Anti-spamming rules for /ad /cad /bad

[Entity]

1 hour ago, knppel said:

No: You'd be able to DO it, yes, but you'd not be able to GET THE AD DISPLAYED.

For anyone who seriously runs a business the idea is to get the ad visible, not be rid of the oh so tedious task of posting it.

 

That is why any reasonable game designer doesn't even consider queues, they make the whole system so dumb that ultimately there's MORE effort needed to get your ad up in time, not less (as you need to queue it eventually hours upfront, and constantly pay attention to how many are in queue so you can calculate your air-time).

 

I get it looks super tempting at first glance to just at anytime queue your ad and be rid of it. But it has only downsides, latest when your ad pops 2 hours later when you long forgot about that you meant to buy a car and are already involved in a shootout when someone calls you'll notice too.

Other servers and games offer this experience, I am not missing it here.

 

Yeah, you made a really good point. After reading your reply, I went ahead and put down something that I've been looking into for a while now. That might be the only thing that will really work as the server continues to grow and the player base continues to expand. I don't know and don't think if this suggestion would work as there would still be a very gray area between what is considered acceptable and when that something becomes unacceptable. Obvious examples like the one above are already against the rules, if someone notices something like that they can /report and the person in question will definitely be talked to.

 

 

[knppel]

3 hours ago, Entity said:

Obvious examples like the one above are already against the rules,

This here obviously. It's one of the most easiest things to check up on- ads are visible to anybody ingame and logged with timestamp on discord.

Thus, actual spam like above where someone posts every three minutes for a considerable period can easily be spotted out.

 

Don't get me wrong, I do not think the current system is absolutely ideal, nor am I a big fan of first-come-first-serve-modes, of which the punctual posting of the ad when the last one cooled down is another one.

But having also tested a queue based ad system, I can guarantee you it's the best solution we have (left aside enhancing ads to a full scale ic level with newspaper notes all over, tv screens displaying commercial clips ingame, radios playing jingles, posters and billboards being present ic etc etc but that's a wet dream)

Edited April 12, 2021 by knppel

[DasFroggy]

Just prevent posting of any ads if they are not broken up by two other advertisements from mother sources or thirty minutes has gone by.

 

That would certainly open space for a variety of advertisements, while thinning the spam as a whole.

Edited April 12, 2021 by DasFroggy

[Sixty]

6 hours ago, Entity said:

The best way to handle this issue would be a queue system. Everyone would be able to do /ad, /bad and /cad whenever they want to, their advert would be in the queue (it would be removed if they disconnect) and whenever it is up, it would be posted. The difference would be that donators can add more items to the queue while non-donators will have to wait for their advert to be published or a certain time to pass before adding another one.

 

This way, the spam could be regulated. It would also allow people to view previous ads since they would have to be saved for a short amount of time before they are posted - it could be used backwards as well, in order to view the last X ads.

 

The rules already forbid the problem at hand but it's a gray area - people pay so that they can send more ads than normal, it's hard draw a line between what is a normal use of the perk and what is spam. The example above is clear but the vast majority of them aren't. The issue can only be properly fixed if the core problem is as well.  

Respectfully disagree with the queue system. It's been tried on other servers and it doesn't work. For personal and company ads? Maybe. For businesses? No. Imagine you're a business trying to post that you're currently open (with a /bad) and there are 20 other people in the queue. You're going to have me wait for an hour to post a business ad? What if I don't have 2 hours? Queues do nothing but clog up the system especially for servers with higher populations. We've hit 1000 people here recently. Imagine if even 10% of them had put an ad into the queue. That's 100 people in queue with the server global of 3 minutes per ad. That's 300 minutes. Even if some of them leave, its still causing a delay. While you may be okay with waiting 1-2 hours for an ad to post, I'm not. It sounds good on paper, but queues do not work. Nervous has also posted about this in previous discussions about new ad systems.

 

Spamming rules are already in place for spamming ads, but I've reported a lot of them and usually get a response back like, "We can see the chat. You didn't have to report it". This probably leads to a lot of people just not even trying. I think the effort from the staff team needs to be a little more consistent with this and not be so off-putting when its reported. I've been told that more than once by more than one staff member. While it is indeed true, staff is often busy and doesn't always handle what comes into chat. I don't see this as a reportable offense by a staff member, but it does create the overall impression that people shouldn't report these things because "staff members can see that chat". Just my two cents. 

Edited April 12, 2021 by Sixty

[orca112]

Quote

You must pick one type of advertisement (/ad, /cad or /bad) and stick to it. Players may not use other advertisement types to get around the scripted cooldown. Players also may not use other players to avoid cooldowns. 

 

Advertisements must not be spammed. Players are expected to be courteous when advertising. Posting several ads for the same business in a short period of time is considered a breach of this rule.

It is already in the server advertisement rules. If you see someone spamming their advertisements, report it to the admin team.

[Wuhtah]

L&A - different advertisement times have been added based on donation status!