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Update on Referral Links on the Forums


EricMusco

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Hey everyone,

 

I wanted to let you know that as a part of today's maintenance, we made a change to how referral links work. Now, when you click on someone's referral link, it will prompt you with a confirmation dialog before accepting the referral. This was implemented to help stop any potential "griefing" that could occur from folks spamming their referral links.

 

In lieu of this change we are going to be lifting some of our forum restrictions around referral links. You are once again allowed to place your referral links in your signatures. However, keep in mind that if you are found to be "spamming" your link around the forums, you can still be actioned. Any type of link spam is not permitted and this includes your referral.

 

Thank you everyone for your patience as we worked through this. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

-eric

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Awesome! Finally!

 

What is the best way to reverse a referral I inadvertently clicked? Please don't tell me to phone customer service. There needs to be a better way.

 

Thanks.

 

You can email Customer Support at Support@swtor.com and ask them to remove your account from the scammer's Friend Referral list. Its what I did ;)

 

@OP About time Eric.

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In lieu of this change we are going to be lifting some of our forum restrictions around referral links.

 

I know it's still early in Austin, but I think the wording you were after here was "In light of this change...."

 

And thanks for finally getting this done. :D

Edited by NoFishing
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Thank you Eric, this should help keep people from stepping into referral traps from now on. :)

 

However, what about the cartel coins that were leeched off of Bioware by exploiting the link? Will they be revoked / confiscated? Or can the scammers rest easy on the fortune they stole from Bioware? :rolleyes:

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What is a referral ink actually? and why is it a potential trap? Why have people had to contact customer support to get off them?

 

You click it and it associates your account with theirs. You get some mostly valueless trinkets, they get 100 cartel coins a month for every month you subscribe.

 

It's a scam because people hid their referral links behind text indicating it was something else and as soon as you clicked it, the link was made, and they get the cartel coins.

 

We want it removed because people are benefiting from deception and if BioWare won't outright ban them, they should at least eliminate the benefit.

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You click it and it associates your account with theirs. You get some mostly valueless trinkets, they get 100 cartel coins a month for every month you subscribe.

 

I wouldn't say a free server transfer would count as a "trinket".

Edited by Nickious
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Judging from the comments made here already and what I've already been seeing/wondering, it seems that the referral idea as a whole isn't a win-win for both sides. What exactly happens if you click on & confirm someone else's referral? What happens if someone does so for you?
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Judging from the comments made here already and what I've already been seeing/wondering, it seems that the referral idea as a whole isn't a win-win for both sides. What exactly happens if you click on & confirm someone else's referral? What happens if someone does so for you?

 

if you click on someones referral, you get a free character transfer and preffered character kit (nothing much that you don't already got in it as a sub but it includes a free inventory slot so that's good). The person whose link you clicked gets cartel coins for the initial click and every month you continue to subscribe and friend referral rewards.

Edited by Sangrar
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if you click on someones referral, you get a free character transfer and preffered character kit (nothing much that you don't already got in it as a sub but it includes a free inventory slot so that's good). The person whose link you clicked gets cartel coins for the initial click and every month you continue to subscribe and friend referral rewards.

 

What's the drawback? There obviously is one, considering these posts:

good, I ended up clicking on this morning that was hidden as something as

Awesome! Finally!

 

What is the best way to reverse a referral I inadvertently clicked? Please don't tell me to phone customer service. There needs to be a better way.

 

Thanks.

About time, I never got caught in this sneaky tactic but I am all for this wonderful fix and bioware done a great job on fixing it.

From what you've said, it sounds like the person who clicks on the link and the person who's link is clicked on both gain. Why are people upset about it?

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...

 

From what you've said, it sounds like the person who clicks on the link and the person who's link is clicked on both gain. Why are people upset about it?

It's a understandable reaction to a scammer.

 

A dishonest person figures out a way to get free Cartel Coins by presenting a fake link. When someone else plays the of an unwitting pawn in such a scheme, it tends to **** them off, even if it had no direct negative effect on the pawn.

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It's a understandable reaction to a scammer.

 

A dishonest person figures out a way to get free Cartel Coins by presenting a fake link. When someone else plays the of an unwitting pawn in such a scheme, it tends to **** them off, even if it had no direct negative effect on the pawn.

 

True. I find it strange that an already-subscribing player can be 'referred' in the first place though. Seems to me like they're asking for the system to be abused. After all, to the best of my knowledge there are no rules against it... I'm surprised there hasn't been a thread where everyone just posts their referral links and everyone clicks everyone else's.

Edited by idnewton
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True. I find it strange that an already-subscribing player can be 'referred' in the first place though. Seems to me like they're asking for the system to be abused. After all, to the best of my knowledge there are no rules against it... I'm surprised there hasn't been a thread where everyone just posts their referral links and everyone clicks everyone else's.

Leaving your front door unlocked would also mean "asking [for it] to be abused"; still I'm sure you would be upset if someone would actually walk in and steal you stuff, right? :)

 

Part of being a decent human being is to not always do everything "just because it's technically possible".

 

And even though I personally never fell for the scammers, I'd still like to know if they will at least lose the cartel coins their scam rewarded them... Some of them even bragged with pictures from their account pages, showing that they stole hundreds of millions of CC from Bioware.

Edited by dermitni
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Hey everyone,

 

I wanted to let you know that as a part of today's maintenance, we made a change to how referral links work. Now, when you click on someone's referral link, it will prompt you with a confirmation dialog before accepting the referral. This was implemented to help stop any potential "griefing" that could occur from folks spamming their referral links.

 

In lieu of this change we are going to be lifting some of our forum restrictions around referral links. You are once again allowed to place your referral links in your signatures. However, keep in mind that if you are found to be "spamming" your link around the forums, you can still be actioned. Any type of link spam is not permitted and this includes your referral.

 

Thank you everyone for your patience as we worked through this. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

-eric

 

Quite honestly, I'm disappointed with Bioware. The exploiter who posted 70+ hidden links to his referral is still playing this game on Harbinger and the worst that he got was a temporary ban. In addition, even though I submitted an in game request for help, my situation is still unresolved 2 weeks later. I received an in game message from a CSR saying that the referral had been removed and that he would be dealt with. Given that I still can't properly credit the person who introduced me to this game, I can only assume that the exploiter is laughing at bioware for giving him the 500 cartel coins and other rewards and that he will be getting another 100 next month from my account. I counted at least 10 people that were tricked by the exploiter (when viewing this site using a smart phone you can not see the URL of the link until it is too late) and if they have had the same problems as I have with CSR taking back my referral, this guy is making a mockery of the supposed system.

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