Reporting and removing obvious trolls

[PartyZapper]

Hello, if you are here to say "they are not doing anything wrong just standing" dont waste your time.

I am usually not this angry by anything but I have a very good friend that did nothing wrong and their venue is getting harrased by a troll army, just standing there , like 30 of them with horrible names, this is obviously done by someone and they are just there to fill up space and make the place horrible, how can we get them removed at the moment when that happens? The reporting system doesnt even allow to do that, this is causing stress and making my friend feel bad, please be considerated with your answers such as "They are not breaking ToS or anything" because right now because just leaving it like that its not right at all, I WISH there was a ban system where the OWNERS could just ban people like this,

I am talking about "lvl 1 bots standing inside a house obviously on purpose" , how to report and get them banned ASAP, I am aware they will come back with more free accounts but there must be a way to keep reporting them and getting them removed rigth away too.

Thank you

[Kes13a]

Hello, if you are here to say "they are not doing anything wrong just standing" dont waste your time.

I am usually not this angry by anything but I have a very good friend that did nothing wrong and their venue is getting harrased by a troll army, just standing there , like 30 of them with horrible names, this is obviously done by someone and they are just there to fill up space and make the place horrible, how can we get them removed at the moment when that happens? The reporting system doesnt even allow to do that, this is causing stress and making my friend feel bad, please be considerated with your answers such as "They are not breaking ToS or anything" because right now because just leaving it like that its not right at all, I WISH there was a ban system where the OWNERS could just ban people like this,

I am talking about "lvl 1 bots standing inside a house obviously on purpose" , how to report and get them banned ASAP, I am aware they will come back with more free accounts but there must be a way to keep reporting them and getting them removed rigth away too.

Thank you

inside the house or outside of it? outside you can do little aside from report them, inside, the owner can change permissions so they cannot enter

[Ivtrix]

inside the house or outside of it? outside you can do little aside from report them, inside, the owner can change permissions so they cannot enter

It’s difficult, it sounds like they run a venue. Some friends of mine used to run a club and they were mercilessly greifed by two players. They would imitate staff members, engage in unsolicited RP with venue goers, and were generally pests. They ALWAYS played the plausible deniability game inside the game in order to avoid an open and shut case by the GMs but you knew they were being nasty in 3rd party chats ie discord.

It’s tough to deal with

[VerdeLuck]

What rules in the TOS are they breaking though? You can't just have them banned because you don't like them.
If they're just standing in a public location that's not really harassment either unless they're blocking something like an NPC or an interactable object.

The solution would seem to be to move your venue indoors and modify the permissions on the house to not allow them to come inside. Other than that they're really not doing anything wrong for existing in a place you don't like. If they aren't saying anything abusive, their names aren't abusive, and they're not blocking anything important then there's not much a GM could even do.

[SturmChurro]

No, a GM could easily put two and two together and realize exactly what is going on and take action against this. Outside of just reporting them, and hoping the GM actually does their job, there isn't much more to do.

[Ivtrix]

No, a GM could easily put two and two together and realize exactly what is going on and take action against this.

It’s harder than you think. The post above is a fair response: how do you differentiate who is trolling and who isn’t? It’s much more difficult to prove disruptive behaviors than you might realize. We ended up reporting our harassers for months and no action was ever taken.

[SturmChurro]

It’s harder than you think. The post above is a fair response: how do you differentiate who is trolling and who isn’t? It’s much more difficult to prove disruptive behaviors than you might realize. We ended up reporting our harassers for months and no action was ever taken.

It's pretty easy if there are actually 30+ bots with idiotic names entering or hanging around someone or somewhere.

[Ivtrix]

It's pretty easy if there are actually 30+ bots with idiotic names entering or hanging around someone or somewhere.

Oh, yeah fair.

In the case of the original post, it should be pretty easy to get the offenders out of there. I got too wrapped up in my own issues with it.

[SturmChurro]

Oh, yeah fair.

In the case of the original post, it should be pretty easy to get the offenders out of there. I got too wrapped up in my own issues with it.

In your case, they could also be banned by a diligent GM.

Communication can take place in a variety of styles. As such, we do not prohibit specific words or sentences. Instead, we look at the whole picture in order to judge the intent and meaning of the communication, in conjunction with how the person on the receiving end perceived it, to determine whether or not the exchange falls under prohibited activities.

It is prohibited to do this anywhere an expression can be made, such as chat (including Quick Chat in PvP content, macros, and emotes), markers, comments, or titles. It is also a violation in cases where a player character name involves a term that could be considered harassment in any way.

■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.

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.

(...)

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.

[LilimoLimomo]

I am aware they will come back with more free accounts but there must be a way to keep reporting them and getting them removed rigth away too.
Thank you

Unfortunately, there's no way to guarantee a swift moderation process. The GM team has to deal with a lot, and how fast they can deal with anything you report to them will depend on their current case load as well as the due diligence they need to perform to ensure that they are genuinely taking action against people who warrant it. So unfortunately, the reporting process is probably not going to be something you can rely on to deal with issues like this in a timely manner.

their venue is getting harrased by a troll army, just standing there , like 30 of them with horrible names

The horrible names probably gives you a leg up in the reporting process. If the names violate the ToS, that alone could be enough to invite GM action, so this may be worth reporting.

In addition, don't be dissuaded by folks who say that just standing in a place isn't breaking the ToS, because it is against the ToS to harass people; that's why GM's exist, because they're humans who are capable of understanding the nuances of human behavior. If people are harassing you, make a report of it will all the details; in this case, it seems like what the players are doing is pretty transparent and the GM's will have no problem identifying it as harassment.

It's also possible that if this keeps happening and you keep reporting it that a GM may be able to take a more proactive approach; for example, it would be pretty easy for a GM who understood your situation to just keep watch for a few hours and instantly ban characters that raced through character and straight to your house. I'm not sure if they would do that, or what it would take to get things to that point, but I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility. So I encourage you to not lose hope and to keep using the report tools. If GM's intervene at a high enough level, it likely won't be worth the trolls' time to keep it up.

In addition, make sure that you, your friends, and the other customers don't feed the trolls. Don't complain about them or insult them in /say, /yell, or /shout; just entirely ignore them. Don't do anything that would only temporarily kick them out of the house if it's possible they could walk back in. The trolls are there because they want to make you suffer and get a reaction out of you, and if you don't give that to them they'll get bored. It may take days or weeks for them to get bored, but eventually they will.

In short, keep reporting them, and try your best to have fun while pretending they're not there. In time it will be solved. I know that's a less than ideal solution, but stay strong!