My other account (I ended up making a 2nd account to handle TBC stuff while being able to play retail at the same time) was banned for 10 days last night for “Abusive Chat”.
I was surprised by this because I have said nothing unfriendly to anyone. I assumed it had something to do with my personal gold carry advertisement ([Gladiator S2 slands] selling carries in 2s/3s 1400/1600/1800 gold only). So I decided to appeal, and was informed this morning that the ban will uphold, and to clarify the action, it was for putting that advertisement in general chat (The GM said this has been not allowed for a couple years now but unfortunately I did not know that).
I originally put my advertisement in general chat because players in trade chat were coordinating false reports against anyone who posted an advertisement in there. In fact, I had originally gotten one of the new in-game warnings that mentioned I was using abusive/chat language towards another player and that if I continued, I would be banned.
But with everything going on, I figured it was due to being falsely reported for posting my advertisement in trade, so I decided to heavily increase the time between messages, and then occasionally post in general chat of Stormwind instead. If the warning indicated I was spamming or using the wrong channel, I would’ve completely stopped advertising in general chat.
I do not want to open another appeal and annoy the GMs, but I feel like if the recent policy changes did not happen, I would have not been banned. My only warning was generated by false reports and I did not want an automated squelch or silence so it misled me to move away from trade.
Is 10 days a bit too much for what I did? especially since the ban is for ‘Abusive Chat/Language’ which, I didn’t do, I just put an advertisement in general chat. Could that not be changed to spamming? Could I not have a silence instead? I play literally every day so this is a huge disappointment, I would never do anything to intentionally jeopardize my account.
Although you may feel that you don’t want to annoy the GMs, appealing is the only way for a change to occur. You can appeal until you’re told that appeals will no longer be considered.
“Unofficially” you can appeal even further until you’re warned that account actions may result with further appeals, although that’s generally not recommended and is entirely at your own risk.
A Squelch is the normal step if you get reported by a lot of people. That is automatic and falls off after 24 hours unless a GM moves it to the Silence category or Suspension.
If you got 10 days then a GM did move you to the Silence system and/or if you got suspended it is for more than a single one time offense.
You did appeal and it was upheld…which seems to indicate it was not something simple or there is an account history.
Hopefully a Blue can shed some light on this for you.
Are we sure about that? I don’t recall reading that elsewhere recently. We’ve seen various threads where people were notified via email that they were silenced for a full week, and the emails were confirmed by blues to have been for squelching. We know the silence wording is wrong at the very least, but the length seems up in the air.
This happened on my other account (my main one) on retail WoW, not TBC.
For Classic servers, the channel you are advertising in is a factor
Is this a factor on retail as well, in response to my original appeal, the GM says:
“To clarify the action here, advertising in general chat has not been allowed for a few years now. The new changes to boosting advertisements does not change this.”
So I assume yes, but just double checking.
Edit: As I think more about it, the 10 day part comes from having past actions for things. Which is fair.
I did break the rules (advertising in general, did not know this was against the rules, or maybe it’s not according to Vrakthris below?). I would’ve stopped at the warning if I knew it had to do with me advertising in general and not false reports I really hope the GM that sees my appeal understands where I am coming from.
Not as far as I know. The Game Master may have mistakenly applied a Classic stance to the standard WoW realm, which is why I definitely suggest appealing.
I really hope the GM that sees my appeal understands where I am coming from.