Why hasn't the black list GUI been improved yet?

[JoeDono]

First, SE did implement a limit on the number of say/yell/shout/tell messages a character can send per second in 2.3

Second, macro this and add it to one of your spare hotbars
/blist add <r>

With that, you can blacklist the last person to send you a /tell in 2 button presses.

I agree that it should be easier to clean out your blacklist and/or they should increase the 200 person limit though.

[Geryth]

First, SE did implement a limit on the number of say/yell/shout/tell messages a character can send per second in 2.3

Then those rascally RMT spammers have easily circumvented that limitation because RMT spam is as worse as it ever has been right now. And I get that that's part of the challenge - they will continue to find ways to get around the restrictions that SE puts in place, and SE has to implement solutions that 1) Stop RMT spammers and 2) Make sure the impact of those measures is as minimal as possible on players. All the more reason why I would like them to make the black list easier to use.

[gamesmart]

snip

Looking at your join date, you weren't here at launch, where there was no such message restriction - which hardly even affects legitimate players as it is now - and RMT /shout spam was in full force, to the point where it was almost impossible to hold some sort of actual conversation in the main cities. Once /shout chat began to be moderated more closely, RMT then moved into sending /tells, which in my opinion was a huge "improvement" (for want of a better word). Even if you do impose more limitations in an effort to combat RMT, they're going to find a way around it (like you yourself have said), and there are very, very few options that will not catch actual players in the crossfire.

Also, investing a ton of resources into combating spam is more or less a waste, when they can be directed towards shutting down the actual RMT operation. If we keep banning the spammers without focusing on the RMT characters that are holding their gil, or the buyers, it's going to change nothing - they'll just find new accounts to hack and spam from.

As an aside, at this point RMT spambots get banned fast enough that you generally don't have to blacklist them. And because some people still don't know, banned characters are NOT deleted - any spambot older than probably a day or two can be safely removed from your blacklist. Personally I've turned off the sound effect that accompanies receiving a /tell so I can largely ignore these messages. Worst comes to the worst, you can either filter /tell messages out of your General tab entirely, or set yourself on /busy to block all /tells, regardless of who they're from - though that comes with the downside of not being able to receive /tells from friends.

Though I only have one person on my blacklist, that being an actual player who miraculously managed to irritate me enough, I agree that some improvements to the blacklist can be made, such as deleting chunks of people at a time.

[Geryth]

Looking at your join date, you weren't here at launch, where there was no such message restriction - which hardly even affects legitimate players as it is now - and RMT /shout spam was in full force, to the point where it was almost impossible to hold some sort of actual conversation in the main cities. Once /shout chat began to be moderated more closely, RMT then moved into sending /tells, which in my opinion was a huge "improvement" (for want of a better word). Even if you do impose more limitations in an effort to combat RMT, they're going to find a way around it (like you yourself have said), and there are very, very few options that will not catch actual players in the crossfire.

If the black list were the system that I would like it to be, then /shout spammers should be much preferable than /tell spammers. For one, I'm not always in cities, and secondly I can ignore /shout messages easier than /tell messages and when I get a /tell message I know it's actually someone wanting to tell something specifically to me. Heck, when I'm in cities I don't even care about the regular /shout messages from real players half the time. So to me, RMT spammers abusing /shout sounds like a dream to me right now (assuming I could have a more usable black list system). But yes, I am well aware that RMT spammers will find their way around imposed limitations. That's why I'm asking for a better black list system.

Also, investing a ton of resources into combating spam is more or less a waste, when they can be directed towards shutting down the actual RMT operation. If we keep banning the spammers without focusing on the RMT characters that are holding their gil, or the buyers, it's going to change nothing - they'll just find new accounts to hack and spam from.

I have to wholeheartedly disagree 100%. My experience is heavily affected by this, I know other players' experience is hampered as well. Some less-educated players may even fall victim to their spam, waste their money, and then get key logged when they visit the RMT site. The integrity of their game is at risk, and that should send a huge red flag that they need to take some decisive action. If the RMT spammers are able to continue outsmarting them, then at least let the players have better options to filter out the crap that comes our way. And it all comes down to the RMT spammers. They are the ones harassing players and they are the ones advertising - halt/limit the RMT spammers and you severely limit the number of real money transactions that take place AND improve the FFXIV experience at the same time.

As an aside, at this point RMT spambots get banned fast enough that you generally don't have to blacklist them. And because some people still don't know, banned characters are NOT deleted - any spambot older than probably a day or two can be safely removed from your blacklist. Personally I've turned off the sound effect that accompanies receiving a /tell so I can largely ignore these messages. Worst comes to the worst, you can either filter /tell messages out of your General tab entirely, or set yourself on /busy to block all /tells, regardless of who they're from - though that comes with the downside of not being able to receive /tells from friends.

The bolded part is blatantly not true. I was so fed up with cleaning up the black list, I just let all the RMT spam come my way last night. I received probably around 10 RMT messages in an hour, from only 6 unique names. This was just last night. Most of the time the duplicate tells came in within one or two minutes, but I had one bot send me messages over the span of 30 minutes. By black listing the RMT spammers I'm probably removing 30-40% of the tells that I get. That pretty much makes the black list the single best way to deal with this. Turning off the sound for /tells? Moving /tells off to a different tab? Block myself from receiving /tells? Aren't these the kinds of things that SE is afraid of when limiting RMT spammers' ability to communicate? So you're telling me that they don't want to filter out any real /tell communication between real players but then my solution is to filter out real /tells from real players? That's not a solution. The black list is not the solution either - but it's the best solution. If they can't stop the tells, they need to make a better black list. Plain and simple.

Though I only have one person on my blacklist, that being an actual player who miraculously managed to irritate me enough, I agree that some improvements to the blacklist can be made, such as deleting chunks of people at a time.

Great! That's all I'm asking for in this thread!

[Malevicton]

RMT spam is as worse as it ever has been right now.

Oh you Summer child...

[Giantbane]

First, SE did implement a limit on the number of say/yell/shout/tell messages a character can send per second in 2.3

Second, macro this and add it to one of your spare hotbars
/blist add <r>

With that, you can blacklist the last person to send you a /tell in 2 button presses.

I agree that it should be easier to clean out your blacklist and/or they should increase the 200 person limit though.

They need to have a separate category for RMT spammers and blacklist. Normal blacklist functions as it normally does. Report for RMT spam will send an atomated report to the GMs as well as adding them to a separate blist that will not conflict with your normal one. When the RMT blist is full, adding new ones will simply remove the oldest RMT entry before adding a new one.

Alternatively, they could add an option where the normal blist will drop the oldest entry when adding a new one.