[1eyedjack]

Quite often I get private messages from tourney hosts advertising a tourney that is shortly due to commence. It happens with a variety of hosts and their tourneys.
To the best of my recollection I have never played in that tourney nor otherwise encountered said host. And yet of the tens of thousands of online players I get this message (although I am probably not unique).
Sometimes I get this message the instant that I log in, before having had any chance to do anything.

It is a curiosity, really. I am not bothered by it, and am capable of ignoring the messages. I am just interested in how it works. Do these people compile a list of login names and then have some software that auto-messages them in bulk? Do they just select random individuals from the lobby and send messages one at a time (that sounds a bit laborious, to me)? How do they get to snap me up the instant that I log in?

[diana_eva]

Most likely they have marked you as a friend and a potential client for their tourney. So when you log in, they get the automated notice and send you the invite.

It's not bulk - it's manual and yes, it is laborious They create lists of "friends" as in "interesting people" and message them. You can ask them to stop doing that if you are not interested in their tourney.

[matmat]

I am pretty sure it is automated, probably using the so-called "chat assistant" that i've seen referenced somewhere in the forums.

[diana_eva]

Nope - they cant message multiple users simultaneously unless they have a private club. In that case, the message will appear with the -> Club arrow in front. For example Unibrige sends messages via Club.

[jjbrr]

matmat, on 2011-June-16, 14:24, said:

I am pretty sure it is automated, probably using the so-called "chat assistant" that i've seen referenced somewhere in the forums.

i hear it's this guy

Spoiler

[mtvesuvius]

jjbrr, on 2011-June-16, 14:30, said:

i hear it's this guy

Spoiler

I always knew he was evil!

[jjbrr]

mtvesuvius, on 2011-June-16, 14:42, said:

star tm ok

fyp

[1eyedjack]

diana_eva, on 2011-June-16, 14:29, said:

Nope - they cant message multiple users simultaneously unless they have a private club. In that case, the message will appear with the -> Club arrow in front. For example Unibrige sends messages via Club.

So does that mean that they could create a private club, make you a member of it without consulting you, and then bulk message you as a club member?

[diana_eva]

1eyedjack, on 2011-June-16, 16:42, said:

So does that mean that they could create a private club, make you a member of it without consulting you, and then bulk message you as a club member?

They cannot create a private club any time they wish. They have to ask permission to set up a club and as far as i know there haven't been any new clubs approved in a few years now...

They are not supposed to make you a club member without consulting you. If that happens, you can write to the club manager and ask to be removed.

Another thing is - these organisations are autonomous and they just use our software for their events, so we're not interfering into their business much. People have to sort these things out with each club's management.

However what you describe sounds like you are receiving private messages, from various TDs, and not bulk club messages.

[mgoetze]

Unless of course he's talking about lobby chat.

[mohitz]

I used to get these messages all the time. In my case, i had played in some of their tournaments. I presume they added me as friend and just messaged whenever i logged in or before tournament starts.

Anyway, the frequent messaging really started irritating me after a while. So, i asked them to remove me from the list a few times. When that didn't happen, I complained to BBO and they took care of it.

[barmar]

Any time I get one of those messages I mark the sender as an enemy.

[gwnn]

spam bots are approaching Turing criteria..

[1eyedjack]

gwnn, on 2011-June-23, 04:41, said:

spam bots are approaching Turing criteria..

Holy cr*p you are right. Just took a look at his other posts. Unbelievable. I started to wonder where are the adverts, but they are embedded in the sig. I know we are going all commercial, and all, but can't someone stomp on this account?

[diana_eva]

Yeah reporting it to mods. I was wondering why he keeps posting that thing on Fred's counting game