Great Conversation with a Member of the VMK Team

[bytheblood]

Apologies up-front for any typos. I already took my contacts out and everything is fuzzy.


I spoke to a member of the VMK Team and wanted to share what I thought as a positive conversation with my fellow VMKers here on the Dis.

To make a 30-minute conversation very short....

I called VMK and left a message about a question I wanted an answer to. I received a return call yesterday and had a great conversation with a man on the team. He was not very friendly, per se, but he was informative and to the point. My favorite kind of person.

He answered my questions and then some. I learned a little (and I mean very little) about some upcoming additions to VMK , but we also had a long talk about reporting, moderation, scamming and generic responses.

After the phone conversation I had with him, I feel more confident that VMK is trying to cut down on the bay.be, mummy, duh duh, taken, asleep, boys & girls, name calling, racism and mostly scamming that is taking place in VMK.

I also now feel that the best way to get a good solid response is with a phone call and not the "contact us" link.

We discussed the generic responses in both the VMK "call for help" option as well as the "contact us" link. He put it into this perspective: You have about 5500 players on VMK at once, in addition to all the people who just want free vitual stuff, plus all of the accounts which are not logged in that exists, some sending messages via the internet and a small team of moderators. It is not possible for the moderators or hosts to take care of everything at once, but they do check it out. He also said that generally the generic response comes from a member of the team that recieves the requests and then they are escalated and assigned to somebody else.

He said sometimes it can take up to a month (or even longer) to investigate, depending on the severity of the concern/issue. He mentioned that scamming takes the longest time to investigate and said that if you report somebody for scamming and they are not gone right away, it does not mean that they will not be banned or that they are getting away with it, but that their activity is being watched, how many accounts they are creating is being watched, who they are trading with and where those accounts are coming from is being watched, etc.

In regards to the generic response on the report button, he told me that the responses are a blanket reply, (click of a button on their part) but the chat history is checked and action will be taken. It might not always be right away, but they take the Disney reputation seriously and want VMK to be safe for all children. He said that if anything makes you uncomfortable or you feel it does not belong in VMK, it should be reported with as many details as possible. There are a lot more of us then there is of them and they depend on the players of VMK to let them know when things are not right so they can take action.

Before our call was over, he did tell me that each night, they have a small team of people that check the chat history on all players and look for anything that does not belong in VMK. They make record of this, who the offenders are, etc. He also said that they are getting tighter on the VMK Values and scamming and that banning is going to be taken very seriously, even to the point of a lifetime ban of that users PC if necessary.

So anyhow, there was quite a bit more to the conversation, but that touches on the main points. Just thought I would share.

Man, my eyes are killing me now. I knew I should have waited to take my contacts out.

 

[_Twinks&Spinks_]

Cool! This should be a great explanation to all the people that think the staff does not do anything to help VMK get better, get rid of bay be, duh duh, mummy, taken etc.

 

[bytheblood]

It has certainly raised my confidence in their team.

Maybe we can all give them a little break.

 

[_Twinks&Spinks_]

We sure can..must be a difficult job trying to meet our needs and making the game run smoothly at the same time.

 

[rosesredrosered]

Thanks for posting this information bytheblood! A lot of people need to see this, as I have seen many complaints about VMK staff's responsiveness. I'm happy to know that the staff members are working hard.

 

[amazingsuperpixie]

Good thing to keep in mind especially with our own bad apple on the board. Makes me confident knowing that staff are always on their toes and really are doing stuff, but there ARE a whoooole lot of people on VMK, so I can't even fathom keeping track of all of us!

 

[Panda]

I also now feel that the best way to get a good solid response is with a phone call and not the "contact us" link.

Yes I agree that would be nice but all of us are not privy to the phone number. Is it something you can share with us?

 

[bytheblood]

Yes I agree that would be nice but all of us are not privy to the phone number. Is it something you can share with us?

This phone number is and has been available in the VMK players guide.

 

[Pirate Me]

Thanks for sharing.

 

[mking624]

It's good to hear some of this stuff.

However, I still am not that confident in their "research" of scams and watching accounts, chat logs, etc. Case in point....Mal. She contacted VMK regarding her inferno, and was met with a reply that basically in a not-so-subtle way implied that she was lying about what happened. Instead of actually researching things, all they did was see that she traded the inferno from one account to another and then jumped to conclusions off that instead of looking further and realizing what happened after that. Or other cases where people report stuff and they come back with a reply that they checked the chat log, saw nothing, and now there's a warning for false reporting. Perhaps if things like that weren't occuring, I'd feel more confident in what this man was telling you...but I guess there's some skepticism on my part when he says they research stuff, etc, and I see situations where that's not the case.

 

[JojoMin]

Thanks bytheblood to share this information! I'm happy to know that the staff members are working hard.

 

[GBShorts]

they read EVERY player's chat log every night????



I find that astounding...and slightly unbelieveable (unbelievable? I'm lazy).

Well, if they ARE doing as they say, that's just... wow. Why aren't more getting banned then? If, by their rules, any personal information gets one banned?

I can't wait to see the changes. Did he share any more concrete examples of the changes that you can share or did he ask you not to say?

 

[bytheblood]

they read EVERY player's chat log every night????



I find that astounding...and slightly unbelieveable (unbelievable? I'm lazy).

Well, if they ARE doing as they say, that's just... wow. Why aren't more getting banned then? If, by their rules, any personal information gets one banned?

I can't wait to see the changes. Did he share any more concrete examples of the changes that you can share or did he ask you not to say?

No, they do not check every single line of chat....they review the chat for the day and are looking for those certain things that "stand-out" which are against VMK values.

I suppose you could say it works like running code....you are not looking at every word, but maybe looking for certain words that throw up a red flag. Basic IT stuff really...like when a company monitors their employees computers or email. They are not watching every step you take, but instead certain activities that might be considered an abuse of their property would be logged....does that make more sense?


One more thing I thought I might add...not ALL activity results in a ban. It could be a warning, removal of VMK goodies, or even a short-time ban instead of permanant.


In regards to examples, he was a little vague, but provided *cough* hints. Yes, he did ask me not to share what he told me and in case he is reading, my lips are sealed. I am excited to see these things come to fruition, however. YAY VMK!!!

 

[aengus]

I am sure they filter on certain words. In case they are reading this thread I would suggest having someone hang out in the esplanade for an hour each day to get a valid word list to search for LOL.

 

[bytheblood]

It's good to hear some of this stuff.

However, I still am not that confident in their "research" of scams and watching accounts, chat logs, etc. Case in point....Mal. She contacted VMK regarding her inferno, and was met with a reply that basically in a not-so-subtle way implied that she was lying about what happened. Instead of actually researching things, all they did was see that she traded the inferno from one account to another and then jumped to conclusions off that instead of looking further and realizing what happened after that. Or other cases where people report stuff and they come back with a reply that they checked the chat log, saw nothing, and now there's a warning for false reporting. Perhaps if things like that weren't occuring, I'd feel more confident in what this man was telling you...but I guess there's some skepticism on my part when he says they research stuff, etc, and I see situations where that's not the case.

While I do agree with you, I think that one of the things he said kind of cleared up the part I highlighed above.

Their responses for "call for help" are a click of a button response. This leads me to believe that sometimes the staff member hits the wrong reply.

In regards to Mal's situation, I agree. I also think a phone call would have been better than email. I know we have grown accustomed to living in this electronic world, but sometimes picking up the good old-fashion telephone just gets better results. Tone is so hard to detect in writing and fact of the matter is, regardless of how wrong it may be sometimes, perception affects results. Know what I mean?

 

[Berry Princess]

It's good to hear some of this stuff.

However, I still am not that confident in their "research" of scams and watching accounts, chat logs, etc. Case in point....Mal. She contacted VMK regarding her inferno, and was met with a reply that basically in a not-so-subtle way implied that she was lying about what happened. Instead of actually researching things, all they did was see that she traded the inferno from one account to another and then jumped to conclusions off that instead of looking further and realizing what happened after that. Or other cases where people report stuff and they come back with a reply that they checked the chat log, saw nothing, and now there's a warning for false reporting. Perhaps if things like that weren't occuring, I'd feel more confident in what this man was telling you...but I guess there's some skepticism on my part when he says they research stuff, etc, and I see situations where that's not the case.

I totally agree with this. It is very hard to have confidence in them for lots of reasons. I somehow got some warning on a mule. I just go on it get credits and that is it. I was basically warned about getting banned for something that I never did. I don't remember what the message said exactly expcet that it was a warning and next time could be a ban. I have never had this happen before and have been in this game since day 1. I understand how it takes time to look over things when they get so many false reportings from those that just decide they don't like whatever or were not given something for free when they demanded it and such. I also understand about getting rid of all those baby rooms and the others not part of VMK values. It does take time to rid the game of that stuff. Sadly though all I have seen of this game is it going down hill because they didn't take care of this stuff when it first popped up. I am betting if they had it wouldn't have gotten so out of hand with all matters against the rules. And don't see why it should take so long to get rid of scammers when they can see logs and find it. They shouldn't have to "watch" to see if the person scams more cause they will and what happens then? Another person scammed out of things while another scammer continues on in the game taking all they can and laughing about it. I think quicker action should be taken on them of all things. And I can imagine that they have some employees though that don't do the job they should and then a ton that do it right....just like any job. Which explains the pop ups the way they are but really when someone is reporting something legit and ends up seeing something about the false reporting that can be scary for them I'm sure. Maybe they need one response to send off and its a "Thanks for reporting the problem. We are looking into it" and leave it at that.