Workshop item ban?

[Gothmar]

Hi all.

I got an email this morning stating one of my workshop items has been banned for violating the ToS. Thing is, it doesn't; as I've read through it. I've also had this item on the workshop for a couple months already, with no issues. What does it take to get a workshop item to be banned, anyway? Is it just someone that decides to click report one time and that's it? And are there any ways to find out that if that is the case, who is doing it? Any help or info would be nice.

Thanks!

[FFL2and3rocks]

You can't find out who reported you because they don't want you to harass them.

If you didn't purposely do something offensive, then did you create the content yourself? If for example you created a workshop item by using an image that you found on the internet, then it might be taken down for that.

[fluxtorrent]

Every time someone comes here saying this it involves something that includes a copyright covered item. I doubt this is different

[Gothmar]

The game is meant to have user created content. It's for the game Empyrion - Galactic Survival. I took one of the premade ships and modified it and posted that item. Again, the game is meant to have created/modified content. Heck, I even see servers with Star Wars in the names, and tons of Star Wars replica items, Babylon 5 replica items, BSG stuff, you name it.

Fluxtorrent: doubt all you want then.

FFL2and3rocks: So basically for Steam's viewpoint, it's alright for someone to harrass me by reporting something for no reason, yet it's not alright for me to know who is doing it?

[FFL2and3rocks]

Originally posted by Gothmar:

FFL2and3rocks: So basically for Steam's viewpoint, it's alright for someone to harrass me by reporting something for no reason, yet it's not alright for me to know who is doing it?

You don't have an item removed just because someone reported it. Valve has to actually read the report and agree that your item violated the rules.

Anyway, how exactly did you "modify" it?

[Gothmar]

If that's the case, then hundreds should be banned. I don't see that as what happened, as the ones I just mentioned are all still there. So something else has to be going on; and that is what I'm wanting to learn what it is.

[Gothmar]

It seems that "contact Steam Support" is a joke. I can't find a way to contact an actual human anywhere, to get some type of response.

[FFL2and3rocks]

The only way to contact them is to submit a ticket.

https://support.steampowered.com/newticket.php

The first response is often automated to weed out the common/dumb questions. It may take several days or longer to get a human response.

[Gothmar]

That's ridiculous tho. The ban on this item is 24 hours. It's the principal behind it though. They say to contact support but I will be unable to hear back from a human within that time frame? Ridiculous.

[FFL2and3rocks]

Originally posted by Gothmar:

The ban on this item is 24 hours.

What do you mean? I thought workshop items that were taken down were gone for good, not just for a day...

[Gothmar]

Well, the email I received said 24 hours. I dunno how this all works yet, as this is a first for me.

[Kauldwin]

Originally posted by Gothmar:

Well, the email I received said 24 hours. I dunno how this all works yet, as this is a first for me.

That wouldn't by chance be something like you being banned from adding new items for 24 hours, would it? I could see something like that to stop people immediately re-uploading whatever it was that was deleted. I dunno, just a thought to check on.

Originally posted by Gothmar:

If that's the case, then hundreds should be banned. I don't see that as what happened, as the ones I just mentioned are all still there. So something else has to be going on; and that is what I'm wanting to learn what it is.

As far as other workshop items also violating ToS, they can pretty well only take down what gets reported to them, since they probably don't have time to go digging through every workshop submission. Sometimes people report you for whatever reason and don't report others because they didn't see those submissions, they're having a bad day, etc. I have an account on a site where users can submit designs to be sold on t-shirts and things, and a lot of the same thing happens there - some things that are marginally questionable from a copyright standpoint get reported and deleted, and others don't. With a high volume of user submissions, it's always going to be an imperfect system.

[Gothmar]

Ok, turns out after rereading the email, yeah the item is banned for good. Go figure. I am also unable to post content for 24 hours. So thanks for that bit of info Kauldwin.

Either way, it's kinda stupid if you ask me. I still fail to see how this system works well, along with the current support system. :(

[Gothmar]

I'm still trying to find out what part of the ToS it's violating, too.

[Spawn of Totoro]

Can you link to the item or make you profile public so I can check?

[Gothmar]

Spawn: It won't show up for you, as the item in question was banned. So it would only show up to me, even though it had a public setting. Sorry. I also decided to delete it as it was doing nobody any good being public but not visible to anyone but me. I still have it as a blueprint, but it's no longer on my content page.