Every single day, all day, a gold selling site is being spammed in /say chat next to the main city aetherytes. These stupid, pointless, annoying messages are out of hand.
:mad::mad::mad:Quote:
[8:40]Anselmdepx AckermanBehemoth: Cheap FFXIV Gil @ {(annoying).C0M} 24/7 Fast Delivery , Cheap FFXIV Gil @ {(annoying).C0M} Big Stock !&-908
I guess this isn't a new idea, nor do I know much about anything. However, I do feel increasingly annoyed by the SPAM. Stupid, pointless, annoying messages. They don't even have to obfuscate the site much to bypass any current filter! They're just posting the website in a way which can still easily be understood. Sometimes they have to replace an "o" with a "0" or a "w" with "\/\/", but come on.
It's as annoying as when they used to spam in /tell, I think. It hurts my desire to play seeing it in my chat box every time I'm in the city. Personally having to turn off local chat in cities is not a good solution.
What would such a regular expression even look like? Something containing word + gil + any website? :confused:
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10-15-2023, 01:38 AMbrancinaedCould regular expressions that blacklist gold selling websites be made?
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10-15-2023, 02:07 AMRavenblade1979
Actually wish they would just update their dictionary in game with a new section for banned words but be accurate with it. You could easily stop that from happening via this method. Just gotta update it when the botters switch terms up to include those
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10-15-2023, 02:40 AMLocal_Custard
oh man every time I enter a main city (which my trips there last 5 minutes at most usually) I am absolutely bombarded by these messages. I too wish there was something done about it.
ooh! I like this idea! By having it be accurate I think it would likely make it much harder for botters peddling their horrible site.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ravenblade1979
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10-15-2023, 02:58 AMMakarovv
as long as there is lazy people buying gil there's always gonna be botters/spammers in the game, in any game tbh. they'll have the funds and resources to make new accounts. DE from warframe somewhat does a decent job with it with their kickbot in their chat but they still get by by other means.
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10-15-2023, 03:06 AMAlexandre_Noireau
They would just adapt with characters and other phrases. Offer isn't usually the root of the problems but demand.
The fact that all these years bots move and move gil means the demand is there and there is nothing no one can do about. -
10-15-2023, 04:22 AMBacentThat would involve using every single combination then. All they need to do is use characters in other languagesQuote:
Originally Posted by Ravenblade1979
α β γ ε θ Θ
Those are just 6 letters in the Greek alphabet and you can do a lot in a single post with those alone.
It sounds like something simple to do, but others make sure it's a hard task
And don't forget that if someone managed to use one of those banned words they could possibly be in trouble as well from the system.
There's no better way to get these sites to go away by PLAYERS STOP BEING LAZYASSES BECAUSE THEY DONT WANT TO DO WORK THEMSELVES -
10-15-2023, 04:57 AMJeeqbit
Why do you think they are using spaces and strange characters?
It's because if SE does any sort of regex, they will just come up with a way to get around it using spaces and alternative symbols from other languages, or they will say to google a keyword they have done SEO for. -
10-15-2023, 05:03 AMBoblawblah
Machine Learning could deal with a lot of gold selling spam if SE cared to look into that.
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10-15-2023, 05:12 AMJojoya
If you don't want to be bothered by gil sellers, then you need to get rid of the gil buyers.
Someone trying to sell will always appear when there are players happy to buy. It doesn't make any difference how many obstacles you try to put in the way of the seller. They will find a way around them if there is a profit to be made. -
10-15-2023, 05:21 AMAmarandeA noble thought, but sadly far too optimistic.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ravenblade1979
Spam is still omnipresent in pretty much every communication medium, even email which has been hammering away at it for a whole generation now.
Monetary costs don't help, and notably the less scrupulous the business, the less relevant costs are as a functional stick (especially with how often accounts used for spam are stolen, or paid for with stolen details - often stolen from RMT firms' own customers from what I hear - so it doesn't even create any actual overhead for the outfit).
About the only places that really manage to lick the spam problem are ones with extremely restrictive policies for initial registration (such as invite-only communities and a few forums with super strict rules on what kind of email you're allowed to sign up with), and a commercial service such as FFXIV would realistically never be able to afford that kind of policy (would you really want to go from critically acclaimed MMORPG with expanded free trial to having to tell your friend tearfully that they can't come play with you because you're out of new player invites for the month, anyway?).
As for the machine learning angle mentioned by a later poster as I composed this: think Facebook, X, and the like. How often do their automated moderation systems flop in negatively-impacting ways? You willing to take account marks out of the blue because you joked around in your FC or something like that because robot says guilty? 'Cause that's how Facebook Jail and the like work ... -
10-15-2023, 05:24 AMDarkobra
It's a very cat-and-mouse thing that will end up just harming the regular users in the long run.
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10-15-2023, 06:12 AMAvoidyHonestly this. SE took a weird backwards approach where they ban the sellers (who just make new accounts an hour later) but they let the buyers go 99% of the time. If players felt like their account risked a ban by buying, then they probably wouldn't buy and the sellers would go out of business. Not a terribly difficult concept, but I guess they'd rather continue to implement weird "anti-botter" measures that just punish legit players more than anyone else.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jojoya
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10-15-2023, 07:14 AMHasratSomebody knows their internet. Winner winner.Quote:
Originally Posted by Darkobra
Build a better bot trap, and they build a better bot.
The harder you try to fight something like this, the more you just start impacting regular users, and the bots will continue getting around it without a thought.
This isn't to say "just let the bots win." But rather, know when your efforts are having sufficient effect without impacting real users. Choose your battles wisely. -
10-15-2023, 07:25 AMRolder50
I don't think it would really work. They would just find ways around it, making it a waste of developer time.
If they somehow make it so exceedingly restrictive that it DOES work, it would almost certainly harm regular users more.
Be more cost effective to just hire one intern to do it all manually. -
10-15-2023, 07:35 AMbrancinaedQuote:
Originally Posted by Darkobra
I do understand this point is very true, I was thinking about it a lot before posting. However, that they are allowed to spam the complete website without any obfuscations is why I post this. At least make them work a little harder to spam. It may be true it's too impactful to normal users, though.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rolder50
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10-15-2023, 08:14 AMBacent
Honestly it'd probably be better if people that get flagged of RMT reports X many times would just be world muted. They can see their own posts in the chats, but no one else can.
If people use that as a method to harass another REAL player, then they'd be given a very harsh ban.