Alternate Account Invites From Lotus Members. Lots Of Them.

[Crusty 0]

Hey guys and gals,

What is the official Lotus policy on recruiting? Are your members allowed to go to other people's servers (including Valve servers) and send players they've never spoken to invites from alternate accounts?

[Se7en 10,762]

I have no idea what you're talking about. Lotus doesn't recruit people by invitation. There's a whole process to becoming Lotus recruit, you can see details in the application guidelines.

[Crusty 0]

So, why is it every day I log in, I've got another one of these-- if not three or four from people I never played with before?

I log my console and have a couple of scripts I slapped together to parse it into something a bit more useful for offline review. I've never played with this person. Never spoken to them. It's obviously an alt account. Hardly any usage, fairly new, and the only Lotus name on his/her friends list is L | Mana.

Most of the time, the person doing the inviting is witty enough to at least set their account private, but do find it amusing one of your spammers has one of your community leaders as a friend (as noted in screenshot here since I imagine the account won't show this information shortly):

URL of the profile in question:

http://steamcommunit...561198054981381

Anyway, please cut it out.

[Se7en 10,762]

That's the Lotus public group, it has 173000 people in it and there's no way for us to police so many people into not sending invites. I think that you can disable notifications/block the people that spam you and make your profile private to everyone but the people on your friends list. There really isn't anything else we can do to help you out with this particular problem you seem to experience.

[Crusty 0]

It's interesting how we've gone from denial to saying the group in question is simply too big to police once a few screen shots are posted. Perhaps since Mana is one of this fellow's six friends on Steam, he could take a moment to tell him to cut it out.

[Se7en 10,762]

Yes, I denied that anyone from Lotus is recruiting people by invitation, which is pretty fucking true, the recruits we have all applied following the guideline and completing the process involved. Maybe you should've made your initial post more clear as exactly what the problem was, because from where I stand there is no recruiting of any kind involved. Not all people in the Lotus public group are recruits and I'm pretty sure not all recruits are in the group. I have given you a solution to your problem, if that doesn't satisfy your needs you can PM, Mana and tell him exactly what your problem is, and how he should fix it.

[Crusty 0]

No thanks. I'll just keep posting here when I get spam from alts of your members. I find it cute you've devolved into profanity over such a small matter. I'm sure your peers are impressed. I'm not.

[JoinedSenses 559]

The group in particular that you have posted is open to the public. It is for those who enjoy playing on the servers and want to get in touch

with other people. Anyone in the group is able to send invites. I do not understand the hostility in this situation.

There are separate closed/non-invite steam groups for those who are strictly recruits and members of Lotus.

As Se7en noted, your best option is to set your steam options to deny group invites from people not on your friends list.

[HeadSh0tBrent 2,156]

[JoinedSenses 559]

I am also positive that no one who has a lotus membership, aside from Mana, pays attention to the public group.

[Se7en 10,762]

No thanks. I'll just keep posting here when I get spam from alts of your members. I find it cute you've devolved into profanity over such a small matter. I'm sure your peers are impressed. I'm not.

You don't know what profanity is. But in case you are offended, I recommend vaseline.

[- Mike - 2,728]

TIL Lotus recruits apparently.

[Vaginal Hubris 2,659]

Just because Mana is his friend doesn't mean that Mana is sending this guy out to do recruiting. Luckly, we have plenty of people who want to be apart of the clan. We don't need to spam invites to random people. The group is public, so really anyone in the group could invite you. The invite does not have to be from a Lotus person as there are obviously more members in the public group than there are members and recruits in the clan.

Thanks for your understanding. Have a spectacular day.

[Crusty 0]

The group in particular that you have posted is open to the public. It is for those who enjoy playing on the servers and want to get in touch

with other people. Anyone in the group is able to send invites. I do not understand the hostility in this situation.

There's no hostility from this end. I don't mind this, I just came here to voice a concern and offer a little evidence of something I've been experiencing. Your "council" is the one getting emotional the moment screenshots were posted.

I am also positive that no one who has a lotus membership, aside from Mana, pays attention to the public group.

That got me wondering. Mana would probably be interested in growing that particular group. See links below.

You don't know what profanity is. But in case you are offended, I recommend vaseline.

No. Just not impressed. I recognize this reaction for what it is.

Just because Mana is his friend doesn't mean that Mana is sending this guy out to do recruiting. Luckly, we have plenty of people who want to be apart of the clan. We don't need to spam invites to random people. The group is public, so really anyone in the group could invite you. The invite does not have to be from a Lotus person as there are obviously more members in the public group than there are members and recruits in the clan.

Thanks for the reasonable response. Your reply and JoinedSenses got me curious. One Google query and this is just from the first page of results:

http://forums.steamp...d.php?t=1734338

http://forums.gaming...28-invite-spam/

http://forums.srcds....viewtopic/15734 (mentions of a PHP script, which makes sense since these arrive at around the same time and if there were multiple people doing it, there would be some doubling of efforts)

https://forums.allie...ead.php?t=96621 (another mention of this being automated)

http://forums.steamp...d.php?t=1089377

http://forums.gaming...dly-suggestion/

There's thousands more under the discussions category on Google. More still, if you do terms such as: fake client, misreported server statistics and spoofed player name.

It seems like once outside of this forum, there's not much question about the source of the invites. Oh well, I set out to let you guys know you've got a few annoying members and it turns out to be just another automated marketing scheme by the group itself.

[Se7en 10,762]

I wasn't getting emotional. I just don't appreciate being called a liar. I also happen to have given you a solution, which you declined, because you somehow feel wasting people's time is more fun.

[IceSage 58]

Hey Crusty,

You seem to be a lot confused, so I'll help clarify some things for you... even though the answers were given already. However, I'll be super nice to you and help you out.

Here we go.

Your first post was this:

Hey guys and gals,

What is the official Lotus policy on recruiting? Are your members allowed to go to other people's servers (including Valve servers) and send players they've never spoken to invites from alternate accounts?

Which seemed like you were asking the question of "Are other members (read as Lotus Recruits) allowed to spam recruit invites to other people?"

This question to anyone who plays or even reads the forums on Lotus before asking, makes absolutely no sense... As there isn't an "invite" system in place. There's an application system, in which if you're interested in joining Lotus, you come to the forums, follow the rules in the Application Guidelines thread, and then you apply.

Even then, people are not automatically accepted as recruits and becoming one takes some effort on the person who applied's part, as you have to play a certain amount of games with other LotusClan Members before you can even apply the "L-r" tag to your name.

The "L-r" tag signifies a Lotus Recruit. Whereas the "L |" tag signifies a LotusClan Member.

So as you can see, Se7en was confused as to how "People were recruiting others to Lotus" since that's impossible.

So, why is it every day I log in, I've got another one of these-- if not three or four from people I never played with before?

I log my console and have a couple of scripts I slapped together to parse it into something a bit more useful for offline review. I've never played with this person. Never spoken to them. It's obviously an alt account. Hardly any usage, fairly new, and the only Lotus name on his/her friends list is L | Mana.

Most of the time, the person doing the inviting is witty enough to at least set their account private, but do find it amusing one of your spammers has one of your community leaders as a friend (as noted in screenshot here since I imagine the account won't show this information shortly):

URL of the profile in question:

http://steamcommunit...561198054981381

Anyway, please cut it out.

In reply (above) you linked to a Steam Group. Steam Groups are groups you can create on Steam for whatever suits your fancy. Anyone can create them.

What you posted a screenshot above, was the Public Steam Group for Lotus. Anyone can join the group by pressing "Join" and anyone can invite anyone else to the group at any given time, as settings on the group allow anyone to invite. Anyone. You can join the group, then invite your friends. A random guy from Russia can join the group and go "Yeah! Lotus clan #1, I invite all friends in America!" and then spam invites to whoever.

Some people like to invite others to their favorite groups. If you don't like it, you simply ignore it.

I get group invites all the time. Usually when I play on the server that the group is for. For example, when I played on Skial I got an invite for Skial. Etc.

I get random invites even when I'm not playing, for the stupidest things. Always. It's going to happen to you if you play on Steam, because some people like sending out invites. It doesn't matter if you've met them or not.

If you don't want invites, you should probably disable it. I do believe there is a way to do this.

Back to the timeline of your events now. You posted those screenshots and claimed that the Lotus Public Group, was somehow "Recruits" sending you invites for "Recruitment" which that is not. Recruits and Public Groups are totally different things.

Se7en, again, responded to you, very nicely in fact... What was going on.

Which pretty much reads as he typed it. There's no possible way for anyone to control who sends you invites to a public group on Steam but yourself...

...And maybe Gabe Newell, since... you know, he owns Steam.

Apparently that wasn't a satisfactory enough answer for you... Then this is where it appears to other users, anyone reading, that you're becoming a bit hostile and confused. The thread should have ended where the explaination was that a Public Steam Group and a Lotus Recruit are nowhere even near each other. But you replied with the following

It's interesting how we've gone from denial to saying the group in question is simply too big to police once a few screen shots are posted.

No, nobody was in denial of anything. You just weren't clear on what you meant by "recruits." Again, your first post was asking about RECRUITS, not Public Groups on Steam. Which are two entirely separate things.

Your screenshots made no difference in the answer because the answer is and always will be the same. Nobody's tune changed. Nobody offered up a different explanation.

You asked about one thing, then your next reply revealed you were talking about another. Nobody had a clue what you meant the first time, so nobody's answer "magically changed" when you posted screenshots.

Perhaps since Mana is one of this fellow's six friends on Steam, he could take a moment to tell him to cut it out.

One's affiliation with being on someone's friends list makes no difference. However, perhaps you could PM Mana and ask him what the deal is with the "random group invites" you're getting from this guy.

In fact, that's what Se7en again told you. He also explained that the facts didn't change and stayed the same. The first post you made asked about recruits. He told you that's not how it worked. You then come back with screenshots of a Steam Group. He replies with the answer for what you actually meant, which was about the steam group. You reply with "Oh, your tune has changed now that I posted screenshots."

No, it's just that nobody had a clue on what you were talking about, and the screenshots clarified it.

No thanks. I'll just keep posting here when I get spam from alts of your members. I find it cute you've devolved into profanity over such a small matter. I'm sure your peers are impressed. I'm not.

So, your above reply... takes things a step further on your end. You received help on both of your issues, and what you really meant.

They explained to you that:

1) Recruits don't recruit random people, and that's not how it works.

2) Lotus Clan can't control or police thousands of members in a group anyone can join because they're "sending out invites."

Which answers BOTH questions you had, and the 2nd one answered what you really meant the first time. But that wasn't enough for you for some reason. Care to explain why? At this point, care to explain what you're confused about? Because any other person would have said "Oh, thanks for clearing up the confusing!"

Instead, you point out the fact that someone swore in their post. I'm not sure if you're new to the internet, or adulthood for that matter, but some people actually swear once and awhile. It's not even like he was swearing at you either. There was nothing demeaning about it. He was using "fucking" to supplement and stress that what he said the first time IS IN FACT TRUE. That's how the English language works. It wasn't meant to be "impressive."

At this point, you completely ignore the fact that no Lotus Clan members are spamming you invites, and say you'll post here and bitch and whine some more about your inability to understand facts and explanations when they're given to you.

Instead of taking the APPROPRIATE COURSE OF ACTION, which was suggested that you PM Mana.. You instead toss a hissy fit and say you'll "keep posting."

That makes no sense. Why would you ignore the 2 answers you were given, which are both 100% correct... And then also ignore the solution that was given which was to ask Mana... you know, considering he's the Admin.

But nah, let's not PM the Administrator of Lotus Clan. What could HE POSSIBLY DO TO HELP YOU?

If you didn't want help or answers, then why did you post in the first place? Of course, all of these questions go right through your head, as you continue to believe there's some sort of conspiracy in place for Lotus Members to spam you "recruit invites" (which aren't recruit invites in the slightest) and that people are getting "aggressive" with you since you posted screenshots.

To me just now seeing this thread, you seem like a naturally paranoid person. At this point, 3 other people explained to you the same answers you were given in the first place. Which you all completely ignored.

There's no hostility from this end. I don't mind this, I just came here to voice a concern and offer a little evidence of something I've been experiencing. Your "council" is the one getting emotional the moment screenshots were posted.

Well, first off... nobody said you were being hostile. He said you were easily offended by swears... As if you're some retarded man-child who doesn't understand how to be social.

If you came here to voice your concern, then you accomplished that the moment you explained what you were talking about with the screenshots. Thank you for bringing us the attention that some random people out there sending invites to groups. Who would've thunk that could happen? Receiving Steam Group Invites on Steam from RANDOM STRANGERS?! Impossible!

Again, you start with the conspiracy that people are getting "emotional" because you posted screenshots.

Nobody was getting emotional because you posted screenshots. People were most likely applied their palm to their face in frustration at the fact that you demonstrated several times that you couldn't tell the difference between Lotus Recruits and a Steam Group.

At first people thought you mean Lotus Recruits. Correct? So naturally, we believe your reply to be something about recruits. Then, you post screenshots about Public Steam Groups... Which made everyone go, "Wow, that has nothing to do with Recruits."

Se7en then told you that you should have clarified what you meant the first time. You were also answered not only about the Recruits question, but also the Steam Group question.

You THEN proceeded to completely ignore all of it, and continue on as if you TURNED THE TABLES ON US by posting screenshots. No, the only tables you turned was us finally figuring out what you were talking about. Which, again, had nothing to do with recruits, or members, or anyone from Lotus, for that matter.

That got me wondering. Mana would probably be interested in growing that particular group.

Sure, people who create groups like it when their groups grow. It has a sufficient amount of people joined in it at this point, and the group is pretty well known. So, I highly doubt Mana is concerned about people joining the public group. He gains nothing by it. In fact, Mana is rarely active unless some administrative stuff needs to be done, or new content is released.

No. Just not impressed. I recognize this reaction for what it is.

Again, swearing wasn't suppose to impress anyone. It was meant to stress the fact that his answers were "pretty fucking correct."

Thanks for the reasonable response. Your reply and JoinedSenses got me curious. One Google query and this is just from the first page of results:

http://forums.steamp...d.php?t=1734338

http://forums.gaming...28-invite-spam/

http://forums.srcds....viewtopic/15734 (mentions of a PHP script, which makes sense since these arrive at around the same time and if there were multiple people doing it, there would be some doubling of efforts)

https://forums.allie...ead.php?t=96621 (another mention of this being automated)

http://forums.steamp...d.php?t=1089377

http://forums.gaming...dly-suggestion/

There's thousands more under the discussions category on Google. More still, if you do terms such as: fake client, misreported server statistics and spoofed player name.

You do realize that those are all VERY old threads, right? It also appears that you didn't pay attention to any of them, as none of them claim that Lotus auto-spams people.

It mentions how people, individual people, used to setup PHP scripts to invite people... Which is frankly much easier than the dropdown menu.

One of the threads even explains that for awhile VALVe had a glitch where you couldn't decline a certain invitation. (Though, Mana may have been joking.) -- Which, has nothing to do with Lotus, or anyone but VALVe. And again, that was a thread from 4 YEARS AGO.

The only, and ONLY thread you linked that even mentioned Lotus auto-spamming groups invites, is the only group that is designed to this... Which is the "Banned from Lotus" group. The only reason why this particular group has an automated invite system, is because the group is INVITE ONLY and is ONLY for people banned from Lotus.

So, unless you're banned from Lotus, you don't get to be in the group.

It seems like once outside of this forum, there's not much question about the source of the invites. Oh well, I set out to let you guys know you've got a few annoying members and it turns out to be just another automated marketing scheme by the group itself.

Nothing is automated by Lotus, unless there's some sort of auto-invite for when you join a Lotus server. That's to be expected, though, as a lot of servers seem to do that... since, you know... you're playing on their servers.

If you have an issue with people sending you invites to a group, you take it up with them.

Also, even after all this time, you still haven't realized that Lotus Clan Members or Recruits have nothing to do with Steam Group Invites.

....Also, there is no "marketing scheme." What the hell would Lotus even TRY to market?

After your entire conversation in this thread, it seems like you still don't get it. I hope my very long and detailed post helped you out in some fashion.

If you still don't get it after this, I'm sorry. I truly am.

[Awptimus Prime 297]

lol, crying over an invite. it probably takes one second to click ignore, or just leave it which takes 0 seconds than to write this thread, reply to this thread a couple of times, search on steam forums about invite spams and looks as if he has no friends so why not complain to cyberland. all in one shot.

need a life?

[Willerms 1,794]

I'm just going to point out the fatal flaw in the theory that the "alternate account" belongs to Mana. I, and anyone else who has familiarized themselves with Mana would know that creating an account, putting over 800 hours into that account on TF2, and then spamming invites is just not worth his time. Yes, he could get a bot to do that stuff for him but is it really worth his time? Have a nice day

[JoinedSenses 559]

Lock this thread, please.

[- Oli - 1,121]

Lock this thread, please.

Yes please.

Most points that can be argued here have been and this idea that lotus automatically spams out invites and whatnot to people is ridiculous. I receive an invite a day to groups i've never heard of or seen before from people i've never seen or heard from before. Get over it, or change your settings to not allow this. Seems resolved.

Have you ever considered that some people may add mana for questions about lotus or even just to say "look I have the leader of lotus clan in my friends list"??? I mean Mana has almost 300 friends on steam. And the fact that this guy has some other random non lotus people indicates perhaps unless mana wanted to make a network of invite spammers and then friend each other, that the guy is just a random person and not actually linked to a conspiracy theory of recruiting players for lotus. I'll clarify this for you:

Mana has to run the clan every day all day - manage servers. I doubt he has time or care for spamming invites to his steam group. Probably wants to have more free time than spend his day sending invites or whatever.

People become recruits by coming here and applying - then going through a recruitment process and afterwards being accepted. People are not "headhunted" and the public group is just a place where people who aren't lotus recruits or members can show a little appreciation for lotusclan for providing like 50+ servers... (I think it's 74).

Last thing is somehow because people can send invites again that it's our fault? Well valve should add an option to permanently ignore like mentioned by mana in one of your links.

And if you really hate the group invites I don't want to look like we're recruiting but if you change steam settings they can't be received or if you just join the group then no more invites can be sent to you? (And before you think, I am not recruiting for lotus but instead finding as many solutions to your problem i can think of).

[Marcel the Shell 403]

Crusty, i thought I would add you to discuss the situation ......... I used my alt cuz im coo like that

[Nano 7,892]

I love that the 2nd link he provided has a response from Valve saying that it's impossible to receive multiple invites from the same group. Ie. if he's ever hit decline once, he couldn't receive another invite. PER VALVE.

There is nothing else to be said here, just hit the decline button once and go on your way happier with life. Maybe you could buy a puppy too. It seems like you need something to cheer you up a bit!