Talk:Blackspot

Rollback
" Tha blackspot has been used to cheat before. In a blockade for Scrimshaw island Candy Coated Chaos paid two pirates called Shnidel and Pingupuke to blackspot senior members of Hardcore Explorers.

This may have ruined the blockade but CCC and HE still lost.

Pingupuke and Shnidel were banned but their "dupe accounts" now hold a bumper 250,000 PoE each. "

I removed this as it was far too opinionated. I agree that the issue of blackspot abuse needs to be raised, but not in this fashion --Whitemonkey 11:32, 29 October 2006 (PST)

Amount of time to issue
i have blackspotted pirate after pirate ( 8 pirates ) in a row cause they were all spamming and were violationg the ToS but i did all of them in under 3 minutes... so im a little confused

Broadcast Still Usable?
Is /fbroadcast also still usable while blackspotted? --Emufarmers 21:24, 7 April 2006 (PDT)
 * I have no idea. I took a guess when putting /royalty up there, as it's a command I don't have access to. But I'm guessing that all chat commands implemented since the blackspot was (which was the very first beta update) aren't blocked by it. --Thunderbird 21:31, 7 April 2006 (PDT)
 * I can confirm that /r is still usable and I am 99% sure than /fb is too. --Angelbeaver 08:03, 29 June 2006 (PDT)

Procedure to get an unfair blackspot removed
Should we add tips for getting an unprovoked blackspot removed? I think if I was blackspotted unfairly and didn't know what to do about it, I'd come here to see if there was something I could do about it. --Thunderbird 17:52, 28 April 2006 (PDT)
 * Well, a blackpost lasts all of 5 minutes, so there's no real sense in trying to have one removed, unless it's several (which could, after all, lead to a ban if a player received* four of them, though the article doesn't seem to say how long that ban lasts). In any event, for the average player, /complain or /petition is generally the way to go, I think: If you're unfairly blackspotted, what you're probably going to be after is some sort of disciplinary action against the blackpostter for abusing their privilage.  And.../complain would probably do the trick right there.  Still, if you think this could be a problem with people searching on the wiki, you could add a note, something to the effect of "if you feel you have been unfairly blackspotted, you should file a complaint against the blackspotter." Arr. :) --Emufarmers 19:12, 28 April 2006 (PDT)

Question on spots and different characters
Are blackspots logged per character, or per account? Was talking with a friend on Ventrilo a bit ago, and he was shunned yesterday for 60 minutes upon getting the first blackspot he could remember on Cobalt. Since the shun was for 60 minutes, that implies 2 or more previous blackspots. Based on the fact that he doesn't remember previous blackspots (except one from Midnight), is it possible that they are tied to the account instead? I did tell him to petition to get it removed, as it was a retalitory blackspot. --Thunderbird 19:19, 3 May 2006 (PDT)
 * Wait, blackspots stay with you forever? I was always under the impression that they just lasted for the length of the silencing, or for a day, or somesuch.  Now that I look at it, I suppose it doesn't really say that, but...Do they never expire? (I've never been blackspotted, so I've never really thought about it, I suppose.) --Emufarmers 20:21, 3 May 2006 (PDT)
 * If ya read through the article, you'll see that blackspots are recorded in either the player or account's history. It's used as a tool for recording behaviour trends for the OM's/devs.  --Guppymomma 05:38, 4 May 2006 (PDT)
 * Well, yes, I can see that they're logged, but I meant, are they always "with" you, with their cumulative effect, if you're ever blackspotted again? If someone is blackspotted in March, and then again in May, will it be for 20 minutes? (I know that's sort of off-topic, but it doesn't seem to be addressed in the article.) --Emufarmers 19:20, 4 May 2006 (PDT)
 * I just managed to get an unpleasant way of answering this question. After being blackspotted for no reason on Cobalt earlier today, I got shunned for 20 minutes. The previous blackspot (which was a test on Ice) was from before Sage opened, to give a timeframe. So yeah, I think it's safe to assume that blackspots stay on your record forever unless removed by an OM. --Thunderbird 21:23, 25 August 2006 (PDT)

Meaning of "Neither bought doubloons or subscribed"
Simple question: does buying a StaRRter kit count as "Subscribing"? Will it protect me from blackspot bans? -Micool2

Blackspot Rules section
Is there really a point to mentioning that the blackspot rules apply to players only? As far as I know, OMs don't even use the blackspot (except in special situations), since they can shun directly and either one ends up on a player support record. --Thunderbird 21:08, 20 February 2008 (PST)

Discrepancy
There seems to be a pretty major disagreement between this page and Terms of service - this page states that "issuing a blackspot on a pirate who did not violate the Terms of Service is bannable, and may also result in your entire crew losing the ability to issue a blackspot," while the ToS page advises "...nor should blackspots only be used when the ToS is being violated." Methinks one of them needs to be changed, if someone can discover which is correct. --Istarion 07:44, 29 May 2008 (PDT) Aye, this is still the case... --Angryrooster 20:15, 21 Feb 2009 (PDT)
 * Still the case. Jlh0605 12:25, 15 November 2013 (PST)


 * I'd say that blackspots are only for countering public disruptions when a petition or complaint would take too long to go through, e.g. someone spamming or spewing curse words into an inn. Both of those things are prohibited under the ToS (6.3.iv and 6.3.i respectively), although there is scope for interpretation (different people have different ideas about what is spam/offensive material and what isn't). I can't think of a use for the blackspot that doesn't cover something in the ToS, so in my opinion the Terms article ought to change. --Therobotdude 13:05, 15 November 2013 (PST)
 * I agree, that page is merely a brief interpretation of the actual Terms and certainly incomplete. IMO, it would serve a better purpose as a redirect to the actual Terms, unless there's a good reason to keep it. --Clotho 23:01, 18 November 2013 (PST)
 * I agree that the page should be careful not to interpret the actual Terms, but I think that a very short description of the Terms (E.g. "this is what the ToS is, and this is where to find it") is useful to new pirates. Also, within the wiki, ToS might be confused with the YPPedia terms of use, so the article should at least make it clear that the two are separate things. However, the references to blackspot and complain could be taken off seeing as they are covered elsewhere in the official documents. I've made a provisional edit, is it any improvement? --Therobotdude 08:55, 19 November 2013 (PST)
 * I agree with above posts, and have no problem with the edit. Jlh0605 08:36, 21 November 2013 (PST)