Targetted Harassment with Report Feature (black mail pvp ranking)

Support Customer Support
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Hello,

I understand that account penalties can’t be discussed here so will just mention the following for context purposes 10 day ban for abusive language followed by 8 days of play then 14 day ban for abusive language

There are players who are actively targetting me and spam reporting me anywhere i talk including in my own guild chat my officers aren’t sure who is doing it and obviously there’s no way to see who is responsible

I’ve played this game for over 15 years and have never been seen bans like this for such minor words you have a profanity filter built into the game as well as a ignore option for anyone who prefers not to see certain types of language

You also have an option to mute the account if you believe its gone too far

I know for a fact there are groups of players who are targetting individuals due to there pvp ranking trying to eliminate any competition they have they workwith other players/servers/guilds to do this inside bgs / lfg / guild chat and anywhere else u might have to talk

I’ve submitted an appeal detailing all of this information along with screenshots of some of the people who are mocking me and somehow know im banned (obviously they were intentionally trying to do it) and further threatening me with more harassment and reports if i don’t stop pvping

I have never experienced this kind of harassment in the game and i have no idea what is the best course of action to avoid it other than not talking whatsoever anywhere in the game because 1 wrong word means another potential ban even longer

If any staff can look into my account and see my appeal and assist or have any advice on how i can avoid these people spam reporting me or even if u can change the 14 day ban to a silence it would be more inline with the issue

Thank you for your assistance

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They got me for 4 days off.
I have tagged every post that was in the range of , Trolling, advertising and real life threats.

Op I am with ya.

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It’s actually crazy that they are able to do this kind of thing in my guild there’s so many people who use the occasional swear words etc none have been banned but also none are ranking

I’m aware of 3 other rankers who have been banned in similar situations they basically wait for any kind of potential word that might be bannable then spam report you sometimes spam reporting you without even saying anything

The officers and gm of my guild have opened tickets about this account action and have clearly said that the kind of language is used reguarly and can’t understand why its only a person ranking being banned

There’s discords they use where they co-ordinate attacks on people they deem as competition for certain bracket spots as well

But for the life of me have no idea what can possible be done to avoid these kinds of attacks

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That doesn’t justified breaking the no cursing rule they have in place in the game. Just because a cop have a bullet proof vest on, doesn’t mean you can shoot at them willy-nilly.

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You do not even have to say any bad words and they bot you.

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If you’re being actioned, there’s a good chance you’re violating the rules. You can appeal actions through the ticketing system, but just because the game has built-in filters doesn’t mean it’s fine to break the rules.

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That’s not how it works: When a report happens, a GM will review it. They will either not apply actions or they won’t. They just don’t blindly action someone.

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That may or may not be true, Yunalescaa, but many of the reports I see here have been verified, the ones that resulted in penalty. If you were not violating policy, nothing would come of it. The fact of the matter is, you have and we took appropriate actions based on that.

The penalty itself is based on the history on the account.

The filter is not there for you to be able to say whatever you wish. It is an added layer of protection to allow parents of minors to block such language from their children while playing. It is also available for others who simply don’t want to see it, which is entirely within their right.

The ignore option also doesn’t allow you to say whatever you wish. It is there to help folks mitigate their social interactions. If you want to use inappropriate language, subject matter, or otherwise be toxic, that is entirely up to you. You may do so in the privacy of your own home, or other places that may tolerate it, but you’ll want to refrain from typing it out.

Yes, applying a silence is one of the options that we employ. However, it doesn’t always discourage folks from violating our policies so a suspension or account closure is part of the escalating penalties.

If you believe someone is specifically harassing you, report it and our staff will look into it. It is important to understand though that other players reporting valid inappropriate chat/behavior are generally not considered harassment.

The toxicity in gaming has been growing for many years and we as a company are very much in league with other companies out there in working to address it and make our games an environment that is safe and fun for those who choose to spend their time here.

There is nothing that you can do to prevent folks from reporting you, other than stop giving them valid reasons to do so.

Good luck to you.

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I understand that its not a justification etc however the issue i have is there’s 100’s of people a day who are saying things but nobody cares to report them especially in bg chat and my guild chat.

The way the reports are being done by these people is specific and targetted to ensure they are stopped from ranking.

If 5 people say the same word but 4 aren’t ranking 1 is and the only 1 who gets banned is the ranking guy its very obvious there are players exploited the report feature my main point is in almost every other circumstance this wouldn’t be happening at all

The other things mentioned just show there are numerous ways to avoid/ignore/block/filter/silence without penalizing a person with suspensions which is basically the only reason these people are using it because its effective in stopping ranking players from physically playing the game

If they knew the only outcome of mass organized reporting on rankers would be a silence they’d stop doing it cause there efforts would be futile in stopping the person ranking

Either way i hope someone can look into what im saying is happening

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Which we’d love to change. If you see folks using inappropriate language/subject matter, etc… please, use the right-click report option to report it. Hopefully, others will do the same and we can change the gaming environment.

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Keep in mind that there’s nothing stopping you from reporting the violations you see. One report is all it takes to have something reviewed.

“They do it so why can’t I” generally isn’t a valid defense. My recommendation is to tone things down and report any violations you see.

The community, especially in PvP, is ultra-toxic and we need to work together to clean it up for the health of the game and community.

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I don’t believe reporting people and trying to get others banned from the game is a productive way of acheiving anything its pathetic and will do nothing to change a persons behaviour.

If there’s something that bothers me i have plenty of tools as mentioned to deal with it.

My issue as mentioned is it is very clear that these people are targetting specific players as mentioned its all done outside of game when they decide who needs to be reported there not going to be messaging each other in your game knowing you can see it if reviewed.

It’s very disappointing to see blizzard continually decline over the years and there customer service / support is atrocious in dealing with any kind of issue especially when it comes to appealing any penalties.

Here’s to hoping Microsoft’s acquisition may have some kind of positive impact on blizzard before its too far gone

Thanks for the non existant help in dealing with a legitimate serious issue people are facing.

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That generally isn’t the goal of reporting, Yunalescaa. It might be what motivates someone to report, but that isn’t why we have those penalties in place. It’s supposed to remind the reported person of the policies that we have in place, policies that every single player agrees to abide by. The penalties are there to reinforce that point and they start out pretty small, often with a 24 hours silence.

You only get to suspensions when the violation is egregious or there have been a bunch of them.

That is unfortunate, but as I said, if you aren’t violating policy then their reports would do very little. The worst that would happen would be a temporary squelch.

We’re not going to penalize folks for reporting some people that have violated policy but haven’t reported everyone that violated policy.

Enforcing our policies isn’t a decline, Yunalescaa, I’m sorry you feel that it is so. The appeals process is to review if you did or did not violate policy. You did, and it is being upheld, so it is doing exactly what it is intended to do.

I can’t speak for Microsoft, but I very much doubt that they’ll be on board to allow policy violations. They too have a Code of Conduct, very similar to ours and their enforcement appears to be similar as well.

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I agree with this to an extent. Reporting people probably won’t change their real-life behavior. However, it certainly can and often does have a huge impact on their in-game behavior if they intend on keeping their account.

I don’t disagree that there are people out there who get their competitors a timeout by reporting violations. But that’s the thing…if you’re giving them ammunition to use against you, then the best thing you can do is stop giving them that ammo.

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In the end if you do not violate the TOS or any of blizzards rules they can report you until the cows go home and you would not know about it! Nothing would happen.

If someone one is rude to me in game or curses I just report them and move on. I never respond to them in anyway shape or form.

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And you are proving this point quite well, but not in the way you think.

As Vrakthris said, your own chat issues have been verified and you are quite high on the penalty volcano. It only gets longer and longer from this point forward, and if you won’t change your behavior, I understand how you feel others won’t change.

Yes, they are. They are “targeting” players who are breaking the rules. You honestly sound like someone in a court room, saying “Yes, I robbed the bank, but I was only caught because people called the police on me.”

Everyone can report you until the sun sets, but if you are doing nothing wrong, you’ll never know. Additionally, those players would be looked at for Abusing the Report Feature. But it’s not abusing the report feature to report chat violations. That’s what Blizzard intended, and it’s what most player want.

It seems like the only players who don’t want it are always the ones getting actioned for breaking the rules.

See, it hasn’t declined. In fact, the reporting system is relatively new, and there were very recent improvements made to it. It’s doing its job, and quite frankly, as this thread shows, it’s quite effective.

As for appealing, an appeal is not for you to plead your case, nor do they remove penalties simply because you appealed. An appeal is for a second person to look over the action to make sure it was properly applied (yes, the action was originally done by a human).

If your appeal is denied over and over, then there is evidence that you broke the rules, and it won’t be overturned.

I agree. I hope Microsoft can show Blizzard how to permanently remove rule-breakers from the game.

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Alot of companies are starting to crack down on toxic behaviour.
You could literally get reported 24/7 by people, and if there was nothing to punish you for, you’d never even know about it. Giving you sanctions for behaviour thats against the policies of the game youve agreed to abide by, is good customer service and is good business. It means they are being consistent across the board. But the penalties stack over time, if your up to 14 days on the backside of an 8 day punishment, sounds like its you that needs to adjust your behaviour. because eventually you could end up with 6 months, or account closure.
You might choose to just block and move on, but the community is saying, we dont want this toxic stuff here and reporting you. But if there was nothing toxic, then nothing would happen. And Blizz has been listening to the community who have been asking for this sort of behaviour to be removed.
best bet?
If you can’t say anything without swearing or being a bit salty, then dont say anything.

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Communication

When participating in communication of any kind (chat, voice communication, group finder), you are responsible for how you express yourself. You may not use language that could be offensive or vulgar to others.

Hate speech and discriminatory language is inappropriate, as is any obscene or disruptive language. Threatening or harassing another player is always unacceptable, regardless of language used. Violating any of these expectations will result in account restrictions. More serious and repeated violations will result in greater restrictions.

WoW is international. People of many different beliefs and cultures play. People of many different ages play. “Such minor words” could be major for someone else.

You were always able to report language. I remember doing it in Vanilla/TBC. You had to take the time to open a ticket to do it. It was long and cumbersome. The right-click report method is so much easier. Thanks to at least one streamer players were able to see that it does work. That means they use the tools provided. If you don’t want to be punished, don’t use even those “minor words” in chat.

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Another side of the issue at hand is that these behaviors were quite often considered acceptable before. Now, not so much, and therefore far more likely to be reported and actioned.

For example, I’ve had people call me homophobic terms just because I was an arms warrior in PvP (yes, they actually said that). In the past, I wouldn’t have cared so much and maybe fired some shots back. Now, it’s just a simple right-click->report because, even if it doesn’t affect me personally, it’ll affect someone else if that behavior is left unchecked.

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This is a great point. Way back in vanilla, I wouldn’t report anyone unless it was SUPER terrible. Because then, the process was open a ticket, give all the information, wait on your ticket, then get a GM responding in a whisper with “We’ll investigate, but can’t tell you anything”. Plus, you could only have one ticket open at a time, so if I needed something, I’d have to wait or cancel the report.

Now, it’s much easier. Right-click, click the reason, add optional info, and click OK. I can (and do) report any and all body part spammers almost instantly now, with just three clicks.

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