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In-game chat link bans

ussackermanussackerman Member Posts: 275 Bug Hunter
in PC Gameplay Bug Reports
I personally have not been affected by this, but it seems that people are getting banned for submitting any type of link in the in-game chat. This is including links to such sites as:

YouTube
STO Reddit site
STOBuilds Reddit site
Official ArcGames STO Forums

For details, please see the following thread at the STO Reddit: https://m.reddit.com/r/sto/comments/4sgbrw/psa_do_not_post_youtube_links_ingameis_this_a_bug/

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    sgtfloydpepper#7911 sgtfloydpepper
    sgtfloydpepper#7911
         Member Posts: 1,111 Arc User
    Out of curiousity, was this just zone chat or any channel?
    1xe027q.png
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    unsacredgraveunsacredgrave Member Posts: 150 Arc User
    sgtfloydpepper#7911 wrote: »
    Out of curiousity, was this just zone chat or any channel?

    its any channel, even tells. apperently its enough to write just "www" (without "). you get a warning, if you post again you get an instant perma ban. its ridiculous. I suspect there must have been dozens or maybe hundrets of people banned already but there is no communication about this. meanwhile the real scammers are laughing because they obfuscate their links so they are being untouched.
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    nitefiuunitefiuu Member Posts: 253 Arc User
    wow, there are far better ways to filter out scammers than blacklisting words, its never gonna work vs the targeted foes and will only ban the actual player-base who would actually pay and play sto :neutral:
    Battle Trek Online: KILL EVERYTHING
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    sgtfloydpepper#7911 sgtfloydpepper
    sgtfloydpepper#7911
         Member Posts: 1,111 Arc User
    Strange, cuz a lot of my fleet-mates post links all the time in our fleet channel, especially youtube links and never been banned or blacklisted for any reason.
    1xe027q.png
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    crypticspartan#0627 crypticspartan
    crypticspartan#0627
         Member Posts: 847 Cryptic Developer
    As LaughingTrendy has been stating elsewhere:

    If you got auto-banned due to posting a link in chat, PLEASE be sure to contact our support team support.arcgames.com
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    ddesjardinsddesjardins Member Posts: 3,056 Media Corps
    This wasn't intentional. We use chat to send each other to builds, forums and wiki references. Getting a warning for linking to the main site is at best funny, at worst a CS nightmare.
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    unsacredgraveunsacredgrave Member Posts: 150 Arc User
    edited July 2016
    This auto-ban system exists at least since 2013. I think the intention was to ban all the gold sellers, but ironically it just hits innocent players. as the gold spammers dont realy care, they just get a new account or simply obfuscate their "advertisement". theoretically you can get people insta banned just by asking what kind of spam they received. instead of the admin channel the warning message is delivered on the system channel, wich most players have disabled or do not look at. this system is ridiculous, there is no human involved who reviews if a ban is the correct action. this chat filter could also simply block messages with prohibited words instead of instant banning, but I guess no one thought of that. And today this system went amok; would be a good oportunity to remove it for good.

    I suggest to read this thread, than you will understand what a fail this auto-ban system is:
    http://forum.arcgames.com/startrekonline/discussion/1113807/banned-for-talking-with-fleetmates-about-spam-mail


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    frtoasterfrtoaster Member Posts: 3,352 Arc User
    So is it safe to post links in STO chat and mail yet? I've been avoiding posting links for two weeks. It would be nice to receive some official word on whether this issue has been fixed.
    Waiting for a programmer ...
    qVpg1km.png
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    doogie74doogie74 Member Posts: 103 Arc User
    edited July 2016
    frtoaster wrote: »
    So is it safe to post links in STO chat and mail yet? I've been avoiding posting links for two weeks. It would be nice to receive some official word on whether this issue has been fixed.

    I have posted links in the past two weeks and I have not been banned.
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    frtoasterfrtoaster Member Posts: 3,352 Arc User
    edited July 2016
    doogie74 wrote: »
    frtoaster wrote: »
    So is it safe to post links in STO chat and mail yet? I've been avoiding posting links for two weeks. It would be nice to receive some official word on whether this issue has been fixed.

    I have posted links in the past two weeks and I have not been banned.

    That's good to hear, but if I understood correctly, some links were triggering the ban, but not others. It's not clear to me whether you've just been lucky or whether they've actually fixed the issue. Official confirmation from Cryptic or PWE would be appreciated.
    Post edited by frtoaster on
    Waiting for a programmer ...
    qVpg1km.png
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    robothitchhikerrobothitchhiker Member Posts: 277 Bug Hunter
    From July 12, https://www.reddit.com/r/sto/comments/4sgbrw/psa_do_not_post_youtube_links_ingameis_this_a_bug/d59f0zp
    It looks like there was a change to our system that converted special characters to "www" for the blacklist. As we know, "www" is kinda a common string, which inevitably resulted in the bans that happened. I have since ensured that this change was reverted.
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