I'm being viewbombed

[skauble]

Just wanted to mention that EAtW has been making some interesting changes (that you can read about in their forum thread), and that might account for rapid view accumulation in some current cases.

 

Certainly not in all, such as those where a player didn't add their eggs anywhere. But if you did add your eggs there and the views swell, you might want to check out the changes in case those end up explaining the extra views.

 

Snaplinks does create an unfair advantage, in my opinion, because it takes longer for someone to click all three available links then it does to click/drag the snaplinks box. But, i'm almost positive this same conversation came up before and TJ or a mod said the application was cheating and it was essentially 'banned' from use.

Snaplinks is just terrible for catching eggs in the biomes, even more so when one considers the 5 hour wait to abandon. Players would do better just to pounce on a bunch of eggs in the right hand spot without taking time to read the descriptions. And they might be able to grab more in the AP, but more what? It's just indiscriminate grabbing that people could probably do just by middle clicking a row of eggs so that they open in other tabs. There is one, extremely specific situation in which Snaplinks might possibly give someone an advantage, but I don't even think that was an issue at the time the Snaplinks discussion happened a few years back.

 

The biggest problem with Snaplinks is that people were using it in hatcheries to click other people's dragons. They could highlight 50, 100, 200 eggs, whatever their browser and connection could handle, and then all of those page requests would slam the server all at once.

 

It is technically cheating to use it to catch eggs. It's just really a rubbish way to do so.

[silver_tiger]

I'm still completely boggled by the whole idea behind viewbombing. It's never been done to me, I'm pretty sure, though I'm always paranoid it's going to happen whenever I get a shiny egg or a new release happens.

 

What on earth do people stand to gain by being mean? They just waste their time and ruin someone's day.

 

Mindboggling, I tell you.

 

Also to add to the discussion /cough/ I tend to hide my eggs for about a day when I get new ones. No one seems to have noticed me yet... I also tend to hide *all* my eggs and hatchies whenever it seems likely I might be noticed. It takes a little time but I guess it's worth it!

Edited June 3, 2013 by silver_chan

[pinkgothic]

Since ruining someone's day is presumably the intent behind the action, they don't feel they're wasting their time. They gain... presumably a sense of feeling smugly superior, knowing they can "get at" someone they're upset with, that their victim is not somehow untouchable, that they can affect them any way they like? Power tripping, basically.

 

Hard to say for certain, though. Chances are it varies between the culprits, too, but the above is my best guess. (There's also "fishing for a reaction", but that seems a little more like it has a chance of being a waste of time - some people react to viewbombing by simply fogging their dragons and nothing else; I imagine that would be a bit anticlimactic for the culprit.)

 

*shrug* The mindset of schoolyard bullies. Some people just don't mature at all.

[cfmtfm]

I'm just adding this in, but I have Snaplinks (Lite) on Chrome. Not sure if it's just my version, but I recall trying to use it on my actions to quickly fog my eggs. I believe it comes up with an error message (on DC).

 

*goes back to lurking*

Edited June 4, 2013 by cfmtfm

[topaz08]

I added a Horse egg on short time and a few hatchlings just now, to sites I regularly use. In fifteen minutes it had 1800 views. It's fogged now, but really, what kind of person does this?

[Shadowdrake]

Do you use EATW? Because that site's made some changes that gives a lot of views very quickly.

[Earth Gurl]

Man, this viewbombing epidemic is very disheartening. Everyone is hiding his/her scroll, and the most fun I have on the forums is clicking people's scrolls and skimming through their lovely dragons... I love doing that.

 

I really wish people would get off of their childish power-high and just get back to their own business.

From my observation EATW gains SO many views. My dragons normally don't get so many views from just one hatchery (for a while there it got frustrating because ER'd eggs and hatchlings would take an hour to hatch instead of the usual 10 minutes), but now simply adding my hatchlings/eggs to one hatchery (EATW), I get 3,000+ views. It's crazy, man.

[topaz08]

Do you use EATW? Because that site's made some changes that gives a lot of views very quickly.

I did post there, yes. But 1800? That seems pretty unusual.

[MissVampire13]

I recently traded for a shimmer egg that started out with virtually no views. When I added it to EatW it was classified as an ER because of its low number of views and gained a ton of views in a short amount of time, causing it to hatch sick. (When I found it sick, it had over 4000 views.) At least, I'm hoping it was only the new structure of the site that caused it to gain views so fast; I'd hate to think somebody was intentionally trying to kill it. I don't think that's the case because none of my other eggs or hatchies have been adversely affected.

[pinkgothic]

Yeah, at the moment, if you use EATW, don't use any other sites on top of it, or your eggs/hatchlings will get sick.

[_Sin_]

Since ruining someone's day is presumably the intent behind the action, they don't feel they're wasting their time. They gain... presumably a sense of feeling smugly superior, knowing they can "get at" someone they're upset with, that their victim is not somehow untouchable, that they can affect them any way they like? Power tripping, basically.

 

Hard to say for certain, though. Chances are it varies between the culprits, too, but the above is my best guess. (There's also "fishing for a reaction", but that seems a little more like it has a chance of being a waste of time - some people react to viewbombing by simply fogging their dragons and nothing else; I imagine that would be a bit anticlimactic for the culprit.)

 

*shrug* The mindset of schoolyard bullies. Some people just don't mature at all.

 

Few weeks ago, my mother, an elder lady that is not active in the community (no forum account, does not go to IRC) found out that one of the eggs that were caught for her (or a very special occasion) was being view-bombed. She fogged the egg but was too late and the day after it was dead. She was very upset, literally crying. For her, eggs and hatchlings are not just digital pixels, she references them as her "babies."

Three days ago, it was the turn of one of my sisters, someone that (like my mother) never had any chance of upsetting anybody in the forum (not a member) or in chat (does not go to IRC.) We assume that she got to upset someone that missed the egg that she caught because it started being view-bombed minutes later without being put by my sister in any hatchery. She fogged the egg and kept it fogged when it was not sick anymore. After unfogging and checking for a while that the egg was not getting views, she gifted it to my mother telling her to call it "Survivor."

The "work" of the attacker was not yet done, he/she restarted and my mother woke up (again) to a dead egg.

 

In conclusion, if the intent of the view-bombers was to ruin someone's day, for sure they were able to.

 

I was wondering if someone had already suggested or asked TJ for an "amnesty" for the eggs that got killed by view-bomber and are still in the scrolls. Something like "reviving" them. The "revive" would not be necessary anymore once a solution is found for this situation. Thoughts?

[Fuzzbucket]

He has no way to know whether it was a viewbombing or carelessness on our part, so I'd say not.

 

And tell her to avoid EATW unless she ONLY uses that - and even then some people are finding it makes things sick.

 

I have to say that DISCUSSING all this endlessly here seems to be making it all worse. Just saying...

[Onixthebunny1]

I was currently being view-bombed with my gold egg that I would gift to someone. I didn't add it to any sites and it had one unique few just after I bred it. I kept refreshing the page and getting one more view as I refreshed it. Finally, I had enough when it got to 5 views and fogged it.

[_Sin_]

He has no way to know whether it was a viewbombing or carelessness on our part, so I'd say not.

 

And tell her to avoid EATW unless she ONLY uses that - and even then some people are finding it makes things sick.

 

I have to say that DISCUSSING all this endlessly here seems to be making it all worse. Just saying...

Couldn't he have an way? Llook at the numbers of views and unique views of eggs that had been bomb-viewed.

 

Sorry, I don't think you understand. The eggs were NOT in EATW. The eggs were not put by them in any hatchery.

And I do not understand your point about not talking about the subject. The view-bombing issue started BEFORE we started talking about it.

 

Edit:

I think that would be better to allow eggs victims of carelessness to survive that to allow victims of view-bombing to die.

Furthermore, that would constitute a deterrent: if the view-bombers know that cannot reach their objective, kill the egg/hatchling, they would have no reason to bomb.

Edited June 4, 2013 by _Sin_

[Vhale]

I have to say that DISCUSSING all this endlessly here seems to be making it all worse. Just saying...

 

Bullies don't stop hitting you because you're quiet. At least in my experience. It certainly does no good to flail around and cause entertainment. but we've got a poll that shows 25% of the people replying have already been viewbombed. Past tense. And as people have posted, this isn't limited to people on the forums or IRC, so the numbers could be higher. At this point, that's really bad odds. I'd think the hatchery sites would be interested because they are the ones paying, literally, for people to do this. 25% of a new release added to all sites at once? That starts hitting them in the pocketbook.

[_Sin_]

Bullies don't stop hitting you because you're quiet. At least in my experience. It certainly does no good to flail around and cause entertainment. but we've got a poll that shows 25% of the people replying have already been viewbombed. Past tense. And as people have posted, this isn't limited to people on the forums or IRC, so the numbers could be higher. At this point, that's really bad odds. I'd think the hatchery sites would be interested because they are the ones paying, literally, for people to do this. 25% of a new release added to all sites at once? That starts hitting them in the pocketbook.

Thank you for saying what I was thinking quite better than I would be able to

[Fuzzbucket]

No I know. Even so...

 

As to EATW - I know you had said they were in no hatcheries on these occasions - but that was just a general heads up, as a LOT of people haven't noticed the changes there and think they are being viewbombed when they aren't. Ext says not to use another hatchery alongside it - and from what is being said in the EATW thread - I absolutely agree !

[skauble]

Couldn't he have an way? Llook at the numbers of views and unique views of eggs that had been bomb-viewed.

 

Sorry, I don't think you understand. The eggs were NOT in EATW. The eggs were not put by them  in any hatchery.

And I do not understand your point about not talking about the subject. The view-bombing issue started BEFORE we started talking about it.

 

Edit:

I think that would be better to allow eggs victims of carelessness to survive that to allow victims of view-bombing to die.

Furthermore, that would constitute a deterrent: if the view-bombers know that cannot reach their objective, kill the egg/hatchling, they would have no reason to bomb.

I've been viewbombed a number of times now, so I definitely sympathize. Also, I can see why your mother was so upset because, even if they are pixels, the site is designed to foster an attachment to them and so it's understandable when this kind of behavior causes distress.

 

Having said that, the problem with resurrecting eggs that die of sickness is that viewbombing, although growing as a problem, is still a small amount of the overall number of eggs that die of sickness, the majority of which are due to owner error. And those deaths need to have a consequence for a number of reasons such as keeping people from getting unnecessarily high stats which taxes server resources and encouraging players to actively care for their eggs/hatchlings, which is good for the game and the site as a whole.

 

I do agree, though, that something should be done about it. Personally, I think simply changing the consequence would do the trick by continuing to discourage gathering pointlessly high views and still encouraging active participation while, at the same time, getting rid of a viewbombers ability to actually kill an egg, which robs them of their ultimate goal and allows people to unhide their scrolls without worrying that their eggs will die while they sleep.

[Vhale]

There are probably more people in this thread warning about over-viewing due to new releases and now, EATW, than there are view bombing victims. I'm tempted to go back and count. I know people sometimes get confused, but in this case, many people have been very explicit that they KNOW it's view bombing and why... yet people are still trying to shut them down. I've been told I'll get my scroll burnt. Other people are being told not to post. People are told they deserve it because they probably bragged and were rude.

 

It's not unlike shaming. And I find it perplexing that the community is so dismissive, condescending and downright hostile towards people who've been view bombed. It seems like it gives a griefer a free and open pass to attack newbies because no one would believe them anyway. Assuming they'd have the confidence to post considering they'll just face being told they are clueless. And well, most of them would be. I find that more than a little sad.

[skauble]

There are probably more people in this thread warning about over-viewing due to new releases and now, EATW, than there are view bombing victims. I'm tempted to go back and count. I know people sometimes get confused, but in this case, many people have been very explicit that they KNOW it's view bombing and why... yet people are still trying to shut them down. I've been told I'll get my scroll burnt. Other people are being told not to post. People are told they deserve it because they probably bragged and were rude.

That's weird - why would anyone's scroll get burnt for talking about something that's clearly an issue? Because, unlike in many cases, we have definite instances where things weren't added anywhere and the views still spiked. In my own case, I'd only had my new eggs about 15 or 20 minutes, so I hardly would have forgotten if I added them somewhere, and yet they were added everywhere, even sites I don't use.

 

I agree with people who are saying that participating in this discussion is likely to up your chances of getting viewbombed, but I disagree with those who think that's a reason to stop discussing it. This is a clear problem in the game and, as we do with almost all problems we encounter, we should hash out what we think are good suggestions to deal with it so that if TJ chooses to act on it he'll have a range of player input to use along with his knowledge of what would work well from a behind the scenes perspective.

 

This thread isn't compulsory, so the people participating obviously have strong opinions that they feel are worth the risk to share. So while I think that it's good to point out the risks, I don't think that it should be used as a discouragement for those who want to participate in this discussion.

 

Also, while I'm sure that some of the motivation in viewbombing people posting here is because those doing it want to ratchet up visible distress, it's equally likely that some of it is intended to close down the discussion before it gets to a point where a solution actually gets implemented. If those folks are going to start viewbombing during releases as a new thing, and we're planning on having monthly releases, then I'd rather deal with it here - risk and all - and hopefully have the matter addressed, then to have this be a continuous cycle.

[_Sin_]

Is there any hatchery/fansite that offers some kind of "watching" service sending an email alert to the owner of a scroll if an egg starts receiving a "suspicious" rate of views? The hatcheries know (from DC) the age of the egg, number of views and unique views. Shouldn't be hard to code.

I'm guessing that would assume some form of registration to associate the scroll with the email address used by the owner in DC. But I am guessing also that the registration would be optional unless one wants to use that watching service.

Actually, after reasoning this through, if I don't find anybody that already implemented or plans on implementing this, I'll figure out if is possible to create something similar myself for my family and friends.

[RainDear]

I think this thread is performing several functions: It is alerting people that view bombing is happening and perhaps even increasing. It is giving practical advice on what to do if it happens to them. It is teaching people how to tell the difference between view bombing and other situations of increased view numbers.

 

If in addition to all that, some of the posters here are targeted, well they are also forewarned about the possibility and on the watch to protect their eggs, so even though they post and report the view bombing attempt which feeds the view bombers' egos, the eggs are rescued in time to prevent damage, which isn't necessarily the view bombers' objective.

 

I wouldn't stop posting out of fear of the view bombers. I would just continue the useful work posting here is doing.

[Syphoneira]

Well, it appears that all any mad bomber has to do now, really, is to put people's eggs into EATW when they aren't watching their scroll closely...

 

My eggs have not been posted elsewhere by any others for some time, but because whoever it was may have enough cunning to wait until I become less cautious, I continue to Fog, a pain especially in lag, and I do wish we had a 'Fog all' option with the possibility of un-and-re-Foging individual eggs.

 

But this means that my babies aren't getting Views while I sleep and, because some sites remove Fogged eggs, I've stopped using one I've rather counted on, which involves individually (re-)adding eggs.

 

(Although really, giving Views to 4 different sites and, additionally - and frequently - ERs is quite enough, and I often wind up trying to hunt with a fansite running, which doesn't improve my chances, lol.)

 

So even if whoever was adding my dragons to fansites I don't use has stopped, I'm still dealing with the effects, because they, or someone else, could start up again at any time.

 

And this would be a big enough pain even if I wasn't having some issues which make me ridiculously tired to begin with.

 

Am I the only one doing just-in-case Fogging even in lag, even when too tired to bother, to keep their dragons safe, while there are no on-site protections for players against such malicious acts?

 

Not likely, in fact, I know I'm not.

 

So I and others are STILL being fouled up, even when not actively being posted - the DC atmosphere has been altered by Viewbombers to one of fear for our dragon's lives.

 

Something needs to be done that does NOT penalize the player - including by slowing down the rate of their dragons's hatching/growing up, which still harms them for somebody's sick idea of fun - but protects them against the possibility of having their dragons killed by those who know they can get away with murder.

 

 

 

Edit: what raindear said!

Edited June 4, 2013 by Syphoneira

[Ashes The Second]

I think this thread is performing several functions: It is alerting people that view bombing is happening and perhaps even increasing. It is giving practical advice on what to do if it happens to them. It is teaching people how to tell the difference between view bombing and other situations of increased view numbers.

 

If in addition to all that, some of the posters here are targeted, well they are also forewarned about the possibility and on the watch to protect their eggs, so even though they post and report the view bombing attempt which feeds the view bombers' egos, the eggs are rescued in time to prevent damage, which isn't necessarily the view bombers' objective.

 

I wouldn't stop posting out of fear of the view bombers. I would just continue the useful work posting here is doing.

But that is also counter-productive -- the bombers also know we know that they are out there and will continue to maliciously attack scrolls just to spite people over pixels. Technically, this post has just added to their ego by cautioning people with a problem that many see an unsolvable, despite having the fog option. Sometimes, that option does not work, and even the most cautious person can be bombed relentlessly. You are, in effect, making the situation more frightening than it is, and making the bombers redouble their efforts. I'm putting my scroll out there in the attempt they will target an individual (myself) that could not care less about this situation, and therefore, ignores the bombing attempts until my scroll is hidden and they have no more fun because my eggs are fogged. If people treat this as more than some bored kiddos that were most likely banned from the site for one reason or another trying to spite random users by viewbombing, they will keep going, since I've seen this on other sites similar to DC.

Edited June 4, 2013 by Ashes The Second

[Syphoneira]

Yes, the View bombers are probably watching this thread - but I know that I and others had such attempts die down with publicity and, as skauble pointed out, are likely trying what they can to shut down the conversation precisely so that people will forget/be unaware and nothing will be done about it.

 

The problem has been worsening while we hid our heads in the sand - time to pull our heads out and address the issue.

 

Tell the truth and shame the devil.

 

Giving in to bullies always encourages them to get worse and, further, allows the situation to become accepted and, eventually normalized.

 

Being victimized makes a lot of us angry, and being expected to live under bullying on a game site intended to provide fun and relaxation is, to say the least, ridiculous.

 

TJ needs to understand - as he can't without input - that one way or another, this has to end before the popularity of his site does.

 

DC is too good to waste because fixable problems are left to ride and potentially expand beyond bearing, until it's just not worth the hassle/stress/boredom any longer.