Blacklist - Anybody Interested?

[Odinian]

My friends and I (all programmers) are fed up with back-stabbers, cheaters, hackers, etc.

So, we finaly stopped whining and decided to do somthing about it.

We are creating a battle.net blacklist. The original idea was to just have it on a webpage, but then we thought, nobody is going to remember all of that. So, here was our idea:

Create a bot with only a few commands - !adduser, !lookup user, and maybe more. Using these, we could create an interweb of "bad users", and whenever we started a game, we could simply ask the bot to search for the name in the database to see if there bad.

Even better, we eventuly hope to add a feature so the bot checks users as they join the game.


We where thinking about not releasing it, just keeping it to ourselfs to make sure there are no "bad entries". But then I thought, why not release to the public?

So, I would like to know if any of you will use it. It will run on all OS's, Windows, Mac, and Linux. Obiously, this will look like a project doomed to fail, because some people are EVIL.

However, we are taking several procations. For example, an email address is collected from the user who is adding somebody to the blacklist. Our server will instantly connect to battle.net and send the blacklisted user a message, giving them the person who blacklisted them there battle.net (not email). Then, our server will tell them, if they think they were added on a false basis, to email us.

What do you think? Would you use it? Any suggestions? Questions? Comments? Reply's stating only "asdfasfasf"?

 

[Guest]

1. Very nice idea, though it might fail.

2. asfadfadfa.

 

[Wing Zero]

ok what happens if in a lotr map i acidently move to the ring glitch?
will be be called cheater nad be put on?
nice idea but i dont like it much

 

[TrongaMonga]

Should add a reason of why the blacklisting, too. People may use glitches in UMS games, and hacks in melee games. They are both very different things. And while the first isn't really nothing, the second is worse. So, as you say that peope could refute the blacklisting, you could give them chances of proving themselves, or at least saying it's nothing serious.

So, anyone who doesn't give a reason when blacklisting wouldn't really count.

Apart from that and perhaps other things I'm not thinking right now, it's a really nice idea

 

[B)ushid(o]

The problem is that it's not threatening, unless an overwhelmingly vast majority of b.net uses it. Plus, a blacklisted person could just use another name.

 

[Odinian]

Yes..

All valid points. I have contacted my friends and we agree that we should add a reason for the blacklist.

As for changing names: Why would they? The only thing they wanna do is get wins. So they change there name, and that is blacklisted.

And for vast amount of people using it: No. It would be good (or at least help) even if only a small amount of people used it because you still see if the user is blacklisted. At a certain point, just one user could make a HUGE database.

Thanks for the comments.

 

[Biske]

Something like it is already in use for WC3. Helps keep redundant leavers away.

 

[Hitsua]

So how is it going to help once you've started the game to search the list.

 

[JC-DV]

why not just have one master command bot where people can submit people to be black listed, as in they send it mail with the account name and reason, instead of leaving it up to the public?

 

[Wing Zero]

anoter thng i like to add
to me this is a little overbored
if ur so afired dont play

 

[Samsara]

This would be abused horribly. What would happen if i for some reason decided to blacklist all of you for no reason other than malice and make up phony accusations?

 

[Wing Zero]

what happned if they riged a melee map ?

and at samsara post
make new account
or do the same to every one u play with

 

[TrongaMonga]

This would be abused horribly. What would happen if i for some reason decided to blacklist all of you for no reason other than malice and make up phony accusations?

That's why I said that the user should add a reason. Unless he's really bored, he won't really say something serious. And if the bot gets a flood of bans from a specific user, that could be checked out.

 

[Odinian]

Whoa! Thanks you guys! I would have never guessed this would be such a "hit".

So how is it going to help once you've started the game to search the list.

You send a command to the bot when people join. At a certain point, it may even watch your internet traffic and do it for you.

why not just have one master command bot where people can submit people to be black listed, as in they send it mail with the account name and reason, instead of leaving it up to the public?

In a sence, I do have a "master command bot". All the bots send there blacklisted users to one central server.

But I think what you are saying is to get an account like "BNetBlacklist" and use that for everybody. These are the problems I see:

People will DDoS it.
There are 4 differnet realms.. Thats a lot of bandwidth...
Who is going to run the bots?

The idea of having everybody use there own bot is that everybody can contribute a little bit of there time, by blacklisting users, and there bandwidth as well, in essence. Basicly, we can't. Nice idea, but sorry.

As to using /mail, you can only get mail from people on your friends list, so thats a 25 (27?) person limit.

anoter thng i like to add
to me this is a little overbored
if ur so afired dont play

I am in no way "afriad to play!" I simply want to play fair, even games without hackers.

This would be abused horribly. What would happen if i for some reason decided to blacklist all of you for no reason other than malice and make up phony accusations?

I hate to brag, but our servers are genus. They would see you adding a lot of users in a row, then they would check to see how many users where in the game as you where. If you where not in a game, you would be added to our "to check out list", and only the first person you added would be there. If you where in a game, and you added a user that was not in your game, he would not be added and you would be added to the "to check out list". If you blacklist all the people in your game, you will be added to the "to check out list".

Yes, you could get people fasly on the blacklist. But remember, our server would send them a message, and, if they cared, they would contact us, and we could figure it out.

Thanks for the helpful comments, you really helped get our system going!

what happned if they riged a melee map ?

and at samsara post
make new account
or do the same to every one u play with

Then they would be blacklisted, the reason being "riged a mellee map"?

That's why I said that the user should add a reason. Unless he's really bored, he won't really say something serious. And if the bot gets a flood of bans from a specific user, that could be checked out.

Exactly, just what I said in reply to his message above.

Once again, thanks all of you!

As for the actual devlopment of the bot, we have all the connection protcal complete. ETA: Mid-Augest or earlier.

 

[Slithox]

This is a waste of time. People would abuse this any way you try to stop it.
Sc/BW will never be rid of hacks. Unless some REAL programmers. Make a program that somone can download and moniter the game. Such as 'punkbuster'. A blacklist means nothing. And your idea that people can just add people to the list? No. Your idea is good. But its NOT going to fix anything.

 

[Odinian]

I am a real programmer. I am employed, even though I am under 18. I make 400 to 1,000 a mounth.

Yes, an application like that would help, and I might write one. I am a mac programer, and the differances bewteen mac and windows would not allow for an anti-hack program to work on both. A bot, however, can.

The point of the blacklist project is to be an open, cross platform program.

If somebody abuses the system, the person(s) they blacklisted would contact us and we could figure it out.

Yes, I agree. There will always be hacks, but non-hackers should not have to deal with hackers.

And your idea that people can just add people to the list? No.

Why not? Give examples, ideas, etc.

 

[B)ushid(o]

Well, it seems like you and your friends thought this whole thing out well (I still think that some hackers are out there not for the wins, but for the "thrill" of making fools of people).

At a certain point, just one user could make a HUGE database.

A huge database, maybe, but if only some people use it, hackers would just have to find a game where people don't know or don't use it.

I say good luck with it, and I hope it lives up to the expectations.

 

[Slithox]

Lets just say a person is blacklisted because they beat a person in the game.
They would be unable to play for quite awhile. And it would take awhile for them to plead their case (They don't cheat). And how can you know for sure someone is hacking 100%? All this blacklist is doing is word of mouth. The only way your going to fix hacks, is getting a prog, like a said. And most people run in windows not mac.

 

[Odinian]

Hate to break it to you, but the future of computers is on the Macintosh. Microsoft just paid 77 billion over to apple to use something remotly like PodCasting! Microsoft will fade away after a while.

Alright, so you blacklist that person. They recive a message, if they do not think they where correctly blacklisted, they send an email to an including address and they are INSTANTLY put on to the "probation" list until things are worked out.

A huge database, maybe, but if only some people use it, hackers would just have to find a game where people don't know or don't use it.

True, but for those of us that do use it... You can't help everybody all at once.

 

[Slithox]

Well, it all sounds thought out and perfect. But, all it takes is 1 programmer, to find a flaw in your bot. He could find an exploit with it, bugs. And the 1.13 fixed most hacks, so...This is not really going to be needed, unless new hacks for 1.13 arise.