As others have said, impersonation is just against the rules, a common misconception is that people think it's only against the rules to impersonate staff, but that's not the case, impersonating a player also counts, even an NPC as well as staff, or even pretending to hold a position of authority within Torn in some regard, not necessarily even staff, could also include committee, reporters or (again, context depending) making serious threats against players pretending you're best mates with a dev and they'll ban you if you don't do X/Y/Z for them.
If you post a player report we can do some digging and deal with that with warnings to start and bans if it continues, severity depending. We would have to review the full context to make a decision as to whether or not it's impersonation, but we're happy to do the legwork on that.
I appreciate you say you don't want someone to get into trouble - but if that's the case why even ask at all?
I have vague memory of scamming to get illegitimate enemies being told off by staff before. I had someone spam trade chat 'buying' enemies on me once, and.. they stopped spamming for it and I've never done it to someone else which makes me think we both must have been told it was not allowed.
It's kinda like.. one of the few things you can do in this game that actually might have lasting impact. get some noobs to ad you to enemies list, and they'll prob go inactive having it as a permanent mark on ur profile. so if you are a trader or someone who relies on their reputation, could be forever scarred.
I'm neither though so dont really care tbh ahaha.
Since Bogie has already weighed in on this post though, maybe if he sees this he can also reply.
Any rules against me starting an 'enemy depot', much like bounty depot, except I gather a group of noobs to permanently mass-enemy targeted players? Feel like some people would probably pay top dollar to f**k over their competitor traders, or perhaps pay handsomely to have those enemies removed again.
Thank you for the response. I initially didn’t want to get them in trouble with you guys. But I’ve changed my mind. I’ll report it once I figure out how
Easiest option if you're unsure on who to report when it comes to anon messaging is to report yourself with details. We can then check the relevant logs.
So in this case, report yourself with details on who was being contacted claiming it was yourself.
If you're the recipient of anon messages then report yourself and we can check those logs.
I can see the top two paragraphs are focused on a matter that isn't talking specifically about this thread but instead something related that you felt needed to be mentioned, although it may come across as though you didn't read the thread and copy/pasted a reply. I can see the last sentence shows that you did read it, but the rest of it being so disjointedly-unrelated still gives that impression.
I don't have a problem with this since I know your intent, but as a community manager, it may be better to reword it next time around to show to all readers that you did fully read the thread so that players (especially new players) don't misinterpret it as staff being lazy and not caring enough about game problems to give it a proper reply. Just constructive criticism, take it however you'd like, I know I'll get downvotes anyway.
You're saying people would comment to think I haven't read the post, but only if they themselves haven't read my post? That I am off topic, on a subject I am clearly on topic for... whilst simultaneously being off topic?
Er... I appreciate what you're saying, not you know.. a lot... given it's just wrong even according to the OP... and ironically suggesting it isn't talking about the thread (when it is) whilst simultaneously making a completely irrelevant post to this thread... My post is absolutely fine in my eyes, it addresses the rule, which I create and enforce (as community manager...), what's worth reporting, and then how to do so. People touched on it being impersonation so I clarified what is impersonation, then followed it up with specific advice for the OP which they've received and acknowledged, and also directly answering their questions before you even felt a need to make this critique...
if people aren't going to read 2 paragraphs then I can't really help them there.
I shall take what you have said on board, although I have absolutely no idea what difference you were expecting here. I wouldn't have changed the structure of my post, as it addresses both the OP and commenters that you haven't evidently read for yourself. I am all for constructive criticism, but this just doesn't make sense... especially when the criticism is that something's off topic (when its not) and going off topic to state it... you'd be better off just mailing that.
Ah c'mon bogie not every post has to be a karma grab, you can leave out the "not you know.. a lot.." and the ironic flipping it around. But, I don't really care, what I was saying is that it's generalized and looks as though it can be easily copy/pasted to any and all posts about possible impersonation. That's what makes it look like it could be a lazy copy/paste. The issue isn't the topic you addressed, it's how you addressed it. I think you may have mis-interpreted what I was saying, which very well may be my fault.
Allow me to put it as plainly as I can: Based off how you worded it, it can be interpreted as a copy/pasted reply, in some capacity.
That doesn't mean you interpret it that way. That doesn't mean I interpreted it that way. That doesn't mean half the people reading it will interpret it that way. It was meant to be constructive that you've now bastardized into being off topic and saying I didn't read your post - I did. In fact, I read it multiple times. And then when you told me to read it again, I did read it again. You're putting a bunch of different words into my mouth, I never said it was wrong, I never said you shouldn't have said it, I never said the issue was that people weren't going to read it, nor have I tried to imply any of those things. It went to DMs, and even when you've continued to insult what I was trying to say I stayed as cordial as I could. You're too hot headed for this discussion to go anywhere meaningful right now.
The best thing you can do is not make posts like this. There's a lot of people who send out these random anon messages and money events trying to get a rise out of people of gain attention because they live a sad existence. Right now you're feeding into it and giving them what they want.
Ignore it and move on or report it if you're unsure if its within the rules.
You're looking at it the wrong way - suppose you're a new player, not familiar with the game or forums and see someone, the only person, with a red name. They would realize they're staff and see a copy/pasted response. Copy pasted response obviously serve a purpose, but it gives off a Dell forum vibes where the people that respond to problems don't read anything at all and give a copy pasted, sometimes completely unrelated response. The idea here is that a new player could see it and be discouraged from playing this game if staff behaved similarly as some infamously useless staff on tech support sites do
But, the reality is that you don't care, because it's not your problem. Which is why I was containing my replies to bogie, and I was keeping it in forums so people that may misinterpret it can scroll down and see me saying plainly it's a misinterpretation
I thank thee for explaining situation. I would not have understood otherwise. I'm glad there was someone here to elaborate. Mere words could never express my appreciation, for I could learn every language under the sun and still at a loss for words. My mind, your mind, three minds, neither four nor five, or fifty, or a million could form such thanks as I wish to bestow upon thee. The collective minds of humanity, powerful as they are, are entirely unequipped to thank you as much as I'd like to. It is simply above comprehension. God himself could not so much as conceive in his own mind the infinite string of words necessary. But, alas, I'd like to express my feelings to you in some form of way, so I propose an experiment in thought. I'd like you to imagine infinity, in the form of a string of words as you are able. Picture them in your mind. Hold onto them tight. Now, I'd like you to divide them into sections alternating from four words each to three, then back to four, separated my a comma between each segment. Now, if you would be so humble and kind, replace each sequence to the words "SHUT THE f**k UP, JESUS f**kING CHRIST" and repeat that ad nausium until you f**king die. Thank you, friend.
It's less effort to check this than doing some multi checks, and makes a nice change of pace too as impersonation rarely (fortunately) comes up, so no bother! :)
I do genuinely appreciate people actively looking to avoid wasting staff time with over reporting, that's genuinely very kind and flattering, but it's what we are here for!
The thing is that players here often remember staff saying things for many years, searching the forum can be difficult as you cannot filter-search words by user/role. You could say that the wordings of the rules could be better written, or easier to understand, in reality, that is because of assumptions people make.
bogie clarifying that the impersonation rule (that was discussed) seems pretty on topic, and I bet someone will link to his comment in the Q&A section or somewhere else in the future. Honestly, perhaps you should imagine being a noob? Getting an almost mechanical answer is much more helpful than hippie flippie answers.
He does do some borderline bullying/ridiculing sometimes though. That said, what solution did you have for OP? meditate on it?