The problem you can't ignore

Q u o t e:
Gold selling spam... ok ignore it.

No, use the available tools that have been provided and report it. Right click on the chat line and select Report Spam.

Q u o t e:

Fake blizzard prize letters.... ok ignore it.

No, use the available tools that have been provided and report it. Click on the Spam option when you have the mail open.

Q u o t e:

Flying lvl 1's in all cities... ok ignore it.

Again, no. Report it. Submit an in-game petition including the words "Body Spam" or "Body Advertisement" and the location (i.e. Stormwind Bank, Orgrimmar Auction House, etc...).

Q u o t e:
lvl 80 dk farm bot, farming the same spot for 6 months despite being reported by over 15 ppl I know. ok ignore it.

No, report it yourself. It is a mistake to think that simply because someone says they have reported someone else that they truly have. Report it yourself.

Q u o t e:

4 or so afk bots in every pvp game I zone into? ok I can't ignore this one. By the time you get ppl to report them afk the battle has already been adversely affected. This is one that affects my current game play no matter how I try to ignore it. On-top of that they are in a competitive environment, a battleground. The place nerf's and buffs result from.

Use the /afk reporting feature. It is encouraged that additional players use that option as well but start with yourself and go from there. If you notice these characters keep returning submit an in-game petition and report them.

I understand that these matters can be frustrating, Lazerchicken, all I can tell you is that we take them very seriously and if properly reported we take appropriate actions for what violations of our policies are found.

Q u o t e:
wow if you are implying these methods are effective, I would hate to see the game without them then.

As a former colleague said,

Q u o t e:

it is difficult to appreciate the moat and the castle wall, if you never happen to see the thousands of arrows that they stymie. It's the one arrow that lands in your soup that you become aware of, as it were.

Which is from the following post on bots.

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=24702405174&postId=246998736429&sid=1#16

Q u o t e:
btw on another note, I thought report spam was an "ignore" does it lodge a report? If so I had no idea

It does ignore the account for your play session but it also send a report to have the matter looked into. The Report Spam feature was implemented by our Developers as a way to quickly deal with this type of advertisement. We have a great many preventative measures in place but without removing chat from the game these advertisements will likely be present in some form or another.

Q u o t e:

EDIT: oh! keywords in tickets? This is also something I didn't know about.

We are always working to improve the way we help our players, keyword recognition helps us get to certain issues and direct others to a more appropriate location (i.e. compromise reports can be immediately referred to the investigation queue instead of waiting for a time).

Q u o t e:
Encouraging reply, I know asking for a keyword list is a bit of a stretch but that would be awesome. Then again if we knew all keywords the system wouldn't work as well.

As long as you describe the situation as best as you can in your petition, that will be all the keywords that are needed.

Q u o t e:

You are saying you are fighting non stop against all these issues, more so then we realize. But it seems like a very reactive approach to those who manage to do wrong. Like giving first aid to everyone who has been shot by the arrow.

Much of what needs to be done is reactive in nature but we have a great many preventative measures in place that you really have no knowledge of. The biggest obstacle to overcome is to limit the ability of those who are attempting to violate our policies without severely and negatively impacting our legitimate players.

Most of the trial account restrictions, including the online upgrade processing delay were brought about because of advertisers/scammers, etc. . . . We aren't happy that a new player isn't able to experience the entire range of options available but the negatives outweigh the positives in these cases.

Q u o t e:


Given the fact I doubt I could understand the technicalities. Is permanent prevention that astronomically impossible? Any info into the anti bot war would be extremely interesting. Even a redirect to someone else discussing it from a purely speculative perspective would be mad. Maybe there is something in-store for cataclysm for example?

I doubt I would understand most of the technicalities either, Lazerchicken, most of these issues are addressed by our Hacks team as well as specialized investigators. I know they are always busy addressing these issues and looking into ways to improve on our ability to deal with this type of exploitation. I don't know if permanent prevention is possible, not without severely effecting legitimate players but I know we are doing everything we can to address what situations we are able to.

What most people forget is the majority of Blizzard employees actually play the game, this is our world too and we want it as fair and fun as possible just as much, if not more than you do.