So this is something I've barked about off and on site a few times and it's usually in regards to the posts involving frustrations in users throwing hissy-fits and self-freezing for a few days, or self-freezing to avoid backlash due to starting drama or debateably breaking rules, or something along those lines.

It is extremely annoying to see people freeze, un-freeze, freeze again, come back a week later.. only to re-freeze themselves. Especially when a lot of these people are causing drama, or are making huge elaborate scenes about "How I'm totally leaving forever" only to be back in a few days.

Now you could ask yourself, Andrea... why is this any of your business? If I want to freeze/un-freeze myself 5 times a day everyday how does that effect you? Well, since you asked-- it's alarming if you've claimed slots for items sold by these people, are doing art for these people, these people were supposed to be doing art for you, just confessed to breaking the rules and now you're unsure if the person was already dealt with (why make a ticket?) or if they self-froze to fake everyone out about it, are a friend and you have no idea if they got legit frozen or self-froze (you can't ask around, asking about frozen users is against the rules), and I'm sure there's more reasons if I actually tried.

So, I'm proposing that there's either a minimum self-freeze duration length and/or a minimum wait time between self-freezing-- input/suggestions obviously welcomed here.

Self-Freeze Duration Length: would be exactly like what it sounds like, when you self-freeze you'd be told that "hey, you won't be able to unfreeze yourself for (ex)14 days, so make sure you're okay with this before self-freezing". The length is an example, and having this in effect would (hopefully) help in preventing people who unfreeze like clock work just to avoid drama they've created.

Minimum Wait Time Between Self-Freezes: again exactly what it sounds like, you can self-freeze/unfreeze after an hour if you'd like however you can only self-freeze your account once every 3 months. This would be most effective against basically everything, and is the method I'd prefer to see happen.

Apparently more than a few others would as well, and I'm making this as par suggestion over on tumblr (:

Considering the heavy implications of freezing (you can't even mention the person anywhere anymore, pending business is an issue, can't submit CWs from them, etc like mentioned in OP), I support this. Even more so if people regularly attempt to use the feature to get away from punishment.

Now that we can mute group pings, that's yet another reason for users not to need a self freeze unless they legitimately expect to stay away from the site from an extended period of time.

I'd be totally fine with either a minimum length or minimum wait time.

I would love to see it implemented.

The way self-freezing works makes no sense (especially for the "school is hard; self freezing so I don't play") since you don't have to wait to unlock your account, and just contributes to tge habitual freezers.

While I personally haven't had problems with people self freezing (crosses fingers) I can see this being a really big problem. I know I panic a little when I see someone's name crossed out if I've talked to them. I wonder if it's real or if they're just taking a break, and since I have zero way to ask it can be a little nerve wracking.

I think I like the minimum wait time suggestion most too. I know there are add-ons that allow you to disable using the internet and stuff if you can't focus / need to do work so I don't think self-freezing should be used for that. So therefore I think if you're using self freezing for a legitimate reason (Going to be on vacation, etc etc) then this would be useful and I don't think you'd need to use it honestly that often. It would also prevent people from causing purposeful confusion and trying to get around breaking rules I think. (Kind of hard to constantly stealth if you have a timer till you can use it again lol)

Honestly I wouldn't mind seeing both implemented together. You self freeze, you can't come back for a month (or whatever). You unfreeze, start some drama and want to re-freeze? Too bad, you're stuck here to deal with your consequences for another month (or whatever).

Supporting this as the reasons for it seem really logical and I'm surprised it's not already in place.

I've never understood how flippant people are with freezing on Subeta. I've seen some people who are like "gee, I'm going away for the weekend... better self-freeze." It's just so bizarre to me, and I've never seen anything like it in any other community.

A self-freeze limit could be bad for business though. Like if you say a self-freeze has to last a minimum of one month and someone wants to come back sooner, that could potentially be lost revenue.

Yes, please. I support both.

This is an excellent suggestion, and I would love to see it implemented.

If there were text to warn the user beforehand (IE, "Remember, by disabling your account for 3 month(s), you'll not be able to log in until that time is up! Choose wisely."), then I don't see how it would be a problem.

If someone wants to come back sooner, they shouldn't have self-froze.

Everything in this topic, yes. Full steam ahead.

The fact that you can freeze one day, unfreeze the next, and then freeze again is ridiculous?? What's the point other than to cause headaches for all parties involved, (especially staff that have to deal with your hot and cold, annoying ass.)

I am in full support of this suggestion. Personally, I'd like it if you could only self freeze twice a year - and had a 3 month wait to get back.

The downside to this is obviously the site could lose potential income, and they could possibly lose a long term player who may find other things to do and not come back then their wait time is over.

But the way it is now is stupid and something needs to be put in place to have consequences for the actions taken. Self freeze shouldn't be a "Get out of free..." card which is basically what it is now. That and an easy way to garner attention ("Oh, I'm freezing. I have no friends, you can't talk me out of it Pings friends who beg and plead - Self freezes and then after an outpouring of tumblr attention comes back to be showered in praise, gifts and general ass kissing)

So yeah. Limit freezes & Make there be a time period. Perhaps each time you self freeze more time gets added to your wait. That'd be amusing.

I like the idea of a minimum wait between freezes. Not so sure about a minimum duration.

Not only do I agree with all the suggestions here, I'd also like it if it said that the person self froze. I can't tell you how many times I've gone to someone's profile and they were frozen and I'm just like WTF!??!?!?! WHAT DID THEY DO!?!?!?! If it said "this user has self frozen" that'd be awesome. If they were frozen for a different reason it can just continue to say "this user has been frozen" without going into detail.

I feel at least that way, if it says they did it to themselves you can expect a faster return or ask around about why they did it or what happened, especially if you're expecting something from them like a cw/art/payment etc.

[edit]or!! Maybe if you self freeze you have the option of adding a message?? Like "this user has self frozen! message: (reasoning, return date etc)"

I'd love it if we got rid of the rule where we can't talk about frozen users. It's stupid.

this is a good suggestion, let's implement it

I like the suggestion but the reasoning is a bit... silly. It really is none of your business if someone keeps freezing and unfreezing, and if it's happening too often for you to handle, just cease conducting business with them. If they've only done it once, but it worried you, well then this suggestion isn't going to change that. That being said, I never understood why there was an option to self freeze to begin with, especially only temporarily, and let alone without any regulation at all. The whole idea of it is just silly to me, but if we're going to have it there ought to be stipulations.

I had no idea that self-freezing and unfreezing was a thing. I thought once you were frozen that was it, you were gone forever!

I like this suggestion 100%. If I knew that someone self froze and would be back I wouldn't completely write them off, delete from friends list and just generally ignore that they were ever here. I just deleted two people from my friends list because they are frozen. Now I'm unsure if I should have done that.

While I agree there is merit to this suggestion, I think the wait time between freezes should be lower.

Yeah, you have people who are finicky, and who might love drama, but honestly I always saw self-freezing as an important account security tool. It's good to use if you're going to be gone for a few months - it adds an extra layer of protection against say, hackers or whatever.

If I was to self-freeze for six months, and then I came back to check on everything/reset my timer, etc, I don't think I should have to wait three months to be able to use it again.

I completely agree. I thought that the people who were self freezing for hiatus was doing this for this reason anyway- to stop hackers or something. Apparently people just do it to run away from their self-created problems though 😔

Sometimes, that's easier said than done.. and sometimes they do it in the middle of conducting business. I've had a person self-freeze right after submitting a CW batch and a handful of other users and I had 700 csc potentially stuck in limbo, and I couldn't yank it out because then I'd screw over everyone else who had a slot. But we were left in the dark and didn't even know if the batch would go through since y'know, the creator was frozen.

I'm not saying this would always fix that, but you can't always just not do business with people. Especially when you have no idea what is going on with them.

(side note: I tried to be vague about this as I know talking about frozen users is against the rules, and I know this scenario has happened more than a few times with different users so hopefully this is okay to mention-- as it's kinda a solid reason as to why this should be re-evaluated. If not please let me know and I'll remove it)

So what's to stop said hacker from just unfreezing said account and doing whatever they wanted with it anyways?