Randomly banned while leading PUG group. Have not received any notifications from ZOS.

Telel · May 21

Today I did my best to lead groups while my team was out numbered, and dealing with a lot of trolls. Trolls spamming zone trying to get me to bite back at them so they can mass report me and get me banned.

When this happens i turn zone off, and occasionally post that if other groups need us to coordinate they can whisper. I also explain I have to do this because trolls are trying to get me banned.

I never confront them directly. At worst i ask them once to stop harassing me, put me on mute, and let me play my game. This has not worked, and the harassment has continued. Sometimes for years from at least one particular person.

Today just was I was wrapping up my stream to go do with a minor RL issue I was kicked from the server. I can not log back in and i am getting a notification I am now banned. But I have received no emial of any kind explaining what I have done.

I can't even appeal the matter. Nor do I imagine I'll ever actually know what I supposedly did that got some hostile entity to target me in this manner. But I have the entire stream up, salt and all, for review.

Telel · May 21

It's been over half an hour since I was forcibly removed from the game, and my group was forced to disband.

I have not received any emial as to why. Not even in my junk folders.

RaikaNA · May 21

You may need to send @ZOS_Kevin a message about your in-game ban. I think he can help you out.

Telel · May 21

Thank you. I'll do that now. Especially after a quick review of the footage showed my viewership spiked just before this happened.

Normally I only have a couple of out of game guildies watching. Unless I'm getting stream sniped then it's one or two more. Right before this went down the viewer numbers doubled. Then died off the moment my ,delayed, stream hit my amused annoyance at this bother.

I think someone was hoping for a more dramatic response to this unpleasant event.

Luneca · May 22

AD is that toxic of a place? Wow. EP is so much better tbh.

There's also the added benefit of not having to deal with me firing siege. Though I only have 3 coldfires left.

fizl101 · May 22

Raise an account recovery ticket with all the details. You dont need to be able to log into your account for this https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/#en/answer/44105

ZOS_Icy · May 22

Greetings,

This thread has been moved to the General Help section, as it is better suited there.

The Elder Scrolls Online Team

Telel · May 22

fizl101 wrote: »

Raise an account recovery ticket with all the details. You dont need to be able to log into your account for this https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/#en/answer/44105

Did that too right after I made this thread.

Luneca wrote: »

AD is that toxic of a place? Wow. EP is so much better tbh.

There's also the added benefit of not having to deal with me firing siege. Though I only have 3 coldfires left.

I much prefer playing on hard mode. WHich is why I stick with AD.

Sadly twelve hours in, and still no automated email informing me of anything.

Telel · May 22

Finally saw something when i went to check on my appeal. There was another notification dated from yesterday that claims I was banned for....advertising. But it just showed the address people used to access my guild's discord channel for voice coms.

I have done was the same thing I've been doing for a decade of leading PUG groups. Posting the temporary discord link that'd let the randoms get in but not give them a permanent link. We've had issues with stalkers and some downright hostile entities in the past that necessitates this.

To say I am annoyed is an understatement. Because it seems that I am being threatened with a loss of 12 years of effort because of some algorithm that can't tell the difference between 'advertising' spam, and a discord link. A discord link that was posted purely to private group chat, and which I've never had issues with before.

On the bright side this does mean there's now a 50/50 chance of bad programming versus hostile bad actors abusing the system.

Still waiting on confirmation though. I also have yet to receive anything via an actual email. Plus my account remains locked.

ToddIngram · May 22

Telel wrote: »

Finally saw something when i went to check on my appeal. There was another notification dated from yesterday that claims I was banned for....advertising. But it just showed the address people used to access my guild's discord channel for voice coms.

I have done was the same thing I've been doing for a decade of leading PUG groups. Posting the temporary discord link that'd let the randoms get in but not give them a permanent link. We've had issues with stalkers and some downright hostile entities in the past that necessitates this.

To say I am annoyed is an understatement. Because it seems that I am being threatened with a loss of 12 years of effort because of some algorithm that can't tell the difference between 'advertising' spam, and a discord link. A discord link that was posted purely to private group chat, and which I've never had issues with before.

On the bright side this does mean there's now a 50/50 chance of bad programming versus hostile bad actors abusing the system.

Still waiting on confirmation though. I also have yet to receive anything via an actual email. Plus my account remains locked.

Is your account permanently banned or just 72 hours? As slow as ZOS customer service is these days the 72 hours will expire before you get a reply. And then they won't bother to reply because your ban has expired.

Soarora · May 22

That is scary. When I first heard of discord links becoming an offense, I was appalled. Lots of people use it, if we can’t send links then how are we supposed to link up… in an mmo? We’re mostly adults, if the link is sketchy then don’t click on it… or if you did and its sketchy, report the server to discord…

Besides, I thought it was clarified that its legal in group chat… (really it should be legal in general…).

Telel · May 22

ToddIngram wrote: »

Telel wrote: »

Finally saw something when i went to check on my appeal. There was another notification dated from yesterday that claims I was banned for....advertising. But it just showed the address people used to access my guild's discord channel for voice coms.

I have done was the same thing I've been doing for a decade of leading PUG groups. Posting the temporary discord link that'd let the randoms get in but not give them a permanent link. We've had issues with stalkers and some downright hostile entities in the past that necessitates this.

To say I am annoyed is an understatement. Because it seems that I am being threatened with a loss of 12 years of effort because of some algorithm that can't tell the difference between 'advertising' spam, and a discord link. A discord link that was posted purely to private group chat, and which I've never had issues with before.

On the bright side this does mean there's now a 50/50 chance of bad programming versus hostile bad actors abusing the system.

Still waiting on confirmation though. I also have yet to receive anything via an actual email. Plus my account remains locked.

Is your account permanently banned or just 72 hours? As slow as ZOS customer service is these days the 72 hours will expire before you get a reply. And then they won't bother to reply because your ban has expired.

Supposedly 72 hours.

But if they're going ot ban me everytime i have to share the link to multiple people randomly joining at different times....

I'll lose my account in a month or less because of this unless I just stop leading PUGs that're open to anyone who wants to PVP.

Grasshoppermouse · May 22

I just want to voice my opinion in case anyone with ESO who can impact these things is reading.

This is completely and utterly ridiculous. ESO is an MMO, and an important part of MMOs is being able to coordinate with other people to accomplish goals. For some reason I cannot fathom, ESO refuses to develop a proximity chat for PC. Typing in chat is not sufficient. While people are fighting a boss, the last thing anyone wants to do is to stop controlling their character to explain mechanics to someone. Everyone always says 'just use Discord' as a solution for this, but now, apparently, people are getting banned for that.

I don't care that it's only 72 hours. This is unacceptable and ESO needs to do something about it. We should not be forced to exclude people who are not guildmates from cooperative gameplay. Also, ESO needs to remember that if they expect people to buy crowns and spend money on this game, then they should create an environment where people can feel confident that they won't lose everything they sank money into on a whim. Yes, I understand there are circumstances where people need to be banned, but this should be used with extreme caution, because when ESO bans someone, they do not only lose the money that person would have spent, but also the money everyone else would have spent if they weren't reminded that it could all be taken away with no warning.

I have no problem spending money on cosmetics. I have no problem with buying crown crates. If I see something that looks cool, I'm fine with spending money on it, but I'm not fine with spending money on things in a game with bots banning people at random due to a faulty algorithm.

Telel · May 23

Over a full day now. Still no emails of any kind in junk or normal folder

No response to the ticket I made within minutes of this ban occurring.

No response to my own attempt to appeal the notification that I had to DIG For in order to see why I'd been banned. A notification most people wouldn't even have thought to look for let alone find.

All because I was trying to lead an open group in cyrodiil even the newest of players could join instead of just keeping things limited to a tiny clique of people. A group, by the way, that is often the only one on the map anyone can join if they wish to.

I can even show video of the exact actions I was undergoing when this all went down. But there's just, silence and no communication.

Telel · May 23

woke up this morning and checked the support section of my account. There was a boiler plate kind of reply marked at 4:15 A.M saying the ban and notice had been lifted. A couple hours later I finally received an email stating the same.

That email was the first I'd received on the matter.

So I've got no clue if a real person ever even got involved. But at least I get to log in and let people know the PUG groups will continue despite the algorithim siding with the purples.

However I now get to be worried about one more thing while trying to lead open groups. XD

But I'd like to thank all the folks who posted support and or concernes here or did so via more private venues. Especially you red and blue folks from the other team. Doubly so for the ones I've occasionally run over with a PUG zerg.