New RMT Spambot Tactic

[SCUBA_Instr]

You get spammed. You bring up the
social list dialog box and attempt to
add to your blacklist. Error is returned,
"This Player Does Not Exist!"

What still works is the /blist add <r> macro
on your hotbar.

Spambot software either logs off or deletes
the spambot faster than you can blacklist it
the via the social menu. If you immediately
apply the macro, you can blacklist the bot
before it cycles to delete itself.

If you don't blacklist the bot, it detects
your failure to blacklist it, and hammers you
3 more times.

If do blacklist it, and you should, it detects
your success, and activates 2-3 new spambots
to hammer you in less than a minute
This becomes Punitive RMT advertising.
We must be punished for refusing the spam.

If you're in a condition (such as retainer summon)
where you can't run the /blist macro, spambot
software detects this, and hammers you until
you return to normal.

Join the Adamantoise server and see for youself.

You can observe the spambot cycling process,
sort of .........

Player Search menu, Search for Level 1.
Near the top are constant level 1 Pugilist or archers,
they re they game currency transfer bots, it's
extremely difficult to report them with the goal of
getting them deleted.

Next are some real players with the GC indicators.
Near the bottom are usually about 4 Level-1 GLDs
and maybe an archer or two. These are the spam bots,
Each time you refresh the screen, the spam bots
will change. They recycle the spam bots about 15-30
times per minute. The "getting personal" bots are usually
level-1 archers. The moogle mail bots show up in
the search for level 1 condition, but are down in the floor
far enough that real players can no longer see the character
name sticking up.

[Alistaire]

If the RMT in question is gone that quick then they're not sending you a second tell. Pointless macro.

[SCUBA_Instr]

Hi Alistaire,
I clicked like.

If the RMT in question is gone that quick then they're not sending you a second tell. Pointless macro.

Strong point.
I have gone back in, a few minutes later and tried again, using the social menu,
and it succeeded. But that was pure chance. I read that bot softwares delete and re-create
a bot under the same name. I do know that if I dont quickly blist it, I get
hammered with consecutive spams until I do. Bot software detects my actions via
code injection, both server and client side.

[SCUBA_Instr]

It appears that the spambot owner, who's initials are C.B., and who's website is toward
the end of the alphabet (the dominate spammer) has a newer tactic to
confound any blacklist attempt using with the blist add <r> macro.

Social Menu Player Search for Level 1 to Level 1 reveals he has a minimum of 4-5
level 1 GLD's (with the obvious nonsense names) on line at all times. Each time
you execute the search, the bot names are different. Mr. C.B.'s bot software changes
out bots several times a second. (keyword: Code Injection)

What happens is that 2 to 4 bots spam you at the same time. The macro will only
sense the last one, and bot names above it have to be manually inserted. By the time
you do that, the bot goes offline and is replaced with another Lvl-1 GLD.
If you keep trying to manually add the bot to the black list you'll probably succeed
as the bot cycles back online again.

In light of this, the blacklist should still be used. Our only defense remains, the
busy flag and the blacklist.

If Mr. C.B. were only using 2 letters of the alphabet to name his characters,
he has a choice of 2 to the 26th power number of options. And our pathetic,
sad, little blacklist only holds 200 where it ought to be expanded to hold 200,000.

A reasonable person would construe that blacklisting indicates that the spam
is unwanted. But, ohhhh, nooooo, Mr. sub-human, trash, sicko spambot owner
see's this as an opportunity to punish those of us who fail to embrace his
harassment.

[micheleuno]

is not fair, but they should remove the capacity to write /tell to the lvl 1 characters, i think is the easiest way to deat will those spammers.

[Lexxuk]

Why use the social menu at all? Click on their name in the chat box, click Add To Blacklist.

[SCUBA_Instr]

Why use the social menu at all? Click on their name in the chat box, click Add To Blacklist.

Thank you, Lexxuk,
I've been FFXIV'ing since day 1 and still find out stuff
I should have known all along.

[LineageRazor]

I am not a student of advertising, but I really have to wonder: Does this kind of tactic actually bring in any business? Is there any value in trying to "foil" blacklisting? Presumably, if you send someone an advertisement and they blacklist you, it means they are not interested in your product. Are there actually people out there for which this is not true? People who will blacklist the first couple of times, and then turn around and say, "Oh, all right, fine. Since you asked me twenty-three times, I guess I'll go buy some gil!"

I would think that gil sellers' efforts would be better rewarded if they were to tailor their advertising toward INTERESTED players, rather than try to force their ads onto people who just don't care. If someone actually buys gil, gil sellers should dedicate an armada of bots to sending messages specifically to that player to make sure that they get word of every new deal! Preferably, many dozens of times per day. The gil buyer would appreciate that right? :3

[SCUBA_Instr]

Hi LineageRazor

Well said!

I read, on another website, that getting spammed by RMT is like .....
you go into a store, and a clerk follows you around continuously
shouting at you to "buy Pepsi!" (or whatever). The entire time you're
in the store he continuously follows and shouts at you.

If you don't buy he continuously shouts at you.
If you do buy Pepsi, he still continuously shouts at you to buy Pepsi.
His obnoxious shouting doesn't stop until you're out the door.

This is the mindset of sub-human spambot owners - like a dog who
chases your tires, barking, until you're gone.

[Zfz]

Is there any value in trying to "foil" blacklisting?

It's beneficial to create the atmosphere that "RMT is impossible to remove, they're just a fact of life in MMOs". That acceptance contributes to and shifts people towards accepting the notion that "RMT is okay". There are people who actually verbally attack others who complain about RMT adverts, sometimes making fun of them, saying that you should just blacklist them and move on. When there's a strong social stigma against anything RMT related, newbies and highly active players naturally resist RMT. So the kind of silence promoted by the notion that "RMT isn't affecting you" is beneficial to RMT vendors.

Making people who are not going to be customers anyway feel helpless and powerless against RMT thus has its benefits.

It is the same reason why social media marketing is so hot these days. It is the same reason why controlling mass media had always been one of the most important things for any government up to 20 years ago, and true even now for nations where the internet isn't as pervasive. And it is the same reason why governments around the world are secretly paying people to spread pro-government comments on social media websites.