Abusing the report feature

[Liljon-ragnaros (Liljon)]

@Nefaryas-aerie-peak

The thing is, you by yourself may not be “flooding chat” with it but you and the other dozen boost sellers who are competing with each other and posting your adverts concurrently every 2.5 minutes are “flooding chat” and that is what people are getting fed up with.

That is why you are getting reported and muted as spam, because as a group you are spamming the chat, you are blocking joe bloggs from selling his mount or cloth away from the AH and are blocking conversations from carried out and followed.

Three or four boost sellers with adverts of three lines that post concurrently = 9-12 lines of chat blocked every 2 - 2.5 minutes. Ask yourself why people might be looking at that as spam…

Bet it’s even worse on Alliance AD too.

Well, there is a natural competition on the market, let it be on the trade chat, or on AH. People undercutting others, people trying to advertise their offers and whatnot. In this case, the spammers are those who are actively trying to get a hold of trade chat to the degree where their message is always seen, which is not only just spamming, they’re also trying to get an unfair advantage on the market.

Selling cloth, mount, BoEs, materials, boosting services, transmog, and the million of other things are the stuff that makes up a trading chat. There is always going to be competition. And if you adhere to the rules (with the main one here being, don’t spam), regardless of how many boosters there are on trade chat, you should not be soft-banned.

[Nefaryas-aerie-peak (Nefaryas)]

a one line message selling a mount compared to the 3/4 line messages of boost sellers that all seem to post one after the other is a bit different though isn’t it?

Why can’t you understand that people find you (collective boost sellers) annoying because it isn’t just one person but multiple doing one line of text but multiple lines every few minutes? It’s disruptive to the chat channel in a way that a guy selling mats or mounts or random items isn’t.

I’m not even anti-boosting, I don’t really care if it’s in the game or not but you have to accept that your advertising is a nuisance and the reports are done to get rid of that nuisance by people who are fed up of having their chat channels disturbed and spammed by constant wts boost written in 3 lines of text by 3 or 4 different people all at once every couple of minutes.

[Popgligor-kazzak]

@Liljon-ragnaros

And I’m still wondering how trading has ruined trade chat.

Infinite spam for a service that nobody cares about, flooding the chat and making it a) annoying to read and b) impossible to see offers I am interested in. The reason why boost sellers have to spam so much is that the supply of the service exceeds the supply of demand for it. And it doesn’t matter what you do. If it is 100 people each spamming every 3 minutes, or one person spamming 100 messages, it is still spam regarding a service that nobody cares about or wants to see, and you get in the way of me seeing the things I would actually want to see.

I have answered everything and time and again I have explained to you how boost sellers ruin the game. You just refuse to see it. The entire community is at fault here. Go on with your “i’m not sure how trading has ruined trade chat” pathetic behavior. Ultimately nobody cares and you will continue to get muted because you choose to ally yourself with a community and service that nobody likes and everybody is pressuring Blizzard to ban.

And I don’t even mind boost selling as a service. I mind the spam. When you pop trade chat and see all of these spammers spamming what made you think “I should become one of these people”? I have zero respect for the people selling and the people buying boosts.

[Liljon-ragnaros (Liljon)]

@Popgligor-kazzak

Infinite spam for a service that nobody cares about

Again, I’d advise just looking at some of the legit boosting communities, to see how many customers there are. Demand is not as low as you think it is.

@Popgligor-kazzak

making it a) annoying to read and b) impossible to see offers I am interested in.

That was always the case though, regardless if there are boosters or not.

@Popgligor-kazzak

If it is 100 people each spamming every 3 minutes, or one person spamming 100 messages, it is still spam

That is the nature of market competition, and the nature of ANY trade chat, in ANY game. What matters is if someone is actively, without pausing, advertising their offers, so that everyone can always see their offer. Not only is that ACTUALLY spamming, they’re gaining an unfair advantage on the market.

@Popgligor-kazzak

I have answered everything and time and again I have explained to you how boost sellers ruin the game.

All you have done is talking about your bias, nothing more. You haven’t adressed my analogy (you have dismissed it without actually adressing the point I made), or the fact that people are using trade chat to trade, and on big servers, that will mean hundreds, even thousands of people are using it the same time, regardless if boosting exists or not. There are plenty of people who “spam”: guild advertisers, mount sellers, BoE sellers, transmog sellers, boosters, etc. Boosters happen to be one of the lot, but people also happen to have a bias towards them, and they get to unfairly punish those people (assuming they DO operate within the ToS).

@Popgligor-kazzak

Ultimately nobody cares and you will continue to get muted because you choose to ally yourself with a community and service that nobody likes and everybody is pressuring Blizzard to ban.

Nobody and everybody are quite the two extremes, especially when there is a huge market for boosting. It’s the opinions and thoughts about boosing that are in the extremes.

@Popgligor-kazzak

When you pop trade chat and see all of these spammers spamming what made you think “I should become one of these people”?

Because the legit people are not spamming, and I also like boosting, as it’s my favorite gold making method. I love the interactions between me and my customers, I love the chats we have, and in general, clearing islands is something I really enjoy doing, and I take great pride on providing a quality service. If selling Questionable Meat was my favorite activity, or any other material in general, I’d be looking for frequent buyers on the trade chat. If I was a BoE farmer (mounts, transmogs, nyalotha boes), then I’d advertise that on the trade chat.

Boosting is nothing more than a dressing. I’m still trading. And now I’m forbidden from doing that.

[Drae-hellscream (Drae)]

@Liljon-ragnaros

But you have the tools to take care of that. Blizzard gave you those tools.

People using the tools is your problem. When you right-click and select “Report spam” the entire message is removed from your chat window and you won’t see any more messages from that person for some amount of time. Unfortunately for you, several people use this very useful tool. And you know why they do, on top of several people telling you in this thread now.

You also have tools. Communities (you know, those semi-guild things) and custom chat channels. Make one of your own, invite your fellow boost-sellers as well as previous and repeat customers. You’re saying there is a good market for what you’re doing, so this should be ideal. And you won’t have to wait the long and painful 150 seconds between each ad; you can post one every 30 seconds! Every 10 seconds even! And you won’t get silenced since everyone involved wants to see it and trade chat won’t be annoyed.

[Liljon-ragnaros (Liljon)]

@Drae-hellscream

People using the tools is your problem. When you right-click and select “Report spam” the entire message is removed from your chat window and you won’t see any more messages from that person for some amount of time. Unfortunately for you, several people use this very useful tool. And you know why they do, on top of several people telling you in this thread now.

There are cases when using the reporting tool is just, such as actually spamming the trade chat, but there are cases when using it is unjust, such as on someone who is not spamming. And on top of said tool, you also have plenty of Blizzlike chat UI customization options.

@Drae-hellscream

You also have tools. Communities (you know, those semi-guild things) and custom chat channels. Make one of your own, invite your fellow boost-sellers as well as previous and repeat customers. You’re saying there is a good market for what you’re doing, so this should be ideal. And you won’t have to wait the long and painful 150 seconds between each ad; you can post one every 30 seconds! Every 10 seconds even! And you won’t get silenced since everyone involved wants to see it and trade chat won’t be annoyed.

Regular customers already PM me on their own, however, I’d still have to advertise that boosting community, making the already very steep hill to climb even steeper. And I’d also like to continue being a private booster. So I’m stuck with trade chat, which is where boosting SHOULD be advertised on normally.

Also, I’d like to quote myself:

@Liljon-ragnaros

Well, there is a natural competition on the market, let it be on the trade chat, or on AH. People undercutting others, people trying to advertise their offers and whatnot. In this case, the spammers are those who are actively trying to get a hold of trade chat to the degree where their message is always seen, which is not only just spamming, they’re also trying to get an unfair advantage on the market.

Selling cloth, mount, BoEs, materials, boosting services, transmog, and the million of other things are the stuff that makes up a trading chat. There is always going to be competition. And if you adhere to the rules (with the main one here being, don’t spam), regardless of how many boosters there are on trade chat, you should not be soft-banned.

If you find trade offers on trade chat disruptive (assuming those that are not breaking ToS), then I just don’t know what to say.

There are two solutions really: either fixing up the reporting system - creating a filter that parses out no-no stuff, and if said no-no stuff is caught, then you are punished, but if nothnig was caught, and you were reported lots of times, then a GM handles the case - or creating a new chat window for specifically selling services, as that would get rid of the community hatred towards nothing.

[Drae-hellscream (Drae)]

@Liljon-ragnaros

or creating a new chat window for specifically selling services, as that would get rid of the community hatred towards nothing.

That was literally just what was suggested to you. It’s good we’re on the same page here. There’s no need to Blizzard to do that for you though; you have the tools and according to yourself the demand is so high and the market is so prosperous that once you set it up it’s smooth sailing. Good luck and enjoy not having to endure spam reports any more

[Liljon-ragnaros (Liljon)]

@Drae-hellscream

There’s no need to Blizzard to do that for you though; you have the tools and according to yourself the demand is so high and the market is so prosperous that once you set it up it’s smooth sailing. Good luck and enjoy not having to endure spam reports any more

Did you even read what I said?

@Liljon-ragnaros

I’d still have to advertise that boosting community, making the already very steep hill to climb even steeper. And I’d also like to continue being a private booster. So I’m stuck with trade chat, which is where boosting SHOULD be advertised on normally.

I can’t advertise to the many when I’m stuck advertising in a minor community. People report boosting advertisers, regardless if they are advertising their community, or the boosting service they are offering. And as someone who has never broken ToS, I’d like to not be continously muted.

[Drae-hellscream (Drae)]

Why do you need to frequently advertise when the market is so big? You won’t be advertising to a minority. You’ll be advertising to the huge market you apparently have. Plop a line elsewhere once a day going “Join [insert chat channel name or community link] to buy boosts” and you’re set, no? That single line is a lot less likely to cause any aggravation than your biminutely paragraph.

[Nefaryas-aerie-peak (Nefaryas)]

@Drae-hellscream

Plop a line elsewhere once a day going “ Join [insert chat channel name or community link] to buy boosts ” and you’re set, no? That single line is a lot less likely to cause any aggravation than your biminutely paragraph.

The DK talks sense!!

[Liljon-ragnaros (Liljon)]

@Drae-hellscream

Why do you need to frequently advertise when the market is so big?

Because I’m always looking for new customers.

@Drae-hellscream

Plop a line elsewhere once a day going “ Join [insert chat channel name or community link] to buy boosts ” and you’re set, no? That single line is a lot less likely to cause any aggravation than your biminutely paragraph.

That one “paragraph” is 2 lines of text that I’m not spamming at all. And to make my theoretical community larger, I’d have to advertise that as well, and boosters get reported even if they only do it once an hour. The last mute I got was literally me using my advertisement macro once. 20 seconds later, I’m muted.

[Kinjal-defias-brotherhood]

I’d ban you if it was up to me.

[Liljon-ragnaros (Liljon)]

Yo dude, same.

[Ivydoom-kazzak (Ivydoom)]

@Liljon-ragnaros

trade chat is always going to be flooded with offers that you are not interested in. It’s the nature of any trade chat, in any game.

While true, I do feel boosting deserves its own channel. Some ads consist of 7 lines of text easy which drown out any other legit trade offers, be it other boosts or any items players try to sell.
Now if we go and make a channel for every single category (boosting, crafting materials, gear, pets, mounts, what have you) it’s going to be quite confusing. And lets be honest here please, there are myriad more boosting services being offered than any other trade goods.
People aren’t suddenly going to spend gold on boosts simply because they see the offers roll around constantly.
Wouldn’t it actually be nice to have a boosting channel where you can make your adverts more concise and to the point because everyone reading there knows what the services are about?
Again, you are not the spammer here, but you do play an active role in an activity that is perceived as spamming because you are one of many that are offering your boosting services. No amount of ‘but I’m within my rights and not at fault’ is going to make you be perceived differently.

[Liljon-ragnaros (Liljon)]

@Ivydoom-kazzak

Wouldn’t it actually be nice to have a boosting channel where you can make your adverts more concise and to the point because everyone reading there knows what the services are about?

As I said, it’d be nice, because it would get rid of the community outrage. However, trade chat is still trade chat, so it wouldn’t make much sense. But other than that, we are still left with the issue that the reporting system is broken.

[Ivydoom-kazzak (Ivydoom)]

It is broken, the chat system is very much outdated as is the report system, and the people in this world have become rotten and egotistical. Nothing much we can do about it.
The boosting system is a result of on the one hand people not having the time to do their due diligence and on the other hand people not taking the time to teach people that would want to do their due diligence but aren’t being accepted because of low ilvl.

[Thyri-khaz-modan (Thyri)]

OP is implying that there is a group of people who decided, together, to bully him, basically.

That’s not what happened. OP, if you got muted twice in 5 days, because on average people thought you were abusing the chat system, then you were abusing it.

[Ixyion-malganis]

Shut up Karen, go be sexually unsatisfied/frustrated somewhere else!

[Drae-hellscream (Drae)]

I’m confused, I always thought his name was Twilly.

[Liljon-ragnaros (Liljon)]

@Thyri-khaz-modan

OP is implying that there is a group of people who decided, together, to bully him, basically.

Nope, I’m not implying that I’m being bullied, I’m saying that I’ve been muted unfairly. I did not violate the ToS, I did not break any rules.

@Thyri-khaz-modan

OP, if you got muted twice in 5 days, because on average people thought you were abusing the chat system, then you were abusing it.

Except the fact that it’s Blizzard who regulates who gets to be soft banned or not. We have a system of individual justice, not social justice. However, the current report system is broken, allowing anyone to falsely get others soft banned.