Guild Spamming Issue

Tandor · February 21

valenwood_vegan wrote: »

Tandor wrote: »

They're back in action. My gaming was interrupted again this morning when I was counselled over joining this wretched guild.

Any update please @ZOS_Kevin ?

Seriously, although this issue has been brought up many times in the past, in this instance the original thread that was locked and led to this thread was created on January 17th and locked on January 29th when we were told to keep an eye on it for a zos response. It's hard to keep an eye on something that's been locked and buried under three weeks of new posts, but I did track it down and check and there's most certainly been no response.

There was a response further up this page. Unfortunately, all the response did was kick the can further down the road. "We are looking to get an update out soon" - and that was a fortnight ago.

It's quite simple. Either the behaviour of the guild concerned and which has been fully documented over some years is not acceptable to ZOS, in which case it can surely be dealt with, or else it is acceptable to them in which case we need to be told that so that other guilds can follow the same approach with impunity and players will know not to report it.

SilverBride · February 21

This clearly violates the Code of Conduct.

2.3 You may not harass, threaten, intentionally humiliate, “stream snipe”, “name and shame”, engage in acts of “griefing”, or cause distress to another user, guest, or ZeniMax staff member/teams using ZeniMax sites and Services. This includes but is not limited to verbal attacks (both text and voice chat), unwanted messaging, personal attacks, stalking or any other undesired behavior used to cause discomfort or disrupt another user’s experience.

https://account.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/code-of-conduct

Emeratis · February 21

SilverBride wrote: »

There may not be a specific term of service disallowing unsolicited guild invites to everyone that walks by, but this action is very disruptive to many player's enjoyment of their game. We need a permanent solution for this. Please give us an update on this situation.

From the TOS, I think these two more than fit (emphasis mine):

Engage in any form of harassment, stalking, threats, embarrassment, spamming, or any other conduct towards another user of the Services that is unwarranted or unwanted. This includes, but is not limited to, persistently sending unsolicited messages, launching personal attacks, or making derogatory statements related to factors such as race, ethnicity, sex, gender, sexual orientation, religion, heritage, and the like;

Engage in disruptive behavior in chat areas, game areas, forums, or any other area or aspect of the Services. Examples of disruptive behavior include, but are not limited to, conduct which interferes with the normal flow of gameplay or dialogue within a Service, vulgar language, abusiveness, hitting the return key repeatedly or inputting large images so the screen goes by too fast to read, use of excessive shouting (i.e., all text in capitals) in an attempt to disturb other users, "spamming" or flooding (i.e., posting repetitive text), commercial postings, solicitations and advertisements, posting advertising or promotional messaging, chain letters, pyramid schemes, or other commercial activities.

What they're doing is the definition of spam. This has been an issue for years. It's disrupted our ability to do things quickly in a city without being spammed by guild invites. The vague parts of the TOS are there to cover weird edge cases such as this. Just because they're not using the chat channels usually does not mean they are not spamming other users. Players have been for years saying this behavior is disruptive and unwanted. At this point it's up to ZOS to decide if they want to listen to hundreds of players negatively impacted by this or one guild.

OutLaw_Nynx · February 21

Still think my idea of the option to auto block guild invites is the best way to prevent this. Guild invites are off by default and people will have to turn them off manually if they wish to get them.

The spamming guild would be powerless I think.

DenverRalphy · February 21

OutLaw_Nynx wrote: »

Still think my idea of the option to auto block guild invites is the best way to prevent this. Guild invites are off by default and people will have to turn them off manually if they wish to get them.

The spamming guild would be powerless I think.

And make the block/auto-decline invisible too. I'd love it if the duel/ToT auto declines didn't nag you with that gawdawful "Donk!" sound like something broke. I don't need to know that I auto declined something. I'm content with being blissfully unaware.

Casul · February 21

It’s so crazy I stumble upon this thread. Came back after a year break to see how 2026 roadmap is looking. Got my new toon outside daggerfall and got an unsolicited guild invite from the guild in question immediately at the wayshrine.

AlienatedGoat · February 22

Yup, the spam invites are back. @ZOS_Kevin please do something about this. This behavior is spam and against TOS, pure and simple. It sounds like you guys tried working it out with the guild in question - well, it doesn't seem to have worked.
So now it's on to plan B: The API needs to be changed to prevent the addon from working. What is taking so long, and why aren't we receiving any communication?

hiyde · February 23

AlienatedGoat wrote: »

Yup, the spam invites are back. @ZOS_Kevin please do something about this. This behavior is spam and against TOS, pure and simple. It sounds like you guys tried working it out with the guild in question - well, it doesn't seem to have worked.
So now it's on to plan B: The API needs to be changed to prevent the addon from working. What is taking so long, and why aren't we receiving any communication?

Technical changes would be awesome (such as not allowing addons to spam guild invites, there is zero legitimate use scenarios for this) but a simple statement of:

"No, it is not OK to spam guild invites, especially after being asked to stop. We'll treat it as a TOS violation just like we do for teabagging and similar forms of harrassment. Any account that engages in this (as well as leaders of guilds that encourage their members / provide addons to do it) are at risk of disciplinary action"

...would be a nice start.

Since (thankfully, at least for now), only one guild is doing it, it should be easy to serve notice on them of what will happen moving forward.

It's been years. Please address this once and for all before someone makes a public version of this addon and there are 10 guilds hiding in the bushes next to popular wayshrines doing it.

I'm sorry, but this is not a difficult issue to provide a clear cut answer for. Certainly not an answer that should take weeks/months/years to provide, even if a technical solution is further out.

I am beyond mystified that in all this time, no one at ZOS can just straight up say "yes we'll treat this just like teabagging or memento spamming" at the very least. I mean c'mon. You actually listened to us and muzzled Stuga. This is 100x worse! 🤣

Edit: I just saw my comment number. It's a sign! Good things about to happen!

TaMmEh · February 23

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Wanted to follow up here. The communication drop off is on me, so apologies on that. We are working on getting more info here internally and forgot to follow up in the locked thread. We are still looking into this, along with several other issues happening at the moment. The intention was not to shut down communication. We are looking to get an update out soon.

Much like what others have said, if your intention was not to shut down communication, why lock the thread? The thread should never be closed just because you are 'looking into it/getting answers' because its going to make everyone fester.. and then to shut down consequent threads because its a 'duplicate' sending everyone to the locked thread? Well thats just a nice way of telling everyone what you really think! Why after weeks and weeks of threads and comments about the same thing advising you that 'this is still happening' are you still not giving updates or answers regarding this? A great question by another player that needs to get answered is why is this acceptable by a guild but would never be allowed by an individual?

DeathandDebauchery · February 23

AlienatedGoat wrote: »

Yup, the spam invites are back. @ZOS_Kevin please do something about this. This behavior is spam and against TOS, pure and simple. It sounds like you guys tried working it out with the guild in question - well, it doesn't seem to have worked.
So now it's on to plan B: The API needs to be changed to prevent the addon from working. What is taking so long, and why aren't we receiving any communication?

As expected. @ZOS_Kevin they stopped for a week or so to get things to calm down based on the prior thread, but here we are again, back to the Spam this weekend.

Is there any update on an official stance on this? Remove the invite API? Say that this is against ToS so we can have action taken?

The other issue is they often do this on $5 accounts in Auridon and the such.

LittleLionLeone · 2:30AM

Yep same people are back with the bots. This person has the same usual name as the other one I took a screenshot of. This is in Dagger city this time in glenumbra.

The fact that they took a break once the heat got too much should all but confirm they know that what they're doing is wrong.

LittleLionLeone · 2:35AM

Lol I just got on an alt account and boom he auto invited me as soon as I got there. Guess my main is blacklisted because of my posts here.

Shameless!

Emeratis · 2:55AM

LittleLionLeone wrote: »

Yep same people are back with the bots. This person has the same usual name as the other one I took a screenshot of. This is in Dagger city this time in glenumbra.

The fact that they took a break once the heat got too much should all but confirm they know that what they're doing is wrong.

I'm seeing this as well. Exact same person in exact same spot. They're making it clear they have no intention on changing or stopping unless ZOS steps in so ball is in their court...

valenwood_vegan · 3:00AM

OutLaw_Nynx · 3:04AM

Wow. That is harassment imo.

LennaTheRussian · 3:31AM

Ridiculous, they must have just gotten a small slap on the wrists about it or something.

DeathandDebauchery · 3:31AM

Every member of my guild has seen this bot today and has reported it. Please @ZOS_Kevin can we stop this?

LittleLionLeone · 3:33AM

I love seeing everyone flock over to the bot to report it after posting the screenshots lol

TheRuntingMuumuu · 3:48AM

I saw this bot too in Daggerfall, and I have gotten invites before at other wayshrines.

Can we have some sort of solution for this? Or some communication on when a solution will be proposed?

valenwood_vegan · 4:00AM

I can do this all day. Why is this ok?

SilverBride · 4:06AM

This is disruptive and needs to be stopped. I don't understand why it is allowed to go on.

LennaTheRussian · 4:19AM

Watch the thread get locked again

Casul · 4:27AM

Hey I got an invite for II and IV. 3 more and I get a bingo.

valenwood_vegan · 4:50AM

Ticket # 260223-004660 @ZOS_Kevin

valenwood_vegan · 1:42PM

And of course the conclusion to our saga:

Taggund · 2:26PM

I've kept that thread pinned for weeks now, and keep checking to see if any update. @ZOS_Hadeostry and @ZOS_Kevin should be able to provide some kind of update at this point.

Vonnegut2506 · 3:38PM

After several years of this nonsense and ZOS ignoring it, I believe we have our answer about what they are going to do about it.

DeathandDebauchery · 3:48PM

valenwood_vegan wrote: »

And of course the conclusion to our saga:

Guildies are reporting similar responses from customer service, just as previous @ZOS_Kevin

ZOS_Kevin · 3:53PM

DeathandDebauchery wrote: »

As expected. @ZOS_Kevin they stopped for a week or so to get things to calm down based on the prior thread, but here we are again, back to the Spam this weekend.

Is there any update on an official stance on this? Remove the invite API? Say that this is against ToS so we can have action taken?

The other issue is they often do this on $5 accounts in Auridon and the such.

Following up here to note that I am talking to customer service to resolve this. Had some conversations last week to come up with a general plan and continuing those this week. In the meantime, please continue to report and post ticket numbers. That way, there is a paper trail to refer to.

LittleLionLeone · 4:00PM

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

DeathandDebauchery wrote: »

As expected. @ZOS_Kevin they stopped for a week or so to get things to calm down based on the prior thread, but here we are again, back to the Spam this weekend.

Is there any update on an official stance on this? Remove the invite API? Say that this is against ToS so we can have action taken?

The other issue is they often do this on $5 accounts in Auridon and the such.

Following up here to note that I am talking to customer service to resolve this. Had some conversations last week to come up with a general plan and continuing those this week. In the meantime, please continue to report and post ticket numbers. That way, there is a paper trail to refer to.

All due respect, how is customer support going to solve the underlying issue here? If you just keep banning the bots without dealing with the source then you're just chasing your own tail. The guild leader as gone on record here saying he does not care about it and will most likely keep doing it.