Autoflood TOS violations and nothing?

Gameplay Professions
1

I messaged a guy within 1s of him posting in trade chat today and spoke to him later because I never heard back. He indicated that he had gotten over 20 autoreplies from characters using Autoflood to message him for crafting.

Automation like this is a direct TOS violation and this is what this addon is for… how has this NOT resulted in mass bannings? People who automate FISIHING get banned pretty often, yet this addon that is a direct flaunting of the rules has not had anything done about it.

For all of blizzard’s talk of addons ruining the game… they don’t seem to back up their words at all.

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2

Most people are using Craftscan, which is not automated. It pops up a button you can press to message someone.

Also, you know chat isn’t instant, right? Even if you got your message off within an second, someone else may have seen the message 4 or 5 seconds before you did. Delays happen over the internet. So some fraction of the community sent a message likely before you even saw his post.

Unless you’ve on an low pop server, there are usually multiple people taking orders and generally first one in wins. In wouldn’t follow up message anyone who doesn’t ask you an question, if they don’t respond to the first they went with someone else.

3

Nope. I’ve checked with multiple of these people spamming trade chat. Every single one is using Autoflood.

The addon automates all of that to send a message every X seconds and to autoreply to anyone who posts something you can craft immediately as it scans trade chat.

The same people are also in trade chat with messages that are massively longer than the 255 characters you can use because Autoflood allows you to make a longer message, linking multiple profession links (even from characters you aren’t currently on) with multiple items linked in one message.

Whether you’re unaware of this or sandbagging your use of the addon… just stop

4

Looking through the code, autoflood doesn’t scan chat or send whispers; all it does is send a predetermined message to a predetermined channel at a predetermined interval. So they’re probably using both, one to send trade chat messages to advertise their skillset, and another to more readily whisper those looking for crafts in chat.

5

I’m active on my server and nobody is sending regularly time automated messages. An occasional chat macro every few minutes when sitting in dorn waiting around, sure. Nobody automating it. You’rre either on the one server where it’s a problem, or more likely don’t know the difference between clicking on a chat macro and an add-on

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If you’re directing that at me, you’re jumping to conclusions.

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The messages they send CANNOT be made with a macro. This is a problem across ALL servers, and every one of them is saying they do it with AUTOFLOOD.

It literally took me 2seconds to google and find:

How I use Autoflood and a WeakAura to automate most of my chatting for crafting orders

8

Um. You didn’t read that Reddit post correctly. (Or at least the post with the identical title, you didn’t post a link)

What the person is doing is using autoflood to make automated ads in chat. E.g. “JC/BS looking for work blah blah”. The person says they are posting their ad every so often using that addon.

Then people (customers) whisper HIM with questions and he has automated weak aura responses to those whispers.

He even gives an example “how much for a ring craft?”. It auto responds to the keywords “how much” with his price list.

This is the same sort of thing as a weak aura that responds with “don’t bother me I’m in a mythic plus”. Because the person whispered HIM, an automated response is allowed.

9

You literally just agreed with me. He is AUTOMATING posting to trade chat, using an addon that gets around the message restrictions that blizzard implements for everyone. The weak aura works with Autoflood to send messages to people who post in trade. The weak aura doesn’t work without Autoflood.

Thanks for agreeing with me I suppose.

10

No.

The weak aura described in the article responds to whispers sent to the crafter.

It does NOT reply to posts in trade.

It does NOT violate any rules for automation as described in the article.

It is the same sort of reply that is given by DBM when you are busy.

11

They are automatically replying to posts in trade chat, within milliseconds, without having to do anything. They admit this when asked about it (nicely).

This is automated. That violates the rules.

They do not have to send their advertisement to trade chat, it is automated and longer than you can make in game because of the addon…
They do not have to message people who post a “LF X item” in trade chat, it is automated.

They are not touching the keyboard to do these actions.

But I get it, you’re obviously one of these cheaters. Thanks for giving your admission.

12

People kindly looked into the code for you. I looked into the post you linked to investigate it.

Why would we do that? Clearly because we are interested in stopping bad behavior as well.

But if you think this person is doing something wrong by all means you go ahead and report them.

13

You’re 100% wrong. You should get the addon from curseforge and test it yourself to see that what you’re saying is not happening.

For auto flood, when you set it to repeat a message at X time interval, it will not auto post anything if you’re not interacting with the game at all. About as much effort as it takes to hit ctrl+v to send a premade message each time.

For craftscan, once a person goes in and sets up messages for items they can craft, whenever a key word is detected in chat, it pops up a message giving you the option to interact with it. You can left click it to send the message you recorded for that item or right click it to dismiss it. If you do nothing, nothing happens.

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Can see the list of people using these to cheat here.

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15

Here’s the thing, none of these addons are cheating or against ToS because none of them are capable of sending messages without a hardware event. Using autohotkey as suggested in one of the addon’s descriptions would be against ToS, but in and of themselves, the addons do not send messages without a hardware event as a trigger.

AutoFlood now requires [MessageQueue] addon to work since WoW BfA patch 8.2.5 and WoW Classic 1.1.3.3 after Blizzard added some restrictions to the chat system.

And then from message queues addon description

Any of the following hardware inputs allows the queue to run: mouse click, mouse wheel, keyboard, gamepad stick or button. Unlike keyboard inputs, mouse and gamepad inputs are consumed by an invisible frame that shows up at the topmost level so any click on an action may fail if MessageQueue needs to send a message at the same time.

The weakaura works as the hardware event requirement added in patch 8.2.5 does not apply to whispers.

# Patch 8.2.5/API changes
* SendChatMessage() is partially hw event protected:

"CHANNEL" is protected, "SAY", "YELL" are protected while outside of instances/raids.
16

I just came across this thread and I honestly can’t tell if you are trolling.

Your initial post says that you spoke to someone to follow up on a message sent about a crafting inquiry. He “indicated” that he had gotten over 20 autoreplies from characters to message him about the crafting inquiry.
So he “indicated” meaning he didn’t actually say this was the case? It was your impression not something you actually know?

Also they were replies in response after an active inquiry was entered in chat? For this I think you may be a little confused as far as TOS violation. SPAM might be a violation possibly if it is continuously being sent with no actual input from the player, but it might still be a gray area.

What you are describing would require the player to engage with the addon and send what is essentially a copy/paste text response directly to an individual. In this case a direct response invited by another player asking a specific question. How is this automation, because they used a pre-saved text message instead of taking the time to type one out on an individual basis? Because they were faster than you in responding? If so, you could maybe write up a notepad file with some pre-saved messages of your own, risk using ctrl+v in the chat window(!), and you can be a bit faster too without using an addon. Moral high ground + an improvement in your sales. Sweet right?

Just for giggles, I actually used a search engine chat AI (sorry don’t want to trigger you) to summarize the quesiton, “Does the wow addon craftscan violate the blizzard EULA by allowing a user to send a saved response to a chat inquiry by pressing a button?” Take it for what it is, (AI is still faulty at times), but the response was:

"The functionality of the WoW addon CraftScan, which allows users to send a saved response to a chat inquiry by pressing a button, raises some important considerations regarding compliance with Blizzard’s EULA:

1. Automation vs. User Input

  • If CraftScan simply allows users to send pre-written responses with a button press, it may not be considered automation in the traditional sense. The user is still actively choosing to send a message, which aligns with Blizzard’s allowance for addons that enhance user experience without automating gameplay.

2. Blizzard’s Guidelines on Addons

  • Blizzard permits addons that improve the user interface and provide convenience, as long as they do not automate gameplay or provide an unfair advantage. The key factor is whether the addon takes control away from the player or performs actions without user input.

3. Potential Concerns

  • If the addon allows for rapid-fire responses or spamming of messages in a way that could be seen as disruptive or against the spirit of fair play, it might attract scrutiny from Blizzard.

Conclusion

CraftScan’s feature of sending saved responses via a button press is likely to be compliant with Blizzard’s EULA, provided it does not automate the sending process beyond user control or disrupt gameplay. However, as with any addon, it’s essential to stay updated on Blizzard’s policies and community feedback regarding specific functionalities. If in doubt, consulting Blizzard’s official guidelines or forums can provide clarity."
I know right, the future is amazing ain’t it. I dunno, maybe blizzard doesn’t have the same conclusion as this or mine or yours, despite your statement (as a qualified representative?) that: Automation like this is a direct TOS violation and this is what this addon is for… how has this NOT resulted in mass bannings?

Don’t think they’ve said anything yet but hey I could be wrong. In any event, the person you messaged never got back to you at all? It seems to boil down to you being a little huffy because some people sent some /replies faster than you did.
/shrug
That’s my 2 cents, enjoy your playtime friend!

17

It may not be automated, and you can certainly set these addons to scan for words. I advertise quite a lot on my server group. My advertisement triggered their “Hey, I can craft that for you R5 Gauranteed.”
“Oh, nvm, lol”
All, while afk flagged.

If it was a real customer, the time it took me to think of a response to respond socially, I lose the sale. Addons are great, but dang, I can sit afk and just message anyone needing any crafting and not even be playing the game. Just have it alert you to tab back in.
That isn’t much different to have the fishing bobber cast, then alert you you have a fish ready, tab back in and click something to reel in the fish or message the customer.

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