Outgoing links do not show up for steam chat friends

[Katorskay]

MODERATOR NOTE - FrazerJC - (25th Feb 2015, 19:44 GMT):

I can now confirm Valve are looking into the reports and how to move forward with it.

Please do not spam Steam Support with tickets. This won't help the issue and will just slow down everything for everyone.

***Please do not submit a ticket to Steam Support if you are having this issue. Steam Community mods are monitoring this thread and have already informed Valve about this. Just post in this thread if you are having this issue.***

**Please read the updates of this post**

Having a rather weird issue, where aside from youtube links, no links appear for my friends when I send them. None of them at all. I can see any link they send me, But if I send them say an imgur link, it doesn't get sent at all, and no notification is sent to them about the message. they can send said imgur links between themselves just fine. However any link other than youtube that I send cannot be seen by anyone. I've tried doing this in and out of the steam beta, I've tried running steam://flushconfig, after that I reinstalled steam after deleting the registry files for steam even though the flushconfig should have done the same thing. But this issue still persists. I tried a system restore to a few days before this issue had a chance to happen, but still nothing.

Is anyone else having any similar issues with this after the current update? Or does anyone have any clue what might be causing this.

Update 1: Tried Installing Steam on two different devices, using two different ISPs, same issue persists. It persists on the Steam webchat as well.

Update 2: On top of Youtube links, I've found that some Steam related links also work.

Update 3: I've found out that there are certain links that are filtered for everyone on steam recently. These apply to certain torrent sites and google docs, possibly more. These blocks apply to everyone, not just the few of us who are experencing an issue with almost any link other than youtube.

Update 4: I bought enough cards to craft badges to reach level 10 to test to see if that may be the problem, as I've noticed everyone reporting this issue to be between the steam levels of 0-9. The second I achieved level 10 my links were then being sent, links that beforehand were not being sent to anyone at all. This seemingly has not yet been applied to every sub 10 account, as it seems to be affecting accounts in waves. Valve seems to have put in firm restrictions on sending links on accounts below level 10

Update 5: Let me rephrase. Currently these restrictions are not being applied to every single 0-9 account, but rather new accounts are added to the filterlist every day/week, as evident of new people reporting this issue as "just happening" for them while some have had this issue for weeks, and why some 0-9 users don't have this problem at all. The reason this could be the possibility is that everyone I've run across with this issue from threads being made here, are made by accounts from people who are level 0-9, or friends of the people having the issue, in which their friends are 0-9. Again this is not currently being applied to every single 0-9 account, but there is a strong possibility new accounts will experience this issue in the near future. Whether this is a mistake on Valves end or done on purpose to mitigate phishing attempts on users is unclear, as we've no official response as of yet.

Update 6: Possible cut off may be level 9, and not 10.

Update 7: A mod has stated this issue is for sub 9 accounts here.
http://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/0/617328415058392258/#c617328415061115434
Again as stated several times, this is not currently being applied to every account below level 9.

Update 8: New developments. Links now instead of being removed completely as if they were never sent to begin with are now being replaced with a {LINK REMOVED} message. This update seems to have happened today when steam servers went down a few hours ago (around 6:00pm-8:00pm GMT -6:00 on 2/24/2015) and is affecting people who have had this issue beforehand, along with new users above level 9. Level no longer seems to be the deciding factor, instead it must be another reason. This is based on users above level 9 experiencing this issue. But this is not currently being applied to every user.

Update 9: Steam Community mods have forwarded this issue directly to Valve. Hopefully this issue will be resolved soon.

Update 10: Some people are reporting this issue is being resolved for them. It is obvious Valve is trying to fix this ASAP. If you are having this issue please post here regardless.

[Katorskay]

Just throwing this out there. I have no evidence on this. But the possible reason could be that any account that was reported, be it the report was acted on or not, could have flagged the account and as a result this anyone who has had a report against them are being censored. Since it is obvious they are still testing and fine tuning this new system, it's not outside the realm of posibility.

[Grandguy4U]

get this ♥♥♥♥. so I sent my friend a link to a steam store page, and that link got removed too.

Q U A L I T Y
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[Harun]

Gold/Katorskay eredeti hozzászólása:

Just throwing this out there. I have no evidence on this. But the possible reason could be that any account that was reported, be it the report was acted on or not, could have flagged the account and as a result this anyone who has had a report against them are being censored. Since it is obvious they are still testing and fine tuning this new system, it's not outside the realm of posibility.

Some say it could be accounts that have their link privileges banned because they sent blacklisted links, which would still be ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ because when i found out by acccident docs didnt work me and my friend tested them, and I know other people tested it too with kickass and docs, and one time i showed my friend the chatlog from some dumb hacker, there's so many variables in like a shadowlinkban like that, it just seems asinine.

[Eblo]

Steam won't even let me link to Google. Something's definitely wrong.

[radament's lair]

Gold/Katorskay eredeti hozzászólása:

Just throwing this out there. I have no evidence on this. But the possible reason could be that any account that was reported, be it the report was acted on or not, could have flagged the account and as a result this anyone who has had a report against them are being censored. Since it is obvious they are still testing and fine tuning this new system, it's not outside the realm of posibility.

Hmm.... I don't think that's the case for me. The links I've shared lead to no illegal/warez sites or otherwise. Most of it tends to be free porn and shared with like minded individuals and even then I can't imagine these sites being blacklisted.

[Katorskay]

Shoigun i do not mean a specific report for a link you may have sent. I mean any report of any kind, true or false by any means may have flagged an account for this censorship, and that valve, as they are fine tuning this system well delve into the specifics. So we may just have to 'wait it out' until they get this fully functioning. Again I have no evidence of this and I am not presenting this as fact. I feel I am forced to say this with every post.

[Rio the Rio]

Gold/Katorskay eredeti hozzászólása:

To manhattan and contemplative when did you realise this first started happening to you. Are your messages not being sent, or are the recivers getting {LINK REMOVED} as shoigunjinsho has mentioned

I can confirm now that I am now receiving this {LINK REMOVED} on my links now as well.

Sorry for the late response. It seemed to happen after steam died, like you mentioned in the OP. I am getting Linked Removed. No idea why, my account's old too. I did get a slap on the wrist a few years ago for making a steam group, no VAC bans or anything though. Maybe it's linked to that?

[Katorskay]

Contemplative, I was just speaking of this as you can see. I believe it could be a possiblity.

[radament's lair]

Gold/Katorskay eredeti hozzászólása:

Shoigun i do not mean a specific report for a link you may have sent. I mean any report of any kind, true or false by any means may have flagged an account for this censorship, and that valve, as they are fine tuning this system well delve into the specifics. So we may just have to 'wait it out' until they get this fully functioning. Again I have no evidence of this and I am not presenting this as fact. I feel I am forced to say this with every post.

Chill hombre. I wasn't taking it for truth, I was just adding that there is no one that could of reported me or any sort of system that would of red flagged me for any reason, it just wouldn't make sense.

[Katorskay]

I know you weren't shoigun, but others have. So I feel like I have to say it every time.

As for reporting. Anyone could report anyone. as long as they have a steam ID, which everyone here has. Anyone you may have played a game with could have gotten it. Someone may have reported you without you knowing. I too also know I haven't done anything to deserve a report, but I've no idea if I have been. All I know is action wasn't taken against me. But we don't truly know how Valve does things. It could possibly be that any report 'flags' your account. and while you may not recieve punishment for it, your account is still flagged as being reported.

Think of it as being arrested. Being arrested does not say you are guilty, it just shows you've been arrested. and you've been 'flagged' as being arrested. A poor metaphor but I've hope it's gotten my idea across.

[radament's lair]

Gold/Katorskay eredeti hozzászólása:

I know you weren't shoigun, but others have. So I feel like I have to say it every time.

As for reporting. Anyone could report anyone. as long as they have a steam ID, which everyone here has. Anyone you may have played a game with could have gotten it. Someone may have reported you without you knowing. I too also know I haven't done anything to deserve a report, but I've no idea if I have been. All I know is action wasn't taken against me. But we don't truly know how Valve does things. It could possibly be that any report 'flags' your account. and while you may not recieve punishment for it, your account is still flagged as being reported.

Think of it as being arrested. Being arrested does not say you are guilty, it just shows you've been arrested. and you've been 'flagged' as being arrested. A poor metephor but I've hope it's gotten my idea across.

I know what you mean but I just can't see that being a possibility. Of course no one knows but I think it's more like they tried to input a filter and somewhere along they line they screwed it up and it just happens to random people, or perhaps they want it to happen to random people for a test drive. Maybe it has something to do with the 'old' steam ID's and 'new' Steam ID's. At the end of our Steam Id'd it's either and _1 or an _0. I forgot which is which but that might be a deciding factor. How old the account is. Although, it is strange how my friend can see any link I send and I'm the one that can't see his links. Maybe there is something to your speculation but I just can't see valve saying "yeah, this will work".

[LoTekRabbit]

I can't link anything to my friend but he can link me things just fine.

I've never been banned or anything so I highly doubt it's because of that as some people say.

[Smoket]

I linked newegg and it got removed what is wrong with steam!

[Katorskay]

Shoigunjinsho eredeti hozzászólása:

Gold/Katorskay eredeti hozzászólása:

I know you weren't shoigun, but others have. So I feel like I have to say it every time.

As for reporting. Anyone could report anyone. as long as they have a steam ID, which everyone here has. Anyone you may have played a game with could have gotten it. Someone may have reported you without you knowing. I too also know I haven't done anything to deserve a report, but I've no idea if I have been. All I know is action wasn't taken against me. But we don't truly know how Valve does things. It could possibly be that any report 'flags' your account. and while you may not recieve punishment for it, your account is still flagged as being reported.

Think of it as being arrested. Being arrested does not say you are guilty, it just shows you've been arrested. and you've been 'flagged' as being arrested. A poor metephor but I've hope it's gotten my idea across.

I know what you mean but I just can't see that being a possibility. Of course no one knows but I think it's more like they tried to input a filter and somewhere along they line they screwed it up and it just happens to random people, or perhaps they want it to happen to random people for a test drive. Maybe it has something to do with the 'old' steam ID's and 'new' Steam ID's. At the end of our Steam Id'd it's either and _1 or an _0. I forgot which is which but that might be a deciding factor. How old the account is. Although, it is strange how my friend can see any link I send and I'm the one that can't see his links. Maybe there is something to your speculation but I just can't see valve saying "yeah, this will work".

You have a fair point too. But it as you say, at this point it's just a spitballing session of what could be causing this at this point. And I seriously doubt we will hear official word about this anytime soon, If at all.

[Katiopeia]

yep, i cant link my twitch or google or anything.