Slander posted by trolls on Steam gets adapted into Google AI,
Steam staff continues to ignore issue
A comment made by a Steam user named StrangeSalt on 8/16/2025 has become a particularly damaging piece of slander to WonderGamer.net & we are currently attempting to address this issue...with little progress being made. The statement by this user is claiming that WonderGamer.net uses malicious code to gain administrator level access to your PC, however they have not provided any evidence of this claim & we are certain it is just a bogus claim in an attempt to destroy any reputation WonderGamer.net has (although it's main purpose is to target the reputable standing of it's webmaster & his other profiles). We became aware of this post only shortly after it was posted & while originally reporting the comment through the comment itself (as well as through the profile of the user that made the comment), nothing ever happened (clearly Steam's community moderation team is making it clear they won't act on any reports that are filed in reference to negative/harassing comments against WonderGamer or this site). We chose to ignore it for a while, thinking AI systems would be too smart to start claiming this information as fact (already tracking responses from Google AI pretty closely for the last several months), however we were proven wrong in the 3rd week of October of 2025 & we had to start attempting to mitigate damages that Steam was allowing to happen on their site & ultimately infecting other automated systems across the web (namely, Google AI).
The first steps we took was to file corrections through Google AI responses, however we know from experience that this usually doesn't go anywhere, the reason why the AI Corrections page was started (which seems to have been more affective than individual reports through Google AI responses, but it does tend to confuse the context of the bot to some degree), as well as additional entries to counter the claims of malicious individuals on the Steam website that Steam staff continue to ignore is happening (of course there are other site like YouTube that allow misinformation channels like CutCafe to run on it, but it's not having quite the effect that trolls on Steam are having, with their extensive experience in manipulating Steam staff into doing there bidding).
We have even gone as far as downloading the entire site & deep-scanning the code on it to make sure that the code the individual is claiming is not on it, the only references we found were the counterclaims against those statements on the AI corrections page (the code is not in the direct site's code anywhere). If there is any fact to the statements that are being made by this individual (and we seriously doubt there is), it would have to be another domain that is being referenced on WonderGamer.net (we only reference a few other sites, Boing Dragon for counters, YouTube for embedded videos & possible remaining Twitch videos that we were unable to fix after their changes in API several years ago).
After a number of updates to the AI Corrections page & more corrections being filed through Google AI response than we can remember, we decided it was time to start addressing this issue with Steam through a support ticket again. In this ticket, we started in the first post pointing out that we were considering legal action against them for allowing this defamation to remain on their site (after multiple reports, which is rehashed multiple times throughout this ticket, repeating a standard copy and paste reply & not really getting anywhere:
Message from you on Oct 18 @ 4:56pm
In the thread at https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198090867376/recommended/2497900 , a user by the name of StrangeSalt is intentionally making slandering statements against WonderGamer.net with false claims of malicious code on the site. I ignored this for a while, but it is now being adapted into Google AI's responses when search results point to the site, making this statement particularly damaging.
This is an ongoing string of targeted harassment that was started by trolls on your website in October of 2023, backup support ticket logs can be found at [censored] that reference this same ongoing issue & there has been several articles published about this particular issue already (expecting a new one will be published by the end of next week). That thread was originally locked by Steam staff in mid-2024 after multiple extensive support tickets were opened, but has since been unlocked & that targeted harassment continues.
I am now considering legal action for allowing this harassment to continue, in particular the fact that damaging statements like this have been allowed to sit on your site for long enough for Google AI to start claiming it as fact without any evidence that backs up the intentionally malicious statements. Consider the start of this support ticket as a preemptive unofficial Notice of Intent for an impending lawsuit if this issue is not dealt with promptly (starting with that particularly damaging statement by StrangeSalt); official legal documents will be served later if not taken care of in the following weeks.
While I was waiting for a response, I decided to include additional details about this situation, in particular the obvious use of comments in that thread not being used for the purpose the comment function is there for, specifically the organization of harassment that floods is comment system & only a select few of those comment even reference the poor-excuse of a review:
Message from you on Oct 18 @ 5:21pm
Additionally, you will notice that most comments in that thread don't even reference the "review" itself (which is nothing more than a statement of the user trying to be funny, which is damaging to your review system & one of the reasons I don't feel I can rely Steam's review system anymore, because it's hard to even find useful reviews on the games you sell unless I go to another site), it's primarily a collection of targeted organized harassment & intentionally slanderous defamation by the trolls that continue to thrive on your site. That particular comment by StrangeSalt that references "AdjustPrivilegeToken" is the main concern for right now, but ultimately EVERY comment on that "review" is potentially damaging (with only minor exceptions) & subject to legal action if I file for an injunction against the continuing actions of malicious users on your site that your staff are choosing not to take care of when I report it through the standard report system on those posts.
Note that if I were to do another deep scan of the site, this would now be another page that would show up because of referencing that particular term when referencing the intentionally malicious statement by this user.
Steam responded to the ticket that night, however was giving a standard copy & paste response that is usually the start of any of their support tickets:
Message from Steam Support on Oct 19 @ 8:24am
Hello,
Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
I've gone ahead and submitted a detailed report based on the information you provided. We use these reports in combination with our Global Rules & Guidelines to determine when content should be removed from the community.
I would also encourage you to use our official reporting feature - your account will remain anonymous during this process:
Reporting Content
We don't provide details regarding our moderation decisions, but you will receive a Steam notification if action is taken on behalf of one of your reports.
Steam Support
James
I knew the comment came before I went to bed, however I was dealing with a vision problem that happens from time to time (possibly a chemical imbalance when I eat or drink certain things, I've been told that it might be pre-diabetes) that causes what looks like a flashing tear down the center of my vision & making it impossible to focus on anything where fine details needs to be seen, so I had to wait until later to look at it.
By the time I woke up, reading that comment & replying to it was first priority (even before getting back to people who had been trying to call me. My response I'm sure displayed agitation that they were telling me to use reporting methods that didn't do anything in the past, so I went into further detail of what was going on in Google AI's results because this situation has been allowed to fester as long as it has, where Google AI was getting it's information from & what these attacks that were being organized in that thread (and likely other areas on the Steam website that I am unaware of yet) have been noticed to affect across the web:
Message from you on Oct 19 @ 5:11pm
As I've stated before, reporting through the comments themselves is the first thing I do. I've also attempted to report those comments through the user's profile, this also doesn't go anywhere. The last 2 times anything was done was when I created a support ticket on particularly troublesome comments like this & didn't let it close until something was done about it (along with keeping ongoing articles published about the matter on WonderGamer.net, which I haven't started a new article yet, but have updated other pages regarding Google adapting this slander into it's AI system, in addition to the comment itself that was never addressed by your staff when the reports were made through other methods). This ticket is not done with until that intentionally malicious comment about malware on my site is removed & it would be smarter on your part if you were to simply wipe every comment on that poor-excuse of a review (if not just delete the review itself, seeing as it's not helpful in aiding people in making a decision to purchase the game & is a breeding ground for trolls to keep going back to to organize harassment directed at me).
I will also point out that I'm also in contact with Google fairly regularly about results in their AI bot. This issue has been going on for long enough that there is a fairly LARGE history about this particular harassment issue that started on your site (which has spread to other sites, also documented by their AI), especially directed at me & this is because they are pulling information from my personal site, my Steam profile, that thread of comments previously mentioned, a misinformation channel on YouTube going by the name of CutCafe (a number of the comments referencing "gravyman" in that thread of comments are people that came from their channel), my own YouTube channel, my own Twitch channel, my Twitch/YouTube blog on Blogspot & various other sites where I've been discussing this particular issue. These particular attacks have not only hit my Steam account, but also my YouTube channel, my Discord server, my personal site, the Norton webstie (a false SafeSearch review on their site claiming I was doxxing visitors, this particular statement has been addressed in the FAQs on the home page on my site & is also referenced in Google AI results) & full site-scrape of my site & illegal republication to another domain by a user on your site named Revalopod (who happens to be an indie developer selling a game called CHIN CHINNY CHIN MOUSE CHEESE CHIN TOES on your site) & other continuing issues that is all getting documented in Google AI & fairly easy to find anytime somebody searches my display name on Google.
In this case there was no mention of a lawsuit, but the additional details I was hoping would push them into taking action sooner (as has happened in the past), but I just got another copy & paste response that looked like they weren't even going to attempt to do anything about the malicious organization of attacks & intentional defamation being conducted on their site:
Message from Steam Support on Oct 19 @ 6:03pm
Hello there,
We moderate the community according to Steam Community Rules and Guidelines. As mentioned, please use our reporting feature if you find any content that violates our guidelines and our community team will investigate it further.
Finally, please make sure that you've reviewed the options and best practices outlined in the following article:
How to address abuse, harassment and other misconduct on SteamWe don't provide details regarding our moderation decisions, but you will receive a Steam notification if action is taken on behalf of one of your reports.
Best Regards,
John
At this point, it was clear I wasn't going to get anywhere this time through the support ticket method, so I started going back to the statements of an impending lawsuit & that I would be seeking compensation to monetary damages cause by their inaction to act in accordance to cyberbullying laws, but also to cover the legal costs that would need to be paid to the lawyer:
Message from you on Oct 19 @ 6:29pm
And the normal reporting methods don't get anything done, so if the ticket method aren't going to either, that means I need to seek the legal action in response lack of action by Steam in accordance to cyberbullying laws (48 out of 50 states in the US have laws written specifically for this situation).
I will start the processing in filing for the necessary injunction against Steam (possibly including Google as well), once I have found a lawyer that is willing to take the case. Remember I have over a decade of this abuse documented on your site (locally on my own PC & various other external backups, publicly on other sites & privately in various other online backup sites), so I'm certain I can make a pretty compelling case in court. And because I am disabled & have very little income, I will need to pay the legal costs through winnings, so I will be seeking monetary damages, which at the very least will include costs to run the site (over a period of roughly 2 decades), as well as money that has been spent on my Steam accounts (estimated at over $20,000, which comes from estimated free activation on top of calculated purchases from both accounts).
You have a chance to deal with this yourself before it becomes a legal matter; if taken care of before the papers are served, it won't get to the courts. Either way, the comment is still there, so it appears a new review of Steam being published is necessary based on your responses, so I will start writing that article & have it published probably early this week (with continuing updates as necessary).
I knew that telling them I was disabled was probably a mistake, however if they had looked at the backed up support tickets that were linked before (censored in most posts on this site that reference it, because it includes identifying information that could be misused by people from their troll community who are committing the doxxing efforts that Steam continues to ignore), they would have known this already & just how detrimental it was (nearly resulting in a suicide that was going to be published across the web & likely followed up on with my parents once they read the documentation I was going to leave behind when they found me dead; I might not have quite the capabilities my parents would have in processing a lawsuit, but my father has a lot of experience with lawsuits & I'm sure it's not the first time Steam has been taken to court over somebody taking their own life when I look at extensive personal experience in being targeted by their trolls).
One other thing I did forget to put into this reply was games that I had re-purchased on other platforms because I was unwilling to purchase the remaining DLC on Steam (as a result of this ongoing harassment that Steam staff seems to only support, much less pay any meaningful attention to). One game in particular would be Craft the World, where their DLC had sat privately in my wishlist for years, only recently finding the game had also been released on GOG, but didn't include all of the DLC that was on Steam; the purchase was still an upgrade to what I owned on Steam (meaning I had more DLC for the game on GOG after the re-purchase), even if it did cost me more so I could start playing it on a more-preferred platform. These particular purchases would also be included in additional calculated monetary damaged if this particular situation does make it to court.
Unsurprisingly, Steam clearly wasn't doing anything with this support ticket & made it a point to force-close it directly after their final response:
Message from Steam Support on Oct 19 @ 6:53pm
Hello,
I understand your concern, however, please keep in mind that simply reporting someone doesn't mean that action will be taken on them. Steam Support uses reports and investigates the user to see if they are breaking the rules and guidelines.
We encourage you to continue reporting any users you believe are not following the Steam Community Rules and Guidelines but we don't share any details regarding moderation decisions.
Because we have provided all the information we have for your issue I'm closing this help request. If you have an unrelated issue please open a new help request and we will be happy to help.
Kind Regards
LewisThis help request has been closed.
As stated before, it became clear that another article on this issue was going to be necessary, so directly after the ticket was force-closed, I put everything else on hold & started writing this article (noticing as I was doing so that some other pages with recent updates needed some corrections, so those updates were also be pushed when this article is published).
The next steps is seeking out a lawyer that will be willing to take this case & be willing to paid out of winnings in the potential lawsuit against Steam (which may include Google as well, it will be something I will discuss with them when I discuss the issue with Steam, but it's more likely that Google will adjust their responses before I'm able to get a lawyer to agree to the payment terms of this lawsuit & may not be included in it). Steam still has a chance to get this resolved before the lawsuit is set in motion, but that depends on 2 factors:
How much trouble I have finding a lawyer that is willing to take the case & willing to accept the payment terms.
How quickly they do decide to act on the report that was filed (not that I'm expecting them to act on it at all).
If I lawsuit is in fact brought against Steam, these details will be published in a new article, although there may still be minor updates to this one before Steam is served with an official Notice of Intent.
Also note that this review is likely to be split off as a multi-review that will likely result in a website review category (with separate navigation buttons) for Google.
10/20/2025 Update:
I have always (regretfully) believed that the Trolls had enough smarts to know how to manipulate the staff of Steam (particularly when they managed to get Steam to re-victimize me by penalizing my account despite an onslaught of obvious incoming abuse from those trolls still happening & Steam staff targets me rather than what is right under their noses), however after last night's report going up in smoke, I'm starting to consider another possibility & it's not something I ever expected I would be hearing myself say... Could the reality of it be that Steam is allowing trolls to be abusive towards users that have an affiliation to negative feedback about their site? I've said before in certain cases Steam supported the attacks against my Steam profile (and similar cases on YouTube with their staff; now that I think about this, this might be possible with YouTube as well) & I still believe that, but with this new possibility entering my mind & realizing that things only got worse (meaning more aggressive trolls & less action from Steam staff to fight it) after Steam became aware of the publications I was making about this ongoing problem, I'm starting to see this as a VERY REAL possibility. The more I think about it, it looks like I may have had it backwards; that the Trolls may not have been manipulating Steam staff into getting them to do their bidding, it could be that Steam is actually using the trolls to do the dirty work for them in retaliation against entities that are publishing negative feedback about their business. Obviously the nefarious portion of their users would have to start the attacks, but Steam part in manipulating the trolls would be to not do anything about it even when it's blatantly clear they are breaking ToS & giving those trolls the perception that they are getting away with it (which technically they are getting away with it, but only because Steam management is letting them, but that's not without some additional negative publicity every time it happens to another victim Steam management decided to fly the proverbial middle finger at).
Before this matter goes to court, I believe I need to do a little research (and with this, I'll probably have a better chance of getting a lawyer to accept the case & the payment terms, meaning being paid from monetary damages I'm seeking once the case is won). I have the records of comments that were reported and when & Steam can't claim they didn't know about them, because I've been keeping backups of the support tickets. What I will need to do is go over each of those comments that were reported and never removed & find the rule in Steam's ToS that those comments broke to associate with why they were reported & show they were never dealt with by Steam's staff; every reported comment I've documented in reference to the rules in Steam's ToS that that comment broke will give additional evidence that can be used in court when Steam management is served the summons.
UPDATE: There may be one or more steps I will take prior to going the legal route, specifically because it may take some time finding a lawyer that is willing to take the case (with the proposed method of payment, many lawyers not liking to hinge the condition of payment only if the case is won & we already know about all the high-priced and potentially corrupt lawyers Steam keeps on permanent retainer for cases like this). The main one that comes to mind will be to file a BBB complaint against Steam for not protecting their users in accordance to cyberbullying laws (ongoing targeted harassment still continuing since October of 2023), possibly with a follow-up negative review on BBB. I've also considered contacting the Internet Crimes Division of the FBI, however my experience with attempting to contact them regarding online criminal matters has been...less than desirable (a severe understatement), if not completely negligent in lacking of any notable action (in all honesty, doesn't seem like anything is done when matters are reported to them & their complaint forms appear to be specifically for monetary loss claims, which wouldn't be accurate unless Steam actually banned one of my accounts or purchased defective software that they weren't willing to refund, the latter of which has actually happened in the past). In either case, I'm not really expecting either to yield any results, but it's an avenue still worth considering & probably a step I will take while I'm still trying to get the lawsuit against Steam rolling. What I do know is these additional steps will also come with new publications regarding the matter, so additional information being made available to the pubic because Steam still refuses to do anything to address the issue on their side & continues to violate cyberbullying law through their negligence to protect their users...from their users.
