Combating Spam Alone

[Hateborne]

Hello Eorzeans,

From the lack of server-side coding to catch, stop, and block spammers...I've taken matters into my own hands given the hundred or so messages I receive in a 4-5 hour play session on Exodus. So this gist of it is this: Spammers want you to go to a website, right? Well, websites are usually hosted on a virtual cloud or virtual hosting platform (as no mass spammer is stupid enough to host at home). This means they are likely subject to the companies' anti-spam and "play nice" policy, which are usually SIGNIFICANTLY faster in resolving that Square Enix has shown. So we're going to use their hosting company against them.

First, SCREEN SHOT THAT TELL! It will be required when you got to report it.

Second, WHOIS (via GoDaddy or NetworkSolutions, both dot com) the website name. If they suggest lolbuygil.com, then use "lolbuygil.com" as your search term in the WHOIS field. Look for the registrar! See the example below!

...

[Hateborne]

Domain Name: REMOVED
Registry Domain ID: REMOVED_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.godaddy.com
Registrar URL: http://www.godaddy.com <-- [THIS LINE!!!]
Update Date: 2015-02-18T17:45:57Z
Creation Date: 2015-02-18T17:45:57Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2016-02-18T17:45:57Z
Registrar: GoDaddy.com, LLC

Third, search the registrar's name and report abuse (i.e. "Godaddy report abuse"). This will give you a page that you can submit a claim reporting spam, harassment, or unsolicited advertisements. From here, fill out the claim.

That's all folks!

From here, once complaints start pouring in to the registrars and hosting companies, these sites will start getting ripped down. It won't take more than a dozen unique complaints to get the ball rolling.


-Hate

[Hateborne]

P.S. - If anyone from Square Enix is actually reading this, spam blocking is hilariously easy using string matches with percentage tagging. Effectively matching the sent tell string against the last 5-10 the player has sent. If a match percentage of 85% or high, increment generic counter. If 5+ tells with same message in X minutes (usually 1 or less [30s]), kick account offline. If account logs back in and continues to flag itself via the system, kick it offline, lock it, and email account owner of suspicious activity. Boom, owner is aware, spammer is gone, less than 15 people were affected by this single spammer.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

They have one, RMT just finds ways around it.

I also don't think its as easy as you think it is to stop RMT sites, otherwise this would have happened years ago.

[Jijifli]

Bookmarking this.

[Sove92]

They have one, RMT just finds ways around it.

I also don't think its as easy as you think it is to stop RMT sites, otherwise this would have happened years ago.

Western registrars take spam quite seriously, actually, so if they get enough complaints and sufficient evidence, they will clientHold the domain. At that point, the RMT company is simply going to buy a new domain, though and they are very cheap.

There are also registrars who are known to be spam-friendly.

[AsteriaStarfall]

Registrars take email spam that is coming from said IP or domain seriously. Hosting companies will block smtp ports for servers that are violating that. As far is in game spam that is not happening on their servers. They do not care nor will they act on it.

I also believe you have confused email spam with ingame tell spam. These are not the same thing. If you read the hosting companies ToS you will see there is nothing covering this.

I applaud your attempt but nothing will come of this.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

Western registrars take spam quite seriously, actually, so if they get enough complaints and sufficient evidence, they will clientHold the domain. At that point, the RMT company is simply going to buy a new domain, though and they are very cheap.

There are also registrars who are known to be spam-friendly.

Most gold sellers arent going to be registered with domain registrars who have spam policies, or enforce them.

[Amariel34]

I looked up one domain and the registrar is some chinese company. Not sure they'd care even if the entire game sent in abuse reports. *shrugs* Who knows.

Edit: Checked another one. Registrar is the same chinese company.

[Hateborne]

Ok, as mentioned by some of the players above, some registrars do not abide by or maintain an abuse policy. That being said, ICANN will likely have something to say about that.

First: Navigate to ICANN's complaint page. Located below...

https://www.icann.org/compliance/complaint

Second: Is it a lack of abuse policy or them simply not responding within a reasonable time frame (i.e. 3 business days)? If so, move to 'Registrars' and then 'Registrar Abuse Reports' or see the link below...

https://forms.icann.org/en/resources/compliance/complaints/registrars/standards-complaint-form

Third: Fill out the form accurately, honestly, and entirely. Be sure to tick the bubble for 'Registrar does not have abuse contact data on website or did not investigate report of abuse'.

Hope this helps! Fight the good fight brothers/sisters of Eorzea!

-Hate