A public warning about the /echo command...

[InsaneChaosMarine]

This is a public warning about the /echo command!

 

 

Here are the instructions for each.

 

 

Tells or Whispers:

/echo [Name of Character] >> [Whatever you want them to say.]

 

 

Reply

 

 

/echo >> [Name of Character]: [Whatever you want to say back.]

 

 

Emotes:

/echo [Name of Character] [What you want them to do.]

 

 

 

Error Messages:

/echo Message to [Name of Character] could not be sent.

 

 

Examples in the game...

 

 

 

 

 

There is no way to tell the difference between this and a real screenshot currently to my knowledge.  You can put it between real conversations to make people say pretty much anything.

 

Please pass this message around.  This is not meant to teach players how to grief others, but to protect them if something similar happens to them.

[Faye]

I have also discovered just this week (take a guess how) that tumblr IM's can be altered to look totally legit in screenshots, and even video/streaming. Can't really trust anything you don't witness firsthand. But I am curious about the /echo thing, related to circumstances referenced here and just in general. It can be used to fake /tells and error messages, but can it be used to fake both at the same time? That is to say, if someone set the /echo font to a pink color to fake a /tell, and then set the /echo font to a red color to fake an error message of the /tell not being successfully delivered, would it turn all the /echo text in your chat box red, or would only messages posted in /echo after that be red? I'd test it myself, but I can't get in game at the moment.

[InsaneChaosMarine]

I have also discovered just this week (take a guess how) that tumblr IM's can be altered to look totally legit in screenshots, and even video/streaming. Can't really trust anything you don't witness firsthand. But I am curious about the /echo thing, related to circumstances referenced here and just in general. It can be used to fake /tells and error messages, but can it be used to fake both at the same time? That is to say, if someone set the /echo font to a pink color to fake a /tell, and then set the /echo font to a red color to fake an error message of the /tell not being successfully delivered, would it turn all the /echo text in your chat box red, or would only messages posted in /echo after that be red? I'd test it myself, but I can't get in game at the moment.

 

You can indeed use both, in fact all three at once.  I will prove it to you in a second.  Let me do it quick in game.

 

I will update when I make it.

[Faye]

I have also discovered just this week (take a guess how) that tumblr IM's can be altered to look totally legit in screenshots, and even video/streaming. Can't really trust anything you don't witness firsthand. But I am curious about the /echo thing, related to circumstances referenced here and just in general. It can be used to fake /tells and error messages, but can it be used to fake both at the same time? That is to say, if someone set the /echo font to a pink color to fake a /tell, and then set the /echo font to a red color to fake an error message of the /tell not being successfully delivered, would it turn all the /echo text in your chat box red, or would only messages posted in /echo after that be red? I'd test it myself, but I can't get in game at the moment.

 

That is a myth.  I will prove it to you in a second.  Let me do it quick in game.

 

I will update when I make it.

 

How is a question a myth??? I didn't even make a statement.

[InsaneChaosMarine]

Sorry, fixed that.  I edited it.

 

I am partially blind and misread what you stated.

 

Fixed it quick.

[Lydia Lightfoot]

I have also discovered just this week (take a guess how) that tumblr IM's can be altered to look totally legit in screenshots, and even video/streaming. Can't really trust anything you don't witness firsthand. But I am curious about the /echo thing, related to circumstances referenced here and just in general. It can be used to fake /tells and error messages, but can it be used to fake both at the same time? That is to say, if someone set the /echo font to a pink color to fake a /tell, and then set the /echo font to a red color to fake an error message of the /tell not being successfully delivered, would it turn all the /echo text in your chat box red, or would only messages posted in /echo after that be red? I'd test it myself, but I can't get in game at the moment.

 

I'm not in-game either, but I think when you change the color of a chat channel it applies it retroactively to your chat windows. However, someone really determined to be a turd could just take two screenshots with both colors used, and as long as their character hadn't moved, a quick minute in paint to copy and paste could make it look like different colors happened (and the backdrop behind the transparent chat window would line up perfectly since the character hadn't moved).

[Faye]

I'm not in-game either, but I think when you change the color of a chat channel it applies it retroactively to your chat windows. However, someone really determined to be a turd could just take two screenshots with both colors used, and as long as their character hadn't moved, a quick minute in paint to copy and paste could make it look like different colors happened (and the backdrop behind the transparent chat window would line up perfectly since the character hadn't moved).

 

Yeah, photoshopping is always possible, though it does add another layer of difficulty (and thus make it more unlikely to happen). Then again, after the past couple days, I don't doubt the lengths people will go to in order to falsify conversations with others.

[InsaneChaosMarine]

I'm not in-game either, but I think when you change the color of a chat channel it applies it retroactively to your chat windows. However, someone really determined to be a turd could just take two screenshots with both colors used, and as long as their character hadn't moved, a quick minute in paint to copy and paste could make it look like different colors happened (and the backdrop behind the transparent chat window would line up perfectly since the character hadn't moved).

 

Yeah, photoshopping is always possible, though it does add another layer of difficulty (and thus make it more unlikely to happen). Then again, after the past couple days, I don't doubt the lengths people will go to in order to falsify conversations with others.

 

 

That took less then 5 minutes.

 

As you can see, an emote, a whisper, and an error all in one thing.

[Faye]

I'm not in-game either, but I think when you change the color of a chat channel it applies it retroactively to your chat windows. However, someone really determined to be a turd could just take two screenshots with both colors used, and as long as their character hadn't moved, a quick minute in paint to copy and paste could make it look like different colors happened (and the backdrop behind the transparent chat window would line up perfectly since the character hadn't moved).

 

Yeah, photoshopping is always possible, though it does add another layer of difficulty (and thus make it more unlikely to happen). Then again, after the past couple days, I don't doubt the lengths people will go to in order to falsify conversations with others.

 

 

That took less then 5 minutes.

 

I see, that answers the question, then! Thanks!

[Nebbs]

Thanks for this and good to know. It seems is the world of fake news we now have fake-chat. I did think at first you were going to tell us how to create your own personal RP dialogues but then it got real and highlighted the lengths some will go to in "being dicks".

 

I suspect the "screeny or it didn't happen" no longer applies.

 

[edit] - In fact you might question the motives of those who push screen shots with their assertions... trust is the looser.

 

It is a sad place to be where everything is fake, until proven otherwise.. and even then the proof should be seen as fake.

 

-bYAQ-ZZtEU

 

[Maril]

Modhat time! 

Some posts have been removed for evaluation. Please stay on topic & be excellent to each other. 

 

/modhat off

[Unnamed Mercenary]

Fake chat is honestly nothing new in this game. It's been around as long as /echo and being able to change the chat log colors. (Which is to say for the duration of the game.) it's for that reason that SE won't take screenshots as evidence and has an extremely strict no public callouts policy, most of which is copied over to the RPC.

 

It's why the in-game GMs are the best method for reporting in-game harassment, as they likely have administrative tools to verify public logs of some sort.

 

I would encourage users to judge a person based on their own experiences than by hearsay, which includes random tells and screenshots. It's always been easy to manipulate information on the internet. FFXIV just packages it up nicely for potentially malicious users.

 

--

 

Staff-ish part

 

While we have seen people pushing fake screenshots before, this is the first time we've had a thread detailing how to do it. I would kindly ask that people not abuse the /echo command for smear campaigns or to circulate falsified information.

[InsaneChaosMarine]

Its been quite a few months, but I think I have been seeing a lot of stuff recently so I decided to bump this again. So new role-players and others can see this.

 

I edited the main part as well. So I just added in the part of how to do it rather then the drama. Thank you for reading.

[M'liliya Tzun]

Wow! I have been playing the game for about a year and half now and I never knew this even was possible! Thanks for the awareness! I won't look at "screenie evidence" the same way again.

 

I think this should be like a front page sticky or something...

[Unnamed Mercenary]

The reason this post isn't pinned is because it's not particularly well-known. (And is perhaps best kept that way. Increasing the visibility is a double-edged sword.)

 

Like the previous comments, these types of issues are best handled by the in-game GM team, who can verify chatlogs when granted the proper authorization through the in-game reporting features. It's also why I don't like to spread around chatlogs, whether text or screetnshots as "evidence" for anything. A lot of it can be faked when someone wants to put the effort in, which has led to issues I've personally been involved in.

[Erah'sae]

I've got to back up Unnamed.   

 

Always treat everything 'evidence' wise as suspect and use your best judgement.  Faking chat logs / screen shot chat has been a thing for at least two if not three generations of MMO's now.

 

It does make me wish there were some actual proper chat logging in the game though.  With this 'screenshot' / active 'cut and paste' only logging it's hard for the other side to contest data as well.

 

Feh.

[Yarehasu]

I have also discovered just this week (take a guess how) that tumblr IM's can be altered to look totally legit in screenshots, and even video/streaming. Can't really trust anything you don't witness firsthand. But I am curious about the /echo thing, related to circumstances referenced here and just in general. It can be used to fake /tells and error messages, but can it be used to fake both at the same time? That is to say, if someone set the /echo font to a pink color to fake a /tell, and then set the /echo font to a red color to fake an error message of the /tell not being successfully delivered, would it turn all the /echo text in your chat box red, or would only messages posted in /echo after that be red? I'd test it myself, but I can't get in game at the moment.

 

[align=center]I feel like I'm 20 weeks behind the scene on tumblr.[/align]

[align=center]What happened that there's now fake-chats out there..?[/align]

[align=center]How are people even doing this?[/align]

[M'liliya Tzun]

The reason this post isn't pinned is because it's not particularly well-known. (And is perhaps best kept that way. Increasing the visibility is a double-edged sword.)

 

That was something I considered briefly before replying but I wasn't so sure what the overall opinion on that notion would be. But with that being said I can safely say I agree with leaving it the way it is.

[InsaneChaosMarine]

Since the website changed and its been led off I would like to remind people that this is still possible in the game.  Since It got brought up in the game and i've been seeing some stuff happen to others I decided to bump the thread again.  Although it is just more of a 'be careful'.

[Charity322]

I'm curious. Does /echo only work on other players or could you use it to emote your minions or chocobos?

[Unnamed Mercenary]

Just now, Charity322 said:

I'm curious. Does /echo only work on other players or could you use it to emote your minions or chocobos?

 

Echo commands usually mean that whatever is typed after is "echoed back" to just the user. SE included them for things like macro timers. They're also great for testing things without actually doing them. At the same time though, because we can easily change the color of chat text, they're incredibly easy to use to make faked logs of any kind. This is why logs and screenshots of logs should be taken with a grain of salt. (Or perhaps, have multiple people log/screenshot if trying to verify something, as that would increase the likelihood of it being legitimate.)

[Charity322]

Ah I see, thanks.