Comments on: Enhancing Home’s Block Feature

By: Why I Left PlayStation Home | HomeStation Magazine

Why I Left PlayStation Home | HomeStation Magazine — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 18:59:04 +0000

[…] which could be abused or damage the system. I wrote about this last year (you can read it here if you want to), and a whole lot of other people have written on the same subject.Is it possible […]

By: cthulu93

cthulu93 — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 14:41:50 +0000

Well i don’t think that there is a definition of what constitutes a troll that will satisfy everyone so anyone on your proposed list might not really be a troll.I’m also kind of curious as to what purposes a list would or could be used for?Additionally it would have to be understood that any list would never be complete as there are new trolls being made every min.,even if some of them are just troll side accounts.The list would require constant additions and possible subtractions,unless your saying someone’s temporary actions,trolling,qualify them to be labeled as a troll forever which would take no account of a persons ability to change or to be rehabilitated.Trolling is a mindset and the best way i know of to stop it is to change the trolls mind about it’s benefits to them.But i really am curious about the purposes of this list,please elaborate.

By: lee

lee — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 12:37:42 +0000

You should post a list of known Trollers

By: Travis-Travis

Travis-Travis — Sun, 29 May 2011 13:40:55 +0000

tl;dr

The old rule of “don’t feed the trolls” doesn’t work on Home. If you decide not to respond to them, they know you’re still there. It’s not like an internet forum in which the troll doesn’t know if you’re still there or not. If you just stand there--or do the total noob thing and let them know that you’re muting them--you’re just continuing to validate them.

But, by all means, keep standing there and taking it. Might as well be hand-feeding my lovlies.

By: Kassadee Marie

Kassadee Marie — Sun, 29 May 2011 05:18:30 +0000

In my near one year of experience on Home, I don’t believe that I have ever been harassed by anyone wearing anything but default clothes. So these people are either not spending money on Home or they are making trolling accounts. If Sony bans the ones not spending money, there’s no loss of revenue to them. Yes, they may be spending money on other PSN content. In that case, they are falling under the second category, of people making trolling accounts. There has to be real threat of “bricking” for these people to feel a loss. I firmly believe this fear will be a deterrent and the occasional loss of their revenue will be more than made up for by the people who will enjoy Home more, stay longer and spend money.

By: CrimsonWhimsy

CrimsonWhimsy — Sat, 28 May 2011 16:41:41 +0000

As our virtual selves become more and more realistic I see this as a growing problem, and likely to have repercussions in the real world. I also think it will ultimately need to be addressed in a more real-world fashion with concrete penalties and suspensions for harassers.

The first step is more moderation (I know, not simple), followed by a system that can really ban an offender from returning easily. The “ghosting” idea is interesting, but I really think it’d only be effective if the ghost effect goes both ways, as mentioned above, and is not the answer alone: It needs to be made clear in no uncertain terms that this is not acceptable, and I believe that will have to involve fear of real world penalties.

As for the ignore and report tactic — this is what I tend to do myself, but we should not *have* to. I think especially of friends and relatives who are survivors of rape or abuse, and a very little bit of this type of behavior can rip open very bad psychological places. we all deserve a safe, comfortable virtual environment.. if it can’t be that, what’s the point?

By: Olivia_Allin

Olivia_Allin — Sat, 28 May 2011 06:07:00 +0000

Save Home, starve a troll

By: cthulu93

cthulu93 — Sat, 28 May 2011 05:03:36 +0000

*Strikes

By: xx96791DEATHxx

xx96791DEATHxx — Fri, 27 May 2011 21:34:44 +0000

Operation DNFTT has begun….

By: cthulu93

cthulu93 — Fri, 27 May 2011 17:18:06 +0000

Found that quote here it is in it’s full form “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”- Edmund Burke

I’m glad i looked this up because Edmund Burke is someone i knew little about yet after reading some of his essays i can say that he seems to be a very interesting guy.

By: Burbie52

Burbie52 — Fri, 27 May 2011 14:55:08 +0000

Good idea Nos. Mutual ghosting would help I think. But in the long run I think everyone should always report first, so that Sony has something to go on and perma ban them after 3 strikes, which I think should be the rule still. If they simply jump to another account, then start again, that is when the bricking would apply. I think if Sony made the general populace in Home more aware that any form of harassment, be it stalking, verbal abuse or other forms will not be tolerated anymore the trolls would start to take notice quickly. This could be done by putting up signs in plaza (more than the one near the dance floor) that clearly state the TOS about this particular subject and its consequences. It could also be posted by the moderators in the forums as well in large bold print that won’t be easily ignored and on the blog as well. Very few read the TOS and those of us that have find in so full of info that the actual rules get lost in the reading. So I think a simple, clear posting to help to spread the word about trolling, stalking or any other form of harassment and its consequences is long overdo.

By: cthulu93

cthulu93 — Fri, 27 May 2011 14:52:27 +0000

Just to clarify as there seems to be some confusion as to what i’m actually talking about here.When i said i feed the trolls til’ they’re full i meant nothing more than engaging a troll in conversation and trying to show him the error of his/her ways.This is a time consuming activity as it usually requires at least 15 min. or more per troll and as we know you can encounter an endless supply of them.The convo. has the added benefit of having a real chance of convincing the troll to permanently stop their offending ways.Far from passing the problem on to some1 else,as i feel doing nothing does as the troll then seeks a more engaging target,talking to them is the best way i know to rehabilitate these ppl.Of course it doesn’t always work,probably only in the area of 30% success rate in my experience,but by not feeding the troll he is almost certain to seek new prey.I’ll try a quote here but this may not be exact,”All evil needs to succeed is for good men/women to do nothing.”Not sure who said it but i agree.

By: cthulu93

cthulu93 — Fri, 27 May 2011 08:06:20 +0000

Actually i don’t disagree with anything you said very much,i’ve only suggested that some ppl are “growing a thicker skin” because as things are now it’s the best some of us can do.An increased mod presence is comforting visually but i think i explained the process above somewhere about how easy it is for a troll to get into account #2,#3,#4,#5,etc.I don’t enjoy having to do the things i’ve talked about but atm and until Sony makes trolling a brickable offense,either immediately or after so many stikes,what else can we do that will work 100% of the time.The answer to that is nothing,i freely admitted above somewhere that the way i talked about wasn’t for every1 and i didn’t say it was for every1,i also said that doing nothing worked in some cases,i also freely admitted that there are some trolls that neither way would work on.I think we all want the same thing here,namely grief free experiences on Home,ppl just have different ways of attempting to attain that goal.

By: cthulu93

cthulu93 — Fri, 27 May 2011 07:41:15 +0000

My new favorite idea.

By: NorseGamer

NorseGamer — Fri, 27 May 2011 07:35:28 +0000

The fact that I trained in (and taught) martial arts for self-defense does not eliminate the responsibility of the society’s elected leadership to provide a visible and effective means of deterrence (police) for the purpose of maintaining law, order and a certain acceptable level of minimal civility.

Virtual societies are no different.

Fixing oneself, as you point out, is good for personal equilibrium. That said, I don’t expect to get mugged, assaulted or harassed every time I leave my house, despite the fact that I’ve prepared for it. Yet in Home, I personally do have to anticipate unprovoked rude, harsh, intrusive and obscene behavior practically every time I sign in. And what I’ve seen women have to endure in Home is deplorable.

Irish hit the nail on the head, as far as I’m concerned. Home is a brilliant experience, and its biggest failing or drawback is, ironically, some of its users. The “grow a thicker skin” argument, for me personally, doesn’t cut it. Simple business logic suggests that providing a higher level of protection against social harassment will lead to longer user sessions and more revenue generation. Cynella wrote a brilliant article on this subject — “Banning the Unbannable” — back in the very early days of HSM.

While I’m glad that some people in this discussion are capable of ignoring harassing and obscene behavior in Home with relative ease, it is remarkably callous to suggest that everyone else should simply be capable of doing the same.

With regard to Sony being able to brick your PS3 remotely: yes, they have the capability to do so, if absolutely necessary. The MAC ban is the single strongest tool they have. Granted, they have economic incentive to not do so, because of the potential for lost revenue down the road. That said, when it comes to dealing with obscene or harassing behavior, I’m all for a more draconian Home. Cthulu93, 99Victor and perhaps a few others in this discussion will disagree with me, but I personally see nothing wrong with it if it leads to a more civil and mature Home experience.

By: Nos

Nos — Fri, 27 May 2011 06:07:34 +0000

Within* (sorry)

By: Nos

Nos — Fri, 27 May 2011 06:05:57 +0000

Ghosting is ok, but who wants a ghost avatar hanging around? Or two? Or ten?
The only way to really make it beneficial, would be to have the target troll and your avatar mutually ghosted and muted/ignored/blocked if the feature is activated. No one is going to try to troll a non-responsive ghost, knowing they are test-bubbleless ghosts themselves.
The Homelings are troll magnets. We have been dealing with this for years on a large scale. And no matter how efficient we become at dealing with them, it would be very well to be able to end it in an instant.
The Homeling Collective has whole groups dedicated to the harassment and indeed, the intent to destroy us via trolling within Home and near illegal practices beyond into other venues -- Facebook, YouTube, blogspot, Home-based websites, etc. Some of these even go as far as to make public personal information of individuals -- ip addresses, real life photos, google map screencaps of work places and home locations, etc. If there were no way to interact with a target withing Home, there would be no fun or reason to take it elsewhere.
Or, at least, significantly less so.

By: 99Victor

99Victor — Thu, 26 May 2011 18:22:21 +0000

Thats what Im here for.

By: cthulu93

cthulu93 — Thu, 26 May 2011 16:34:08 +0000

Irl i’d agree with that statement but here we’re basically talking about Sony’s property.They own the network and can pretty much do w/e they want so Burbie’s suggestion might be the best deal we get.It eliminates the problem without harming the falsely accused,if done as she posted.Now while i say i agree with it i doubt it will get adopted,as it would potentially turn alot of ppl away,through bans,which translates into lost revenue.But if i’m wrong about Sony wanting to get tough about this then i think this is the best plan i’ve heard so far for them to pursue and for us to live under.I know all that sounds like a hedge but that’s how i feel as of this moment,tomorrow i may feel different if i hear a better plan.

By: cthulu93

cthulu93 — Thu, 26 May 2011 15:23:45 +0000

Idk for sure but have heard from pretty reliable ppl that this is true.In every case that i was told about,which is about 4or5 4th hand stories so take it for that,it was for gamesharing.I’m sure that in the fine print somewhere,either the 1’s in your PS3 or the TOS for the network,there’s something that says they can do it in”Legalese”,if it’s truly possible.As for breaking them for profit,well that’s so devious that i would think that someone would have said something to someone in charge about it,and to date i’ve never heard that before.Gotta congrat you though,that’s something i’ve never even considered,i thank you for giving me something to think about.