I'm being viewbombed

[RainDear]

ROFL yes, because a dog is very much the same as a pixel game If only there was a way to fog the dog... nvm. You made my day anyway!

 

I still think, if your eggs died after being viewbombed (and I am saying viewbombed, i'm not talking about high traffic or newbs putting it in too soon), you just didn't take enough care of them. If you have a rare egg, or an egg you really can't afford to loose, just fog it! Or keep a close eye on it and fog it when it gets too many views! As simple as that.

 

Scenario 1:

I catch a CB rare.

Action:

Fog it untill it's 4d, and hatch. Fog again untill reaching 4d.

Result:

I can not brag about it. Oh wait, if I want to brag, I unfog and show it... And it lives.

 

Scenario 2:

I receive a rare egg.

Action:

Fog it untill it's 4d, and hatch. Fog again untill reaching 4d.

Result:

I can not brag about it. Oh wait, if I want to brag, I unfog and show it... And it lives.

 

Scenario 3:

I catch a rare egg and I want to trade it.

Action:

Fog it. If people ask for proof, unfog and fog again. And it lives.

 

 

Seeing the common actions?

If you tend to get so upset when something dies, fog it untill it reaches 4d!!! If you are not new, you do know these things. And after loosing something, you will never forget again!

Blaming the victim is not necessarily the best way to go.

 

Yes, we realize that there are ways to prevent this happening. There are several posts about how to do that without blaming the victims.

 

Some players are new, and didn't know this problem was even possible. Hopefully this thread will make them aware, and give them pointers on prevention.

 

In my experience, view bombing is usually sporadic few victims far apart. The problem we see now is far more widespread. Everyone needs to be informed and prepared.

 

I have habitually kept my scroll open to viewing. I like for people to see my dragons and ask for eggs from them. I like to interact with the community. I know how to protect my scroll, and I will, but it isn't my preference to maintain a closed scroll.

 

 

[beautifuldragon5000]

Well, here's the thing; I can't keep that close an eye on my dragons. I have other things to do, life goes on and all that bluh. So... how am I supposed to keep my eggs fogged for days, if I can't guarantee I'll have the chance to unfog them before it's too late?

I agree with this statement here, not everyone can be like me where I can sit at the computer for hours on end and just watch things grow. its a bit harsh to generalize what everyone can do for their eggs and you also made it seem like people who know better shouldn't be acting so stupid. When the fact is some people play from limited internet, some people have varied situations that create the possibility that they can't get back to their scrolls on time when they need to. I had it happen to me a lot when I was playing from the library internet computers before I got my own.

[RainDear]

Well, here's the thing; I can't keep that close an eye on my dragons. I have other things to do, life goes on and all that bluh. So... how am I supposed to keep my eggs fogged for days, if I can't guarantee I'll have the chance to unfog them before it's too late?

It shouldn't be necessary to keep your eggs fogged all the time, unless someone is actively pursuing 1 of your eggs by its code. The easiest way to protect your scroll from the present problem is:

 

Set your account to hide your scroll and take your name off dragon pages. Use fansites that accept your eggs by code, or unhide your scroll just long enough to add it to fansites, once the fansites have the codes for your eggs they can give views even after you rehide your scroll. If you do see a rare egg getting more than the normal number of views, you may have to fog it and wait for a time when you can ER it for hatching or maturing.

 

Do not post your egg codes in forums, unless it is for trading. If you post your lineages for trading, watch carefully for unusual activity, or trade by pms.

[beautifuldragon5000]

I also think as older members it is our place to inform the newer members of these things so whats happened to us doesn't happen to them as well. the malicious acts of a select few shouldn't take away from the majorities enjoyment of the game

 

[WinstonGA]

Not a cure-all, but this might help a bit with blocking people adding scrolls to sites: Is it possible for a hatchery to check whether the scroll has "accepts aid" turned on before accepting a scroll entry?

 

This is something that could be done even by hatcheries that use screen-scraping rather than the formal API for retrieving codes and times, because the "owner accepts aid" is text on the web page.

 

The downside is that if a hatchery excluded scrolls that didn't say "accept aid", then to list a No-Aid scroll it's either:

1) The hatchery has to implement the user-login-API with DC to prove that it is the owner trying to list their No-Aid scroll. I'm not sure how much work that is for the hatchery owner, but it sure would be nice to have.

or

2) The scroll owner needs to turn on the Accepts Aid flag in accounts, add the scroll, and then turn the Accepts Aid flag off. This is the same amount of work for the owner that we're currently doing now when Hiding a scroll, and unhiding it for a minute to list it on a site, then re-hiding it.

 

The Accept-Aid check would, if honored at enough sites, allow a scroll to remain unhidden without risking the critters on it.

Edited May 27, 2013 by WinstonGA

[Ruby Eyes]

The api does appear to have a return value "acceptaid".

[beautifuldragon5000]

Here's another thought. What if there was an account setting one could select which was customizable and allowed players to set the maximum number of views/unique views/clicks that eggs and hatchlings could receive in a given amount of time? Let's say players could limit maximum views to 1000/day, unique views to 500/day, and clicks to 20/day, and once those limits are hit, anything additional wouldn't be added? The eggs and hatchlings wouldn't even need to be hidden and could be left in as many fansites as one wanted, with counts frozen once the limit is hit.

 

saw that on another thread just now I think this would be a more viable possibility than any of the other suggestions so far.

[PointOfOrigin]

And I'm not saying it's correct, the viewbombing. I'm just saying that you can easily prevent it.

 

 

You have close to 7d to unfog your eggs... The lower the egg gets, the easier it hatches. So even if you fog it for 7 days, you still get to save it.

 

And i'm not trying to be rude or anything, it's all just ... not fun that it happens to people, but you can protect yourself from it.

Nope. The whole lot of gifting threads requires for you to not have fogged eggs. Trading also requires for you to have unfogged eggs.

[platedlizard]

I have never been viewbombed, but I wanted to make a kind of test, as keijaidyyn did. I caught two new eggs for my brother, using its scroll, a few hours ago -he's away all-day-long and I don't want to be egglocked, hope it doesn't count as "double scroll", it's the first time I use his account to catch eggs for him-. I hid one and left the other unfogged, WITHOUT ADDING IT ANYWHERE.

Somewhat off-topic, but since you caught the eggs on his scroll it does count as multiscrolling. "I was just catching eggs for my friend/sibling/mom" is unfortunately a common excuse for multiscrollers (I mean the people who have like five or six different scrolls they use to hold the eggs they caught with scripts and other shenanigans), so it was made against the rules. Hopefully people will be understanding because you really were just trying to be nice to your brother. Just remember not to do it next time, we all make mistakes

 

 

 

On-topic, it sounds like this is something to start bringing up in the various threads for the individual fansites. If people start asking for some sort of locking mechanism and making suggestions on how it might work the fansite owners will see the need and perhaps fix things. I do want this to be optional (I like the API idea), I'm an experimenter and sometimes it I need a buddy to toss my eggs into an ER to help me out. It would be annoying to have to reset a bunch of passcodes every time I had a buddy throw my eggs in an ER. On the other hand, the viewbombing has to stop because people do absolutely lose eggs.

[skauble]

ROFL yes, because a dog is very much the same as a pixel game If only there was a way to fog the dog... nvm. You made my day anyway!

 

I still think, if your eggs died after being viewbombed (and I am saying viewbombed, i'm not talking about high traffic or newbs putting it in too soon), you just didn't take enough care of them. If you have a rare egg, or an egg you really can't afford to loose, just fog it! Or keep a close eye on it and fog it when it gets too many views! As simple as that.

I'm not sure why we've fixated on rare eggs when the newest type of viewbombing that has recently occurred, and that is fueling much of the current concerns, appears to have nothing to do with individual/specific kinds of eggs, and everything to do with the forum and adding people's scrolls as a whole.

 

So if posting is prompting the viewbombing, and we make your suggestion applicable to that situation, it would be - if you ever post on the forum, fog all your eggs and/or hide your scroll.

 

That seems to create a situation where people either have to play this game from a "have to keep everything hidden all the time" mentality which, after a while, isn't really pleasant - game that doesn't just provide means of temporary protection, but develops an atmosphere where people have to continuously focus on someone waiting to make them unhappy loses much of it's relaxation value rather quickly. Or the other alternative is that people simply cease participating on the forum, which is a negative for both players and the game for a large variety of reasons.

 

Fogging eggs and hiding one's scroll are meant to be features of normal game play. Because they can be used to create some kind of basement bomb shelter doesn't mean that there should be no other options in dealing with this problem, nor does it actually address this issue in a way that's positive for both the game and the player.

 

DC isn't just a game, it's also a business. And if a toxic atmosphere starts to build up where players feel that malicious intent isn't a passing worry that you have once in a while with certain eggs, but rather an unrelenting threat to a person's entire scroll, regardless of content, less people are going to want to keep playing. Because why spend the time set aside for hobbies and relaxing pursuits in a game keeps drawing your attention to the more unappealing aspects of people's nature as opposed to one of the many other games out there where this isn't an issue?

 

This is, like most things with business, a cost/benefit evaluation. It's obviously an unpleasant situation, so the cost is player satisfaction, which often translates into player loss - and as the amount of players affected rises (which is happening), so does the potential cost. But what's the benefit? What is so compelling about not adjusting or addressing the current situation in any way? Because if there's not a real benefit here then we're tipping the scale to cost unnecessarily.

 

The current system in regard to sickness seems to accomplish few things - it encourages a reduction in server load, it creates a need to actively care for eggs/hatchlings, and it adds an interesting facet of game play. But there are suggestions being made here that don't necessarily compromise those things, so why would we just insist people bootstrap it and just deal with the situation as it is, when it seems both unnecessary and bad for business?

[PointOfOrigin]

Hmmm. It seems that somebody added my eggs to a fansite again. It seems these view bombers are stubborn.

[smurfettedoesnotshare]

Ok, rather than arguing on whose fault it is that people have been getting bombed, reiterate the same arguments as to how it is or isn't preventable, etc. can we please discuss options that will help prevent or at least deter view bombing? Honestly, I thought this thread was for reporting viewbombing and maybe coming up with a few ideas on how to slow down the viewbombers so that more rares/uncommons/commons don't die. To me, the people coming in 15 minutes late with the blame game routine are spamming the thread. And "I'm not trying to be rude" preceding or following a rude comment doesn't make it any less rude.

 

We've seen some interesting ideas: site whitelisting, Soti's padlock feature, user imposed view limits on their scroll.

 

From the number of people affected, it's not something that we can just discount as "someone ran their mouth and made an enemy". It's become apparently randomized and malicious. PERIOD.

 

A good number of the members who were affected by this rash of viewbombing were long-time users who know how to avoid sickness during new release traffic, not newbies who put their eggs in too many hatcheries and stuff died. So, continuing the whole "You should have watched your scrolls better" routine is pointless and inflammatory.

 

People shouldn't have to hold their eggs' hands 24/7, so to speak, and fog whenever they won't be around for more than 20 minutes. That's not the game, and in most cases, it's counterproductive as dragons MUST have views in order to grow. It's also been beaten to death. The fact remains, people are posting others' eggs and hatchies without permission and with the intent of making them sick to the point of death. I don't have aid enabled, which means the person or persons who viewbombed my scroll violated the rules, and I'm the one who's being scolded because I MUST have done something wrong? Really?

 

I'm not a ranter, in fact, I avoid this forum as much as I can, and this is a prime example of why. There's no banding together to fix a problem. It's all blame games and drama. So, there's my 2 cents on this issue: Either contribute to a solution or remain part of the problem. I have next to no coding skills, so I can't say how difficult it is for hatchery owners to code things, if they have the free time to do it. But I have seen firsthand how every time a hatchery tries to impose a user log in requirement, it becomes a ghost town. So, why can't something be done on DragCave's end to make it as difficult as possible for people to attempt viewbombing? Why can't we set limits on our eggs like on a click exchange site? Why can't we specify which sites we allow traffic from? And to me, the answers to those questions should be handled in Suggestions/Requests and NOT a help thread. DragCave itself is vulnerable, not random users or newbs.

[platedlizard]

Hmmm. It seems that somebody added my eggs to a fansite again. It seems these view bombers are stubborn.

Do you post in the release threads? I'm developing a theory that viewbombing seems to happen during releases. I always see an uptick in viewbombing reports when there's a release. Some of these reports are from people who simply don't understand that releases mean more traffic on the fansites, but a lot of them are like yours, finding your eggs on sites you didn't put them on. What I suspect is happening is that the new egg releases bring in people to the forums who don't normally come here. They read the threads to see the new eggs and the various theories about them, and some of them, very few, go through and add scrolls to 'help' people. Since they don't normally read the forum or participate here they don't understand that when someone says 'don't help' they really mean that (or they think it would be funny to ignore it).

[ChristineFury]

ROFL yes, because a dog is very much the same as a pixel game If only there was a way to fog the dog... nvm. You made my day anyway!

 

I still think, if your eggs died after being viewbombed (and I am saying viewbombed, i'm not talking about high traffic or newbs putting it in too soon), you just didn't take enough care of them. If you have a rare egg, or an egg you really can't afford to loose, just fog it! Or keep a close eye on it and fog it when it gets too many views! As simple as that.

 

Scenario 1:

I catch a CB rare.

Action:

Fog it untill it's 4d, and hatch. Fog again untill reaching 4d.

Result:

I can not brag about it. Oh wait, if I want to brag, I unfog and show it... And it lives.

 

Scenario 2:

I receive a rare egg.

Action:

Fog it untill it's 4d, and hatch. Fog again untill reaching 4d.

Result:

I can not brag about it. Oh wait, if I want to brag, I unfog and show it... And it lives.

 

Scenario 3:

I catch a rare egg and I want to trade it.

Action:

Fog it. If people ask for proof, unfog and fog again. And it lives.

 

 

Seeing the common actions?

If you tend to get so upset when something dies, fog it untill it reaches 4d!!! If you are not new, you do know these things. And after loosing something, you will never forget again!

Victim blaming is never cool, and not all the users on this site have the time to constantly watch their scrolls. I myself go to school for six hours a day where cell phones aren't allowed and there's no internet available for free use, and that's really all the time needed to make an egg sick.

 

If I'm unable to get back in time due to a long day in the phlebotomy lab, or urinalysis, that's an extra four hours for view bombers to kill my eggs. I've lost a hatchie to view bombers during the holiday release because I had long school days and even longer microbiology labs. And it wasn't even a holiday egg- I fogged those due to high traffic during releases- it was a BSA pink I was raising to influence my holiday eggs.

 

So please, don't say "It's your fault" when it really just falls to the fact that people shouldn't be jerks and try to kill other people's eggs/hatchlings out of malicious nihilism.

[Lathluin]

Ok, rather than arguing on whose fault it is that people have been getting bombed, reiterate the same arguments as to how it is or isn't preventable, etc. can we please discuss options that will help prevent or at least deter view bombing? [...]

This ^^^^^

 

One thing I know that would never happen but would be awesome is taking the DC to be a lil microblogging site, as in being able to add stuff to side bars in our scrolls, which would allow us to add "mods", so programmers would help TJ a ton. Visit trackers, tougher protection means, etc.

 

I'm sure DC can evolve and will, so improving security and customization could be another step forward.

[WinstonGA]

Hmmm. It seems that somebody added my eggs to a fansite again. It seems these view bombers are stubborn.

 

I can't wait for school to start up again.

 

 

[PointOfOrigin]

Do you post in the release threads? I'm developing a theory that viewbombing seems to happen during releases. I always see an uptick in viewbombing reports when there's a release. Some of these reports are from people who simply don't understand that releases mean more traffic on the fansites, but a lot of them are like yours, finding your eggs on sites you didn't put them on. What I suspect is happening is that the new egg releases bring in people to the forums who don't normally come here. They read the threads to see the new eggs and the various theories about them, and some of them, very few, go through and add scrolls to 'help' people. Since they don't normally read the forum or participate here they don't understand that when someone says 'don't help' they really mean that (or they think it would be funny to ignore it).

I do. Participating there is half of fun.

 

And I disagree. Posters like that would have to be really inexperienced (as in under fifty dragons, inexperienced). People that don't play the game probably wouldn't even bother with finding a fansite. So, I think that the person who does this is doing it on purpose.

[dragonsoup]

I am really sorry that this view bombing has started up again.

 

I've lost eggs to it in the past - I've had event dragons killed in the past by being entered on the fan sites without my consent and I do hate having to take precautions to protect my scroll. I no longer have it in my signature here for example.

[ZzelaBusya]

Here's another thought.  What if there was an account setting one could select which was customizable and allowed players to set the maximum number of views/unique views/clicks that eggs and hatchlings could receive in a given amount of time?  Let's say players could limit maximum views to 1000/day, unique views to 500/day, and clicks to 20/day, and once those limits are hit, anything additional wouldn't be added?  The eggs and hatchlings wouldn't even need to be hidden and could be left in as many fansites as one wanted, with counts frozen once the limit is hit.

That would be awesome! It would also be nice if users were able to choose different limits for different eggs/hatchlings, as well as be able to choose any number including "0" as the limit, in case, for example, they are trading an egg and don't want it to gain views at all. Something I've been dreaming of. X)

Edited May 27, 2013 by ZzelaBusya

[skauble]

We've seen some interesting ideas: site whitelisting, Soti's padlock feature, user imposed view limits on their scroll.

There's also the two (IMO easiest) options of a BSA or simply just adjusting sickness so that egg death is largely removed as the motivating factor.

 

Personally, I favor the second option, simply because it extends coverage to everyone, including new players who are less likely to have a certain breed, know about the BSA, or entirely grasp the ins and outs of views/ratios/fansites/etc. If we use a different method for motivating people to avoid sickness - such as adding a delay to the minimum hatching time, we could actually add in the BSA as a way to address that in-game, which is good because BSAs are an interesting interactive game feature.

 

So instead of the situation we would have if we simply added a BSA right now, which would be:

 

Use BSA or over-viewing causes death

 

We could have a situation where it would be:

 

Use BSA or over-viewing causes increase in time it takes for eggs to hatch/hatchlings to grow

 

I think that the delay is a strong enough incentive for most players to avoid letting their eggs get sick. The bonus is that, if view bombing does occur, the result is annoying and inconvenient, but it's not the permanent loss that it is now.

 

I do. Participating there is half of fun.

 

And I disagree. Posters like that would have to be really inexperienced (as in under fifty dragons, inexperienced). People that don't play the game probably wouldn't even bother with finding a fansite. So, I think that the person who does this is doing it on purpose.

Agreed. My eggs were added to 5 sites I could find and 1 site I couldn't but knew about because views continued to rise after removal from the main 5. And all within 15 or 20 minutes of catching them.

 

So in order for that not to be malicious viewbombing, that's either some kind of ninja newbie who's posting everyone's stuff on all the sites, even hard to find ones, when half the time they're here because they don't know how to get enough views for their own eggs to live, or it's someone who knows how to quickly and easily mass add eggs all over the place but not enough to understand that adding eggs that haven't even been available in the cave for more than 20 minutes to at least 5 high traffic sites isn't good for them.

Edited May 27, 2013 by skauble

[Syphoneira]

That would be awesome! It would also be nice if users were able to choose different limits for different eggs/hatchlings, as well as be able to choose any number including "0" as the limit, in case, for example, they are trading an egg and don't want it to gain views at all. Something I've been dreaming of. X)

 

 

 

Also for ERing, which in some fansites is automatic, and with many people, highly desirable, especially if they can't get online for a while, but which would then no longer work.

 

Of course, simply removing the ability of Soft Shell/Sickness to kill, as was suggested earlier in this thread, would remove the whole problem and, I should think, be well worth whatever it's supposed to add to the game.

 

Stress, mostly - something we come here to get away from in our recreational time, not sure what else...

 

 

Edit: ed. lol.

 

Would also like to add that there seems to be more than one factor regarded as a trigger, (including people catching new/rare eggs, making comments with which a mad bomber disagrees, apparently random nastiness) obviously more than one person, and possibly a group or groups of people involved, considering how wide-spread and fast-reacting some of these idiots appear to be in re-posting removed dragons when removed from fansites the owner doesn't use or want them in.

Edited May 27, 2013 by Syphoneira

[beautifuldragon5000]

Hmmm. It seems that somebody added my eggs to a fansite again. It seems these view bombers are stubborn.

same with me and this thread is the most I have posted on the forums in over 4 years

Edited May 27, 2013 by beautifuldragon5000

[RainDear]

same with me and this thread is the most I have posted on the forums in over 4 years

Those of us who are foolish enough to be posting here might want to hide our scrolls. This thread has definitely become a target for these "helpful" people.

[XiziX]

I don't recall ever becoming a victim to view bombing.

 

This is most likely because I rarely post in release threads or threads in general. I am careful where I put my eggs during new releases and I hide my scroll while I sleep or know I am going to be away for a long period of time.

 

But I think what may be causing it is the excessive posting in release and other threads. Which is normal, people love to talk to one another during releases...

 

However, being active means you take a risk. The more interactive you are with the forums, the more susceptible to view bombing you are... That is the sad truth. It's easier to click someone's signature and get a scroll link than it is to randomly guess names. If you are paranoid of getting view bombed, and you don't offer your scroll to open breeding, then I suggest you keep your scroll name to yourself.

 

If you lurk like me, which obviously isn't everyone's cup of tea, the more "safe" you are I suppose.

 

Edit:

 

Those of us who are foolish enough to be posting here might want to hide our scrolls. This thread has definitely become a target for these "helpful" people.

 

Very good point. I forgot to mention that... However... I am one of the few who don't have the same Forum name as the Scroll. Sadly, some people on this forum have their scroll name as their forum name...

Edited May 27, 2013 by Lyxii

[platedlizard]

Maybe it would help if clicksites had a mechanism that automatically removed sick eggs? Not sure how easy it would be to code that though :S And then. it wouldn't really help because they'd still get sick...

 

...Aaaand time to hide my scroll now. :l

Ah, but the next time I want to kill an egg with sickness, that would be a problem. (I'm kind of a sadist, but I only kill my eggs, not anyone else's)