This tidbit came down the wire recently, and should prove to be interesting for many of us. Blizzard has released some of the specifics of the changes regarding Spam prevention being implemented in the upcoming 2.1 patch. The interesting thing to me is that once you report someone, it will automatically ignore any chat or mail from that account -- not just the one user name. And so long as the throttle doesn't stop messages in trade, I see that being an awesome feature. The major downside to the new spam prevention additions (at least thus far) would be that it only lasts for your current session, and it is based on using your /ignore list.

My question would be this: if you have a full /ignore list, will it still ignore people once you report them since it's only a temporary /ignore? (Blizz, if ya love me, you'll hook me up with that unlimited /ignore list I've asked Greatfather Winter for the last couple of years.) While I'll be the first to agree that these changes are definitely a step in the right direction, I question how many people will use the chat reporting option. At least, when you consider that there are mods now that block you from ever seeing the spam whispers in the first place. I do see that one-button mail-spam reporting getting a lot of use, since the mods only block whispers. Hopefully that will help knock some of the compromised accounts out of circulation faster.

So hey, if you're listening out there Drysc -- I will personally buy you a drink at BlizzCon if you can get the built-in spam prevention measures up to where we never have to see spam again - and we don't need a mod to do it. (I'd offer to buy the entire Dev team a round, but I don't make that kind of money.) Deal?

(Ooh, I just noticed, later in the thread he says these aren't the only changes. Let's hope!)

[Drysc's notes from the forums are behind the jump]

With the upcoming Black Temple patch, we will be introducing new features aimed directly at reducing the amount of repetitive and unwanted whispers, chat text, and mail. Our goal with these new features is to not only increase the ease of reporting spam, but also to automatically restrict it. Following the implementation of these features, we will continue to monitor for chat and mail abuse and take further action as needed.

Here are some of the new spam-prevention features going into the new patch.

Reporting abilities:

• Players will now be able to report chat and mail spam with the click of a button. A "Report Spam" option will now be available by right-clicking on a player's name in a chat channel, whisper, or mail. Using this option will quickly and easily report the player to our in-game support department for review.
  
• When you report a player, he or she will automatically be added to your ignore list for your current session. You won't see any chat or mail from that player until you log out and back in.
  
• These tools function on a per-account basis, meaning that reporting one character on an account will ignore all chat text and mail from that entire account until you log off.
  
• You will not be able to report players on your friends list or in your guild.
  

Message throttling:

• Players will no longer be able to send large amounts of text at one time, filling a chat screen with a repeating message, large blocks of gibberish, or text that could disrupt an entire conversation. This throttling, along with the new chat-reporting feature should make it much easier to keep unwanted text off your screen before it becomes overwhelming.

[via the official forums]