Enough is enough, give us proper tools to deal with spammers

[Niwashi]

SE does work to implement server-side filters to detect keywords from known RMT tells and automatically block them but the turnaround time on this process seems to be quite lengthy.

Well, I do recall seeing a dev post from quite a while ago claiming they did, but if so, their turnaround time is measured in years, which is effectively the same as not doing it at all. My guess is that they have the software to allow them to block known RMT strings in messages but have never actually used it. Either that, or they set it up once when the game was released and have never updated it since.

I do know for a fact that a great deal of the RMT messages I'm still seeing have the exact same text that has been being used for over a year now. Some of the RMT companies change their messages every so often, but others don't, so clearly it's not actually necessary in order for the messages to get through. (For instance, why isn't "♥BANK" blocked by now? They've been using that same heart to represent the first three characters of their web address for ages now. Their web address may not be written in its standard form, but it's written the exact same way they've been using ever since they started spamming this game with it.) So, for all practical purposes, no SE doesn't have server side text filters in use.

I would really like to see a feature extended to clients where I can enter my own filter keywords. For instance if I could filter the keyword "U'sd" which I see in the above poster's image it would block all of those tells from my client. My chat log has actually had that same RMT tell it for the past week now so such a feature would have given me a whole week of quiet :P

That would help a lot. Client side filtering places the hassle of updating those filters on the users, but does at least have the advantage that it's a lot harder for the RMT companies to modify their messages to evade the filters, because they can't ever be sure what filters you're using.

(Unfortunately, this means the more proficient players who update their filters aren't bothered by spam and think it goes away, while new players trying the game out who are still on default settings are still getting the full brunt of it. Leaves a rather bad impression on those new players that way.)

... remove the Player Search function, that's it, i haven't found any player using it ...

That's a very drastic thing to do. I use it all the time to locate friends when they first subscribe to the game, or to locate players whose /tells I missed for one reason or another if they've gone into a duty.

Removing it completely would be too drastic, but an /anonymous flag that lets us opt out of being found through it could be a worthwhile improvement.