Combating Spam Alone

Hello Eorzeans,

From the lack of server-side coding to catch, stop, and block spammers...I've taken matters into my own hands given the hundred or so messages I receive in a 4-5 hour play session on Exodus. So this gist of it is this: Spammers want you to go to a website, right? Well, websites are usually hosted on a virtual cloud or virtual hosting platform (as no mass spammer is stupid enough to host at home). This means they are likely subject to the companies' anti-spam and "play nice" policy, which are usually SIGNIFICANTLY faster in resolving that Square Enix has shown. So we're going to use their hosting company against them.

First, SCREEN SHOT THAT TELL! It will be required when you got to report it.

Second, WHOIS (via GoDaddy or NetworkSolutions, both dot com) the website name. If they suggest lolbuygil.com, then use "lolbuygil.com" as your search term in the WHOIS field. Look for the registrar! See the example below!

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Domain Name: REMOVED
Registry Domain ID: REMOVED_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.godaddy.com
Registrar URL: http://www.godaddy.com <-- [THIS LINE!!!]
Update Date: 2015-02-18T17:45:57Z
Creation Date: 2015-02-18T17:45:57Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2016-02-18T17:45:57Z
Registrar: GoDaddy.com, LLC

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Third, search the registrar's name and report abuse (i.e. "Godaddy report abuse"). This will give you a page that you can submit a claim reporting spam, harassment, or unsolicited advertisements. From here, fill out the claim.

That's all folks!

From here, once complaints start pouring in to the registrars and hosting companies, these sites will start getting ripped down. It won't take more than a dozen unique complaints to get the ball rolling.


-Hate

P.S. - If anyone from Square Enix is actually reading this, spam blocking is hilariously easy using string matches with percentage tagging. Effectively matching the sent tell string against the last 5-10 the player has sent. If a match percentage of 85% or high, increment generic counter. If 5+ tells with same message in X minutes (usually 1 or less [30s]), kick account offline. If account logs back in and continues to flag itself via the system, kick it offline, lock it, and email account owner of suspicious activity. Boom, owner is aware, spammer is gone, less than 15 people were affected by this single spammer.

They have one, RMT just finds ways around it.

I also don't think its as easy as you think it is to stop RMT sites, otherwise this would have happened years ago.

Bookmarking this.

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Originally Posted by Valkyrie_Lenneth

They have one, RMT just finds ways around it.

I also don't think its as easy as you think it is to stop RMT sites, otherwise this would have happened years ago.

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Western registrars take spam quite seriously, actually, so if they get enough complaints and sufficient evidence, they will clientHold the domain. At that point, the RMT company is simply going to buy a new domain, though and they are very cheap.

There are also registrars who are known to be spam-friendly.

Registrars take email spam that is coming from said IP or domain seriously. Hosting companies will block smtp ports for servers that are violating that. As far is in game spam that is not happening on their servers. They do not care nor will they act on it.

I also believe you have confused email spam with ingame tell spam. These are not the same thing. If you read the hosting companies ToS you will see there is nothing covering this.

I applaud your attempt but nothing will come of this.

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Originally Posted by Sove92

Western registrars take spam quite seriously, actually, so if they get enough complaints and sufficient evidence, they will clientHold the domain. At that point, the RMT company is simply going to buy a new domain, though and they are very cheap.

There are also registrars who are known to be spam-friendly.

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Most gold sellers arent going to be registered with domain registrars who have spam policies, or enforce them.

I looked up one domain and the registrar is some chinese company. Not sure they'd care even if the entire game sent in abuse reports. *shrugs* Who knows.

Edit: Checked another one. Registrar is the same chinese company.

Ok, as mentioned by some of the players above, some registrars do not abide by or maintain an abuse policy. That being said, ICANN will likely have something to say about that.

First: Navigate to ICANN's complaint page. Located below...

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https://www.icann.org/compliance/complaint

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Second: Is it a lack of abuse policy or them simply not responding within a reasonable time frame (i.e. 3 business days)? If so, move to 'Registrars' and then 'Registrar Abuse Reports' or see the link below...

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https://forms.icann.org/en/resources/compliance/complaints/registrars/standards-complaint-form

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Third: Fill out the form accurately, honestly, and entirely. Be sure to tick the bubble for 'Registrar does not have abuse contact data on website or did not investigate report of abuse'.

Hope this helps! Fight the good fight brothers/sisters of Eorzea!

-Hate

An interesting approach. I hope it bares results.

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Originally Posted by Valkyrie_Lenneth

They have one, RMT just finds ways around it.

I also don't think its as easy as you think it is to stop RMT sites, otherwise this would have happened years ago.

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RMT sites might not be easy to stop, but in game tells are. Square have shown by doing pretty much nothing that they really do not care.

It doesn't take much thought to come up with the idea of allowing people to decide who they receive tells from and when.

And sure some may say, how are people gonna send tells to one another if they aren't on friends lists with each other, but its not like everyone isn't on busy mostly now a days or nothing.

This is cool, but I speak reasonably:

There are players who buy gil, and they admitted that it makes them feel more comfortable to play. Should those players lose a "resource", what if they unsubscribe?

FFXIVMALL seems to be using GoDaddy. Reported them through GoDaddy's abuse reporting system.

Yes, knocking them offline would be a temporary setback with a small financial irritation (rather than punishment). However, if their URL keeps changing weekly/monthly, it is hard to keep a customer base coming back to an ever changing URL. :cool:


-Hate

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Originally Posted by Jim_Berry

This is cool, but I speak reasonably:

There are players who buy gil, and they admitted that it makes them feel more comfortable to play. Should those players lose a "resource", what if they unsubscribe?

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That's fine. Their playstyle and choice in/out of game should not affect OUR gameplay though. If buying from one of the numerous sites supports and encourages the spamming nonsense, then they are DIRECTLY affecting our gameplay and it should be stopped. If they bought from a site that had a strict "no spam" policy (which makes one wonder how they are known?), then I would not care in the slightest. :-)


-Hate

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Originally Posted by Jim_Berry

This is cool, but I speak reasonably:

There are players who buy gil, and they admitted that it makes them feel more comfortable to play. Should those players lose a "resource", what if they unsubscribe?

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To add to Hateborne's response, RMT does generally affect an MMO's in game markets/economy in a detrimental way, causing actual inflation for in-game currency. Though the problem isn't significant in FFXIV, it can still be seen (pay attention to the markets for any length of time and you'll see what I mean). So, while those who pay RM for gil gain an advantage over everyone, they are also making the game harder than it needs to be for those simply trying to enjoy the game. I will admit, thankfully, that FFXIV hasn't been broken by this, but it is still a bother...and to be honest...kind of lame.

Not to mention that I never understood why people need gil so badly when they throw it at you in every which way. Unless you're buying a house (LOL), there's really nothing worth spending gil on.

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Originally Posted by Jim_Berry

This is cool, but I speak reasonably:

There are players who buy gil, and they admitted that it makes them feel more comfortable to play. Should those players lose a "resource", what if they unsubscribe?

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They are losing a 'resource' that the devs never intended to be in the game and they are gaining an advantage over others when it comes to things like buying houses, getting airships, gear etc. Should they lose it? Absolutely. It's cheating and it does have an adverse effect on all of us due to how it distorts the in-game economy.
It'd be a sad day for any game when people who break ToS are allowed to continue playing because the loss of their sub is seen as more important than maintaining the integrity of the game.

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Originally Posted by Jim_Berry

This is cool, but I speak reasonably:

There are players who buy gil, and they admitted that it makes them feel more comfortable to play. Should those players lose a "resource", what if they unsubscribe?

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I can't believe I've actually found someone defending RMTs and the people who buy from them. This forum never fails to surprise me.

RMT exists because there is a market for it. To remove RMT means to remove that 'market'. Theoretically it is possible, but practically it is near impossible.

Just like how the Japanese anti-piracy campaign is trying to rid of manga/anime rips. There are still countless sites providing ripped content, does that mean that anti-piracy campaign does not care and is doing nothing? No. Police are roaming the streets, yet crime is ever increasing every year.

RMT sucks, don't get me wrong. But putting all the blame on the host does not change the underlying fact, RMT exists because people who require the services exist. Unless you are able to change this, nothing will change. It's just building a wall with holes on each side.
What you may attempt to do with your solution may or may not work. Most likely it won't change much. But at the end of the day, if RMT spams still linger, does that mean that you stopped caring or just did nothing? No, you cared, you tried, but you unfortunately lost. Same thing for the devs.

Don't try to blame everything on others and pretend they don't care, that's just selfish and rude.

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Originally Posted by Andrea

I can't believe I've actually found someone defending RMTs and the people who buy from them. This forum never fails to surprise me.

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Encourages healers not to dps either.

i have had quite good success (about 99%) with screening out spam tells on Hyperion using a 3rd party program which uses a filter list.

Tells are practically useless ingame as it is. You can't even send tells in an instance at all which is absurd. /busy and block em all.

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Originally Posted by RickXRolled

Encourages healers not to dps either.

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Keep that nonsense in that thread.

Honestly I don't care about RMT.... because on Balmung we do not have that problem. Our server is full and RMT won't pay to transfer characters to our server. So here is the simple solution for you. Stop playing on a dead server?

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Originally Posted by Felmyst

Honestly I don't care about RMT.... because on Balmung we do not have that problem. Our server is full and RMT won't pay to transfer characters to our server. So here is the simple solution for you. Stop playing on a dead server?

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So anything that's not Balmung is a dead server?

This thread has devolved into personal attacks, insults, and character assassinations...as is par for the course in MMOs it seems.

I tried.


-Hate

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Felmyst

Honestly I don't care about RMT.... because on Balmung we do not have that problem. Our server is full and RMT won't pay to transfer characters to our server. So here is the simple solution for you. Stop playing on a dead server?

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"If it doesn't effect me I'm fine."

That isn't the best attitude to have about any subject lol.

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Originally Posted by Hateborne

This thread has devolved into personal attacks, insults, and character assassinations...as is par for the course in MMOs it seems.

I tried.


-Hate

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Not just MMOs, mate...sign of the times. I'm glad at least you spread a testable idea around.

Most of them are in Hong Kong or something like that, no?

z_z;;...I don't think they care if the domain gets shut down n stuffies. unfortunately D: