The GM team is completely ineffective.

[LianaThorne]

■Nuisance behavior
"Nuisance behavior" is speech or behavior that hurts others or obstructs their gameplay, but which is not classified as harassment. Even if it was not intended, a penalty may be issued if the end result was that another person was hurt, or their gameplay was obstructed. If the behavior was observed being conducted by multiple players, all involved members will be issued a penalty.

・Expressions considered impolite or against common sense
・Expressions that significantly lack consideration for others

Just as in the real world, it is important to be considerate of other players to maintain cordial relationships and positive experiences in the world of Final Fantasy XIV. It is prohibited to make expressions or to act in ways that would be unacceptable in the real world. This includes disturbing the peace and having a lack of consideration for others. If a report has been filed and the prohibited activity is confirmed, a penalty will be issued.

Separately, in Final Fantasy XIV, player communities may have their own specific set of loosely established rules and guidelines, which involve their own manners, morals, and etiquette. These community-specific rules and guidelines are not officially established as a unified set of rules for the entire community, so they may differ from one community to another. What may be acceptable in one community may be objectionable in another.

If there is a situation in which a person repeatedly says or does something that can be judged as intentionally trying to disrupt the peace, such as "intentionally ignoring the community-specific rules and guidelines while being aware of them" or "unwilling to learn of them," a report can be made. If we determine that the behavior falls under our prohibited actions, a penalty will be imposed.

Each data center will also be judged based on the social customs of that data center's region in the real world.

Please note that Square Enix may issue a penalty in its discretion even if a report has not been filed but the act was found being conducted in public areas such as Say and Shout, search comments, Party Finder, or online video/streaming services.
------------

Also copy-pasted out of their ToS. To my interpretation, the examples I gave earlier do "significantly lack consideration for others." So you're right, maybe I'm technically incorrect by calling it "spam" under the SQenix definition of the word, however, the way I read it means that these actions are still against ToS.... Which is why, going back to a point I said earlier, I believe the policy needs to change to actually allow them to say "this is not against the terms of service" when replying to reports, instead of their default canned responses.

Should probably just include in your report that you're reporting it as a "Nuisance Behavior" violation. You've admitted yourself it's not technically spam so it makes sense why your reports haven't been working.

However if that still doesn't make anything happen...peace and love but you might want to start considering what to do for yourself to create a better atmosphere. At the end of the day, the only person you can control is yourself, so you ultimately will have to figure out a way to adapt if nothing is a violation of the ToS in the eyes of the GMs.

[Boblawblah]

Knowing how good trolls and other people are at skirting the technical line of what is allowed, I'm not surprised GMs are told/decide to leave it vague when asked directly, as every situation might be different. Behaviour done at a certain time in a certain setting with a certain group of people with certain motivation might be considered inappropriate while the same behaviour under different circumstances might be alright.

And OP, I won't push you to say exactly what you reported anymore, I know that everyone has their own things that frustrate them when they see and everyone has different levels of tolerance for it. I for example don't use PF, and so seeing venues being advertised isn't something I care about, as I simply avoid the place I would see those ads.

[Nyxs]

Seeing as how you wont give examples or clarify with the added facts that the GM themselves are not taking actions its fair to say the person isnt breaking ToS and you are being a karen. Stop wasting the GMs time so they can deal with real issues.

Also the GMs dont owe you any anything unless it is something that concerns yourself directly.If its a rulebreak the person will get talked to or get suspended/banned. You are not their boss or person paying the cheques stop acting entitled.

[Kazmarek]

Why are you so evasive in explaining what this "spam" you have been reporting is? You keep dodging the question when it's really easy to answer.

Because all in all, it doesn't really matter what my issue is. My bigger point is that the GM team is completely ineffective. It's not up to me to decide if the policies are keeping them ineffective or if there is a problem with the team itself. The bottom line is, there is a problem. It would be incredibly easy for someone to read my problem and say "oh that's not a big deal to me, this person's just exaggerating" and move on, completely ignoring my bigger point... which is the title of this thread.

[Kazmarek]

Seeing as how you wont give examples or clarify with the added facts that the GM themselves are not taking actions its fair to say the person isnt breaking ToS and you are being a karen. Stop wasting the GMs time so they can deal with real issues.

Also the GMs dont owe you any anything unless it is something that concerns yourself directly.If its a rulebreak the person will get talked to or get suspended/banned. You are not their boss or person paying the cheques stop acting entitled.

Hey, so, since you decided to be intellectually dishonest, I'm gonna do the same. You know, in a way, we do pay them. We pay our sub, which goes back to SQenix, which eventually makes its way into their pockets. No players, no revenue, no GMs. Come on, you're better than this.

[Sjol]

Because all in all, it doesn't really matter what my issue is. My bigger point is that the GM team is completely ineffective. It's not up to me to decide if the policies are keeping them ineffective or if there is a problem with the team itself. The bottom line is, there is a problem. It would be incredibly easy for someone to read my problem and say "oh that's not a big deal to me, this person's just exaggerating" and move on, completely ignoring my bigger point... which is the title of this thread.

The part where I think you're getting resistance is that you're asking to curb other people's behavior. You pay your sub, they pay their sub (presumably), and you're asking the GM team to curb another person's behavior based on content since it was argued that this is more a nuisance issue than a spam issue. The ToS lining out that it's not just being inconsiderate but significantly so (paraphrase). It's entirely possible the GM team is just deciding that the reported person's behavior doesn't rise to that standard. At which point they're doing their job and just disagreeing with you that it qualifies for nuisance behavior.

At this point you're citing without data that the GM team (or the policies which govern them) are ineffective according to you, but for the person being reported who didn't get disciplined it's probably a relief and the GMs are doing their job protecting them from people trying to control their behavior.

[Glenfiddich]

I genuinely believe that the TOS is great...

Yeah, Really great.

From the Terms of Use
*Posting content with the intention of criticizing either Square Enix staff or specific individuals.

Doing it you are risking to get banned permanently.
You are only allowed to praise SE Staff....

Censorship at its finest.

[Klaleara]

Yeah, Really great.

From the Terms of Use
*Posting content with the intention of criticizing either Square Enix staff or specific individuals.

Doing it you are risking to get banned permanently.
You are only allowed to praise SE Staff....

Censorship at its finest.

This is as normal as it gets. Companies don't want you picking on specific staff members, it causes....issues. You are allowed to criticize concepts, the company, and the actions the company takes. But just like players, you can't name and shame. This isn't new lol.

[Kazmarek]

The part where I think you're getting resistance is that you're asking to curb other people's behavior. You pay your sub, they pay their sub (presumably), and you're asking the GM team to curb another person's behavior based on content since it was argued that this is more a nuisance issue than a spam issue. The ToS lining out that it's not just being inconsiderate but significantly so (paraphrase). It's entirely possible the GM team is just deciding that the reported person's behavior doesn't rise to that standard. At which point they're doing their job and just disagreeing with you that it qualifies for nuisance behavior.

At this point you're citing without data that the GM team (or the policies which govern them) are ineffective according to you, but for the person being reported who didn't get disciplined it's probably a relief and the GMs are doing their job protecting them from people trying to control their behavior.

And you may be right. You may be 100% right. However, I'm not the only one who's been frustrated with this specific issue, I'm not the first (nor, I suspect, the last) to post forum threads on this issue, and I'm certainly not the only reporting it. To us it's a clear ToS violation; to them, it may just be business as usual... Which is where the policies themselves hold the team back. The policy is to tell you that they're investigating, and that's it. They never do a follow up, you never know what happened, and to a degree, that's fine. I personally would be fine not knowing what action was taken, I'm more interested in clearly knowing when action was not taken, which goes back to my suggestion of having them send a message that says "We've determined the actions in question do not violate Terms of Service." I feel like, in the long run, that would actually save them some time. Unfortunately, they don't take that approach, and so I continue to believe them to be completely ineffective.

Also, you've given a reason why I haven't bothered to state the reason here yet. "It was argued this is more a nuisance issue than a spam issue," the qualifier doesn't matter, the point still stands that it's against ToS. GM inaction is not a good enough excuse, they need to be better.

[Glenfiddich]

This is as normal as it gets. Companies don't want you picking on specific staff members, it causes....issues. You are allowed to criticize concepts, the company, and the actions the company takes. But just like players, you can't name and shame. This isn't new lol.

I'm not ok with the North Korean concept of going after the whole Family if one Member has done something wrong.
If 1 Person in charge is making bad decisions than why blaming the whole company?