Clarification Requested for In-Game Squelch/Account Silence

[Humanbeak-drenden]

Traditionally, whenever a reporting threshold was reached in chat, players would be “squelched” in that they’d lose their chat privileges and ability to use LFG. While this is of course useful in tamping down on actual rule breakers, it harms the playing experience of those who are targeted by mobs and who did no wrong since they’re without both the ability to use chat and the ability to use LFG.

Putting my opinion of the system aside, the “squelch” traditionally wasn’t an official penalty until a GM manually reviewed to see if the squelch should be removed or converted into a full silence (or worse). However, the “Account Silenced” support article is written entirely like the full-blown official Silence may be automated based on a couple of statements it contains.

Account Silenced

Specifically, the following implies that multiple reports will lead to a Silence at a minimum; it’s written very plainly as “if you’re reported multiple times, you’re getting silenced”, not “if we get multiple reports, we’re going to review it for ourselves first and you may get silenced if we find wrongdoing”:

We silence your account if you are reported multiple times for Spam or Abusive Chat.

The next two portions seem to imply that automation is used. The first one indicates there’s a rolling period where reports are counted:

Abusive chat reports will fall off after a predetermined amount of time.

And the following quote indicates that the account will be penalized when a threshold is reached (and since this article is for Account Silences, it’s reasonable to presume the penalty is a Silence at a minimum):

The number of abusive chat reports necessary to penalize your account remains the same, regardless of past penalties.

I wouldn’t expect this sort of thing to be prevalent in a manual review where human judgment, not thresholds, would generally be used, and the wording suggests that automation may be used to apply silences (since that’s the subject of the article) once a specific number of reports is reached. After all, for example, if a GM sees nine reports for someone being toxic, but the threshold for penalties to be applied is ten reports, would they throw their hands up and say “sorry, we only got nine reports” and do nothing? That doesn’t seem likely, so the mention of thresholds and rolling counters muddies the waters here.

Finally, searching for “squelch” in the support section doesn’t yield any results for WoW, but only results for how to manually ignore a user in Overwatch and Diablo, which aren’t particularly helpful.

There are reports in GD of those selling boosting services (not part of a community) being targeted. In particular, one player stated they received a 1-week silence (again, not a squelch, but a silence) within an hour of posting a boosting ad and was unaware of any squelches being applied. The player did state the email contained a message saying the silence was not automated (hopeful this holds true), and the silence was quickly overturned on appeal.

In light of player experiences and the verbiage of the support article, can we please get clarification (preferably from those who are in-the-know if possible) on the following:

• Whether squelching has been recently changed/removed and whether full-blown Silences are indeed not automated, in spite of the wording of the support article that implies a threshold exists for number of reports in which penalties are applied?
• Whether a single player report is enough to have a message reviewed? Again, the article talks about account penalties in the context of a threshold being reached first (“number of abusive chat reports necessary to penalize your account”)
• If squelching is still in the game, are players supposed to be notified that they’ve been squelched? If so, is that through email, in-game notification, etc.?
• Considering this support article doesn’t seem to target WoW specifically, how applicable is this support article (supposed to be) to WoW itself? Is only part of it applicable, its entirety, etc.? This could be part of the confusion us players are having.

Thank you for your time and I’m hopeful this thread not only serves as clarification/reference for not only myself, but others as well who hold the same concerns.

[Rufflebottom-bloodhoof (Rufflebottom)]

@Humanbeak-drenden

the “squelch” traditionally wasn’t an official penalty until a GM manually reviewed to see if the squelch should be removed or converted into a full silence (or worse).

The squelch was always automated. It was put in so that if a goldseller was posting it could be stopped by players until Blizzard was able to investigate. It was never the account action. At the time, account action would have been suspensions.

@Humanbeak-drenden

There are reports in GD of those selling boosting services (not part of a community) being targeted. In particular, one player stated they received a 1-week silence (again, not a squelch, but a silence) within an hour of posting a boosting ad and was unaware of any squelches being applied. The player did state the email contained a message saying the silence was not automated (hopeful this holds true), and the silence was quickly overturned on appeal.

Players don’t always bring the entire story to the forums, especially if it doesn’t fit with the stand they want to take. We don’t know how many players reported those posts. We don’t know how often that player put their ad in Trade chat. We don’t know the language used in the post.

@Humanbeak-drenden

was unaware of any squelches being applied

Squelches involve a certain number of players reporting the player in a short period of time. It doesn’t happen for every player reported for spamming.

@Humanbeak-drenden

The player did state the email contained a message saying the silence was not automated (hopeful this holds true), and the silence was quickly overturned on appeal.

It says to me that because the rule is so new, someone may have been mistaken about applying the punishment. That is one of the purposes of the appeal. As everyone, player and employee, understand the new rule better it should happen less often.

@Humanbeak-drenden

Whether squelching has been recently changed/removed

Not to my knowledge. That reports made of that player just didn’t meet the threshold for a squelch.

@Humanbeak-drenden

Whether a single player report is enough to have a message reviewed?

I’m not sure on this, but it may depend on what is being reported.
A language or name report would only need one report because it is or is not a violation of the rules.
I’m not sure if every single spamming report is looked at, or if it’s a cumulative pattern like battleground non-participation.

@Humanbeak-drenden

If squelching is still in the game, are players supposed to be notified that they’ve been squelched? If so, is that through email, in-game notification, etc.?

I’m not positive as I’ve never been squelched. From postings on the Customer Support forum it shows in-game and no mail is sent about it specifically, only if a Silence or Suspension is applied.

[Vrakthris]

@Humanbeak-drenden

Specifically, the following implies that multiple reports will lead to a Silence at a minimum; it’s written very plainly as “if you’re reported multiple times, you’re getting silenced”, not “if we get multiple reports, we’re going to review it for ourselves first and you may get silenced if we find wrongdoing”:

That article refers to squelches, silences, and silence appeals through multiple games so the language is a bit generalized for that reason. The account squelch is unique to WoW.

@Humanbeak-drenden

The next two portions seem to imply that automation is used. The first one indicates there’s a rolling period where reports are counted:

Abusive chat reports will fall off after a predetermined amount of time.

And the following quote indicates that the account will be penalized when a threshold is reached (and since this article is for Account Silences, it’s reasonable to presume the penalty is a Silence at a minimum):

The number of abusive chat reports necessary to penalize your account remains the same, regardless of past penalties.

These refer to two different aspects of these systems.

As many are aware it can take several reports in WoW for a player to be squelched. So, say the number of reports needed for a character to be squelched is 10 (not the actual number). You’d need to receive all 10 reports within the specific timeframe for the account to be squelched. If you received only 5, it is possible for those 5 reports to “timeout” before you received another 5 to hit that squelch threshold.

This is similar to other behaviors and in other games. For example, in Overwatch, a single report doesn’t necessarily result in a report and/penalty. Multiple reports are usually required in those instances.

The second statement you quoted is basically just a note that the threshold needed to be hit for squelching or to generate other reports for review remain the same regardless of if you have been penalized before or not.

@Humanbeak-drenden

After all, for example, if a GM sees nine reports for someone being toxic, but the threshold for penalties to be applied is ten reports, would they throw their hands up and say “sorry, we only got nine reports” and do nothing? That doesn’t seem likely, so the mention of thresholds and rolling counters muddies the waters here.

When it comes to a reporting threshold, a Game Master wouldn’t see the 9 reports if the requirement was 10 to generate a report. There wouldn’t be a reason for them to be looking at the account until attention was called to it.

@Humanbeak-drenden

Finally, searching for “squelch” in the support section doesn’t yield any results for WoW, but only results for how to manually ignore a user in Overwatch and Diablo, which aren’t particularly helpful.

As I believe the system is unique to WoW, and there is very little difference functionally speaking between a squelch and a silence, only silence is used.

@Humanbeak-drenden

There are reports in GD of those selling boosting services (not part of a community) being targeted. In particular, one player stated they received a 1-week silence (again, not a squelch, but a silence) within an hour of posting a boosting ad and was unaware of any squelches being applied. The player did state the email contained a message saying the silence was not automated (hopeful this holds true), and the silence was quickly overturned on appeal.

If you are referring to the first person in that thread that made the claim then it does look like a squelch, which was overturned upon review. I don’t see any mention of “automated” in the response. I’m guessing there may be others, but I didn’t review it to look for additional examples.

@Humanbeak-drenden

Whether squelching has been recently changed/removed and whether full-blown Silences are indeed not automated, in spite of the wording of the support article that implies a threshold exists for number of reports in which penalties are applied?

I’m not aware of any recent changes to the system, but thresholds have always been a part of these systems. It’s what applies squelches and/or generates reports for our staff to review.

@Humanbeak-drenden

Whether a single player report is enough to have a message reviewed? Again, the article talks about account penalties in the context of a threshold being reached first (“number of abusive chat reports necessary to penalize your account”)

Yes, a single report may result in a review/penalty. Much depends on the content of the reported chat, but we also have implemented systems over the years that use machine learning and other systems that help us to more quickly identify toxic behavior.

Stealing a bit of a post from Kalviery:

@Kalviery

On the topic of “automation”: We’ve held GDC talks, and BlizzCon panels, there’s even a Heroes of the Storm post (linking to an article here because the post was on the old forums). We use machine learning across our games social channels to identify chat violations in player reports (someone still has to right-click and report it) allowing them to be actioned more quickly.

@Humanbeak-drenden

If squelching is still in the game, are players supposed to be notified that they’ve been squelched? If so, is that through email, in-game notification, etc.?

They should receive an in-game notification when attempting to send a message that lets them know.

@Humanbeak-drenden

Considering this support article doesn’t seem to target WoW specifically, how applicable is this support article (supposed to be) to WoW itself? Is only part of it applicable, its entirety, etc.? This could be part of the confusion us players are having.

As I mentioned, that article is for all of our games. The squelch system is unique to WoW so it doesn’t specifically mention it there.

[Humanbeak-drenden]

Thanks for this detailed response. There is one area that I’m not clear on and just want to circle back for additional clarification:

@Vrakthris

When it comes to a reporting threshold, a Game Master wouldn’t see the 9 reports if the requirement was 10 to generate a report. There wouldn’t be a reason for them to be looking at the account until attention was called to it.

@Vrakthris

Yes, a single report may result in a review/penalty. Much depends on the content of the reported chat, but we also have implemented systems over the years that use machine learning and other systems that help us to more quickly identify toxic behavior.

So if I’m reading this correctly, and as an example: if the reported content is detected by ML as likely being a violation, then a single report is enough to get GM attention. However, if the opposite is true, then a specific number of player reports has to be made before a GM is ever made aware of the reports.

Did I interpret this correctly? I understand there’s most likely information you’re not able to disclose as well, and that’s understood, just hoping to get a bit more clarification on this if possible. Thank you.

[Mirasol-mannoroth (Mirasol)]

@Humanbeak-drenden

So if I’m reading this correctly, and as an example: if the reported content is detected by ML as likely being a violation, then a single report is enough to get GM attention. However, if the opposite is true, then a specific number of player reports has to be made before a GM is ever made aware of the reports.

Two different things and that is because the article is vague and applies to games like OW.

To get a report up to the GM level for review in a game like OW it takes X number of reports in Y time. They don’t go on just single reports there.

In WoW the Squelch is tied to the number of reports in a a short time - so is similar in that aspect.

In WoW there are also other types of reports that can get looked at with only a few reports - harassment, language, threats, etc.

What Vrak was saying was what I did - that if you get squelched then silenced the “sensitivity” of the system is not lowered for you in the future. Some folks seem to think that once you get penalized that the system “goes after you”. Which is not true. It does not adjust the number of reports needed to generate whatever squelch/report.

Now, if I am wrong Vrak will of course correct me So far his explanation tracks with the one I gave you in GD. Which makes me rather happy that I had it sorted pretty well.

[Vrakthris]

@Humanbeak-drenden

So if I’m reading this correctly, and as an example: if the reported content is detected by ML as likely being a violation, then a single report is enough to get GM attention. However, if the opposite is true, then a specific number of player reports has to be made before a GM is ever made aware of the reports.

A little bit of both, it depends on the category. Like spam can be subjective and so the number of reports is important there. Inappropriate language is fairly clear cut, but toxicity not always.

@Humanbeak-drenden

I understand there’s most likely information you’re not able to disclose as well, and that’s understood, just hoping to get a bit more clarification on this if possible. Thank you.

Indeed. I’m afraid the lack of specifics very much results in the level of misinformation that is present around our account penalty and reporting systems. We do try to provide what clarification we can but there is often some confusion there which is difficult to avoid.

[Humanbeak-drenden]

Understood. Thank you!

[Exziled-malganis]

Can you elaborate on the process of the “GM review” step that leads to a silence?

How does a GM allow “abusive language” reports to result in a silence when the only thing said was selling solo Carries for gold?

Ultimately that makes the process seem inept and/or truly automated.

[Tolna-veknilash]

@Exziled-malganis

Can you elaborate on the process of the “GM review” step that leads to a silence?

That’s something Blizzard doesn’t give out, seeing as, we the players, would have no need to know such. All it really boils down to is them going over the logs, reading what happened, etc. before either applying an action to the account or remove anything like a silence.

[Rufflebottom-bloodhoof (Rufflebottom)]

@Exziled-malganis

How does a GM allow “abusive language” reports to result in a silence when the only thing said was selling solo Carries for gold?

By selecting the wrong option. People are human.

@Exziled-malganis

Ultimately that makes the process seem inept and/or truly automated.

Players have been saying that since they implemented template answers for tickets back in Vanilla/TBC. Templated answers mean that every player is given the same information. Prior to that, GMs gave individual answers to all tickets. It made ticket times long. It meant that the message given to players wasn’t clear.

Most Customer Support gives templated answers now, not just Blizzard’s. It means that they can handle more tickets in less time because the answer is already written.

[Madbeatz-illidan]

@Vrakthris

A little bit of both, it depends on the category. Like spam can be subjective and so the number of reports is important there. Inappropriate language is fairly clear cut, but toxicity not always.

@Humanbeak-drenden

I understand there’s most likely information you’re not able to disclose as well, and that’s understood, just hoping to get a bit more clarification on this if possible. Thank you.

Indeed. I’m afraid the lack of specifics very much results in the level of misinformation that is present around our account penalty and reporting systems. We do try to provide what clarification we can but there is often some confusion there which is difficult to avoid.

@Exziled-malganis

Can you elaborate on the process of the “GM review” step that leads to a silence?

How does a GM allow “abusive language” reports to result in a silence when the only thing said was selling solo Carries for gold?

Ultimately that makes the process seem inept and/or truly automated.

I’m also curious about this question. While I’d like to think the GM’s issuing a silence are not inept - the fact that cases are being overturned after an appeal would imply that there was automation at play when the silence was issued in the first place; likely through the machine learning you mentioned?

[Rufflebottom-bloodhoof (Rufflebottom)]

@Madbeatz-illidan

While I’d like to think the GM’s issuing a silence are not inept - the fact that cases are being overturned after an appeal would imply that there was automation at play when the silence was issued in the first place; likely through the machine learning you mentioned?

According to the first Blue post, the player was squelched and not silenced. That’s why it was “overturned” on appeal. Because it wasn’t against the rules in the first place. Squelches happen when enough players report something in a short period of time. It was put in back when right-click report was first implemented. Most players didn’t even know it existed before Silences were implemented.

[Leilleath-moon-guard]

@Exziled-malganis

How does a GM allow “abusive language” reports to result in a silence when the only thing said was selling solo Carries for gold?

While the reports may be mis-categorized, whether abusive language or spamming the chat, people are allowed to report what they’d like and can until their mouse button breaks.

There would not be a penalty (past the auto-squelch) applied if the GM didn’t see something in violation of their rules. As Ruffle stated though, people are human. It’s why we have the chance to appeal rulings, in case something was made in error.

@Madbeatz-illidan

the fact that cases are being overturned after an appeal

That is actual that “people are human” thing again. Errors can happen. It sucks, but it can happen. Especially when a new policy rolls out and there is some confusion about it.

The good thing is that anyone who is inappropriately sanctioned? If their appeal is successful and the player shoots a request back, there is a history of Blizzard giving back the game time that was lost due to the mishap.

[Exziled-malganis]

That’s not the case, I single handedly know ~10 people who have been silenced for a week in the last 48h for advertising and have had it overturned 12 hours later.

A GM is “manually applying” this silence meaning they either don’t read english (wouldn’t surprise me in customer service for a large org) or they’re automated/just automatically applying a silence without reading the content.

You can’t just claim “people are human” when the data set grows beyond a very small minority. Making a mistake once sure we all get that, but there aren’t HUNDREDS of GMs “reading” these reports and applying these penalties. How does the same GM see this happen multiple times and apply the same penalty?

[Humanbeak-drenden]

@Rufflebottom-bloodhoof

@Exziled-malganis

How does a GM allow “abusive language” reports to result in a silence when the only thing said was selling solo Carries for gold?

By selecting the wrong option. People are human.

@Exziled-malganis

Ultimately that makes the process seem inept and/or truly automated.

Players have been saying that since they implemented template answers for tickets back in Vanilla/TBC. Templated answers mean that every player is given the same information. Prior to that, GMs gave individual answers to all tickets. It made ticket times long. It meant that the message given to players wasn’t clear.

Most Customer Support gives templated answers now, not just Blizzard’s. It means that they can handle more tickets in less time because the answer is already written.

Just to be clear on this, there are times when automated responses to tickets are sent. When this happens, the response will actually include language that makes it clear that it’s automated, but that’s also only in the realm of items like quest support, etc.

With that said, it sounds like there’s still some confusion for some between squelching and silencing since it was clarified earlier that silences are indeed manually reviewed and are not automated. It is good to know the “abusive chat” email issue is being looked into as well. Hopefully this all gets cleared up

[Mörderhaus-illidan]

@Exziled-malganis

when the data set

Who’s data set?

[Leilleath-moon-guard]

@Exziled-malganis

meaning they either don’t read english (wouldn’t surprise me in customer service for a large org)

You really want to get this stab in? Just as an FYI, CS is all done in-house. It’s not sent out to be handled out in all corners of the globe.

@Exziled-malganis

You can’t just claim “people are human” when the data set grows beyond a very small minority. Making a mistake once sure we all get that, but there aren’t HUNDREDS of GMs “reading” these reports and applying these penalties. How does the same GM see this happen multiple times and apply the same penalty?

Are these people actually getting full-on silenced and sanctioned? Or just temporarily squelched UNTIL the GM looks things over and removes it? A lot of people get hung up on being silenced when the squelch and silence terminology is a bit different, as explained above.

[Rufflebottom-bloodhoof (Rufflebottom)]

@Exziled-malganis

You can’t just claim “people are human” when the data set grows beyond a very small minority.

YOU are assuming that the number overturned is large - it isn’t. YOU don’t know how many were actioned. YOU don’t know what number were not overturned. YOU are making a mountain out of a molehill over something you personally may have experienced but ultimately have little knowledge of .

[Exziled-malganis]

Not a stab, but legit not sure where CS who handle these reports are located. Most large orgs outsource it to other countries because it’s 1/3rd the price.

And we are talking about full on silenced. Everyone is actually silenced and unable to use LFG/etc until GM overturns which makes the game unplayable.

[Mörderhaus-illidan]

@Exziled-malganis

Not a stab, but legit not sure where CS who handle these reports are located. Most large orgs outsource it to other countries because it’s 1/3rd the price.

Um dude you are so wrong, Blizzard’s CS is in Austin.