Months of harassment

[SturmChurro]

This person is ramping up probably because of this gigantic deal you guys are making of it.

[SigynAesir]

This person is ramping up probably because of this gigantic deal you guys are making of it.

it SHOULD be a big deal. Spamming what they have been is absolutely disgusting and should'nt be tolerated by anyone. /shrug

[Maria1693939]

This person is ramping up probably because of this gigantic deal you guys are making of it.

Ahh yes, let's just ignore the mentally ill person with a vendetta against the community who has been relentless in trolling us with awful language everyday for the past week.

Must be quite nice on Exaclibur where you don't have to deal with such issues.

[Reap00]

This person is ramping up probably because of this gigantic deal you guys are making of it.

Indeed. They are giving this person exactly what they want. They are crying for attention and getting it in droves. It could be blacklisted and ignored but that is to easy apparently.

[Portions]

Some of this ground was covered previously, but to clarify the tactics being used, the spammer is a mentor, or a mentor is a friend of the spammer. Additionally, the mentor could just be a legit mentor inviting sprouts blindly (although this is less likely). If the mentor inviting them is the spammer, they're creating sock puppet trial accounts to spam on. Effectively, what allows this to happen is that anyone can become a mentor if they meet the criteria, & the free trial system allows creation of an endless stream of socks whenever one gets banned. We've managed to kick a couple from NN, but in 30min that sock to comes back & we've seen at least 7 (by my count) socks rotate through on Mid.

So what can be done? These are the nuclear options:
None of us are going to support the idea of blocking anyone meeting the criteria becoming a mentor. It's flawed but allows some semblance of a connection between the mods/devs and the community in a way that allows the community to build & support themselves. Personally, I would argue that they should make the crown about role mastery and bring back FFXI's "M" marker because the crown culturally and in-game often symbolizes elitism (for better or worse). Similarly, nobody is going to support the idea of getting rid of the free trial system, as it gives players a great window into understanding the game both at a starter level & also to make an informed decision about whether the late game experience is something they would like to invest in.

The non-nuclear option is to ban the spammer. But that's not easy.

1. If the mentor inviting isn't the spammer, they haven't violated ToS unless you make a well-documented case that they're enabling harassment / obstruction of play. In a sense it requires a definition of 2nd degree obstruction
2. If the mentor inviting is the spammer, they would require evidence by tracking spam accounts and who is inviting them. However, we don't even know if the game records all of that information in a useful way mods can access other than connecting puzzle pieces one at a time & then reviewing the consummate
3. You still have the argument that the mentor inviting isn't the account doing the spam, and the language of ToS is based on individual accounts
4. Banning via IP isn't practical because having two IPs is as simple as connecting via both LAN & WiFi
5. It's not uncommon that the same person has multiple routers working from home because work pays for one or it's more cost effective for bandwidth in certain areas, obscuring connections further
6. Banning via MAC would require interaction with an ISP and possibly legal authorities to pressure the former, under the argument that the spammer is posting statements in support of pedophilia as racial slurs and transphobia (while completely appalling and inexcusable) are technically free speech in the US

[SigynAesir]

Indeed. They are giving this person exactly what they want. They are crying for attention and getting it in droves. It could be blacklisted and ignored but that is to easy apparently.

people have been blacklisting. Then they create a new character and do the same thing within 30 minutes and its hard to ignore WALLS OF HATE SPEECH TEXT macroed to post 10 times in a row in all caps. nice try, bruh. >.>

[Goji1639]

it SHOULD be a big deal. Spamming what they have been is absolutely disgusting and should'nt be tolerated by anyone. /shrug

I mean, definitely report him and stuff. These shrines to him on the forums, however, do really only feed and gratify him.

[AngelCheese77]

Indeed. They are giving this person exactly what they want. They are crying for attention and getting it in droves. It could be blacklisted and ignored but that is to easy apparently.

This person is ramping up probably because of this gigantic deal you guys are making of it.

So, neither of you seem to understand why ignoring or blacklisting cannot or does not work in this situation.

1. The main of this character has changed their name a few times, but is NOT the one specifically doing the spamming. So blacklisting them will not assist in this situation.

2. The person in question creates new accounts/characters and gets into the NN, either through their main inviting them (if they are on separate accounts) or through another person inviting them in the NN.

3. Said new character then creates either a macro or uses a bot of some kind to spam what they wish. Due to how quick and repetitive is said, I would go with a macro.

4. One of 2 things now happen. a. They switch worlds right after and do the same on another world, or b. they drop NN, delete the character and make another one, going back to step 2.

So blacklisting will not help. What will help, is taking a scalpel to the cancerous tumor and removing it.

Now, the way SE has it, Free Accounts as well as Paid Accounts can join the NN. So this person can make tons of throwaway accounts and join the NN to continue wherever and whenever they want. So unless SE makes it so F2P accounts cannot use NN and forces people to have a paid acct to use it, this will more likely continue.

So for you two I quoted, do you believe blacklisting them and ignoring this will help? When the person is blatantly breaking the ToS? Should their actions have zero consequences? If so, please tell me what world you live in.

[Portions]

3. Said new character then creates either a macro or uses a bot of some kind to spam what they wish. Due to how quick and repetitive is said, I would go with a macro.

4. One of 2 things now happen. a. They switch worlds right after and do the same on another world, or b. they drop NN, delete the character and make another one, going back to step 2.

What I've witnessed is them hitting the macro and leaving NN. I assume they have the "confirm leave" window open so they just hit the macro and one click out. They haven't always logged off, but have most times. I haven't blacklisted the accounts because I lose my ability to track and document the offenses. Similarly haven't messaged after because that would definitely spur them to ramp it up.

[SnowVix]

Ahh yes, let's just ignore the mentally ill person with a vendetta against the community who has been relentless in trolling us with awful language everyday for the past week.

Must be quite nice on Exaclibur where you don't have to deal with such issues.

let's not blame this on mental illness when there's no evidence that has anything to do with it and just throws perfectly nice mentally ill people under the bus. he's probably just a complete loser who never grew past thinking /b/ was cool