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Block Gold Spam in ESO
Phinix1
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Are you as annoyed by all the gold spam as I am? One problem with the Megaserver system is that it makes things MUCH easier for these lowlifes to reach a larger audience for less investment. Fortunately, there’s an effective way to stop them in their tracks, in the form of an add-on called SpamFilter. Here I will explain how to set it up to block gold spam in Elder Scrolls Online, and also keep a running list of custom filters to catch the newest offenders as as they emerge.
Installing the SpamFilter Add-On
First of all, you will need to download the Spam Filter add-on.
Open the zip file and drag the folder to your My Documents -> Elder Scrolls Online -> live -> AddOns folder. If you don’t have an AddOns folder inside your live folder, right-click the white space and create a new folder, and name it AddOns. Put the SpamFilter folder inside.
Once you have done this you will need to enable the add-on in-game. You can do this from the character screen once you log in by selecting the Add-Ons option and putting a check in the SpamFilter box. You can also do it in-game, by hitting escape and choosing Add-Ons from there. Once you have checked the box, type /reloadui to reset your interface and enable the add-on without having to re-log.
I also recommend you hit escape again and go into your Settings, and check the SpamFilter settings. There is an option there to turn on heuristic scanning, which does a great job blocking the spam that goes to your mailbox instead of chat.
Updating the SpamFilter Add-on
The author is updating this add-on quite regularly to catch new gold spam. When a new version is available, just download and drag the new SpamFilter folder into the same directory, overwriting everything.
Custom Gold Spam Filters
The add-on does an excellent job of catching spam by itself, however one of the more powerful features is the ability to set custom filters for yourself to catch any spam that slips through the default heuristics. You do this by typing /sfadd followed by a filter name and then the regular expression to use to detect and block the spam.
For those that don’t want to bother cobbling together custom filters every time something new comes out, you can reference this page as I will be keeping it updated with my own verified working filters. All you have to do is copy them into your chat one line at a time. Just make sure you copy the whole thing, and that you only past them one at a time, hitting enter after each one. Also, make sure you don’t have any extra space at the end before hitting enter.
IMPORTANT:
The filters below WILL auto-block the gold spam, however you will still get a message that the character was blocked, so PLEASE take a moment to right-click and report them so these jerks get banned. I DO NOT recommend other spam blocking add-ons that don’t let you know when players are blocked or why, as they do nothing to get these accounts banned and so encourage them to keep spamming. If enough people report, then it will get VERY expensive for these annoyances to continue buying new accounts to spam their garbage.
There is an option in the spam filter settings which allows you to truncate a spam message, which is good to be able to see a couple lines of blocked spam to verify it wasn't a false positive, and also to right-click and report (the spammers will still be auto-added to your ignore list, which you should clear every so often). When truncated spam won't scroll across your entire chat window as the spammers intended. Thanks!
Current working custom filter list:
AFTER typing /sfclear and hitting enter in your chat to clear any existing filters, hit escape to get the game options menu and go to settings, and then SpamFilter. Scroll down to where you see the box to enter custom filters. Delete anything that is there. Press the Alt and Tab keys at the same time to switch over to this page from the game, and select the whole block of text for my custom filters below, then press the Control and C keys at the same time to copy it. Click or Alt+Tab back to the game, click in the box for entering custom filters, then press Control and V at the same time to paste them there. Hit Apply to apply the new rules.
As filters become obsolete this list is updated, so it is always good to type /sfclear before inputting the list items.)
EDIT: List last updated 5-01-14
I will be keeping this list updated at the Warm Sands Guild site, so check back regularly to catch new offenders!
Edited by Phinix1 on 1 May 2014 14:36 Installing the SpamFilter Add-On
First of all, you will need to download the Spam Filter add-on.
Open the zip file and drag the folder to your My Documents -> Elder Scrolls Online -> live -> AddOns folder. If you don’t have an AddOns folder inside your live folder, right-click the white space and create a new folder, and name it AddOns. Put the SpamFilter folder inside.
Once you have done this you will need to enable the add-on in-game. You can do this from the character screen once you log in by selecting the Add-Ons option and putting a check in the SpamFilter box. You can also do it in-game, by hitting escape and choosing Add-Ons from there. Once you have checked the box, type /reloadui to reset your interface and enable the add-on without having to re-log.
I also recommend you hit escape again and go into your Settings, and check the SpamFilter settings. There is an option there to turn on heuristic scanning, which does a great job blocking the spam that goes to your mailbox instead of chat.
Updating the SpamFilter Add-on
The author is updating this add-on quite regularly to catch new gold spam. When a new version is available, just download and drag the new SpamFilter folder into the same directory, overwriting everything.
Custom Gold Spam Filters
The add-on does an excellent job of catching spam by itself, however one of the more powerful features is the ability to set custom filters for yourself to catch any spam that slips through the default heuristics. You do this by typing /sfadd followed by a filter name and then the regular expression to use to detect and block the spam.
For those that don’t want to bother cobbling together custom filters every time something new comes out, you can reference this page as I will be keeping it updated with my own verified working filters. All you have to do is copy them into your chat one line at a time. Just make sure you copy the whole thing, and that you only past them one at a time, hitting enter after each one. Also, make sure you don’t have any extra space at the end before hitting enter.
IMPORTANT:
The filters below WILL auto-block the gold spam, however you will still get a message that the character was blocked, so PLEASE take a moment to right-click and report them so these jerks get banned. I DO NOT recommend other spam blocking add-ons that don’t let you know when players are blocked or why, as they do nothing to get these accounts banned and so encourage them to keep spamming. If enough people report, then it will get VERY expensive for these annoyances to continue buying new accounts to spam their garbage.
There is an option in the spam filter settings which allows you to truncate a spam message, which is good to be able to see a couple lines of blocked spam to verify it wasn't a false positive, and also to right-click and report (the spammers will still be auto-added to your ignore list, which you should clear every so often). When truncated spam won't scroll across your entire chat window as the spammers intended. Thanks!
Current working custom filter list:
AFTER typing /sfclear and hitting enter in your chat to clear any existing filters, hit escape to get the game options menu and go to settings, and then SpamFilter. Scroll down to where you see the box to enter custom filters. Delete anything that is there. Press the Alt and Tab keys at the same time to switch over to this page from the game, and select the whole block of text for my custom filters below, then press the Control and C keys at the same time to copy it. Click or Alt+Tab back to the game, click in the box for entering custom filters, then press Control and V at the same time to paste them there. Hit Apply to apply the new rules.
As filters become obsolete this list is updated, so it is always good to type /sfclear before inputting the list items.)
spam01: %s*[^%w%s!%?%.,][^%w%s!%?%.,][^%w%s!%?%.,][^%w%s!%?%.,][^%w%s!%?%.,][^%w%s!%?%.,][^%w%s!%?%.,][^%w%s!%?%.,][^%w%s!%?%.,]+%s*
spam02: %s*g%W+[o0%(%[]%W+[l%S]%W+[d%S]%s*
spam03: %s*p[v%W]+p[b13%W]+[a%W]+[n1%W]+[k1%W]%W+%s*
spam04: %s*g[a%W]+[mv1%W]+[e3]%W*[i1%W]+[mv1%W]%W+%s*
spam05: %s*[h1%W]+[a%W]+[n1%W]+[dk1%W]+[vw1%W]+[o0%(%[%{]%W*r%W*[k1%W]%W+%s*
spam06: %s*[e3]%W*z%W*[o0%(%[%{]%W*[o0%(%[%{]%W*[mv1%W]%W+%s*
spam07: %s*[l1%W]+f%W+[d1%W]+p%W+[s%$]%W+%s*
spam08: %s*g%W*[a1%W]+[e3]%W*z%W+%s*
spam09: %s*[vw1%W]+t%W*[s%$]%W*[mv1%W]+[mv1%W]+[o0%(%[%{]%W+%s*
spam10: %s*g%W*[o0%(%[%{]%W*[l1%W]+[d1%W]+[c%(%[]%W*[e3]%W*[o0%(%[%{]%W+%s*
spam11: %s*[mv1%W]+[mv1%W]+[o0%(%[%{]%W*[a1%W]+[a1%W]%W+%s*
spam12: %s*[e3]%W*[s%$]%W*[o0%(%[%{]%W*p%W*[a1%W]+[l1%W]%W+%s*
spam13: %s*[vw1%W]+[o0%(%[%{]%W*[vw1%W]+g%W*[l1%W]%W+%s*
spam14: %s*%W+[vw1]%W+[vw1]%W+%s*
EDIT: List last updated 5-01-14
I will be keeping this list updated at the Warm Sands Guild site, so check back regularly to catch new offenders!
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Pristia✭✭I use LibAntiSpam from ESOUI, works really good as well.You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.
Albert Einstein0 -
Phinix1✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭There are two problems with LibAntiSpam. First, it doesn't automatically add offenders to your ignore list.
Second, and much more important, it will by default not tell you when someone is blocked, and even if you go into the settings it doesn't let you see part of the message that caused them to be blocked like SpamFilter does.
The problem here is that it encourages casual users of the add-on to "install it and forget it" and so cuts down on the number of people actually right-clicking and reporting these spammers. This allows them to keep spamming longer, and spend less money on accounts, which in my mind is like begging for more spam in the future.
Also, LibAntiSpam doesn't allow the use of custom filters, so you are stuck pretty much with what the author offers. It does do a pretty good job, but I will stick with SpamFilter for the aforementioned reasons.1 -
Pristia✭✭I like the fact it doesnt go to your ignore list, as for now, you can only have so many on there, and mine is full, so to add more, I have to delete some on there. It also tells you when it blocks someone in yellow text and you can right click and report the name from there, and add to ignore list if you want to.You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.
Albert Einstein0 -
Phinix1✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭I clear my ignore list every few days. Since most of the gold selling accounts are deleted quickly, having them there just wastes space on the list. There is actually an add-on to clear out your ignore list for you, though I haven't used it.
The problem I have with reporting with LibAntiSpam is that it doesn't show you any of the text of the message, just that they were ignored. So, you can't really be sure you aren't reporting a legit player for WTB/WTS messages that got accidentally caught by the add-on.
Personal preference I guess, but I'll stick with SpamFilter. It gives me more control and I feel like I am doing more to combat the spammers.Edited by Phinix1 on 21 April 2014 19:440 -
Terminus✭✭✭✭✭Many thanks for creating this, I'll be sharing it with the rest of The Noore tonight so we can keep ESO clean of spammers!0 -
Phinix1✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Updated with some corrections for special cases where spammers were using special chat characters like "|" to fool the filters. Will now catch these as well. Thanks to the mod author for help with that!0 -
Phinix1✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Completely rebuilt all the custom filters to be more one size fits all; they should now block 90% or better of the garbage that is currently out there, without blocking legitimate players using common punctuation and emoticons.0 -
Phinix1✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Some more tweaks to rule #2 to prevent false positives when using vampire bite emoticons, and a few other less common scenarios.0 -
Phinix1✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Minor tweak to rule 2 that avoids things like /w.
What rule 2 is doing basically, is catching all things like "w w w", "vv vv vv", "\/\/ \/\/ \/\/", etc.
The catch for at least one space between them eliminates the legit uses of www in a message, and the latest tweak ensures this by moving it outside the exclusion class.
IMPORTANT:
Please use /sfclear and empty your ignore list before applying these latest filter revisions. These should be final at this point, and are being reviewed by the mod author for incorporation in the next release.
Edited by Phinix1 on 25 April 2014 02:330 -
Phinix1✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Rules tweaked to catch more tricky special character situations. Edited original post to make it easier to enter custom filters, by copying the entire lot into the SpamFilter settings in one go.
EDIT: Two new filters added to catch the new websites. Also tweaked the other rules slightly.Edited by Phinix1 on 26 April 2014 22:160 -
Phinix1✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Discovered a typo in one of the old filters. However, I have completely rebuilt the filters to better handle special cases, so instead of simply correcting it I have replaced that one altogether.
The new filters are much better at handling weird symbolic letters (A = 4 = /-\, etc.) and also make false positives much less likely.0 -
Phinix1✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Filters improved to eliminate game client crashing when doing LUA string.find searches for non-ASCII characters explicitly. Also catches 90% of the newest garbage. Very low risk of false positives.0 -
Phinix1✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Updated rules to avoid false positives when people shamelessly abuse punctuation (think "omg!!!!!11111!!!!1111" and "rofl wut?!?!?!?!?!?!")
Also, SpamFilter has beem updated with the ability to AUTOMATICALLY CLEAR YOUR IGNORE LIST! This is an amazing feature that was desperately needed, since after a week all the accounts that were previously ignored have been banned anyway.
I suggest cleaning out your list about once a week. now it is as simple as clicking a single button in your settings for the addon. Check it out!0 -
Phinix1✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Very sad news: With confirmation from the mod author, SpamFilter is causing the game to randomly crash to desktop due to an unstable implementation of the game engine's LUA regular expression handling. Until this is resolved I have to recommend that you cease using this addon, even though my latest filters were effectively blocking everything with virtually no false positives.
Indeed, it is a sad, sad day. But do check back here for updates!0