Quote Originally Posted by Enkidoh View Post
... RMT companies figured out what words were being blocked, and simply adjusted the messages ...
Server side filtering has that issue, that it turns into a race between how fast the RMT companies can change their messages versus how fast SE can change their filters. It would still work if SE would keep updating, but it sounds like their last attempt assumed they could just put it in once and leave it that way, which as you said doesn't work past the first week or so without updates.

Client side filtering, on the other hand, where players can choose what they don't want to see, is far harder for RMT companies to work around, because they don't know what's being filtered. It can be different for every player. (The downside, of course, is that it puts the effort of maintaining it onto the player, but I'd still rather do that than have a constant bombardment of RMT spam.)

Neither type of filtering can get rid of all spam. Only banning the bots sending it would do that. But either type of filtering can get rid of the vast majority of it if the filters are properly maintained.