Upcoming Spam-Prevention Features

***Cairenn*** · 05-11-07, 04:56 PM

With the upcoming Black Temple patch, we will be introducing new features aimed directly at reducing the amount of repetitive and unwanted whispers, chat text, and mail. Our goal with these new features is to not only increase the ease of reporting spam, but also to automatically restrict it. Following the implementation of these features, we will continue to monitor for chat and mail abuse and take further action as needed.

Here are some of the new spam-prevention features going into the new patch.

Reporting abilities:

Players will now be able to report chat and mail spam with the click of a button. A "Report Spam" option will now be available by right-clicking on a player’s name in a chat channel, whisper, or mail. Using this option will quickly and easily report the player to our in-game support department for review.
When you report a player, he or she will automatically be added to your ignore list for your current session. You won't see any chat or mail from that player until you log out and back in.
These tools function on a per-account basis, meaning that reporting one character on an account will ignore all chat text and mail from that entire account until you log off.
You will not be able to report players on your friends list or in your guild.

Message throttling:

Players will no longer be able to send large amounts of text at one time, filling a chat screen with a repeating message, large blocks of gibberish, or text that could disrupt an entire conversation. This throttling, along with the new chat-reporting feature should make it much easier to keep unwanted text off your screen before it becomes overwhelming.

Original Post

robthedude · 05-11-07, 05:35 PM

about time! cheers for the info C

**Seerah** · 05-11-07, 06:17 PM

Thanks for more info on this, Cairenn.

I've been trying to keep up on it.

***Cairenn*** · 05-11-07, 09:23 PM

You're welcome guys. C&P ftw!

Purity · 05-13-07, 05:37 PM

I am so excited about this. Thank you for the update! I like the idea of it per session acct. I mean they delete those chars all the time and I would not want to have a genuine newbie on ignore from an old spammer the week before.

BTW, I just wanted to say how much I love this site. The layout, the ease of use, your recently updated and posted thingies in the columns. Its just real sweet.

Thank you!

Jayhawk · 05-13-07, 10:52 PM

This is going to make me ever so happy... I get a feeling I'm seeing more and more spam these days and een with SpamSentry (lovely program it is) it's a chore logging these.

PathMaster · 05-14-07, 12:03 PM

Great additons all around. I wonder if Blizzard will implement a regular ignore for one session option? It has its uses.

Tenson · 05-15-07, 08:41 AM

Just curious: does this mean that the output texts from DamageMeter won't be displayed at all? In a 40-man raid, DamageMeter output can get quite large.

Not that I'm a fan of spamming guild/raid channels with DamageMeter info, but I know sometimes it's useful for improving dps and/or reducing overheals.

Also, some addons display all the commands in the chat window, and can beceom quite large. I don't have a problem with it, since it's self induced, but if the message throttling takes effect, does that mean the addon instructions will not be displayed?

Thanks for any clarification!

**Shirik** · 05-15-07, 10:30 AM

Blizzard hasn't told us any real information about how it works, but the majority of us speculate that it goes far beyond a simple rate limit. It is very likely that it does a lot more judging based upon the content.

Also, do you seriously post all forty elements from your damage meters o.o And I thought spamming 10 was bad...

Tenson · 05-15-07, 01:03 PM

Originally Posted by Shirik

Blizzard hasn't told us any real information about how it works, but the majority of us speculate that it goes far beyond a simple rate limit. It is very likely that it does a lot more judging based upon the content.

Also, do you seriously post all forty elements from your damage meters o.o And I thought spamming 10 was bad...

lol, of course i don't, but i can't stop guildmates from doing so. it's not as bad if they do it in /r, since i can quit the raid after boss fights, but if they do it in /g, i can't just quit the guild! (or can i??)

anyways, as i said, there are mods that gives instructions that spans several lines, and i am worried that this type of command listing may be banned as well. unless, the new feature is only in effect if it's reported by someone else? like, the sender and receiver of the message must be different, or it won't activate? if that is the case, then i won't have to worry about addon instructions spanning multiple chatlines.

Inokis · 05-20-07, 01:22 PM

As long as it doesn't interfere with the function of mods like Spam Sentry, I'll be happy. These methods are not going to be enough. I don't want to see spam at all. Forcing me to see it and making it easier to report it just won't cut it.

Throttling msgs so several can't be sent in a given span really don't help either. Whispers will just be timed and then you'll be spammed at a less interval but spammed nonetheless.