Trade spam enforcement

Stabber

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Dec 2005

Plane of Oblivion

Sigilum Sanguis [keep]

Me/W

For those who don't know, the update of May 23 added an (unmentioned) feature to the chat system: any message that contains the words "wtb" or "wts" in isolation gets automatically shunted into the trade channel. (guildwiki has more info on the specifics.)

Granted, this is a very minimal filter and is easily evaded, but it is still a filter that must be consciously defeated. It is the first concrete codification of channel usage policies in-game. No longer can someone claim to have sent a WTB/WTS trade message to the local chat channel by accident.

My question is: will there be any enforcement now of channel usage policies? Can I report people who evade this filter by bowdlerizing WTS/WTB? More importantly, should I expect my reports to be taken seriously?

Lichtenberg

Lichtenberg

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Sep 2005

Mass Delusion [LARP]

how are u gonna report people that evade it,
theres so much people that will do it and Anet wont take it so seroiusly anways

A_Muppet

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Dec 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by Stabber
For those who don't know, the update of May 23 added an (unmentioned) feature to the chat system: any message that contains the words "wtb" or "wts" in isolation gets automatically shunted into the trade channel. (guildwiki has more info on the specifics.)
Hoo. F**king. Ray.

It's not going to stop people adding a number to the end of their channel or as you say, evasion, but it's a ruddy start.

MCS

MCS

Banned

Join Date: May 2005

Up next, personal filters and an ignore list that holds more than 10 people.

Stabber

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Dec 2005

Plane of Oblivion

Sigilum Sanguis [keep]

Me/W

Just to illustrate, this is the result of the filter (LA dis 1):



Did anyone at Arena Net expect the outcome to be any different? Even the trade bots have adapted.

jackie

jackie

/retired

Join Date: Dec 2005

On the Beach

I'm seeing this as a start, just like scroll improvement in inventory system.
Tweaking couple months and before anyone notices, we have no trade spam in local chat & in-game auction house

I might be little bit too positive though

Opeth11

Opeth11

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Oct 2005

Richmond, British Columbia, Kanada

Demon of the Fall [Opet]

Mo/Me

What a world we live in.

Adaption, who would have thought.

TideSwayer

TideSwayer

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jul 2005

We Farm Your [?????????s]

ANet needs to make it a bannable policy not to abuse global chat for trading items (and allow reporting of global trade spammers). Maybe institute a temp ban of a certain period or something. After ANet lays down the law on a few "examples", word will spread and global chat will get cleaned up pretty damn quickly IMO. This is a rough road to take, but it's probably the only way that will work.

Filters won't work in the long run. People who circumvent filters are more annoying than the original WTB/WTS global spammers, because they now know ANet doesn't want them to do it, yet still are. Off with their heads.

robrobrob

Banned

Join Date: May 2006

You can read my thoughts at: http://gws.echoshift.net

Worth reading in my (biased) opinion.

Morgana

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Apr 2006

Armour of the Republic

N/W

We(me and a couple friends) had an argument with some people who insisted on using WTSell etc. in the all-chat, claiming it was "for trading". They never answered when I asked them what the trade chat was for...

God, I wish I'd taken screens of that.

Sol_Vie

Sol_Vie

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Aug 2005

Boston, MA

Blood Of Orr [BoO]

Hey at least they're trying, albeit seemingly not very hard. Sellers adapt. Some in game moderators would be nice...

And that was quite amusing robrobrob.

Opeth11

Opeth11

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Oct 2005

Richmond, British Columbia, Kanada

Demon of the Fall [Opet]

Mo/Me

An in-game Savio! o.o

Mimi Miyagi

Mimi Miyagi

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2005

Port Orchard, WA

The Second Foundation: [TSF]

/rant on

People seem to take this crap way too seriously.

Let's put it this way....there is no easy way to sell anything in GW. There is no auction house. Players need to adapt in some way.

Everyone (AFAIK) turns off trade chat.

Thus, in order to sell anything, players must sell in the local chat.

Ideally, players will restrict selling advertisements to LA dist 1 (for example). Going to dist 4 to sell something shouldn't happen.

So, the optimal answer is - let the buyers and sellers live in district 1 of LA. Boom, there is your friggin auction house. Want to get a group together to do a mission? Fine, go to dist 2. don't want to see trade messages? Fine, go to dist 2.

Whatever.

Just quit acting like whiny babies over this issue. You have a gripe about the whole trading issue, not just people spamming WTS in local chat, so please adapt so that traders have SOMEPLACE to go to trade.

Sheesh.

LA has been the defacto trading place since the game came out. Learn to compromise a bit.

Stabber

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Dec 2005

Plane of Oblivion

Sigilum Sanguis [keep]

Me/W

Out of purely intellectual curiousity I have taken screenshots the last 15 minutes worth of trade spammers in Kaineng American 1 and submitted a report to Arena Net's support site. Let's see how it goes.

arcady

arcady

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2006

San Francisco native

Mo/P

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mimi Miyagi
Everyone (AFAIK) turns off trade chat.
Maybe... players who turn off trade chat do it because they don't want to buy anything someone else has to sell...

So, they should have the power to do that.

And something should exist to keep people who sell outside of the established means of selling from doing so.

Fantus

Fantus

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jun 2005

YAY!!! Finally, the trader spammers got a hit - even if it's a small one that's easily circumvented.

I like it not because I have great hopes that it will stop those people from polluting local chat, but because it sends a clear message to those annoying jerks that the community doesn't condone what they do.

Now, drastic punishment measures against those who try to circumvent the redirection have to follow. Perma-Ban them on first offense, I'd say!

PS: Mimi, people who turn off trade chat off do it for a reason. I will never trade with anyone at any time for any reason - that's why I have trade chat off all the time. Is that really so hard to understand that no matter how hard you spam, harrass and annoy me, there is no way you can make me buy anything from you??? But people will always find excuses for violating rules, all criminals do that, too.

Diablo???

Diablo???

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jun 2005

Seattle

SPQR

N/R

Quote:
Originally Posted by Stabber
That is just so sad... lol!

Kaguya

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jan 2006

Moon

Mo/

A step in the right direction, good.

Much better if it was user customizable tho, and not forced so the filter would be actually useful and something you can't go around of, as people would adapt their filters along the people who adapt going around that filter.

I miss AO where you got the stuffings flamed out from you if you posted WTS/WTB on the OOC chat channels.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mimi Miyagi
Everyone (AFAIK) turns off trade chat.
Maybe that is because those people aren't trying to buy anything? When I'm looking to buy something, I turn on the trade channel, and ONLY buy from people spamming on the correct channel

Dove_Song

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Mar 2006

Just add a real way to buy and sell goods This is a more important issue than just spam problems.

You give a friend a trail key to play Guild Wars. He logs on while you are at work or busy with guildies to play the game. He goes to find a group and start his adventure!

What does he see?
WT s
WT b
WTS
Selling
Buying

SPAM

he logs out frustrated seeing that the game is full of nothing but spammers who use local and assumes the game is just a big farmer fest.

This does not put the best face of the game forward! It makes GW look dumb.

If you want to be considered a POWERHOUSE like a certain OTHER MMO your going to have to outdo some of the features it offers.

Namley a centralized trading network that is fast, intuative, stable, Ebay and farmer proof, and dupe proof.

We understand that Anet is trying to make it harder to for massive amounts of gold to change hands in order to promote a stable economy.

Adding more gold sinks that would effect farmers more than players. Like a zone tax if you try to enter the same mission or zone more than 5 times in a row you get popped for 500 gold to enter every time after 5. This would have little effect on serious players, but could help slow farming.

Other ideas are to add more stance and enchant breaks. Adding Disrupting chop to the minotuars in Elona would shut that farm down in a matter of hours.

It is a challange but it needs to be done and has been needing to be done for a long long long time. In fact the Frst release of the game should never have been released without it.

Feminist Terrorist

Feminist Terrorist

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Nov 2005

Oh Noes! The 'burbs!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaguya
When I'm looking to buy something, I turn on the trade channel, and ONLY buy from people spamming on the correct channel
Quoted for truth.

Esprit

Esprit

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jun 2005

Dvd Forums [DVDF]

E/

Same, if I want to buy something I'll turn the trade channel on and use that channel for my requests. Many people use the trade channel like it is supposed to be used.

thelessa

thelessa

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Jun 2005

Texas

Purple Puzycats

R/Mo

If I want to make a quick sale I always use the trade channel

Gmr Leon

Gmr Leon

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Apr 2006

Does this filter also go for "Selling" or "Buying" because not everyone uses WTB or WTS. Heck,I get tired of reading WTS and WTB.

DFrost

DFrost

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jul 2005

Ultima Thule

Legacy of Echovald [Echo]

P/

A simple regexp which catches not only WTS, but W TS, WT S and other variants wouldn't have helped much, but it'd have looked a bit more classy

makosi

makosi

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Mar 2006

"Pre-nerf" is incorrect. It's pre-buff.

Requirement Begins With R [notQ]

Me/

Is it really such a problem when people use local chat for trading? How many people hold civil conversations in Droks D1 anyway? At least we know where the priorities lie in terms of updates and bug fixes. Anyway I like spam:

Stabber

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Dec 2005

Plane of Oblivion

Sigilum Sanguis [keep]

Me/W

Quote:
Originally Posted by makosi
Is it really such a problem when people use local chat for trading?
Yes. The same as when people use local chat for discussing their party strategies, guild politics, personal communications, and so on. For each of these there is a dedicated channel for that purpose. Use it.

Anything else puzzling you?

Jas D

Jas D

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Feb 2006

Oklahoma, USA

None

Quote:
Originally Posted by makosi
How many people hold civil conversations in Droks D1 anyway?
Who would know, never had a chance to try that out. Maybe with reduced spam, people would give it a go, eh?

Lord Shazneri

Lord Shazneri

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Dec 2005

Champions of the Unknown [UNKN]

W/Mo

The trade Spam bothers me too but It really only happens in 4 locations! Ascalon Dist 1, LA Dist 1, Droks dist 1, and Kaineg Square Dist 1. I just don't zone into thoses dist unless I want to buy or sell something. But Anet has set the ground rulez now and it will not take them verylong now to just add variations to there script. They just have to make sure that it is going to work first. Give it time!

Silent Kitty

Silent Kitty

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Mar 2006

Netherlands

[TYW] "The Young World"

A/Me

I have switched local chat off, and guess what? It works

Ira Blinks

Banned

Join Date: Feb 2006

Quote:
Originally Posted by DFrost
A simple regexp which catches not only WTS, but W TS, WT S and other variants wouldn't have helped much, but it'd have looked a bit more classy
word.

Stabber

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Dec 2005

Plane of Oblivion

Sigilum Sanguis [keep]

Me/W

Quote:
Originally Posted by Silent Kitty
I have switched local chat off, and guess what? It works
Indeed. However, there are better ways to combat trade spammers that requiring everyone to cease public communications. You individually may not have much use for the local chat channel, but it would be silly to generalize that to say that no one should have any use for the local chat channel.

Soccer55

Academy Page

Join Date: Mar 2006

Otto's Army [OA]

W/Me

Quote:
Originally Posted by DFrost
A simple regexp which catches not only WTS, but W TS, WT S and other variants wouldn't have helped much, but it'd have looked a bit more classy
Maybe it was intentional on ANet's part. As the OP said, as of now, there is no way to accidentally use global chat for trading. You now have to consciously circumvent the filter in order to spam your crap in the global channel. Maybe ANet's intentions are to identify offenders and start smacking them around with the ban stick. Maybe they're just putting the worm on the hook to bait all of the global spammers into coming up with variations of WTS and WTB to get around the filter.....so they can update it in a few days to catch all of those variations. Maybe it's neither.

-Tom

heaven

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jan 2006

W/Mo

Those trade spams are problematic only in dist 1 of major cities. I have no problem using local chat in any other locations where local chat is useful for playing the game. Thus, just avoid going to dist 1 of those cities when you don't have to.

Cadmann

Cadmann

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: May 2005

Two words: Auction House

ANet has talked about it, the frog has hinted at it, and it still is non-existent.

Cadmann

Draygo Korvan

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Aug 2005

Mo/Me

Quote:
Originally Posted by heaven
Those trade spams are problematic only in dist 1 of major cities. I have no problem using local chat in any other locations where local chat is useful for playing the game. Thus, just avoid going to dist 1 of those cities when you don't have to.
I WISH. No matter what district I go to there is usually 1-2 people spamming all chat with trade related things, you got the people jumping to each district to reach a wider audience.

Personally I refuse to buy/sell to anyone using the all channel for trade, I will spend even 5k more for the same item if the person is using the trade channel (then tell the guy in the all channel that I did it, har).

If i am looking to buy an item, I have trade chat on, If I am not looking, I have it off.

Personally I think anet should implement a better trading system, but it is still in the works and Ill accept this filter as a good first step. In the future they can easily add some of those popular work arounds to the filter, and then establish a ban policy for traders that seem to think all chat is the trade channel.

[FnG] Lazz

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Sep 2005

Fun 'n' Games

W/Mo

Not sure if the previous picture posted is an accurate representation of what going on, but after spending a few minutes at the Keineng Centre it *seems* that those using the chat channel to trade were in the minority compared to those using the trade channel.

aron searle

aron searle

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Aug 2005

Mo/

STOP fighting the syptoms, START fixing the problems

Auction house ftw

Witchblade

Witchblade

Polar Bear Attendant

Join Date: May 2005

dunno why all the rant about this

close local + trade and open em only when u wanna trade

btw .. a stupid filter in an update is easier and cheaper than an auction house

aron searle

aron searle

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Aug 2005

Mo/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Witchblade
btw .. a stupid filter in an update is easier and cheaper than an auction house
kinda my point

they need to put some effort into fixing the trade problem, and not sticking plasters on it.

Lord Shazneri

Lord Shazneri

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Dec 2005

Champions of the Unknown [UNKN]

W/Mo

Ever been to a Flea-Market?

Dist 1 Major Cities!!! - Avoid if you don't Like the smell