I am very curious of how I got silenced today. I was just minding my own business doing some dungeons on my alt and I got disconnected in the middle of it and then I log back in saying I am silenced. I’m honestly confused of why I got silenced and is /laugh or /spit even consider abusive chat because that is the last thing I remember doing. Please tell me what exactly I got reported the most for.
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There is a squelch - and a silence. One is automated from enough reports, usually spam or bad language, the other is from a GM reviewing those reports and agreeing.
If you wish to appeal, needs to be done through a ticket.
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It might have been something that happened a while ago, or you were squelched pending an investigation, this is how you appeal.
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And I also can’t even message a friend. The last time I got silenced was for what I said on the group finder and I was still able to message my friends. Does that mean I got forcefully silenced based on players just reported me right away for something?
Any chat penalty now is across battle net, has been a change for a bit of time.
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What is the difference between squelch and silence? How does squelch even work?
Squelch is a temporary and automatic measure from excessive reports. Silence is a penalty given by a GM after reviewing the squelch.
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Squelched, not silenced.
Squelched, silenced, I don’t care. It the same thing at the end of the day.
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You just asked how the system works, were told how it works, and then made the above statement as if you’re out of options and at the end of your rope. No, you do not need to “remove the chat box.”
This is how it works:
- You get reported for something. Good/bad/true/false, it makes no difference.
- You may get a short, temporary silence if enough reports are made. (Similar to a hidden post here on the forums.)
- If you DIDN’T do anything wrong, the review evaporates; you’ll never even know you were being scrutinized for a violation.
- If you DID do something wrong, that’s where the silence (or further, if warranted, a suspension) comes into play.
So, in your case, it went like this:
- Flag / Report
- Review
- Found to be in violation
- Silence
There is no suspension or any account activity from public flags other than the temporary squelch or hidden post I described. Anything beyond that is urban legend and falsehood, likely borne of the infamous “auto-ban” by a famous streamer (which was actually nothing of the sort, but I digress…)
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Being respectful in chat will never get you an account penalty sorry but that is false information. I will never understand why people cannot be civil to one another while playing a game. It astounds me the amount of venum over a video game that comes through chat.
If you received an actual account penalty then you said something in chat which was reviewed by a GM. You may appeal the account penalty but not on the forums. Follow Kozzae’s instructions on how to appeal it if you did nothing wrong in chat.
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If you appeal, and the penalty is overturned nothing more will happen.
If upheld, the silence starts at 24 hours, but since you stated this might be your second penalty, it will double with no maximum.
You should get an email with instructions on how to appeal if this was a actual penalty. If it’s only a squelch it simply depends on what the GM finds.
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No, it’s not.
Squelches are just temporary mutes that last until a GM can review the reports against you. If they’re bogus or you’re otherwise found to not be in violation, the squelch is lifted. (That said, I hope the GM will also suspend people filing bogus reports against phrases like “Hello everyone, I am here.” -<name> greets everyone warmly-)
Silences are what happens when a GM reviews your squelch and decides that what you said was against the rules. The penalties for this increase rapidly, resulting in you being unable to speak for weeks/months if you continue to persist in being offensive/disruptive in chat.
…Wasn’t that penalty actually upheld after review, though, despite the streamer saying only “Hello world” in-game?
A penalty was upheld, but it’s extremely important - imperative even, when discussing the infamous “auto-ban” - to define exactly what that penalty was.
What was upheld was a suspension for the streamer’s abuse of the report system. Not a penalty for a thousand players reporting “hello world.”
Unfortunately, many people believe the latter, which has lead to the widespread belief that you can be banned/suspended/whatever just by the public randomly flagging you.
Here’s how it went with the famous streamer:
- Streamer tells thousands of folks to report them for “hello world.”
- Whaddya know, the squelch system works; the streamer is squelched.
- (Conjecture) Thousands of flags instantly flooding in propel the reported chat to the top of the “flag review” queue. (/Conjecture)
- GM very quickly looked at the flags and saw abuse of the report system by the streamer.
- GM applied a suspension to the streamer for said abuse.
- ???
- The “auto-ban” legend was born. The public were flabbergasted.
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Thank you. Look like I will be doing what Asmon does and not say a single word in chat,party chat, etc for a good long while. Clearly the report system can be easily abuseable.
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You’re literally not reading (or absorbing) the responses from other players.
I, and several others, have tried to explain, to no avail.
Good luck.
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If what you had been reported for actually wasn’t against the rules, then the silence would not have been appied. It’s not applied by players, it’s applied by a GM. They reviewed the chat and applied it based on the rules, not the reports.
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ok cool, I will just remove the chat box for the time being until the system decided not to target me.
Don’t make yourself a target than. Folks don’t go around, willy-nilly, reporting folks for the lulz. It takes more than a handful of people to get this triggered, more along the lines of the server reporting you.
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Nobody is targeting you unless you said something that is against the ToS. Language, spamming. There are many avenues that people don’t think are offensive and only measure by their own comfort level in things. The key thing here is that you do not get to decide what is offensive for others.
On the off chance it was a targetted thing, rest assured that people who abuse the system will find themselves sanctioned. But this victim complex hardly speaks well for you. I do wish you luck, no matter.
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