be kicked off the platform altogether or anything, as having the pages there is pretty harmless, but what I am asking for is them to be delisted from tag pages and maybe search, as it is detrimental to the browsing experience. Like if someone is looking for light gun games, 98.5% of the results are just this guy's racing pages which most certainly do not support any sort of light gun.

I am also asking for something to be done about user fullgamesfre, who has collections which I suspect link to malware or another type of scam. I dunno, it's sketchy. To see what I mean, click any of the collection titles (e.g. "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: Project Kaizo Game Download", not the itch-hosted games) then see the link address on the broken image between the first and second paragraphs. They all go to a generic "Download & Activated Working Full Version Setup for Free" page that doesn't know which game you're looking for and best-case scenario is a waste of time.

I would also like to see a reduction in the number of pirated games on this platform. I included some examples in my 7 May email. Even if Safe Harbor protection means itch.io doesn't need to be proactive about it, I would like it to maintain a creative reputation, and not be a dumping ground for the redistribution of completely unmodified games. Anyone who wants to do that can upload to the Internet Archive. But at least we can report games, unlike users and collections for which there is no report link.

To not ignore support requests about such matters would be a start, but really the on-site reporting functionality could be improved and there should be sanity checks in place to prevent users from tagging their game with every input method under the sun (at least not without being whitelisted to do so - I realise someone might take this as a challenge to genuinely support them all) or submitting their game to a hundred jams.

Apologies for the tone of this post and public callouts. I genuinely believe this is a great site and that leafo and the gang want to empower indie developers to put stuff out there, with the only direct source of revenue I can see from a lot of game pages being the fake download button adverts in the download modal for logged-out users (and maybe from certain territories - not sure what the conditions are, as I've seen them in YouTube livestreams but haven't reproduced locally). Even with paid games, the revenue split being customisable all the way to zero is incredibly generous. I just want to be coming here for the right reasons.

Like Reply

Eldwood11 days ago

You did report these games, right? And by that I mean you actually clicked on the Report link at the bottom of the page, which is not the same as email to support. Reporting is the correct way of dealing with miscategorized games, and there’s even a Miscategorized radio button just for reporting miscategorized games. If you’ve done it correctly, you will not receive any response at all, not even an automated “[Request received]” message.

Posts here will not even be read by the people in charge. Support emails used for reporting miscategorized games will likely be ignored. Using the Report feature, which exists just for this purpose, may actually work (eventually).

Like Reply

redonihunter11 days ago

If you’ve done it correctly, you will not receive any response at all, not even an automated “[Request received]” message.

There will be a report received notification to the email adress provided in the report. Along with a confirmation ID that reads R-xxxxx. Instead of the Request received mail with a ticket number.

Like Reply

Java Cake Games10 days ago

Due to the time it would take and the risk of clogging the reports system, I have not reported the over 500 offending games. But that would be an idea, I suppose, to report a game and add a comment saying to view the uploader's profile.

Like Reply

redonihunter11 days ago (1 edit)

While this is community support and not tech support, you can include your ticket number of the oldest unresolved ticket here, to try expedited the matter.

Your thread topic is not what you complain about. Tag accuracy enforcement would be something completely different. It would be enforcing that rpg games qualify to be rpg games. And that action games be action games and so on. Which would be quite difficult, as most tags are rather vague and some even change meaning or are subjectively different.

Tag spamming / meta information spamming (the thing you mention are not tags, but meta information) is not allowed.

https://itch.io/docs/creators/quality-guidelines#do-not-use-unrelated-tags-or-cl...

The offending account actually risks a ban from the index. And from what I have seen, that would be overdue by the spam flood of projects alone. The way to report this, would be on some of the games with the report button, but an email to support should do the same.

The problem is, that Itch is slow to react to such things. It can take over a month easily.

The account linking to pirated games is similar. The games themselves can be reported by the report button on the respective game. The account linking to them, would need to be reported by mail to support. I did not have a look, but yes, this could be a malware spreading attempt and the account linking to the pirated games might have been hacked or is a fake account.

I have opinions about the malware situation.

I also have seen people naively "reuploading" things. It is not allowed, even if no rights holder complains officially. It is against Itch's terms of service.

(Oh, and they typcially would not answer you. They would just take action. In some cases, they might simply disagree with your reports. But in this case, it is obvious, that rules were broken. The classification spamming is obvious.)

Like Reply

Java Cake Games10 days ago

Good idea on including ticket number, and thanks for sharing your own experiences.

Like Reply

redonihunter10 days ago

That's not an idea. It's in the community rules. But you made this thread in the ideas section. Read https://itch.io/board/10023/questions-support where it is described.

Formally, your "idea" is already in place, but it usually needs reports for Itch to act and it can take quite some time for some reports.

Like Reply