Discussion: Zero Tolerance RMT Tells and Spam
By
Agent_Kendt,
Posted on: 2007-08-07 13:34 in News, Events and Announcement Discussion
I really love coh but this spamming is really annoying and I am seriously considering not playing anymore.
Sometimes I get these tells every ten minutes for hours.
I don't understand why there isn't a way to block tells as well as global and local messages. I know it wouldn't solve the problem because I've gotten several different tells from different accounts and the same tells from different accounts but at least I wouldn't have to hear the same message from the same person all night long.
I've petitioned a few times but I don't really see how it's helping and stopping every single time it happens (like in missions and other inconvenient times) is bothersome. Perhaps if I knew how petitioning was helping I would feel more inclined to continue doing it.
I know that complaining isn't much of a help to those working on the problem but I felt a need to say something. I really hope that the situation is taken care of expeditiously, and I will never again have to hear "poor for living?" >.< (If he's gonna spam he could at least make the message make sense)
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I really love coh but this spamming is really annoying and I am seriously considering not playing anymore.
Sometimes I get these tells every ten minutes for hours.
I don't understand why there isn't a way to block tells as well as global and local messages. I know it wouldn't solve the problem because I've gotten several different tells from different accounts and the same tells from different accounts but at least I wouldn't have to hear the same message from the same person all night long.
I've petitioned a few times but I don't really see how it's helping and stopping every single time it happens (like in missions and other inconvenient times) is bothersome. Perhaps if I knew how petitioning was helping I would feel more inclined to continue doing it.
I know that complaining isn't much of a help to those working on the problem but I felt a need to say something. I really hope that the situation is taken care of expeditiously, and I will never again have to hear "poor for living?" >.< (If he's gonna spam he could at least make the message make sense)
[/ QUOTE ]Squeaky wheel and all that. It's not so much that your one petition will shut down the perp. It's that making the GMs, NCSoft, and Cryptic aware of the perp's actions, who the perp is, and the name of his website will all be a little helpful in their efforts to shut him down.
Also, the number of petitions will help the powers that be understand just how big a deal this is.
"The one thing that can stop a full team of MasterMinds dead in its tracks... a doorway!" --Frogfather
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I don't understand why there isn't a way to block tells as well as global and local messages.
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/ignore <name> blocks tells from the named character.
/gignore <@handle> Ignores a player. IIRC, it should ignore all server chat too, I think.
Orc&Pie No.53230 There is an orc, and somehow, he got a pie. And you are hungry.
www.repeat-offenders.net
Negaduck: I see you found the crumb. I knew you'd never notice the huge flag.
Yah, I'm getting that same "poor for living" tell every night, multiple times now... one thing I have found out is that their site has a Customer Service e-mail...
I wonder how much they'd like it if an entire forums worth of people flooded their e-mail with garbage spam...
not that I'm promoting that sort of thing... 
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I don't understand why there isn't a way to block tells as well as global and local messages.
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/ignore <name> blocks tells from the named character.
/gignore <@handle> Ignores a player. IIRC, it should ignore all server chat too, I think.
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/hide also works, not a permanent solution, but it works.
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Yah, I'm getting that same "poor for living" tell every night, multiple times now... one thing I have found out is that their site has a Customer Service e-mail...
I wonder how much they'd like it if an entire forums worth of people flooded their e-mail with garbage spam...
not that I'm promoting that sort of thing...
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Of course if you send them an email then the spammers would then have your email address too...
I'd be willing to wager that they wouldn't mind the spam as much as you would 
These tells are getting very annoying now. It use to only happen to me once a week, but now I get a dam advertiser tell every time I log on. Instead of banning their accounts just go after the websites they advertise.
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Just remove the ability for TRIAL ACCOUNTS to send tells.
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Not even WoW is that stupid. It would totally alienate ANYONE trying the game.
They ban you from Broadcast or Trade, and you can't trade/use mail/use the auction house, and there is a limit on how many tells you can send in a given period, but they don't outright stop tells.
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Yes, banning tells is a tad overkill, but it's a quick and dirty fix until something better comes along, how about this: Remove the ability for trial accounts to use the /search window (I think thats how they are spamming us, creating a solicitation bind, and just going down the search window list clicking on each name). We didnt have the search window in this game for a long time when the game released, and we played just fine without it, trial accounts can too.
"All that crap is grey to me, no XP." - Positron 5/15/05 8:36am . . . The world stopped and silence ensued except for the sound of a crying infant off in the distance.
"Everyone needs to chill the hell out." - BackAlleyBrawler 11/13/08 3:26pm . . . Geeks around the world stopped and blinked.
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I don't understand why there isn't a way to block tells as well as global and local messages.
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/ignore <name> blocks tells from the named character.
/gignore <@handle> Ignores a player. IIRC, it should ignore all server chat too, I think.
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/hide also works, not a permanent solution, but it works.
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I keep seeing this advice alot, and I wanted to comment on it.
/Ignore works, but only for a little while, that is, until said spammer gets banned and creates a new account and starts spamming you with a different name.
/Gignore = Don't even bother with this. Why? Because /gignore only blocks tells from GLOBAL tells from people sending you tells using the following command: (/t @Yourglobalname, message).
My point: These spammers don't send global tells, they seem to have a solicitation bind that starts like this: (/bind <key> /t $target, spamspamspam) which they open a /search window and go down the list clicking on each name and hitting their bind.
You could /gignore them all day long and it wont stop their spam tells. regular /ignore will only stop it for a little while. And folks suggesting that using /hide is a good temporary solution, well, I'm not on board with that, because when I'm on LFT for an hour, I sort of *HAVE* to be unhidden for LFT to work. Also I don't want to be hidden from my friends, and no, not all of them are on my global friend list. I actually use both lists differently and I like it that way.
Anyhow, I just hope the Devs impliment some sort of solution to this sometime soon, these wacky spammers are getting out of hand. I have actually stopped logging in alot lately simply because when I get home and feel like relaxing while pounding on some villains, the last thing I want is to be subjected to these spam tells.
Peace.
"All that crap is grey to me, no XP." - Positron 5/15/05 8:36am . . . The world stopped and silence ensued except for the sound of a crying infant off in the distance.
"Everyone needs to chill the hell out." - BackAlleyBrawler 11/13/08 3:26pm . . . Geeks around the world stopped and blinked.
Here's what I would do:
1. Trial accounts can't click a name on the search window and choose chat - they have to manually type it out/
2. Tells from trial accounts produce an "accept/deny" prompt for the person receiving the tell. If you see "pkp... wants to chat", you simply choose "deny" and you never have to see the tell.
3. Have an option where you can only receive private messages from people on your friends/global friends list.
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1. Trial accounts can't click a name on the search window and choose chat - they have to manually type it out/
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This would be much more complicated than it sounds - it totally goes against how the client works.
Orc&Pie No.53230 There is an orc, and somehow, he got a pie. And you are hungry.
www.repeat-offenders.net
Negaduck: I see you found the crumb. I knew you'd never notice the huge flag.
Seriously .. if there is ZERO tollerence on this kinda crap .. why is it that 3 hours after I report www.pkp***.com .. i still get PMs from them .. even if I have them on global ignore .. If ignored .. shouldn't i NOT get any tells from that account?
This is out of hand .. and must be stopped .. we report .. we report .. and we get the generic message from NCSoft tha they are looking into the problem .. and OBVIOULSY .. nothing has been done! I know this because I still get the spam!
The online GMs should have the right to DELETE an account once its been proven that its being used for spaming .. and they should also delete all related IPs as well .. This spam MUST be stopped ..
You, NCSoft .. have the web sites . you have the IPs .. you have the account names .. get your high priced lawers .. and SUE these jerks!!! They violate your own ULA and do nothing about it! Time to deal with these jerks! Send a message now or else more will surface .. and make our lives miserable ..
Yes .. I know I'm long winded .. I know its all been said .. and I know I will be flamed .. but I don't care.
Stay true to your word .. ZERO TOLERENCE!!!!! Get rid of them now!!!!!
Thanks
A pissed off player!
They have to go through the steps, KP.
And about banning IPs - what if that spammer is using a service that has hundreds of people use on IP address? What then?
Orc&Pie No.53230 There is an orc, and somehow, he got a pie. And you are hungry.
www.repeat-offenders.net
Negaduck: I see you found the crumb. I knew you'd never notice the huge flag.
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I got one from "pkpkgliers", saying "Poor for living? Boring on leveling way? Come to [malformed URL deleted]. We are selling the cheap and fast infamy for you, and we promises the safety of your account on powerleveling. Thanks" (global name '@pkpkgsaera') They've been petitioned, /ignored, and /gignored... and I expect they'll be back as soon as they can create another account...
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There is OBVIOUSLY a GAP in what ZERO Tolerance means to them and what it means to me.
I get that same tell multiple times perday and I always petition it.. and Guess [censored] what... I get that tell from the same guy the next day and the next day and the [censored] next day.
Zero Tolerance means as soon as you get 1 petition from someone and they copy and paste the damn advertisiment you [censored] BAN the account.
You dont wait several days or never bother to get them ...
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And after WEEKS of not playing this game, I log in today just to see if I wanna bother playing it.. and Guess what!
5 seconds into thinking about maybe playing the game I get 2 back to BACK TELLS FROM THE SAME GUY I HAVE BEEN PETITIONING from befor...
zero tolerance
n. The policy or practice of not tolerating undesirable behavior, such as violence or illegal drug use, especially in the automatic imposition of severe penalties for first offenses.
Zero tolerance is a term used to describe a non-discretionary enforcement policy for the criminal law or informal rules. Under a system of zero tolerance, persons in positions of authority who might otherwise exercise their discretion in making subjective judgments regarding the severity of a given offense are instead compelled to act in particular ways and, where relevant, to impose a pre-determined punishment regardless of individual culpability or "extenuating circumstances".
Anyways, I immediatly LOGGED OFF. Ugh, I am already on a wierd break from the game.. Just cant play.. Seem to be burned out right now...
And it doesnt help to keep getting the same CRAPPY guys trying to sell me Influence........ Damnit!
Sounds like this guy has it out for you.
I have to agree that my game play is seriously affected by spammers like the ones mentioned, mostly peeps with pkpg for the first four letters of name. I would like to also give out names of websites but not sure if that is considered bad or something. Anyway, I just immediately send out a petition bearing the username in the subject field and tell devs they are using private tells to advertise and the website they are advertising. At first, nothing changed, but now it seems that the spammer only gets to spam me once before it stops. I have to say I am seeing results, the spammers are always one step ahead it seems, but the response is getting quicker. There has to be something that can be done, though, short of me paying every month to work for NCSoft reporting spammers. So, I guess I'm saying for each spammer there exists a user who will log off or even quit playing the game, i'm sure they realize this and will eventually figure something out. I have faith (please don't prove me wrong, devs), and i'm very stubborn so I will continue to report every spam i get until the day they come no more, sigh. Ps - has anyone tried to petition after the tell and was booted during the petition? It happened to me the first two spams i got, was wondering what could of caused that? 
Pss - there was a time the pkpg person was sending a spam every 20 minutes one night, for many hours, i had to turn off private tells and hear the annoying private message beep every single time. I call for a universal tar and feathering of these spammers, and maybe some choice telemarketers as well. 
I remain in darkness to expose the light in you.
_________________________________________
Caradavina - Energy/energy blapper
Chippo - Fire/ice blaster
The World is Not Enough - dual blades/regen scrapper
and the list goes on and on...
I have a suggestion/question. I'm not sure if this has been suggested, but this topic is getting too long to read through all of the comments >.> If someone did already post something similar, then my apologies.
Is there a way for you people to make some code that allows a tell with 'inf for money' to be blocked before we even get it and the people being banned from any chat for a certain time? Of course with this the GMs will automatically get their global name/account name and the message. Then you can close their account and disallow any new accounts to be made (by putting their mail-address, normal address, IP, etc on a black list).
This will include any tell with '(.)com', 'www', '(.)org', 'money', 'dollar(s)', '$', or whatever from anyone that is not on your global friends/server friends list. Maybe amplify this with character under level 10.
Since,when their messages don't come through, they are known for trying to become creative and type the stuff just a little differently (for example with spaces between the letters), you could build a database of posted websites and auto-block whatever is www.<standing here>.com for there.
Whether you will automatically update the blocklist or do it like once a month that is up to you.
This will force them to spam in AP/Mercy/GV/where ever else, but it's at least a start.
I would not recommend to automatically block over the broadcast/help channel/request/local, since people do post websites that do help you (like Badge-hunter/Vidiotmaps and CGT, etc) with a problem that you encountered that does not require assitance of a GM. However with the "auto-block whatever is www.<standing here>.com" black list, you could use those to block rather than the com/org whatever too.
A more mild version is you could make the words be changed into something else (kitties!) automatically without the blocking/banning. Somewhat like the profanity-filter, only we cannot turn it off.
Sounds a bit complicated, but it would have a better future for Co*, then for example disable the ingame Wentworths/BM. After all if they cannot advertise they got not enough customers and lose interest.
Brutes are built to kick @$�, not to save that of yours - Double Electro
My DeviantArt | RobotSouls.com
Of course this is probably squarely in the "thou shalt not do this" section of the EULA...
But I'm already using /copychat "window name" to record the tell sent.
Why not do this, then autoreply to the tell and PASTE IN WHAT YOU COPIED? then send it. :P
shoot, hit ENTER and UP ARROW and ENTER again a few times... just flood the nutball right off the server... pull up Arena in its own window, copychat and paste that instead... oh wait, that'd give them more names... scratch that idea...
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
Irecived this tell
OwnYo.com -COV Infamy Trading Center -as low as \d12.99/10 M Infamy .
I have replied and told them the thing they least want to hear. If I need to sell you some ill let you know
The Legendary Cosmological Prince Reigar 53rd Illusion Control/Storm Summoning/Primal Forces Mastery/Incarnate
It's a dark and story night. That means something bad is happening out there
I have zero tolerance for Posi standing ther ewithout his helment endangering all of steel gee.
9.11.07 Patch Notes discuss a new anti chat-spam command
/ignore_spammer
Is this the equivalent of /ignore + /gignore + /petition (OK, maybe not full blown petition but someone is notified)? What does this new command buy us other than making it easier to both ignore and report spamming after the fact?
One tiny question. After a /ignore_spammer is it better to send a petition or a bug-report? Until now I have been using the bug-thing, because I don't want to waste an in-game GM's time on realizing he shouldn't have to personally assist asap.
(And please PLEASE! stop sending a survey every single time I send a bug! All I get to hear is they forwarded to a specific section of the company and never hear from it again. There's not much to survey about that, lol)
And suggestion: Make a radiobutton for only RMT? Or better yet, automatically pop up the petition-window with the right button selected and the name filled in after sending the ignore-spammer thing. Their names are often almost impossible to properly type, lol... of course in the end it's up to you people. If it's hard to code that or you have another reason, I can understand.
Brutes are built to kick @$�, not to save that of yours - Double Electro
My DeviantArt | RobotSouls.com
in reply to virago's message how about instead of just a rmt button how about making it more helpful by making it a spammer button so it can cover ALL spammers, i'm getting spammed for more than just RMT, getting danged tired of those tells saying please join team long enough for getting a higher bodycount in mission. but don't intend to let you enter mish without getting kicked from team.
UGH those people tick me off but i believe those are the ones who farm for illegit purposes.
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One tiny question. After a /ignore_spammer is it better to send a petition or a bug-report? Until now I have been using the bug-thing, because I don't want to waste an in-game GM's time on realizing he shouldn't have to personally assist asap.
(And please PLEASE! stop sending a survey every single time I send a bug! All I get to hear is they forwarded to a specific section of the company and never hear from it again. There's not much to survey about that, lol)
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Bugs go to the devs - if you are filing BUG reports to report RMTs, then Cryptic has to go and forward it to back to NCSoft for it to do any good. And it just sends a bunch of info not needed (where you are, facing, bloodsugar levels, etc.).ds
RMTs are not programming issues, they are people issues - you need to petition so it goes to NCSoft's CS department.
Orc&Pie No.53230 There is an orc, and somehow, he got a pie. And you are hungry.
www.repeat-offenders.net
Negaduck: I see you found the crumb. I knew you'd never notice the huge flag.
I'm getting these tells twice and three times a day now. Its becoming a pain.
I recommend Cryptic and NCSoft go to these website and buy inf. Then when they meet the guy online, they can ID the perp and shut down his account.
The /ingnore is usless cuz the perps just churn out new toons and continue on. /gignore is also useless because that only shuts out any tells sent from their global handle and does not shut out any tells sent by the toons they make.
My two inf.
"The one thing that can stop a full team of MasterMinds dead in its tracks... a doorway!" --Frogfather