GuildWiki:Wikia staff noticeboard/Resolved2

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Annoying Ad
Lately I have been seeing a particularly annoying advertisement popping up which I feel is both "Inappropriate" (flashing animation w/rainbow colors) and somewhat smutty as well. Its banner reads "Calculate the exact name of your lover!" or something to that effect, while two static cutouts "kiss" in the background. I can't get the target link for the ad, since it's made in Flash and thus a "Properties" isn't obtainable through a simple right-mouse click, and this sort of ad almost always leads to sites which could compromise your Internet security...not to mention the ad already hints at what sorts of top-quality content could be found there. It may not be explicitly pornographic, but I think this toes the line of acceptable/tasteful content. (T/C) 05:50, 12 November 2007 (UTC)


 * I need the URL it points to to be able to block it. You might be able to get that by viewing the html source of the page if it isn't right-clickable. Angela 12:41, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

Questionable "sponsors" ad
On the sidebar, under "sponsors" noted an advert claiming to offer "Download Guild Wars", this caught my interest as ArenaNet would be the only source for downloading the GW client. The link has the claim "Stop paying for new games! One time fee to download for life", my concern is that this may either be a scam (pay them a fee just to to download the GW client), or an illegal software site (though, without a valid product key, don't think you'd get far). The link was. --Wolfie (talk|contribs) 05:22, 13 November 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks for reporting it. I'll have that one blocked. Angela 12:46, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

farming bot ads
One of the Ebay farming bot ads is sported right at the bottom of this page, as I'm typing this... It advertises 4 (random?) GW-related things offered on Ebay, 2 of which were farming bots. Type "guild wars" into an Ebay search and you will get a million hits, half of which will be bots. Nothing from Ebay should ever make it onto a wiki page, since Ebay is swarming with illegal bots and gold traders. In one of the reviews I saw a person complaining that they got permanently banned for using this particular bot, on a 2 year-old fully developed account. And I thought to myself "How naive did you have to be to buy a bot and not expect this to happen?" Too bad, he lost 2 years worth of play and over $100 worth of software for being greedy. Here is the current ad's url: http://gmodules.com/ig/proxy?url=http://thumbs.ebay.com/pict/110192351486.jpg If possible, can you block anything that says "ebay" anywhere in the link? Thanks. RoseOfKali 03:15, 15 November 2007 (UTC)
 * Here's another, with different content, same ad template: http://gmodules.com/ig/proxy?url=http://thumbs.ebay.com/pict/330187609953.jpg. Please block anything with "ebay" in the string, since they seem to be randomly generated.  RoseOfKali [[Image:RoseOfKaliSIG.jpg]] 03:18, 15 November 2007 (UTC)
 * Does the community as a whole really want the whole of ebay blocked? It seems better as a first step to just block the problem ads themselves... what do you think? -- Sannse 12:29, 19 November 2007 (UTC)
 * The ads are randomly generated (the string of 12 numbers in the end), which means you will block one out of 10^12 permutations, which is wasted effort. And like I said, Ebays sells more bots than any other GW-related merchandise, so yes, block them ALL, or don't bother. RoseOfKali [[Image:RoseOfKaliSIG.jpg]] 03:06, 20 November 2007 (UTC)
 * I thought that "farm", "farming", "run", "running", "gold", etc. were automatic red flags which caused ads to be blocked...we don't have to block all of Ebay unless their permutation program is advanced enough to do stuff like "Sell B0T for GW" (with a zero). [[Image:Entropy Sig.jpg]] (T/C) 04:56, 20 November 2007 (UTC)
 * And this is coming from a person who got offended by a "Love Button" ad. :P (No offense, just find it funny ^_^).  I thought that you block the address of the ad, which just says "blablablaebayblablasomenumbers" and has none of those flag words in it.  Or does the blocking software analyze the ad's content? That would be too advanced for a free website.  All in all, I will repeat myself again: Ebay has hundreds of, dare I stress, illegal bots up for sale as soon as you type "guild wars" in the search.  It should not be anywhere near a wiki site that supposedly promotes honest gaming.  It's not even about honesty as much as it is about the fact that any player will get banned for using one, thus, a wiki should not provide a direct link to such things.  Just try the search yourself and you will see what I'm talking about. RoseOfKali [[Image:RoseOfKaliSIG.jpg]] 05:31, 20 November 2007 (UTC)
 * I remember reading that Wikia blocks any ad that contains "gold" in some form or other. I don't think it's possible through image scanning or anything, but for any sort of text or code it would be easily checked...meh. Also, I'm not sure that we should be responsible for players' actions. It's obvious that our ads aren't things that we support or endorse. If someone was dumb enough to use an illegal bot advertised through EBay, that is their stupid decision and they deserve to be banned for it. If they claimed "well I saw an ad on Gwiki!" then that is a lame excuse...
 * Still, considering how strongly we police the gold ads, I guess you have a point. It is to some extent our responsibility to promote positive GW stuff. We certainly don't allow pages for illegal third-party software or mods (though we have some that are...questionably used...) [[Image:Entropy Sig.jpg]] (T/C) 05:38, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

Also, I just noticed that the links I provided only lead you to the thumbnail image that was displayed next to the sale items list, so the ad is not a single banner, it's a combo of several "frames" or whatever you want to call them. I would have given you all the links had I noticed this earlier. My bad. My argument is still correct, though. Wiki should not provide a link to a site that is swarming with illegal bots. Don't know how else to convince you. If someone wants to shop Ebay, then can go there directly at their own discretion. Everyone knows about it anyway. RoseOfKali 05:42, 20 November 2007 (UTC)


 * Yes, we block ads with the word "gold" (although the people writing the ads do all they can to bypass such filters of course!). I've mailed the guy that looks after our ads, and asked for a block on ebay or, if he thinks it is worth trying, a block on "bots", "farm" and "farming".  I'll let you know what I hear back -- Sannse 12:01, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks. RoseOfKali [[Image:RoseOfKaliSIG.jpg]] 20:00, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

Another bad ad


I find the ad's language to be coarse, if implicit. "The Love Button - Push Me Hard!" just doesn't seem to convey the sort of attitude we want here. (T/C) 05:42, 15 November 2007 (UTC)


 * Again here, I have to ask if this is considered offensive by the majority here? We are happy to block anything that offends the majority of wiki users, or violates the rules of the game, but obviously we can't account for every taste, or we would never have ads at all.  (wait! is that the plan!? ;) -- Sannse 12:32, 19 November 2007 (UTC)


 * To be honest I'm of the mind that ALL ads catering to sexually deprived/depraved preteens should be blocked anyways. Companies like that don't deserve to live... [[Image:Entropy Sig.jpg]] (T/C) 04:58, 20 November 2007 (UTC)


 * Actually, this ad had nothing to do with sex or explicit images. All it did was trick you into thinking it will give you your "true love's" name, while gathering a bunch of your information for sale.  They made the ad seem like it leads to explicit content just so people would click it in the first place.  RoseOfKali [[Image:RoseOfKaliSIG.jpg]] 05:37, 20 November 2007 (UTC)


 * It's still harmful, then. Information sale over the internets is a dangerous business to put yourself into, especially unknowingly. [[Image:Entropy Sig.jpg]] (T/C) 05:39, 20 November 2007 (UTC)


 * True, but wiki is not responsible for police-ing people who can't recognize a phish, whether in E-mail or on a site. That should be common sense to any internet user.  However, a guild wars wiki IS responsible for guild wars related illegal software ads, or directly explicit content, etc. RoseOfKali [[Image:RoseOfKaliSIG.jpg]] 05:46, 20 November 2007 (UTC)


 * That's a thin line to walk between what's obvious and what's not obvious, isn't it? What exactly are we responsible for policing - just Guild Wars related stuff and what we deem as "obviously malicious/inappropriate"? That seems like a double standard... [[Image:Entropy Sig.jpg]] (T/C) 05:50, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

All I'm trying to say is that this one was a drop in the ocean. These things are all over the internet. I have nothing against blocking them, but it just seems like wasted effort. On the side note: thanks for all your contributions, Entropy. I seem them all over both GW wikis, and you are a valuable user. Not many people honestly give a d@mn about this :P, except for when they want to see a pretty picture or find a trick on how to beat a mission. RoseOfKali 05:59, 20 November 2007 (UTC)


 * I blame society for acclimating us to seeing shitsauce adds on all sorts of otherwise clean and legitimate websites. Point taken.
 * Uh, I don't contribute to GWW or PvXWiki at all. That must be someone else. (Damn, they stole my username!) [[Image:Entropy Sig.jpg]] (T/C) 06:04, 20 November 2007 (UTC)


 * Agreed. I just find things like this sort of "benign" anymore.  The worst it could do is spam your E-mail inbox or wake you up at 8am with a sale call if you're silly enough to give a phone #.  Explicit content is always offensive, though.  As well as it really sux to get banned permanently.
 * Hehe, maybe I'm just so used to seeing your name that it seems like it's everywhere. :P Your sig stands out.  RoseOfKali [[Image:RoseOfKaliSIG.jpg]] 06:14, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

Ebay ads
Hi all, Michael tells me he has blocked these. If you see any more, please let me know. If possible, please right-click on the ad and give me the url shown for Image Properties - Location, or for the text link. It's also useful to know what page you saw the ad on. Thanks -- Sannse 20:56, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

error while opening page
ERROR The requested URL could not be retrieved

While trying to retrieve the URL: http://gw.gamewikis.org/

The following error was encountered:

Unable to forward this request at this time. This request could not be forwarded to the origin server or to any parent caches. The most likely cause for this error is that:

The cache administrator does not allow this cache to make direct connections to origin servers, and All configured parent caches are currently unreachable. Your cache administrator is technical@wikia.com.

Generated Fri, 23 Nov 2007 15:04:42 GMT by www.wikia.com (squid/2.6.STABLE16) Pul 15:11, 23 November 2007 (UTC)


 * Hi, did you get this once? or many times?  Was it after clicking a link? or using a bookmark? What was the URL you were trying to go to?  And finally, what browser do you use?  Thanks! -- Sannse 16:22, 23 November 2007 (UTC)
 * It apeared when i clicked on a link, but when i typed in http://gw.gamewikis.org i got the same error, as if the server couldn't handel my request. when i tried again a few minutes later everything was back to normal. I used IE7 when i got this error, didn't try it with FF becouse i don't think its a browser isue.Pul 19:49, 23 November 2007 (UTC)
 * I'd probably diagnose the problem as "IE7" --Gimmethegepgun 20:00, 23 November 2007 (UTC)
 * lol Pul 10:19, 24 November 2007 (UTC)
 * hrh, go Firefox! Pul, it sounds like a transitory error, which could even be with one of the connection points between you and Wikia, rather than the server setup here.  Please let me know if you keep seeing it.  And if anyone else sees it, please say too!  Thanks again -- 84.66.243.159 15:59, 24 November 2007 (UTC)