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Report Spam - does that really mean what it says?Follow

#1 Feb 08 2010 at 10:36 AM Rating: Excellent
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Maybe a "duh" question, but when you guys want to report someone for unacceptable behavior in a chat channel, what do you do?

I've noticed a sharp increase lately in the use of racial slurs in casual conversation on my server, not just in trade but everywhere. I'm not easily offended but this is disgusting stuff. I usually just right click their name and hit "Report Spam," since that is the only report option available. I figure it just sends in the channel and time stamp and someone will look at the log and see the obvious violation. But obviously this isn't technically "spam." Am I really supposed to be submitting a ticket every time I see this kind of thing?

Ignoring it equates to tolerance, which is not okay with me, but it'd be nice if there was a quick/easy way of reporting and just moving on. My play time is limited and with the frequency of this kind of talk, it would turn WoW into a part-time job as a chatnanny if typing out a ticket was required each time.

Yeah, ask a GM is probably the right answer. :) But just wondering if anyone had any experience or knew the procedure for this kind of thing.
#2 Feb 08 2010 at 10:54 AM Rating: Excellent
With God knows how many players I doubt they've got someone actively reading every spam report.

My guess is that they've either got a program that scans the spam report for key words and phrases and then decides to dump the report or pass it on or if there are multiple hits on the same player then after X number of hits someone reviews it.

I always say might as well do it - if someone is behaving in an outright unacceptable manner then report them as the more black marks on their account for things big and small the more likely that they'll eventually be banned.
#3 Feb 08 2010 at 11:15 AM Rating: Good
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I usually just report spam, but if it's something particularly racist/offensive I may open a ticket. Unfortunately I usually get frustrated after logging on a day and a half later and seeing the ticket still open so I just cancel it.
#4 Feb 08 2010 at 11:40 AM Rating: Excellent
I think that in order for the report to receive any attention the same person has to be reported for the same thing by numerous others as well. I tend to only use the report spam feature for gold sellers and people who spamming in the more literal sense (ie. repeatedly posting the same line of text over and over again in a short span of time). I have, however, been known to use the report spam feature for the temporary ignore list if someone is just being a right sodding douchebag in trade or local general.

If something someone has said truly bothers you, I'd say your best bet would be to open a normal ticket. GM wait times have been pretty crazy for the last several months (which I found to be odd considering the changes that Blizzard made to reduce the load on GM staff) but as long as you have a timestamp and a quote (addons like Pratt are very, very handy for this) I think that's a better option than hoping the Report Spam feature will get the job done.
#5 Feb 08 2010 at 11:57 AM Rating: Good
If it's not spam but still against Blizzard's policies, I would just submit an in-game petition to report it. Though Blizzard does not accept screenshots, you can use them to advantage because you can instantly snapshot any inappropriate lines and get a timestamp as well. If you go to your Screenshot folders, those "random digits" that serve as the screenshot's name are actually the date and time at which you snapped the screenshot (I don't know the exact order or format, though). Another effective method is by typing "/chatlog, which will enable the logging of in-game chat messages and should direct to the World of Warcraft\Logs\WoWChatLog.txt file.

If an in-game petition doesn't have enough room for you to explain, you can use wowgm@blizzard.com if you're using the North American client, but I don't know if the EU Game Master Department uses an email address, too. :/
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#6 Feb 08 2010 at 3:04 PM Rating: Good
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Basically when you report someone it will log the last paragraph or two of chat with them in it. It will save to server files and indexed so it can be searched by any word (usually character name). Some places have the reports organized by server.


So, you report, and basically think of it as a stack of paper in the inbox. All the papers are reported offenses.


Now when a GM takes a look at this account (could be this reason or something like hacking), they will be able to review this persons history. They will look through that inbox of offenses and see how frequent of a hoodlum they are. They will use this to determine the punishment.
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#7 Feb 08 2010 at 3:41 PM Rating: Excellent
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So, I wrote to the GM email and asked them this same question. It's only the second time I've emailed Blizz but both times I've been left wondering whether there's an actual human who reads these or just an autoresponder that looks at keywords and sends back the form response closest to the question it thinks I'm asking. In this case the answer was, thank you for contacting account administration (I didn't) about your account (What?), if you're being harassed (Where did I say this was an individual issue?) open a ticket, and we'll take appropriate action against all parties involved, including the petitioner if we think it's necessary (Way to intimidate people out of writing tickets!).

Now, as I said, I really don't think it's practical to ask people to take the time to type up a ticket every time they see this kind of thing. It would take way too much of our game time, and you're not going to find a lot of customers willing to pay Blizz to police their chat for them. So I wrote them back and told them no, their problem is bigger than that, and they need to put a Report Violation option next to their Report Spam option, and those reports need to actually go somewhere, and by the way thanks for the craptastic response (except I said it with better grammar than that).

I don't usually get all soap-boxy like this and far be it from me to worry that some kid's delicate sensibilities are going to be traumatized by a d!ck joke in Trade, but this is different, and it's gotten out of hand. The N word is the new Ch uck N 0rris, and I'm sick of it. I pay for this game as a means of entertainment and relaxation and the people I pay need to get more actively involved in stopping asshats from creating such a hostile environment for their customers. Saying "Well we typed up some terms of use that say not to do that" is not good enough. A rule only becomes a rule when you make some attempt to enforce it. And telling your customers to enforce it among themselves doesn't count.

So, yeah, I'll let you know if I hear anything back, because I feel certain you want another lecture from me on this topic as soon as possible!

If you experience similar problems on your own server and are so moved, by all means join me in expressing your distaste for this kind of language to Blizz. Smiley: wink I do think they care about the quality of their product and their customers' experiences more than your average company, and I think they'd want to take this seriously.

Edit: Hee. I didn't realize Alla censored the CN word.

Edit #2: I received a response directing me to the Suggestions forum as the appropriate venue for my request for a "Report TOS Violation" feature. I'm satisfied with this answer; if that's their procedure for processing customer feedback, I'm happy to follow it.

Edited, Feb 8th 2010 7:42pm by teacake
#8 Feb 09 2010 at 3:04 PM Rating: Decent
Not sure what their official policy is (I never actually read the license agreement that comes up after every patch LOL) regarding chat. They know people are going to cuss in chat. I think that's why most games say online content is unrated. There is no way of monitoring that- at least not at a human level. I'm sure they can have a computer see who uses certain words the most, and do something about it. Surely it wouldn't be hard for Blizz to monitor trade chat for certain words like the N word and inact bans against said persons. No human monitoring necessary. I could be wrong, but I get the impression blizz doesn't really give a **** about what goes on in trade chat. Long as the dollars keep rolling in, they don't care.

My advice is keep hitting the spam button. It may not work, but if enough other people hit the spam button for the same guy, maybe it will work. You could convince others to report said person.

It's sad your server has came to that. I have not seen such behavior on my server... yet- thankfully. Unfortunately too many high school kids with too much freedom. They just discovered they could use the n word without getting their *** beat or suspended from school and get away with it. As I said, convince others such as guildmates and others in trade chat to report such things.
#9 Feb 09 2010 at 5:16 PM Rating: Default
Ok, on a side note here.

When I get Spam in my game mail box, and I click on "report as spam", why in gods name do I find the exact same spam message in my mailbox the next time I log into the game?

If I wanted to read it again I would have saved it myself.

And why doesn't reporting it as spam stop it?

Is this just another useless key clicking function that's suppose to make me feel good?

Edited, Feb 9th 2010 6:24pm by Ranvaranai
#10 Feb 10 2010 at 8:32 AM Rating: Excellent
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#11 Feb 10 2010 at 8:41 AM Rating: Excellent
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There were a bunch of idiots on our server spamming racist junk for more than 30 minutes last night. I did the report spam option (which thankfully /ignores them) but I would be surprised if anything happens to them. I believe many others did the same thing based on their comments about "reported!" in trade chat, but of course the racial slurs and phalic comments continued for quite some time afterwards (it was still going on when I jumped to an alt more than 30 minutes after I reported them). Yes, I reported them on my alt, too.
#12 Feb 10 2010 at 8:50 AM Rating: Good
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I report spam for the same thing the OP said. Anything racial, offensive, or overly vulgar (I can tolerate an occasional curse). I don't want to mess with GM tickets. Until someone tells me otherwise, I will continue to "report spam" on these folks.
#13 Feb 10 2010 at 9:02 AM Rating: Good
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I believe there's a Report Problem feature available in the Help Request menu. Where a ticket requests some sort of feedback from the management (either in person or by in-game mail), the Report Problem or Report Issue thing is a one-way feature. Makes it easier to report multiple people as you don't have to edit your existing ticket all the time. Smiley: grin
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#14 Feb 10 2010 at 7:19 PM Rating: Excellent
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teacake wrote:
Stuff


I think this is the first time I've ever seen an angry teacake post.

I'm slightly afraid.
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#15 Feb 10 2010 at 9:20 PM Rating: Excellent
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IDrownFish wrote:
teacake wrote:
Stuff


I think this is the first time I've ever seen an angry teacake post.

I'm slightly afraid.


Only slightly? Don't make me hurt you, Ponyboy.
#16 Feb 10 2010 at 10:50 PM Rating: Good
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Quote:
Ok, on a side note here.

When I get Spam in my game mail box, and I click on "report as spam", why in gods name do I find the exact same spam message in my mailbox the next time I log into the game?

If I wanted to read it again I would have saved it myself.

And why doesn't reporting it as spam stop it?

Is this just another useless key clicking function that's suppose to make me feel good?




I had this as well, I reported spam on the same mail about 10 times before I realised it was the same mail not more spam.

Reporting spam sends the mail off to be looked at, I assume after it has been looked at it then gets sent back to your mailbox.

Solution: Report Spam once, the second time it enters your mailbox delete it. This is how I did mine and haven't received any spam since.
#17 Feb 10 2010 at 11:16 PM Rating: Good
Ranvaranai wrote:
Ok, on a side note here.

When I get Spam in my game mail box, and I click on "report as spam", why in gods name do I find the exact same spam message in my mailbox the next time I log into the game?


It treats it the same as the "Report Spam" feature for the chat log...it puts the sender on a temporary ignore list that resets when you log out. I would prefer if it would auto-delete any mail that you report as spam, but it doesn't. Until Blizzard changes that, you can just delete it the next time you log in and carry on.
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