Banned 71 hours for spamming?!

I just got banned too for saying three lines of "W.T.S [blabla]" in the trade channel in kamadan dis-1! This is outrageous!
I just send a ticket to anet and lets see what they think of this.

I think they don't give in as they warn users not to do that in the EULA. You agreed with the EULA, which in most part means that you accept the consequences if you violate it.

This further supports that ANet indeed thinks repeated in line spamming (also in trade chat) is not ok.

"People" isn't just a group of "persons".
"People" is a block statistic. We are just numbers... and when you deal with the kind of numbers A-Net deal with on a regular basis.... you can't afford to treat people as individuals with thoughts and feelings. If there is a bad number, delete it... simple as.


QQ for your inability to trade without spamming.
When I want to sell things, I can sell them without any abbreviations, rapid-posting NOR posting the same message in succession. No spamming whatsoever. Just because you can't do it doesn't mean it can't be done.



In any case... A-Net need to up the pace a bit... get banning anyone and everyone who trade-spams or bypasses the anti-spam filters.
Anyone who complains about it being 72 hours should be glad it isn't a week.

you cannot sell something without spamming, as others have said in this thread.

The party search window is not an option, as the char limiter is like...wtf?...12 chars At Most!

Implement auction system and we'll gladly leave spamming home. TBH i don't enjoy spending hours in a city trying to get rid of all the nonsense i got.

And, atm, this is the only means of making cash, except for buying gold or making bots.

I dont think you will get anything done. Seeing as i had the awesome honor to be the first banned person here, i already went trough the whole customer support thing.

Let me give you a report about how it went.

I send in report with details and a lot of question marks.
Couple emails follow about details, my account name and serial key etc.

In the end, i get a mail with roughly the following (i wont copy it):
After reviewing logs we concluded that you are rightfully banned for
-spamming

Bla bla bla EULA link bla bla bla.

Regards bla bla.

First of all, i have to say that the customer support is really fast. Good work. But apart from that, i think its PATHETIC that i get banned for a couple lines in each city. I dont know how their logs register stuff, but it better include location, cuz this isnt really cool. I think i said it 2 times in kaineng and maybe 5 in kamadan. I was done in kamadan and about to maptravel to DoA when i got wtfbanned.
Conclusion: massive banning and complaining wont help. Sit the 72 hours out and merch all your stuff cuz youre not allowed to sell anymore.

Thats pretty sad.
Acording to GW's rules i didn't break any rule after all, i've used the trade channel and said the same sentence 3 times with atleast 5 seconds beetween it, that isn't what i consider spam if behalf the people are spamming in regular channel, which is rather irritating, and which i agree should be banned.

They also could've atleast warned people about it, there isn't any pointer what they see spamming, 3 lines or 20? Trade channel or regular channel?

This is a rather sad action against loyal players, they'd better do something about it.

Tip: The guru trade subforum is not a good place if you're trying to avoid bans.

Can u clarify maybe how u "spammed". I'm just curious, like most of us I agree to message the traders each say 20-30 seconds, depending on the speed of the trade chat. Were u spamming it only once or twice nicely spaced, or u spammed repeatedly 2 or three lines the same message and then left for another city?

I'm just curious on how they work, as i do not like to be banned for something which i don't perceive repetitive, but if thats not in line with their view then I will easily adjust. Selling multiple items using different lines will now probably be more difficult as that is conceived as spamming by the filter, while they are different messages.

Or instead of spending 2-3 hours trying to spam-sell something ingame for 100k, sell it on Guru Auctions for 80k. Think of it this way: you could have made at least 40-60k in those 2-3 hrs, farming ectos. Which is just as dull, but at least profitable. Plus u dont get any injuries from pressing Enter + up repeatidly.

Only problem is that guru has the tendency to shut down for some hours per day. Though lately it is getting better.

Still no screnshots i see....

Ok, I guess I should put in my 2 cents as well. Like most of you, I think this is great idea. I'm glad the spammers are finally getting banned. However, I also think it was in poor taste to start banning without warning. I would like to have seen a message on the login screen.

I also would like to know the "rules" that will get you banned, but don't expect A-Net to reveal those ever. If they outlined the rules it would be too easy for the spammers to get around the rules.

The main question that needs answering is this: Is a human mod sitting there banning folks or is it a program code? I'm leaning towards human mod for now because there is still a lot of spam in the major towns and a program code would be banning left and right. Unless of course the program code is set only to activate once an hour and only in certain locations. Sorta like a real life random drug test.

Hopefully Gaile will spot this thread today and reply with A-net's thoughts on the matter.

Oh and one more thing....Firebaall, the trade channel is a chat channel. WTS and WTB Stuff is a form of chat. If you want to argue otherwise then at least argue your point maturely instead of name-calling. Or perhaps you are just too young to understand that.

Here you got your screenshot. Satisfied?

I'd support a banning system like this, local chat filled with trade spam is horrid, and greatly decreases the possible social interactions in town (which aren't much to begin with).

More so, I think that even banning spam in trade chat would be justified, if 20 traders in a district all just spammed, it would make even trade things impossible to read (as it sometimes happens on local chat now, when a spam war starts between traders in large cities).

I do not agree to automated disposal of alleged spammers, too much "innocents" might be affected, which would also result in handling time at support. A human picking of the spammers would be good enough. three times out might be good solution ti supress future suspension. with maybe a a reduction of 1 point per month of good behavior

of course...
didnt you notice? this whole thread is about that...
when GWEN comes out, we will get:
"A Brand New Spam Free Trade Channel"

I'd still like to hear from Gaile as to the official position - Anyone seen Gaile Lately?

Care to put some money on that? People have been asking for it since prophecies. If we haven't seen it yet, I doubt we'll be seeing it in time for GWEN. I'd love to be proved wrong, but I just don't see that happening.

And suddenly the metaphor becomes more complex.
Yes... I'm in London. I suppose it does give me a slightly biased view.

But lets put it this way: Compare London to Kaineng center...and... wherever you are to... like... Henge of Denravi or somesuch... and people driving cars to people trade-spamming.

I'm not sure precisely how to put it into words.... but within context of the metaphor, the same reasons why I walk from A to B are the same reasons I don't trade-spam. It might be "faster" sometimes to get about by car... but it is much more aggravating in the city and isn't as necessary as everyone seems to think it is.
Then again... if you're trying to be creative out in the styx, it is going to take ages because there is nobody there, and a little bit of cheap-crap effort is a lot easier and when someone shows up they will notice. But then I live in the city, so I trade in the city... More buyers. Makes more sense. It allows me to "walk" because I don't have to go so far to find what I need.... though the cars are freakin annoying... Too many cars just makes a traffic jam....


I'm starting to totally lose my train of thought here... o_0;

It really doesn't help to be completely insane sometimes... v_v;

I suppose it depends on how the code is written. I doubt a program could be written to just focus on the Local chat and ban trade spam there, but allow normal conversation. I think it would be impossible for a program to distinquish between normal conversation and trade chat.

"Selling Brute Sword Req 13 15^50 10k!!!"
"Selling a brute sword to a necromancer is tough."

So then is it simply a matter of "too many lines" within a short time period, i.e. scrolling? What about the folks that are constantly switching districts and towns to sell? That's not exactly spam. Well it is, but it's not as bad since the same group of people don't have to see your message over and over again. Everyone sees it once.

So far we've only been talking about trade chat since that's what is usually spammed, but I hope the 5 year olds that constantly spam "Player X is a moron", "My sister stinks!!" over and over and over in places like Shing Jea and RA are also treated to the spam ban treatment. As well as the Vengeful Viligante types that type "PLAYER X is a SCAMMER!!!! HE RIPPED ME OFF!!!!!" 50 times in a row.

I also hope that whatever measures are in place are totally ignoring the guild and alliance channels. They should be treated as private chat as far as A-Net is concerned and never policed. It should be the responsibility of the Guild Leader and Officers to handle any spam issues on those channels.

The purpose is good, I agree certainly to that. But in any justice system a kind of judge, or human intervention is required. If it picks up potential spammers automated then that is fine, but the final vote should come from a human, that switches of the account for a bit in good judgement, machines still lack judgement. To relativate, the positioning and kiting behavior of the henchmen illustrates it all.