I was wrongfully silenced yesterday which I thought would not be a big deal however there is a technical issue preventing me from creating a game.
The “Start Game” button is grayed out and reads “Only available to party leader” yet I am solo and not in a party.
Please look into this as this is not the only case.
It may be wise to re-look the silencing process in the future since this is basically a temp ban not a silence for chat and this should not be allowed for people that are innocent without proof or an instant appeal.
Seems pretty lame although not sure what silenced is. Specially if it can happen instantly instead of having a set number of occurrences in a time frame then maybe being temp banned.
Edit - I am actually sorry to hear you got Silenced and now have to deal with the bug. The edit is to add an intro because I was using a template type reply I have. I do realize it is frustrating. Also, it takes the Battlenet team, not the D3 team, to fix and they don’t seem to consider it a priority. It has been in the queue since October.
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This is a known bug that has existed since October 2019. Blizzard is well aware of it. If you are Silenced in ANY Blizzard game, you can’t make a game in D3 until your Silence is over. Blizzard will not be changing the Silence policy as a result of the bug. The only people this has any lasting impact on are those who have been silenced many many times.
When you are reported the chat log is attached to that report and the Silence is only applied after a moderator reviews the chat log. There IS a Squelch - which happens if a chat line gets a lot of reports. That was designed for gold/service spammers and it kicks it to the top of the queue for mod review. Only after that is an actual Silence applied. So yes, they do have “proof”.
Penalties start at 24 hours and double each time.
Number
Hours
Days
Years
1
24
1
2
48
2
3
96
4
4
192
8
5
384
16
6
768
32
7
1536
64
8
3072
128
9
6144
256
10
12288
512
1.4
11
24576
1024
2.8
12
49152
2048
5.6
13
98304
4096
11.2
14
196608
8192
22.4
15
393216
16384
44.9
16
786432
32768
89.8
Errors do happen though so if you feel your Silence was an error you can appeal. Please read about it here Appealing a Silence, Suspension, or Ban - Blizzard Support Even if the appeal takes longer than your silence, it is worth getting the black mark removed from the account if it is an error.
Any further reports or discussion can be continued on the Bug Report forum where Blizz staff have asked us to put the threads.
Edit 2 - I see you do have a thread in Bug report. Meteorblade did give you the correct info there too.
No point in making false claims about individuals during these dark times folks.
Adhere to the forum rules, comment if you like but lest keep things on topic.
Please keep in mind that Blizzard can’t moderate or punish things that happen on third party platforms. They can only action for things that happen on the Bnet chat or in-game chat.
One more thing - calling out people and discussing specific account actions can get you in trouble here. It is considered harassment (even if you are right). They really really don’t want that kind of drama here.
That said - for ANYONE - protect your friends, use the reporting tools and ignore tools you have.
Cheetah is right, tread carefully.
There is no need to disrespect, call out, or make false claims.
The topic is about an in game bug not allowing proper game functionality.
I dont know the whole story and am not that interested, but wow they still havent fixed that whole “getting silenced pretty much is a ban” bug? Lol… I mean silence should just stop you from typing, no idea why they have kept this for this long.
I have some theories about it but seeing as I can’t confirm them, I should not say them.
Suffice to say, it is not actually a simple problem. It has to do with the fact the Silence is now flagged at the Bnet account level, not game level. It takes not just the D3 folks, but the Battlenet team, to address it.
Then you add in impact. The usual questions are things like “Is it game breaking”, “how many people are impacted”, 'what is the level of effort required to fix it".
Yes, it does break the game for those impacted.
VERY few people are impacted for more than a short period of time. Those that are, are being punished for breaking the rules.
It is complex to fix.
Note - until 2016 when the Silence system started, a suspension or perma ban from the game was the normal punishment for breaking the code of conduct.
So basically, they are not in a rush to fix something that impacts a small number of rule breakers (long term) and is in line with the punishments they used previously.
Now, of course, that is all my own OPINION.
The official information is that they are aware, the bug has been sent to the proper team, and there is no ETA on a fix. No, they won’t be overturning Silences or changing the Silence system as a result of the bug.
Was it for something you said in-game? If not, then you’ve been falsely reported and you should contact support.
Isn’t that a bit excessive? I mean I’m not in favor of insulting people in-game… as there are plenty of ways to put people in their place without resorting to insults…
But let’s say you insult 12 times, and the penalty stacks to 5.6 years (not to mention the higher ones).
Isn’t that a bit excessive? I mean, and I am sorry to be morbid, but I can literally murder someone and walk out faster than that.
So yeah, they shouldn’t change it as a result of the bug, but they should definitely reconsider the penalties and make them more proportional in order to fit the severity of the actions.
Again, I can literally kill people and I’d serve my sentence faster than get out of the more severe silences
What’s that thing 89 years? Most people don’t live that long…
Please don’t ask that. Discussing account actions on the forums is against the rules, and anything he might have said in game would not belong here on the forums.
He already knows how to appeal and have a GM take a look at the chat logs again. That is the ONLY means to contact support for this.
No, a 24 hour silence where you can’t access social channels in Blizzard games, is not excessive.
The whole point is that some people can’t watch what they say so they lose the privilege of saying it. Kind of like if you cause a ruckus in a store over and over they WILL ban you from the store.
They are proportional. People who can’t control their language lose the ability to use it. Longer and longer each time. Blizzard’s games are their property and they can restrict people from using them, or aspects of them, as they see fit. To me having a social consequence (Silence) for a social infraction makes sense.
Funny story, as a kid of vile things came out of my mouth, I really DID get my mouth washed out with soap. Usually Ivory brand. It does not taste good. It certainly did make the point though that there were rules in the house and I needed to watch what I was saying.
Previously they just totally banned the account, not just access to social channels.
That is just an example of how the system works. I suspect by the time someone gets to that many silences Blizz would just close the bnet account down.
Because of the nature of modern games being always online, you end up in a situation where if you end up banned for your behavior online, you end up with nothing, despite actually purchasing your individual copy/license.
If they abuse that, it will lead to regulation sooner or later (although there are more serious issues in the world right now for someone to bother with issues surrounding loot boxes or what rights people should or should not have when it comes to digital properties they pay for).
However, I don’t think they are abusing it and I find it highly unlikely for him to be silenced for nothing.
There’s literally one person that I know, that has been silenced (I don’t recall to how much he stacked it, but it was less than a month), I know what he said, and even he acknowledged, that it was silence worthy.
That’s why I rushed to ask what the person said, and I shouldn’t have done. I apologize.
