Buzz changes: Rewards and Botting.

Our Buzz Rewards program was introduced at the same time as we rolled out Buzz back in October of last year. We designed the program so that people that were helping build the community by sharing quality models, contents, tools, and know-how would be able to utilize our on-site services without having to pay. We saw it as an excellent way to encourage a better experience for everyone in the community.

In April, when we started to charge Buzz for generating on-site, the Rewards program drove a whole lot of new engagement as people saw more value in Buzz:

• A 50% increase in the number of new creators

• A 50% increase in the number of active creators

• A 65% increase in the number of posts

• A 60% increase in the number of reactions given to content

• A 50% increase in the number of people reacting to content

We're thrilled to see the Rewards program continuing to drive so much growth within the community, so like a good game, we're making some adjustments to a few of the mechanics to improve balance, encourage additional growth, and improve the sustainability of the Rewards program.

As for the Buzz Botting, this is something we've been monitoring for a while and have taken our first steps today. Civitai is built around genuine sharing, whereas these networks exploit Buzz reward actions without contributing meaningfully to the community, which was the purpose of Buzz rewards in the first place. Having multiple accounts is acceptable, but using them solely to manipulate Buzz for an individual doesn't benefit the community.

1. Buzz reward adjustments

We've been tracking Buzz spent vs. Buzz earned and have determined that, due to the volume of new users, the Buzz Rewards program needs some adjustments to prevent inflation and incentivize relevant content. We'll be continuing to tweak this over time.

Here are the changes that have been made:

• The monthly cap on Buzz you can earn for accepted content reports has been increased from 1,000 to 1,500

• You can now get rewarded for the first 3 people you follow each day (up from 1)

• The daily Buzz you can claim in the generator has been reduced from 50 to 25

• The Buzz that you earn for reacting to content has been reduced from 5 to 2

  • EDIT: this amount has been upped from 1 to 2

• If your first post of the day only includes NSFW images, the Buzz you receive has been reduced from 25 to 10

  • This has been removed, all content types now recieve the same amount of buzz.

    Rewards that were targeted for reduction were the largest areas of abuse for bots

2. Crackdown on Buzz Botting

We've added additional measures to detect suspicious Buzz sharing and usage to combat Buzz farming bot networks. When such activity is detected, the user and any additional accounts associated with their IP address will have their ability to earn Buzz disabled. This system isn't perfect, and we'll continue to refine it.

If you believe your account was flagged in error please reach out to Support