Spam in /ooc and /auction

[Izzni]

IP banning doesn't work unless you start banning blocks, at which point your entire ISPs might get blocked, which would suck.

[Malrubius]

Originally Posted by Spud [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

why not just rate limit anyone under level 5 for the time being? Something like 1 message every 30 seconds.

it wont affect any noobs trying to ask questions in /ooc and will take care of Iyvvllvvllwllvv and Wvvwqggqyvvwlyv.

More sophisticated solutions can come later, but this would be pretty easy to implement id imagine.

That's not a bad idea for immediate relief, although I think you're right that we ultimately will need more (much more) than this.

If it was even fairly extreme, like one post every 30 seconds if you are under level 5, then that's better for the legit noobs than saying NO posts under level 5. It's still enough to ask your question, read the answer, say thanks, etc.


I think the naming restrictions would be easy to implement as well. Anybody with a bizarre name already on the server gets grandfathered in - it would only be a check during new creations.

Another idea. If you just created a character, you can't create another one on the same account for one hour.

[Nedala]

Originally Posted by Malrubius [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Character naming restrictions...
-No letter appears over 2 times in a row.
-No names over 12 (10?) letters in length.

I like this idea

-Nobody under level 5 on either OOC or Auction

I dont like this idea, because /ooc helps new players a lot. Maybe lvl 2 would be ok but not lvl 5. Would still be too much work for most of the spammers to lvl up to 2 each time they got banned. Or it would at least slow the spam down.

-Throttle the rate you can send text to OOC or Auction to something like...no more than 1 message every 5 seconds.

Good idea too imo. Would slow the whole spam down. There is not really a need to write more than 1 message every 5 second in /ooc or /auc.

-Instantly ban the Account (and even the IP) of any abusers.

I believe this is the case already, doesnt help enough. The Population is growing and so there are more people who got banned. They become mad and start to spam the server. The bigger the popolation the bigger the spam gets, i think we need some additional rules for /ooc and /auc like the ones mentioned above.

Another idea. If you just created a character, you can't create another one on the same account for one hour.

This sounds really good to me too, if this is possible.

I think there are enough ways to get rid of the spammers, without making /ooc lvl 5+

[President]

Originally Posted by Nocte [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

This opens the flood gates for using the ban hammer for personal vendettas and other abuse. Even if it's never abused, the perception will always be that it is, because that's how people are.

IP bans aren't really effective; even without getting a proxy, a new IP address is very easy to get through completely legitimate channels.

In some ways it does, yes, but there are easily a few trustworthy people here, especially some that already know developers. Doesn't even have to be 10-15 people, 5.. it would still help the GM's from wasting time.

Not sure what you mean by "a new IP address is very easy to get through completely legitimate channels." Getting a new IP address assigned from your ISP isn't necessarily a quick task unless its dynamically assigned and your modem/router is lucky enough to pull a new one on reset. Using a proxy is much easier.

[Malrubius]

Edited OP list based on the responses so far. It seems we have a good collection of possibilities here. I am sure some combination of them will take care of most of the problem.

[km2783]

Originally Posted by Malrubius [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Another idea. If you just created a character, you can't create another one on the same account for one hour.

i like this, too. Might irritate me if I make a character in the wrong city, though, but I'm better about it, now lol

[Kinamur1999]

unfortunately this has driven me to turn off all public channels unless i need to auction. not telling people to suck it up and ignore but ooc spam isnt worth having to ignore some jackass every 5 minutes

[mitic]

disable /ooc and /auction for lvls 5 and below

spamer wont waste his time leveling up a toon to lvl5 just to spam for a minute to get banned after

problem solved

[Tallenn]

Originally Posted by mitic [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

disable /ooc and /auction for lvls 5 and below

spamer wont waste his time leveling up a toon to lvl5 just to spam for a minute to get banned after

problem solved

That solution has already been rejected by the staff. There is concern that actual newbies won't be able to get help in chat.

I mentioned this in the other thread, and again, I don't even know if it's possible, but it would be awesome if we could have a level based filter for ignore- so say for example if I wanted to ignore everyone below level 5, I could do /ignore LEVEL 1 4 something like that.

That way, newbies (as well as spammers) would still be able to chat, but I wouldn't have to listen to them.

[Deathrydar]

Maybe create an automatic channel that newbies join upon creating their character called "newbie help" or something. Anyone can sit in this channel and be helpful to newbies, and thus you can disable ooc for characters under level 5

After level 5, they can go into ooc.