In-Game E-Mail Spams .. Whats going on with this?
By
BBQ_Pork,
Posted on: 2009-06-27 05:33 in Player Questions
*turns off the flaming oven*
Crap. He was nice about it.
I... don't... uh... know what to do when people ask questions nicely.
A-HA! You used a comma incorrectly!
.... but, seriously, KP. The Devs have tried some countermeasures, such as trial accounts not being allowed to send emails, etc, etc. It's just a part of any successful game, unfortunately.
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Is anything being done?
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Well, to be honest, we won't know what they are working on in terms of counter-measures until they spring it.
But I suspect that they are working on something.
I wouldn't be surprised if it were some kind of Email-throttling (No more than X number sendable over Y period of time, or some kind of reciever-side filter. (Using the search feature as you mentioned, I'm sure you've seen a few suggestions for this popular request.)
You can save yer self some time and effort by not bothering to delete the names in the global ignore list. I know this is hardly the kind of answer yer looking for.
But if you think about it... the system for the global list will automatically delete the names in the global ignore list for you. Once the list is full, the oldest one gets deleted to make room for the newest one. So why bother doing it manually?
Personally, I've entirely given up on in-game e-mail. I just let it pile up. I'm currently playing a little game with it. Seeing how many I can accumulate.
I know some folks might get annoyed that I would not bother to report the spammers, but honestly, the measures taken by NCSoft to deal with them would make for an episode on Penn & Teller: B.S.
Not that NCSoft is B.S.ing us about it, I know they really want to stop the RMT spammers, its just that their measures are totally ineffective.
"The one thing that can stop a full team of MasterMinds dead in its tracks... a doorway!" --Frogfather
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Not that NCSoft is B.S.ing us about it, I know they really want to stop the RMT spammers, its just that their measures are totally ineffective.
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Not totally ineffective. You obviously arrived after the period where spammers were constantly sending tells to everyone.
The simple fact is that there is no way to completely eliminate in game email spam without removing the email system. There have been various measures added over time to make spamming more difficult, but the only truly effective way to eliminate spam is to close the game. Most spamming accounts don't last all that long, but as long as new players are allowed to sign up for full accounts using a credit or game card and the game is perceived as viable by the outside world there will be spammers.
Dr. Todt's theme.
i make stuff...
/hidesearch really cut down the amount of spam I get, I get 2-3 pieces on a character now and then.
You weren't here when everyone was getting tells from these guys every five minutes. Trust me, it's an improvement.
I can't believe we have an option to disable E-mail comments on MA arcs, but not email in general.
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/hidesearch really cut down the amount of spam I get, I get 2-3 pieces on a character now and then.
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Hiding from the search menu really does help, to an extent.
I've noticed that characters that I've put down as hiding from search (as soon as they are created) don't get added to the spammers' "mailing lists".
Once they start getting spammed, it's too late.
YMMV.
As mentioned - it used to be getting a *tell* from these guys every couple of minutes, sometimes several over the course of a minute. If you see the trial account restrictions, you can thank the RMT spammers for it.
Also, if you open your email and look at the buttons, you'll notice a new "spam" button, which puts the person on your global ignore list as well as flags the account for the GMs to look at. If you see a bunch of emails from "empty," well, those are from nuked spammer accounts.
Similarly, you have /ignorespammer as a command, and if you right click on someone in game (or, IIRC, click on their name in your chat box) you'll see an option to "Ignore as Spammer" which does the same thing - send a report.
So they've already taken some measures to deal with (and help us deal with and report) spammers. What are they doing right now and planning on implementing? We don't know, for what I'd *hope* would be obvious reasons.
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You can save yer self some time and effort by not bothering to delete the names in the global ignore list. I know this is hardly the kind of answer yer looking for.
But if you think about it... the system for the global list will automatically delete the names in the global ignore list for you. Once the list is full, the oldest one gets deleted to make room for the newest one. So why bother doing it manually?
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Well, you might want to manually eliminate the spam handles if you have "real" players that you want to ignore, so that the jerks you added don't get a free pass. This could probably be fixed by adding a "spammer" flag to the Global Ignore listing, and never auto-deleting non-spammers unless that's all that's on the list.
"Trust me, it worked in the Simpsons." - Calash
I got fed up again logging in a toon and seeing 18 emails in the in basket.
In disgust I sent in a petition. I got the usual canned use the spam button reply.
I replied to the reply. . . a bit more. . .vigorously. I got a supervisor reply saying the developers are working on new methods to handle RMT emailers. So the check is in the mail; no details on what the new methods are or a timeframe for deployment.
In the mean time, when you see those little red lettters saying you have a new email, just remember red means email is broken and don't bother opening them.
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Not that NCSoft is B.S.ing us about it, I know they really want to stop the RMT spammers, its just that their measures are totally ineffective.
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Not totally ineffective. You obviously arrived after the period where spammers were constantly sending tells to everyone.
The simple fact is that there is no way to completely eliminate in game email spam without removing the email system. There have been various measures added over time to make spamming more difficult, but the only truly effective way to eliminate spam is to close the game. Most spamming accounts don't last all that long, but as long as new players are allowed to sign up for full accounts using a credit or game card and the game is perceived as viable by the outside world there will be spammers.
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We are talking about the in-game e-mail system. The OP wasn't talking about RMT Tells. So, not really so obvious. I've been here since long before there was RMT in the game.
The measures NCSoft has taken against tells in game has definitely been very effective. The measures for the in game e-mail system, not so much. (And I'm not faulting NCSoft for it. I recognize that this particular problem is an adaptive and persistent problem)
That "there is no way to completely eliminate in game email spam without removing the email system" well no one is disputing that.
"The one thing that can stop a full team of MasterMinds dead in its tracks... a doorway!" --Frogfather
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/hidesearch really cut down the amount of spam I get, I get 2-3 pieces on a character now and then.
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Hiding from the search menu really does help, to an extent.
I've noticed that characters that I've put down as hiding from search (as soon as they are created) don't get added to the spammers' "mailing lists".
Once they start getting spammed, it's too late.
YMMV.
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This is an effective method to avoid/reduce the e-mail spam. My only problem with this little work-around is that it also eliminates another aspect to getting on teams. (Note: I'm not saying its impossible to find teams doing this, I'm saying its subtracts from a player's tools one means to getting on teams)
"The one thing that can stop a full team of MasterMinds dead in its tracks... a doorway!" --Frogfather
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I replied to the reply. . . a bit more. . .vigorously. I got a supervisor reply saying the developers are working on new methods to handle RMT emailers. So the check is in the mail; no details on what the new methods are or a timeframe for deployment.
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Would you actually *expect* them to say what their plans are, giving the spammers more time to come up with new workarounds?
That said, I'm hoping they're working on player-side filtering, as has been asked for multiple times.
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/hidesearch really cut down the amount of spam I get, I get 2-3 pieces on a character now and then.
[/ QUOTE ]
Hiding from the search menu really does help, to an extent.
I've noticed that characters that I've put down as hiding from search (as soon as they are created) don't get added to the spammers' "mailing lists".
Once they start getting spammed, it's too late.
YMMV.
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This is an effective method to avoid/reduce the e-mail spam. My only problem with this little work-around is that it also eliminates another aspect to getting on teams. (Note: I'm not saying its impossible to find teams doing this, I'm saying its subtracts from a player's tools one means to getting on teams)
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This is my first thought also... but in reality, I probably get sent a tell about joining a team from the team search feature about once a month.. and only 1/2 of those are at times I can actually join. So not much loss there... similarly... I never get any real email at all.
I gotta make pain. I gotta make things right. I gotta stop what's comin'. 'Least I gotta try.
Compared to other games I have played a few emails is no big deal.
But a few emails is much better than getting /tells. Or worse yet having them spamming broadcast or other chats.I hate games that let that go on.
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OK .. I have searched topics, and even though some posts talk in general about this, I sure would like a definate answer to this ...
Every time I log on to my main,or other toons that I don't paly with as often, I get anywhere from 3 to 15 e-mail spams from various a**holes that are trying to make a quick buck. Sure, I do agree that this is something that will happen in most popular MMOs .. what I would like to know, is what is being done about this.
Its really getting out of hand. If I don't log my main for a few days, I get so many in-game e-mails about services that I really don't care about. I spend anywhere from 0 to 15 minutes, clicking on the mail spam button, then, since I know these accounts have been flagged and most likely have been deleted, I spend even more time deleting the global ignore accounts, since there is a limited amount of global ignores that can be managed at a time.
Seriously, I really don't want to spend my first 10 minutes in game managing my e-mails ..
So, with this, can anyone tell me that something is being done with this. It doesn't ruin the game for me, it just slaps around, the begining of a good run.
Not to mention that, in the middle of a SF or TF, my e-mail starts to glow red, and I must stop and check it, thinking it may be a friend that has a question or something. Very annoying!
Its a pain in the behind. So, again, I ask, is there someone out there that has an answer to my question .. Is there anything that is being done about this major violation of out beloved game?
Please don't flame me, I did search, but, I still can't find the info that I need.
Thanks all, happy playing.
KP
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Your complaints are valid; the email and spam-filtering systems need a lot of work. Nevertheless... how in the world does it take 10 minutes to hit "spam" or "delete" 15 times?
Also, if your friends are using email to ask you questions that they expect immediate responses for, teach them about tells.
I team with the Repeat Offenders.
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Well, you might want to manually eliminate the spam handles if you have "real" players that you want to ignore, so that the jerks you added don't get a free pass.
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This, big time.
My workaround has been to create a bind file to run every now and then. It /unignores all the jerks I want to keep on the list, then re-/ignores them. This moves them to the top of the list. I just have to run it once every week or two.
Citybinder makes it pretty easy to keep up.
Global @StarGeek
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Okay, I have a related "Player Question"... does the Spam button actually report spammers to anyone, or is it just an easy "delete + ignore" button? I always thought the latter, at which point I would suggest just using Delete if you're just going to unignore the spammers to make room for others. Does Spam actually do anything useful, or has the high turnover of RMT accounts rendered it useless?
I team with the Repeat Offenders.
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Okay, I have a related "Player Question"... does the Spam button actually report spammers to anyone, or is it just an easy "delete + ignore" button? I always thought the latter, at which point I would suggest just using Delete if you're just going to unignore the spammers to make room for others. Does Spam actually do anything useful, or has the high turnover of RMT accounts rendered it useless?
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It puts them on your ignore list and auto-reports them.
It sends a type of petition to the GMs for them to look at. Basically instead of /petition spammer, it does it automatically.
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Personally, I've entirely given up on in-game e-mail. I just let it pile up. I'm currently playing a little game with it. Seeing how many I can accumulate.
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I once got email-bombed by someone back before the RMTs. Don't let your email fill up too much or you'll lag like hell trying to do anything. I forget the exact number of emails I ended up with after he bombed me, it was a lot though, think it may have been a couple thousand even but it was quite some time ago so I don't remember. Once I got it under 500 the lag got better. Getting it down to that 500 was a pain in the butt though, since every time I deleted an email, it reloaded the whole inbox and caused more lag. So yeah, just a word of warning to not collect too much.
@Johnstone & @Johnstone 2
ediblePoly.com
All my characters
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Personally, I've entirely given up on in-game e-mail. I just let it pile up. I'm currently playing a little game with it. Seeing how many I can accumulate.
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I once got email-bombed by someone back before the RMTs. Don't let your email fill up too much or you'll lag like hell trying to do anything. I forget the exact number of emails I ended up with after he bombed me, it was a lot though, think it may have been a couple thousand even but it was quite some time ago so I don't remember. Once I got it under 500 the lag got better. Getting it down to that 500 was a pain in the butt though, since every time I deleted an email, it reloaded the whole inbox and caused more lag. So yeah, just a word of warning to not collect too much.
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The nice thing about that, of course, is if you /gignore (or /spammer) them, *every email from their global* goes away at once.
I've had rarely-played characters go from "You have 31 emails" to "You have 18" with one click of the button.
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Well, you might want to manually eliminate the spam handles if you have "real" players that you want to ignore, so that the jerks you added don't get a free pass.
[/ QUOTE ]
This, big time.
My workaround has been to create a bind file to run every now and then. It /unignores all the jerks I want to keep on the list, then re-/ignores them. This moves them to the top of the list. I just have to run it once every week or two.
Citybinder makes it pretty easy to keep up.
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That's a cool idea, StarGeek.
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I once got email-bombed by someone back before the RMTs. Don't let your email fill up too much or you'll lag like hell trying to do anything. I forget the exact number of emails I ended up with after he bombed me, it was a lot though, think it may have been a couple thousand even but it was quite some time ago so I don't remember. Once I got it under 500 the lag got better. Getting it down to that 500 was a pain in the butt though, since every time I deleted an email, it reloaded the whole inbox and caused more lag. So yeah, just a word of warning to not collect too much.
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The nice thing about that, of course, is if you /gignore (or /spammer) them, *every email from their global* goes away at once.
I've had rarely-played characters go from "You have 31 emails" to "You have 18" with one click of the button.
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Well, it was actually done by someone in one of my global channels who I usually enjoyed talking to, so I didn't want to use /gignore. I know, I probably should have after that, but it wasn't that big a deal since I kinda brought it on myself since I was teasing him in the channel and when he told me to come say it to his face, I did lol.
@Johnstone & @Johnstone 2
ediblePoly.com
All my characters
OK .. I have searched topics, and even though some posts talk in general about this, I sure would like a definate answer to this ...
Every time I log on to my main,or other toons that I don't paly with as often, I get anywhere from 3 to 15 e-mail spams from various [censored] that are trying to make a quick buck. Sure, I do agree that this is something that will happen in most popular MMOs .. what I would like to know, is what is being done about this.
Its really getting out of hand. If I don't log my main for a few days, I get so many in-game e-mails about services that I really don't care about. I spend anywhere from 0 to 15 minutes, clicking on the mail spam button, then, since I know these accounts have been flagged and most likely have been deleted, I spend even more time deleting the global ignore accounts, since there is a limited amount of global ignores that can be managed at a time.
Seriously, I really don't want to spend my first 10 minutes in game managing my e-mails ..
So, with this, can anyone tell me that something is being done with this. It doesn't ruin the game for me, it just slaps around, the begining of a good run.
Not to mention that, in the middle of a SF or TF, my e-mail starts to glow red, and I must stop and check it, thinking it may be a friend that has a question or something. Very annoying!
Its a pain in the behind. So, again, I ask, is there someone out there that has an answer to my question .. Is there anything that is being done about this major violation of out beloved game?
Please don't flame me, I did search, but, I still can't find the info that I need.
Thanks all, happy playing.
KP