Violation notice - Can anyone shed some light on this. Please.

[Disney Dreams]

Hi all,

I was "doing my own thing" in my room today when something happened. I tried to contact vmk staff and was told to send a message through contact us. Instead of re-telling the issue, please read my "Contact Us" letter below and let me know, do I have an official violation now against me (wrongfully so)?

Thanks!

Here's my letter:

"Today, March 27, 2006, at approximately 1:15pm I was in my vmk room, Snow Palace. I was building a project in my room. A friend came in. I do not remember who. Shortly thereafter two other players entered. I do not know them. My friend left and the other two stayed.

They were checking out my project and an attached more, My Purple Palace. AceJenSmart asked me if I have completed the Mickey Quest. I told her yes. She asked me to help her find the last few she needed. I told her that I would be happy to help, but that I could not do so today. She did not seem happy about that. I was very nice about it and offered to help her another day.

At this point she and her friend, whose vmk name I do not have, just hung out while I was building. That did not bother me, i just went about working on my project. AceJenSmart then asked me, "So, where are you from?"
I replied, "I do not share that information on vmk. You are not suppose to ask people that."
AceJenSmart: Well, I didn't mean that.
Me: Sorry, what did you mean?
AceJenSmart: nvm
Me: ok

I then went back to building. She and her friend eventually left. I then went to one of my vmk friends. I entered my friend's room. She was with a friend. I told her that I was very upset. She asked what happened. I told her, I was in my room and that someone, "asked me where I was from." She said, "You aren't supposed to ask that."
Me: "I know and I told the other person that." I went on to explain to her that I do not break the rules and that I am very good with people."

At that moment, I received the following pop-up screen:
"Personal Message from VMK Staff
Asking for or giving out personal information like age, location or how to contact outside of VMK is not safe behavior and is not allowed in VMK. A repeat violation will result in your account being banned from VMK."

I did not ask for or give out any information. AceJenSmart did. I did absolutely nothing wrong. If you look at the log you will see this. The other player did, not me. Why have I been given a violation??!?? I did absolutely nothing wrong. In fact, I did the right thing and told AceJenSmart that she is not to ask that information.

I tried to request for staff so this could be resolved immediately. I then received the following pop-up: "When you send a report, you need to include information on what exactly you are reporting. We cannot help if we do not know what the problem is."

I could not provide more information due to the restrictions on words and vocabulary in VMK messages. I wrote back saying this. I then received a pop-up saying, "You will need to report that via the Contact Us link at the bottom of the VMK homepage. Please give them as much info as you can so we can look into it for you." So I am doing that here.

I am very concerned that I have a "violation" now on my record. I have been a model vmk player: helping others, observing the rules, reminding others of the rules. Why is this being reflected as a violation against me?!?! I am very upset. AceJenSmart is the one who is at fault here. (The only reason I know her name is that she place a Friend Request. Probably needless to say, I have not accepted.)

I have screen shots with some of the above, with times - which is how I how when exactly the warning popped up on my screen.

Please respond and let me know if I am being held for a violation I did not commit and why I received these notices. Thank you very much.

-Jegrezo (vmk name)"

So? Am I in trouble with vmk?!?! What happened? And dare I ask, will I get a response?

Thanks, everyone. I am really upset about this. I have been a model vmk player: never asking personal informaiton, reminding others not to do so, helping new people as others have helped me, and now this! What does this mean?

Thank you!!!

 

[JeanJoe]

A few questions:

- do you know if anybody else in the room saw the same pop-up that you did? If so, it was an "entire room" warning, and not necessarily directed at you. Frequently, if it's just a warning, the staff sends the message to the entire room, probably just because it's easier than figuring out who in the room said what.

- did you actually get "banned", i.e., booted off of VMK and unable to return until a specified amount of time has passed? if not, then don't worry about it -- it was just a "warning", and those don't seem to impact on anything

If you weren't banned, my guess is that the conversation auto-triggered an alert to the staff (probably the phrase "asked where I was from" or something similar to that), and an entire-room warning got sent out. No big deal.

 

[milkabum]

Hmm...
The same happened to me but I never got around to asking VMK staff. I was in a friends room and some people were talking about my space, when I said please don't talk about going on my space BOOM..pop-up. Another girl got it too.

 

[Tiinkerbelle]

VMK has gotten VERY sloppy with who they give bans and violations to. It's almost like they don't even read the logs just hit ban, and don't ban those who really need to be banned.

 

[DarkSideMoon]

VMK has gotten VERY sloppy with who they give bans and violations to. It's almost like they don't even read the logs just hit ban, and don't ban those who really need to be banned.

VMK is ruled by admin Nazi's......

 

[LisaInNc]

I believe they send it to everyone in the room. I got it once without saying a word in a room. It was someone else talking.

 

[Adventurejimbob]

Well.. I have some tips and reasons for you.

1. When a player that is causing trouble in your Guest Room, boot them.

2. If you are in someone elses Guest Room, simply leave the room.

3. If for some weird reason, VMK won't let you out of the room, report them through VMK, and try to dictionary dance enough to make sense. The responses to the VMK sent reports are better and quicker, without having anyone being accidentally banned.

VMK Staff seems to do mistake bans and warnings in a few ways.

1. They click on the wrong name.
2. They misunderstand the attempted report of another player, and blame it all on you.
3. They think that if something is asked by another player, you led into it.

(The third one may have been what happened to you. They might have thought that you talked to them before about something like this.. And it just slipped through the radar.)

Let me just say that the bans and warnings count has been ridiculous lately, thanks to the above mistakes and the overwhelming factor of laziness. The Staff can't even bother to find out when was the last time you saw this person and what was said, so they give you a warning, even though it wasn't even your fault.

 

[Maleficent2]

Let me share something I have noticed about the report button in VMK.

When I am playing CL_Maltoo and make a report it gets answered right away and I usually get a thank you.

But if I am playing one of my other characters that is not a CL I get a response that is not so nice...like put the person on ignore, or only use report for emergencies.


yesterday I witnessed some very rude exchanges between two players while playing a secondary character.

One was a Guest(white) and one was a named character (black) there were racist comments made and the black player said "hits player""knocks her out"

I reported both and got a thank you but also added to the thank you was if another player talk bothers you put them on ignore.

I really think that this racist player needed more that me putting her on ignore I would have(if I was staff)immediately booted her from the game and given her a permanent ban.

I know this does not have anything to do with your post but is an interesting thing I have noticed about staff.

Hopefully your warning was a blanket warning to the room.

Mal

 

[Cpt.JackSpearow]

VMK has gotten VERY sloppy with who they give bans and violations to. It's almost like they don't even read the logs just hit ban, and don't ban those who really need to be banned.

I agree completely. I was called alot of rude thigs the other day and they said they would hit me and dead me if i did not give them my teleport magic. I reported to staff and all they say is use the ignore button. Omg its like they completely ignore you and do nothing. Dont you realize they send the exact same message over in all the same words (im not going to type the whole thing out but) it pretty much says ignore and we will check it out. I had been called something mean on my first day of vmk ever. I reported them they said we will check it out nd a few days ago i saw him in his room. This is unbelievable what staff does.

 

[VirtuallyMe]

My husband once got a warning for "talking about kissing" or something like that- funny thing is he and I had just entered a friends room and walked in and sat in a chair-

and only he got the warning- he had said nothing- had actually logged on and gone into room and got the warning- I had done about the same and got no warning

So I think there are many times that vmk staff clicks on the wrong name or something and sends warnings- as it was just a warning and he will never apply to be CL anyway- he just laughed about it and went on playing...

 

[Disney Dreams]

A few questions:

- do you know if anybody else in the room saw the same pop-up that you did? If so, it was an "entire room" warning, and not necessarily directed at you. Frequently, if it's just a warning, the staff sends the message to the entire room, probably just because it's easier than figuring out who in the room said what.

No one else saw it. Remember, though, I had left my room and was retelling what happened to a friend in HER room when I received my notice. However, thinking back, the person who asked me the question in my room backed off very quickly, so my guess is that she received a pop-up after asking me.

- did you actually get "banned", i.e., booted off of VMK and unable to return until a specified amount of time has passed? if not, then don't worry about it -- it was just a "warning", and those don't seem to impact on anything

Well, don't know how bans work, but here we are almost 24 hours later and I have had no problems signing on. So, if bans are immediate, no I have not been banned. But do I have a "strike one" officially on my vmk record for something I did not do? This is what I really want to know. Do they keep track and have I been wrongfully charged with one that will be held against me forever?Anyone know? Or is a arning just a warning and nothing that is tracked long term?

If you weren't banned, my guess is that the conversation auto-triggered an alert to the staff (probably the phrase "asked where I was from" or something similar to that), and an entire-room warning got sent out. No big deal.

Ok, so if I understand what you are explaining, the phase, "Where are you from?" when I was re-telling to my friend what happened triggered an auto-notice. And that would mean that in MY room earlier, when the person actually asked me that question she would have received the auto-notice? AND that there are just certain phrases that auto-trigger pop-ups? And finally, that this is not held in some permanent log against me?

And thank you for your detailed assistance on helping me figure out what happened.

Thanks to everyone else who has posted assistance here as well. Any additional comments still welcomed.

-Disney Dreams

 

[JeanJoe]

..snip..However, thinking back, the person who asked me the question in my room backed off very quickly, so my guess is that she received a pop-up after asking me.

That seems pretty likely.

Well, don't know how bans work, but here we are almost 24 hours later and I have had no problems signing on. So, if bans are immediate, no I have not been banned. But do I have a "strike one" officially on my vmk record for something I did not do? This is what I really want to know.

Bans are immediate, so no, you have not been banned. As far as I know, warnings don't count against you much, and I have no idea whether they are even tracked. I got 2 warnings, and still became CL_.

Regarding the automatic triggering, I have _NO_ inside information about this, but have heard that certain "phrases" can alert the staff. I don't know whether a warning is sent out automatically, or whether a staff person has to look at the alert, and then hit a respond button, or what.

But really, from what you've described, I wouldn't be too worried, nor would I take it personally, nor would I get upset.


====== the below is NOT in response to the original poster ======

[RANT]

I am also one of those people who does NOT agree with the "VMK Staff are lazy" diatribes that seem to be so popular. Unless VMK staffing levels have changed, at any given time when there are 3,000+ players logged on, there might be TWO staff who are officially on duty -- one to be social / run events / etc., and one to respond to requests for help.

So, there might only be only one staff member responding to complaints / requests for help from 3000+ players. What an incredibly awful sounding job.

And given that the Call for Help button is really meant for SAFETY issues, not "This person is mean" or "That person called me names" or "That person scammed me", I can understand why staff can get rather testy.

Many will likely respond that in that case, VMK should have more staff members on at any given time. ...And who will pay for their salaries? Staff members have left because they were expected to "work" VMK even when they weren't on duty. And we play VMK for free.

Sure, most of us expect a higher degree of customer satisfaction from anything Disney; we expect them to be responsive and constantly improve the "product", but geez, cut the magic, wonder, and pixie dust -- the bottom line is that Disney is a BUSINESS, and VMK is an ADVERTISEMENT. At least it's a more entertaining advertisement than most.

[/RANT]

 

[DarkSideMoon]

Maybe they should get more so they dont mass reject and can letters.... I could care less about reporting in game if they would have something with more than 64 megs of RAM responded to emails.......

 

[Tiinkerbelle]

I sent in a responce to a player who was telling me she hopes I die, suffer pain, she would stalk me and calling me a "beach" and "dumbo". I sent that back in..wow I think October and still have not gotten ANY responce. I agree it is a terrible job but they should employ more staff then it's their purpose to keep VMK safe and if they respond so slow or not at all they can't target the REALLY bad players. The worst thing was she somehow followed me in every room I went to but she was not on my list. It made me scared enough to leave VMK for almost a week.

I don't think warnings are put on a perminant report. You have to read the messages you get very carefully to see if they target you or someone else in the room. I've had many people ask me where I live, and they kept asking but they did not get "banned". I had to boot them out of my room since they would not change the subject when I asked. I'm not sure if these "auto responces" work that well, or at least players ignore them.

To think staff accidently clicks a ban on someone when they did nothing really does show they are sloppy though. Weither they are tired or busy it's their job to stay on task.

 

[VMK_Caslee]

Once I was in my room "Narnia Falls" and my friend comes in (I can't remember her name my list was to full) and she asks to borrow my account and inreturn she will give me a staff account?I said no thx she reports me I get a pop-up saying "Caslee hacking is not allowed in VMK and therefore you are banned for 2 hours"I was like OMG! SO 2 hours later....I went to her room asking why she reported me for her actions she said because I Hope You Die Suffer Pain And Lose All Your Stuff! I'M SO SHOCKED she was one of my best friends and she is threating me?!?! I report it to VMK Staff and I wait since they get so many reports then like 30 minutes later I get a pop-up saying "Caslee please do not report people for your own actions" I'M SO MAD the next day she has made a rooms named "Caslee STINKS!" The description says SHE IS A HORRIABLE FRIEND AND WILL HACK AND STEALL YOUR STUFF! I report that to VMK Staff and then I go to a trade room hoping to trade my Jack Sparrow Costume,I get one last pop-up saying "For Disobeying The VMK Values You Have Been Permantly Banned" OMG LIFE WITHOUT VMK! I NORMALLY CAN'T GO 1 DAY WITHOUT VMK NOW I'M BANNED FOR 10 YEARS! Anyone on the same boat as I am????

 

[silvrstrfx]

I think the warnings are actually just triggered by using key phrases. Once I was relating a story in a room to my friend about how I was playing Mansion once and this boy quit. He said "I'm going to go make out with girls now" and then left! So I wasn't talking about making out or asking anyone to make out with me, but just relating the story and BAM! I got a warning. So just be careful about using choice phrases, I know it's a bummer when you're trying to tell other people about things that happened to you...

On a good note, I've known a number of people who've had several warnings, are model players, and have never been banned so I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[justin]

Once a entered a room and all of the sudden a message pop up saying you are not allowed to give out personal info. And i got the message after that too. I never did anything lol

 

[pinkgalYall]

The staff has done this to me also i relaly dont know what they sent a violation to thte whole room anyway i suppose i understand but all that the ppl were saying was that they where happy that school was out, if they did not want us to say that then why in the world but school in the dictionary, it was before the high school musical thing.

Also like on Mals post i hae had that also although i am not a CL on any of my characters i have noticed staff respond to me in to different ways. On one i reported someone for saying very cruel things and it was to everyone. They said ignore, another time the same thing happened and i reported and they said thanks. I reported someone another time for them claiming to be a staff member and they said we will address the problem immediatly thanks. Its like they care more about ppl pretending to be staff them ppl threatening each other!

 

[babyshinystar]

i got that message but i havent been banned. I was like i was trading and i did tell ppl my information. i found out how i was reported cause i was trading my haunted mansion black jacket and this dude offer for a crates i said no thanx politely and he reported me. they should have a cam or prove if this happen

 

[tolkien7]

I have to agree with JeanJoe here - it sounds like a "room warning" that everyone gets, even if you were in another room at the time and the event was over. I got one once and had done nothing - I wasn't even talking! But then I realized that everyone in the room received it. I also recently received a message from staff - not an official warning - about dictionary dancing! I sent a message to my friend, RiceOwl, and in my excitement I had related to him my latest fireworks score: too fix trea! It seemed like such a small thing, but I had broken the rules.

I think, Jegrezo/Disney Dreams, that you have nothing to worry about. You did the right thing.