Discussion on View Bombing

[silver_tiger]

I had to do this the other night after getting a CB Copper from the departures thread. Not an hour after I picked it up and thanked the gifter someone put all of my eggs into hatcheries and almost killed two of my eggs. It took several hours for one of my eggs to get better.

 

I really wish TJ and the mods could do something with the eggs so that view bombing doesn't happen. It's not a matter of us not taking care of our eggs. It's someone actually trying to kill them.

Jeez! Thank goodness you were able to save them, and how rude of whoever did that.

 

I wish something could be done as well, but for now I'll just keep fogging them.

[Vampyre]

Wow...just wow. I've just returned after a long hiatus...and now I have to be worried about sore losers killing my eggs if I get something nice? What happened to the old DC? The one where we all helped each other and played nice?

[Gruff]

Wow...just wow. I've just returned after a long hiatus...and now I have to be worried about sore losers killing my eggs if I get something nice? What happened to the old DC? The one where we all helped each other and played nice?

By and large it is still here and people are nice and helpful. But no matter where you go, you will have a small handful of people who want to cause others grief, be it out of spite, jealousy, they have nothing else to do.

 

I don't really know what can be done about it either. DC can only do so much, what happens on the hatcheries is out of the control.

 

 

[InugamiZERO]

a Worthless Jerk just Ruined 4 ND Experiments, I hope their Scroll Burns and if it was some brat trying to be helpful, they can get lost

[Spiteful_Crow]

Since I've been the target of viewbombing again recently, an idea came to me. While the rest of us are waiting to see if TJ or the owners of hatcheries can do anything to help us, why not help ourselves? I thought it would be nice if some of us could form a "Dragon Cave Bomb Disposal Unit" of sorts for those of us who don't like the idea of resorting to hiding our scrolls and fogging everything on them, especially when we want to do trades.

 

Basically, in a thread made separately from this one, you would list your scroll name and any eggs that might need special protection, if applicable, and what hatcheries you most commonly use. Or you could list "always, sometimes, never" for whether or not you use hatcheries at all. Then you could also put up an alert in your sig when you are being viewbombed (I thought of the button for the Anti Viewbomb Oath, only with the egg exploding) that also links to the thread. People could then remove your dragons from the hatcheries and save them.

 

Of course, since there may be times when you want to hatch/grow your babies yourself, it would be a good idea to post when you are currently doing it so no one removes them when you actually want them in the hatcheries, and then inform everyone when you're finished.

 

Now some people have said that this might make scrolls easier to target, but the fact of the matter is that viewbombers are going to attack users regardless, so wouldn't it be best to band together to help combat them? Protective measures like fogging might still be taken, especially for someone under current/chronic attack, but this method would be good for helping people who want to do trades or show off things on their scroll without worrying about their babies getting killed off. If we all watch each other's backs, we can prevent this from happening.

 

So what do you guys think?

[purplehaze]

@ Spiteful_Crow: Since just posting in this thread, or in a Help thread about view bombing, seems to make you a special target of the bombers, I fear that what you propose would do more harm than good.

[Spiteful_Crow]

@ Spiteful_Crow: Since just posting in this thread, or in a Help thread about view bombing, seems to make you a special target of the bombers, I fear that what you propose would do more harm than good.

So what should we do, then? Sit on our hands until a better solution is available or changes are made to the game? Constantly hide our scrolls and growing dragons out of fear? You don't have to do anything special to garner the attention of viewbombers. I can't even think of what I might have done to earn the attention of the last one, it seemed pretty random. And as of now, every person being viewbombed is left to deal with the problem on their own. There might be more strength in numbers.

 

At the very least, it could be an experiment, and if it fails, we could say "Oh well, at least we tried!" rather than letting a few malicious users dictate how we play this game while they get off scot-free.

[Syiren]

So what should we do, then? Sit on our hands until a better solution is available or changes are made to the game? Constantly hide our scrolls and growing dragons out of fear? You don't have to do anything special to garner the attention of viewbombers. I can't even think of what I might have done to earn the attention of the last one, it seemed pretty random. And as of now, every person being viewbombed is left to deal with the problem on their own. There might be more strength in numbers.

 

At the very least, it could be an experiment, and if it fails, we could say "Oh well, at least we tried!" rather than letting a few malicious users dictate how we play this game while they get off scot-free.

I agree with you and It's a real shame that we players have to suffer when others chose to be cruel and try to kill our dragons for reasons we can't understand. If it's because they get a kick out if it then they're seriously messed up and need a better source of entertainment.

 

I recently had to hide my entire scroll to keep my dragons safe because every day someone would put them into hatcheries. So, I understand this frustration all too well. I think the only way the view bombing will stop is if TJ and the mods change the way eggs get sick and or eliminate soft shell completely.

 

Why can't they make it to where an egg/hatchling could still die if it doesn't grow up in time, but it can't get sick from too many views?

[The Flash]

I agree with you and It's a real shame that we players have to suffer when others chose to be cruel and try to kill our dragons for reasons we can't understand. If it's because they get a kick out if it then they're seriously messed up and need a better source of entertainment.

 

I recently had to hide my entire scroll to keep my dragons safe because every day someone would put them into hatcheries. So, I understand this frustration all too well. I think the only way the view bombing will stop is if TJ and the mods change the way eggs get sick and or eliminate soft shell completely.

 

Why can't they make it to where an egg/hatchling could still die if it doesn't grow up in time, but it can't get sick from too many views?

I agree. Normally, egg sickness would be okay, but this view-bombing crap is getting irritating - my CB Cheese and CB Copper were view-bombed today (luckily, I was online, so I fogged 'em quickly), so it would be nice if eggs could only die if they didn't get enough views in 7 days.

Edited June 16, 2015 by The Flash

[purplehaze]

I could have sworn there was a suggestion about that at one time, but I just searched and didn't find it. If it is something that you seriously want, you should suggest it and see what happens.

[Mima]

As someone returning from a sort of semi-hiatus, I'm really surprised to see this sort of thread around. It's interesting to see where this spiked back last year. I'm not saying I haven't heard tell of viewbombings, but since I'm not exactly a hardcore user, it's never happened to me.

 

Actually.

 

Y'know, I just clicked off this tab to look at the eggs I grabbed from the AP and now they're gaining views. One of them just gained about 20 views and 4 clicks in one refresh. They were all 0/0/0 when I picked them up. And I have no clue who listed them and where. Ah well. I'll try to find it.

[blockEdragon]

I have a idea on how to get rid of view bombing altogether....get rid of sickness, no really what purpose dose it serve other then annoying people and killing eggs

if too many views could not kill eggs then no one would be able to view bomb because view bombing (to my knowledge) is not possible

 

it dose not even make the game balanced or challenging it just annoys everyone for no real reason and makes harassing much easier and unavoidable

Edited July 8, 2015 by blockEdragon

[Beldarius]

I'm actually in favor of all fanmade hatcheries requiring a password. It wouldn't need to be your DC scroll's password, but a specific PW you come up with for the hatchery in question. That would stop viewbombers from adding our eggs to sites without our knowledge, and keep our scroll data safe at the same time.

 

I had a case of viewbombing a few days ago. All of my eggs hatched and my hatchies grew up, and one of my eggs ended up sick; three of those hatchies were influenced Prizes I'd been raising for another user.

 

I only checked all the different hatcheries today, and found my stuff on Silvi's Lair. I NEVER use Silvi's Lair so I definitely didn't add them by accident - it was either a viewbomber or some stupid person who doesn't understand what "doesn't accept aid" means.

 

...This honestly pisses me off. I'd never been viewbombed before this and I'm really hoping there will eventually be a way to get rid of these jerks.

 

EDIT: Somebody keeps adding my eggs and hatchies to Silvi's Lair over and over again. Mere minutes after I remove them, they're back on the site. ...I'm going to make my scroll invisible. This is getting on my nerves.

Edited July 17, 2015 by Beldarius

[BlitzDrake]

Meh, I'm apathetic to viewbombing in all honesty. It's happened to me sure, killed/made my stuff grow up. Twice I let it happen. Now I just hide my scroll. Problem solved. No one can find my scroll, save for myself or if someone forum stalks for links to bomb me. Honestly, if someone can still find me after hiding my scroll, props go them. Creepy? Yes. Over the top? Of course.

If the click site makers want to make passwords, neat. Though we can't rely on EVERY site to do passwords, so in the meantime just protect yourself somehow.

 

I guess in my case it's also helpful I don't go by the same name on here.

[annageckos]

I'm actually in favor of all fanmade hatcheries requiring a password.

I would hate this with a passion. And it would not stop viewbombers. Fansites are not the only or best place to get large number of views quickly. The best option would be to either take away sickness all together or make it not kill eggs/hatchlings.

[Cireth]

Hide your scroll or fog everything when you're offline. Problem solved.

 

I fog everything when I'm not around ever since I got view bombed when the encyclopedia came out and I lost some CB Stripes. I'm fairly sure that was an accident because of people trying to unlock Stripes in the encyclopedia but it taught me to be more careful.

 

I don't think view bombers are ever going to go away. I also think it's up to us to keep a careful eye on our dragons. I could do with a "fog/unfog all growing things" button and a "shield, but still visible, while in teleport" option, it would make life easier.

Edited July 20, 2015 by Cireth

[NotBambi]

I fog my growing things when I'm not around and I hide my scroll. Few days ago someone told me that was suspicious to hide scrolls and to not have the username on the dragons page. After dealing to viewbombers, I prefer suspicion to losing eggs or hatchies.

Maybe we could have an "hatchery code", in addition to the normal password, that we would setup and modify as needed in the Account Settings of our scrolls.

[bluesonic1]

Hide your scroll or fog everything when you're offline. Problem solved.

Not that easy when you're trading- fogging breaks trade links.

 

Honestly I think it would help a lot if hatchery sites would remove the ability to add eggs by code. I can hide my scroll without trades being affected, and that eliminates the ability to be added to the majority of hatchery sites. But some still allow adding via codes, and those are the sites I've been finding my sick view-bombed eggs on.

[Ribombee]

I fog every egg and hatchling that I can when I go to bed. The ones in a trade link I can't do much about, of course, but I do try to bury them somewhere random on my scroll so people can't just pop onto my scroll and see them. I'm always paranoid someone is going to view bomb me, too.

[InugamiZERO]

I fog my growing things when I'm not around and I hide my scroll.  Few days ago someone told me that was suspicious to hide scrolls and to not have the username on the dragons page. After dealing to viewbombers, I prefer suspicion to losing eggs or hatchies.

how is that suspicious, its normal and fully allowed

why else would TJ set it up so that we could do it

 

 

 

ok

Edited August 8, 2015 by InugamiZERO

[Ribombee]

how is that suspicious, its normal and fully allowed

why else would TJ set it up so that we could do it

I think some people are not aware that viewbombing can be so large a problem and think that hiding a scroll and fogging eggs means you are trying to pretend you don't have much in order to get sympathy trades or freebies, perhaps.

[bluesonic1]

I think some people are not aware that viewbombing can be so large a problem and think that hiding a scroll and fogging eggs means you are trying to pretend you don't have much in order to get sympathy trades or freebies, perhaps.

^ This. Also, people could be saying they have a gold egg when it's an albino- you don't know as it's fogged.

[AGYK]

I think some people are not aware that viewbombing can be so large a problem and think that hiding a scroll and fogging eggs means you are trying to pretend you don't have much in order to get sympathy trades or freebies, perhaps.

Don't people gifting specifically for newbies usually ask to see your scroll before they send a teleport? That's the rule I've usually seen... but oh well. At any rate, there's nothing wrong with hiding your scroll or hiding your scrollname on view pages. I consider it good policy; I do both and haven't picked up a viewbomber so far.

[Natayah]

There are a lot of things you can do personally to prevent view bombing. It really irks me to no degree on how people want the "hatcheries" to do something to make this easier. I don't mean to lash out but like ... people flipped out at even entertaining the idea we might have parts of the site that might be paid for. They want a "free" game now and forever. Maybe they donate, maybe they don't. But it seems that people don't want to have any possible discussion about various other revenue or pay options for this site. With that being said, I can't even imagine the outcry there would be if a hatchery or click site asked for donations or more money for enhanced features.

 

I was amazed just knowing one person who managed a major hatchery. There is no way I would ever host one of those. Their costs are covered, but I have no idea why they spend the amount of time they do for what little return they get in donations. There is barely any compensation for their time for what it currently provides, much less this complex system to prevent "view bombing".

 

It's a couple of simple steps:

1. Generally don't be seen as a greedy annoying jerk. I'm not saying you can't be one, but that does draw negative attention. You might consider it just being cut throat and your style of trading. You are here to "win" not make friends. But also I know a lot of really "rich" scroll owners and traders who also don't have view bombing issues cause they know how to manage it. Believe it or not, it takes time and effort to stalk someone down. If you are being targeted repeatedly, you might need to consider maybe becoming a more nicer known person on the Forums or IRC. No promises, but it does help. Nice people have been targeted too, but its just something to consider.

2. Fog eggs, hide scrolls, unhide eggs to add to Hatcheries while you are online, hide them again when you are gone. "But that requires work...." It's a game. It requires effort for all parts of the game. If you have something you value it probably required work or luck to get it. Add some extra work or luck to protect it. Once its an adult no one can kill it.

3. Learn to make those lil pictures of your dragon lines like a lot of other people do these days and post that in the trade thread vs the egg/line itself. Take PMs. Again, the argument that takes effort. It will take you 10-20 mins max for someone to walk you thru how to do this. Again, my same response.

4. Find a trusted friend and ask them to handle your trading business, especially if they are lesser known and not immediately linked to you. If you don't want to do some of the above, you might find someone who can or does. You run risks, but its about how much effort or how much you care about your pixels.

 

If you think that people have this idea you are mean or greedy or whatever, or just don't know you or there was a misunderstanding, there are things you can do to change this perception. Gift Dragons, Run Lottos and Games. On Forums or IRC. Help Others. Don't always go for the Most you can Drag outta people. Again, there are really rich people who charge what others might feel is outrageous and they get it repeatedly. But those people aren't posting in this thread either.

 

I repeat and have seen these suggestions repeated a million times. And (some of the same, though certainly not all) victims still cry "But its not fair..." Its the internet. People are jerks here. DC is a very friendly mostly jerk free safe zone when it comes to internet games. If you can't put up with what hazards there are when you run into them with a lil creativity, I don't know what to tell you.

 

Unless you are willing to put forth the money to request a particular Hatchery to put up this coding time, I'm not sure why a thread exists about it. And even if they agreed to do it, it would be such a pain for most people that most people would stop using that Hatchery. You might feel you are losing out, but the hatcheries/click sites lose out more. And can you imagine trying to raise dragons without click sites??

 

I wouldn't even try. I'd quit.

 

Also ... asking people to IP track and report... umm... there are some possible legal and privacy issues and there is nothing "illegal" about pixel abuse (at least not in reference to a dragon game) and the hatcheries have no duty to individuals or even to DC. And I don't know who is offering to pay for the "abuse" desk for the hatcheries. And who is going to create and enforce their now required terms of service? And IPs can be blocked or spoofed... So if I make it look like TJ is spamming your eggs.... God there are so many reasons why this is just horrible. And even if you do "track" them down, this doesn't mean you will get anything. I have this issue with my fraud and ID theft customers. They want "justice". The law doesn't promise them that. It promises them their fraud will be removed. And that's at least a crime. View Bombing... is not even close.

Edited August 8, 2015 by natayah

[Ribombee]

@Natayah While I definitely do agree that being a jerk is likely a quick way to get viewbombers, and that being a nice person makes it less likely to end up targeted, I have seen several very nice people get viewbombed. At one point, nearly everyone who had posted in a particular thread got targeted. Some people are just malicious and enjoy making life miserable for others.

 

I have been very lucky not to have gotten my own personal stalker yet. When I won Zuko, I was terrified that I would get a viewbomber. I was never so paranoid before I started being really active on the forums and especially before I got him. Now, being a prominent member of the forums and very active in trades, I fear that I will be targeted. I do hold raffles, I give away eggs frequently in the departures thread, and I auto abandon nice line eggs to the AP. Honestly, I started loving nice lines mostly because it meant I could gift them to others and make others smile. However, that does not mean beans when it comes to someone just having a bad day and seeing my rejection of their trade offer as a personal affront to them. I know people often 'mysteriously' get a recurring viewbomber after declining a trade, and it often starts with the trade egg being viewbombed. I also know of some incredibly nice people who constantly get viewbombed, probably because they ARE such frequent posters and are an easy target.

 

Fortunately, I have not had to resort to nothing but screenshots of my dragons for trade. I have done it sometimes, just because I feared an egg might get viewbombed. I do, however, know that not having an active teleport link that people can just offer on does vastly reduce the amount of offers I get. This is very likely why many people don't hide their eggs for trade. They want to get the best chance at offers.

 

It's not just hatcheries, either. People could add the egg to Yarold's or simply refresh the scroll page over and over until the egg got sick. Anyone who is so low-lifed as to get some satisfaction out of ruining someone else's day will likely find a way to do so, as sad as that is. It is not the fault of the hatcheries, and it is rarely the fault (to any extent) of the egg owner, either. It is the fault of the viewbomber and their malicious nature. I do truly hope that people like that find more happiness in their life because I cannot imagine being so unhappy with my life that I have to resort to hurting others to feel better.