Rationale for forum rule 2.13 - Scamming Accusation

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Since questions and misunderstandings arise quite often regarding this forum rule:

@Forum Rules

Rule # 14
Accusations of “scamming” that name specific EntropiaUniverse avatars or EntropiaForum members are NOT allowed. Such threads or posts will be edited/deleted or locked without notice.

I thought it would be a good idea to make a sticky thread outlining Entropia Forum’s policies regarding such issues, and the rationale behind the forum rule.

In the past, a “name & shame” section on Entropia Forum existed, and caused many problems in the community including:

[ul]
[li]intentionally false accusations[/li][li]unsubstantiated accusations[/li][li]misunderstandings[/li][li]discord among members and societies[/li][li]overwhelming workload for forum moderators[/li][/ul]

It was also quickly observed that allowing the “naming & shaming” of scammers, or a “scammer list” did little to protect honest participants or to prevent scams, since the scammers would very often create new avatars to perpetrate their scamming practices. In addition, there was very little that could be done here on EF to punish “proven” scammers in any case; only Mindark has the resources and power to accomplish that.

After several months and many, many cases of false accusations, unfairly tarnished reputations, and a large demand on the time and resources of the EF staff, it was decided to close the scamming subforum, and to enact the forum rule quoted above.

A thread was created informing the Entropia Forum members of this change, and Jimmy B summed up the reasons for the new policy quite effectively with this post:

@Jimmy B

For reference, the following text is one I’m am using for PMs to explain to new users who unknowingly break the no-naming rule why it exists. I don’t include every reason why the rule exists, just enough to show the basic motives behind the rule and why it is required:

The Rule not to allow the naming of alleged scammers on EF was brought about for a number of very good reasons (and thus is not likely to change) including:

(i) Its very easy for people to make false accusations against people they don’t like.
(ii) Its very easy for evidence (for example, screenshots) in false accusations to be faked.
(iii) Consequently, its very hard for anyone at EF to find out whether an allegation is true or false.
(iv) Even if the allegation is true, there’s very little anyone at EF can do about it.
(v) Users are instead encouraged to send the info to MindArk via a support case. They have logs that can be used to verify the truth of allegations. And they have the means to hand out punishment to those who were correctly accused.
(vi) There’s only so many names people can remember. Once the list grows too long people will forget the names anyway.
(vii) Scammers will regularly get new accounts in any case. Consequently the list will, in majority, consist of a list of old avatars that scammers no longer use.
(viii) Adding a name to the list will alert a scammer he’s been found out, thus possibly causing the scammer to get a new account.
(ix) It is better to alert people to scam practices and to show them how to be vigilant, how not to leave themselves vulnerable, rather than to tell them to look out for specific avatars.
(x) Before the Rule was in place it was too much work for the moderators who had to deal with all the ensuing complaints, as well as try to determine which allegations were probably true and which were likely false.

Take special notice of ix:

[INDENT]It is better to alert people to scam practices and to show them how to be vigilant, how not to leave themselves vulnerable, rather than to tell them to look out for specific avatars.[/INDENT]

This is a very important point, and one of the most important benefits of a strong community such as EntropiaForum has: members helping to keep one another informed and aware of potential dangers in our virtual universe.

Pepper has created a very informative thread in this effort, detailing common scamming tactics, and which every new participant should take the time to read to learn how to protect one’s Entropia Universe avatar account:

https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/entropia-universe-tutorials/77924-scamming-methods-exposed.html

Armed with the knowledge in that thread, new participants will easily be able to avoid nearly all possible scam attempts, regardless of the name of the avatar attempting the fraud.

Finally, and most importantly, if you observe or suspect that a participant is attempting to scam or defraud other participants, the best course of action is always to submit a support case on the official EntropiaUniverse.com website. Only Mindark has the resources and database logs to investigate such issues, as well as the power to take appropriate action when necessary.