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Agents Banned For No Activity or Exp. Points
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DaRu
DaRu
Well-Connected

Jul-14-2004 20:15

Recently I was harassed by a person who sent me a threatening message stating that he would be my worst nightmare, and then he continued to get sexual which scared me to death.When I clicked on his name to check his status, I noticed he was new, because there was zero activity period. At first I thought he was trying to be funny, and being the fun natured person I am,I tried to reply back being being funny, but this made matters worse, so after the second message,I blocked him, (thank goodness Ben put the blocks on for us), anyway, I learned from two other ladies that they recevied messages too. Another lady and myself reported him to Ben, and he banned his membership;. However,we've learned that he goes by four other names here, so here's what I'm getting at. I feel, if a person gets on here solely to cause trouble, and they don't have any activity going on, then they should be banned from playing. These message boards are for agents to share with each other about the game, to learn, and to be have clean fun.When others misuse these boards, or join only for the purpose of chatting or bugging agents, then they should be banned.What does everyone else think about this? This is just my thoughts. Hope to here your responses. Your friend, DaRu

Replies

Sleuth Admin
Sleuth Admin
Tale Spinner

Jul-15-2004 09:15

I do have the capability of banning individual IP addresses (the internet address that a computer uses when communicating with our site). In most cases that makes it impossible to use the same computer to log into the game. I don't like doing it very often because it runs the risk of banning other innocent players as well (on some ISPs, multiple computers share an IP address). I do review the list of people who are being ignored, periodically, and if I see one address that seems to be causing a lot of problems, I consider banning it.

I went ahead and banned the offending IPs in this case, on Tuesday. Let me know if anybody is still getting offensive messages from somebody they believe to be the same person and I'll investigate further.

Once again, I am very sorry to those of you who have had to put up with that kind of abuse. Unfortunately, the precieved anonymity of the internet sometimes encourages inappropriate behavior, however, I am taking the steps that I can to limit it.


DaRu
DaRu
Well-Connected

Jul-15-2004 18:35

Hello VIN, thank you for defending me, and I will watch your back too. I want to add to your comment that I didn't mean to ban newbies that are solving games, but only the ones that don't have any activity whatsoever. For instance, if we get a harassing popup, and click on their name, and see that they have been here a few days, but haven't solved any games, or have zero activity -0- under their ache type, then they are here soley for the purpose of abusing the message boards and agents. These are the ones that should be banned. I also agree with you CTOWN28, about the non-subscribers not using the popups, but I do feel they should be able to use the message boards, so they can ask for help, and to learn from. Now about multible accounts, I suggest that when someone signs up, that they should give their real email address, real name or birthdate, to help detour the ones that's creating several accounts. Anyway, BEN YOU'RE THE GENIUS AND MASTER OF SLEUTH, so you know what's best. Thank you for taking quick action against this person the other day. It really helps me feel safe knowing you're right here to aid in every situation. I will say this, that there's no mystery games, that is clean and fun such as SLEUTH. These past few months that I've played,it's been my secret hide-a-way, from the cares and worries of life. When I get on here,I'm in bliss as I solve my cases and visit with my new found friends, and it's owed to you. Again thanks!

Dudgeon
Dudgeon

Jul-15-2004 19:34

I know there are concerns with people using the pop-ups, but I have to throw in my two cents here. I wasn't subscribed, but I got hooked into the game through people talking to me via the pop-ups. Now I'm in an agency and subscribed. So while there are drawbacks, there are also positives...

DaRu
DaRu
Well-Connected

Jul-15-2004 21:28

LOL, I knew I shouldn't have come back tonight and checked to see if anyone else replied. Hello Dudgeon, you've made a good point. I was trying to think of ways to ward off those with bad intentions of using the popups and messages boards, but if they come in here to check out the game and show interest, then it's a good thing.

Elsey
Elsey

Jul-15-2004 21:31

Perhaps the idea of several days with no experience could be a good one. Perhaps, when they sign up, something will be there stating that if they do not gain experience within, say 3 days, thier account will be deleted? Keep the popups, keep the message boards. The idea of the email address is good, except, what about people like me, who HAVE multiple names. This is for boredom. If i complete all 8 of my allowed games, and still have time to kill, I get onto my unsubscribed character and kill time there.

DaRu
DaRu
Well-Connected

Jul-15-2004 21:39

Hello Ben, I thought of something. What about adding a feature to where visitors can select play as a GUEST, say for a one week's trial, allowing them to use all features, but to keep rift raft out, still make them sign on using their real email address or birthdate, then if they want to join, they can still use the same name when they join for good, or subscribe. Did that make sense? I know when I've played games at playsite, or gamesville, I had to give my email address;and, I think birthdate.

Sleuth Admin
Sleuth Admin
Tale Spinner

Jul-16-2004 09:33

Well additional hurdles such as birthdate and email just make it slightly harder to register new users, I've worked for a few companies who use similar strategies, and they don't really even to slow down abuse accounts. It's too easy to sign up for new email addresses at yahoo, or other free mail providers. What those hurdles do, however, is make it inconvenient for first time players, to the point that a certain percentage of them decide it's not worth the trouble, and leave before they try the game at all.

Auto-banning players who go several days without gaining any experience seems like it would just encourage people to make brand new detectives. Since that only takes 30 seconds or so, I don't really see how that would help.


DaRu
DaRu
Well-Connected

Jul-16-2004 09:56

Well, I suppose it's impossible to detour it, and like I stated earlier, you know all about the in's and outs, what works and doesn't, so the thing for me to do is relax, and rely on my block button, which is the best resources anyway; plus, coupled with fact that we have you here (live), to keep things running smoothly. If it should happen again, I'll ignore it.

Jojo
Jojo
Old Shoe

Jul-17-2004 15:12

Could you make it so you read all messages sent, Ben? That way once certain words/phrases are used that are inappropriate, you could warn/delete that user. Or do you already have something like this in affect? (or is it effect? Whatever!)

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