Incident Details
Due to the inactivity of the administrators of the (Chinese) channel, the channel with over 1,000 members became chaotic in terms of communication (e.g., spamming, insults, scams, and sensitive political discussions). To create a more friendly and well-regulated environment, I created the (New Chinese) channel a year ago. After a year of effort and management, the channel grew rapidly, hosted multiple events, invested over 300 billion ISK, and reached over 1,000 members.
However, on New Year’s Day, I planned to host a new event that required the creation of an additional channel. Due to the channel limit, I switched to another character to manage this process. This character also had owner permissions for the (New Chinese) channel (along with other players who also had ownership permissions). I mistakenly thought deleting the channel would simply revoke this character’s ownership, but it unexpectedly permanently deleted the channel.
Problems and Consequences
Channel Deleted
After the channel was deleted, I immediately attempted to recreate a channel with the same name (“New Chinese”). However, I encountered the following issues:
Players Unable to Rejoin
Players who had previously joined the old channel now see the message “This channel is unavailable to you” when trying to rejoin. The game’s system retains the historical information of the old channel, preventing players from joining via search. They can only rejoin using blue hyperlink links.
Community Disruption
Due to the channel’s deletion, many former members are temporarily unable to rejoin the new channel. This has disrupted planned events and disconnected the community of over 1,000 players that took significant effort to build.
Request for Assistance
I urgently need help resolving the following issues. If you are familiar with the relevant game mechanics or have experience with similar situations, your advice would be greatly appreciated:
1. Is it possible to restore the deleted channel?
If there is a way to contact technical support or game administrators, please let me know how to reach them or what steps to take (e.g., contacting customer service).
2. How can players search and rejoin the new channel?
Regarding the issue of “This channel is unavailable to you,” is there a way to clear the historical records of the old channel or force players to rejoin the new one via search?
3. Other solutions
If you have experienced a similar issue or know alternative methods (e.g., raising awareness about how to use blue links), please share your experience and suggestions.