I am curious how the process goes to report a ‘repeat troll’ and their alts.
Last time i tried to report something that was going on, on the forums, I had great difficulty finding the right ticket section.
From what I’ve read, if you report a post, only that selected post gets viewed and actioned, their history of posts or things like that not really taken into account, other than the obvious account flags ‘this account has offended before’.
The person in question brings up controversial topics bound to get ‘bites’. If nobody bites or the topic gets quiet, they will then reply with their own alts to support the ‘OP’, even hold entire conversations. Of course, we don’t KNOW it’s their alt. But if you see an airplane in a tree, you can guess the pilot didn’t do a good job.
The past penalties stay on the account, but the Mods who handle forum reports see each reported post as an individual incident. Not as a pattern of posting behavior.
There is no means to put in a note with the report to get a review of the account, associated accounts, and all the other chars they are posting on.
It is a long term point of frustration. I am personally very very fed up with the lack of enforcement and it comes from the top at Blizz. They don’t prioritize it, staff the team, and give them the tools they need. Or so it seems.
I would LOVE to be wrong.
I would also love for the WoW forums to switch to posting by Battletag like every other Blizzard forum. Instead of having up to 400 characters per Bnet account to post on, they get one posting name. It would be fine to select a char as the avatar of course so you could be Bnet - Unian for example.
I would even consider a free Btag change for anyone who does not have one left - so people can select forum appropriate names if they want.
That would reduce the sock puppets, but not entirely get rid of them. We have the same problem on the Diablo forums too…and the person has been doing it in the Diablo and WoW forums for YEARS now. Making new Bnet accounts. Money does not seem to be an issue so they keep buying game licenses.
The numbers do show in the hover link but they are kind of important. You can have the same name as someone else and the only diff is the numbers.
GOOD news though, your full Btag does not give anyone the ability to add or talk to you. They can send a friend request if they want, but you have to manually accept it or decline it.
Unlike having your char/server in which they can friend you on that server in-game without your permission. (unless that has changed. I have not used it recently).
Btags are a LOT more secure and protect you from unwanted contacts in or out of game.
The person in question does have different Bnet’s per alt, as the achievements don’t line up and one is a classic toon for example.
I know plenty of people who don’t use their mains to post exactly for this reason.
But of course, you get called a troll for not having achievements or anything useful on the toon you post with.
I’m abolutely sure this guy has been reported 9001x already and called out many many times for this behaviour.
Some however claim the mods don’t dare to touch ‘LGBT+ advocates’ so the team doesn’t get seen as phobic.
There is no report category for “sock puppet” and with 5 reports a day we have to pick what is worse - hate speech/insults at other posters or a sock puppet trolling the boards on yet another char.
I know which one the OP means. They start threads that are marginally ok in concept, but are bait threads that are disingenuous and turn into a mess… and they post at least one of those threads every single day.
Not exactly. The subject of diversity, inclusion and representation is an important one and we want to allow folks to have those discussions. Even if others feel it has been talked into the ground or “doesn’t belong in a video game”.
We can’t really assume someone is starting a thread in bad faith, we generally have to go by the thread itself until/unless it is verified otherwise.
For clarification “Sock-puppeting” can be reported as trolling.
Yeah the subjects are not bad on the face of it. The way this person handles it though has caused people overwhelmingly to get fed up, view it all as non-serious fake trolling complaints, etc.
It is doing harm and creating almost daily threads full of hate.
I don’t know a good solution besides active moderation, an investigation into all the multi char/account folks by someone who can see the user account data, a switch to Btag posting, etc.
That would be up to senior mgt to make changes and allocate resources.
In the mean time a lot of people are frustrated at the overall current forum moderation outside CS (this one is good).
So, the post itself, if made by someone genuine would be fine? However, because you believe the specific person is bringing up the subject in bad faith it means that the discussion therefore shouldn’t happen?
If the subject of the discussion itself is a valid one, does it matter who broaches the subject?
I understand the frustration, especially if the person is doing it to somehow cast a negative light on the subject or the community that wants to have these discussions.
How do you judge that the person is acting in bad faith though? Is it that they make a lot of these kinds of threads? Which therefore saturates the forums with those kinds of discussions, and can exacerbate the feelings of hostility that some people have?
They very well could be doing so to troll, or it may be these things are important to them.
Trying to figure out which is it isn’t a simple matter. If they show their hand and we can find evidence that they are doing so specifically to “stir the pot”, as it were, we’ll take action accordingly.
This, and also their attitude within said threads is confrontational and preachy.
It reaches a point where it’s hard not to think that they make these threads to incite the kind of hostility that they like to accuse people of.
For reference, the poster in question is {redacted} (I know you can see edit history)
They are very well-know on GD for this behavior, and they have done it for years without check.
They make the forum a worse place, and refuse to change their behavior despite multiple pleas from actual member of the LGBTQ+ community that do not appreciate the negative attention he brings down on us.
For me, personally, I don’t bother reporting. If I decide their subject matter isn’t anything I’m interested in, they go on my ignore list. If I get sucked into one of their threads and the OP’s post is ignored, then I back up and move on. I’m not going to report them because I no longer pay any attention to whatever they have to say and it doesn’t matter if I’m correct about them or not. This may not work for everyone but it works well enough for me. The only thing that would be better for me is if anyone on my list who OP’s a thread would get filtered out of the list of topics I can review.
That is possible, but it also could be someone who is extremely passionate about the subject. How do you decide? How can you be sure? Do you take the chance and silence someone who may already feel unseen and underrepresented? Where is the line?
Not when you edit it so quickly I can’t, though I’m aware of some history on the current thread I believe we’re discussing.
I can be sure, because I’ve been regularly active on the forum in question and seen their behavior, and I am convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are not genuine.
There’s no foolproof way, and Poe’s Law is very much in effect, but the way that they interact with others on the forums and the dogged focus of their posts makes it very clear to me, and to pretty much every regular poster on GD. All I can do is implore that you look into their history and see for yourself.
Vrak is talking in general, so much so to the point that does it become anyone posting X that isn’t part of it is trying to start drama? Are they’re someone wanting to talk about it? That’s kind of why the mods can’t action anyone left and right because someone on the CS forum told them to do it.
Thank you Bris for adding to it. I didn’t quite know how to word it myself.
All he does is create a negative image for the LGBT community within WoW. I’m of that group myself, but I am very much think it shouldn’t be active in the game, we’re at war, not… dating. The occasional mention like the night warriors in Ardenweald I liked, that was done well enough I’d say. Or Chromie’s story. I like that one too!
Getting off topic… lol
It’s trolls like what he does that give the GD it’s toxic reputation. I’ve made many great friends there that I absolutely adore, thats why I wanted to know how I can report things properly other than just ‘click report’ where you can’t even add a reasoning.
BUT cutting them down to X Bnet accounts vs 400 chars per bnet account helps a bit.