[lnichols]

So this morning I have had three separate "Invitations Pending" in my BBM the past hour, all of which are from BlackBerry for some instagram client. I have deleted them each time, and every time I open up BBM, there is the same F'ing invitation back for the same ad! WTF! OK if you are going to send me an invitation that is an ad, then at least when I delete it, don't keep bringing it back up three times in the same hour and respect the fact I don't want to accept the invite. BBM is becoming a garbage app. Channels seems dead, stupid new sticker notifications all the time, and even though I bought a BlackBerry phone, they want me to pay them to stop spamming me with their consumeristic garbage, but at the same time won't make a phone to upgrade from my Z30 because they are focused on "Business Customers". My bosses ask me if their is any way to get rid of the "Shop" for the same reasons that it is annoying. Sorry but this is just ridiculous that BlackBerry phone users are being bombarded with garbage to extort us for a fee to not be spammed. Wonder if they'll throw ads in the Hub soon and try to just turn the OS into monetization ploy just like Google does with Android.

Hey Chen business users and "Young Professionals" don't think SPAM is PROFESSIONAL! Give BlackBerry phone users the ability to opt out of the Shop and out of advertising for free. Your competition gives the messaging app away for free, and ad free, as a value added service. You have turned your value added service, that was free and ad free for years to BlackBerry users, into an annoying ad pusher that we have to pay for. If BIS users are getting these ads then you guys are being extorted even more!

Posted via CB10

[Zeridialous]

You should be able to tap and hold on the invitation, and then from the menu that appears choose "Block".

[Bold_until_Hybrid_Comes]

Agreed. Every time i open bbm there are blackberry "sparks" all over and they aren't for messages. Pending invite spam, notified of a new bbm feature in my feed, ads, stickers, etc. BlackBerry please make it so that this junk and notifications disappear for no fee. I don't want to see the blackberry spark/asterisk unless i have a new message or invite from an actual person

[Q10Bold]

Agreed. Every time i open bbm there are blackberry "sparks" all over and they aren't for messages. Pending invite spam, notified of a new bbm feature in my feed, ads, stickers, etc. BlackBerry please make it so that this junk and notifications disappear for no fee. I don't want to see the blackberry spark/asterisk unless i have a new message or invite from an actual person

Thats why I only use BBM in the HUB. No more channels..nothing and I'm fine with it. Hate the 'new Chen' BBM thing.
If this is it what Chen wants- ok. But RIP BBM very very soon...

Posted via Q10Bold

[anon(9188202)]

Agree that any spam from BlackBerry seems counterintuitive. I also agree that the BBM shop and advertising should either be opt-in (preferable) or free to opt-out of.

[lnichols]

You should be able to tap and hold on the invitation, and then from the menu that appears choose "Block".

I'll try it, and I looked at doing that before, but my guess is that won't allow you to block future requests from "BlackBerry". This isn't the third party pushing it, it is directly coming from BlackBerry.

Posted via CB10

[diehardbbuser]

I wish their was bbm lite and pro with lite doing away with stickers, channels etc.

I agree, very poor direction bbm has been headed in for the last 12months.

[hellomoto921]

I feel like i'm not getting these as much as others. I have received a couple in the past but not to the extent that some are stating.

[RH1Pearl]

Android users get Spam invites as well. I use to get one every other day but now maybe one every month or two. Not so bad anymore

[GEO1ER]

The spam seems annoying, I haven't experienced it but from what people are saying on here, I wouldn't be happy with it. As for BBM Shop and Stickers, I don't see what the problem is. You don't have to click on the shop. If you don't want to go in the Shop then don't go in it. How is it bothering anyone. I never go in the shop, I could care less about the stickers. My daughter loves them but I could care less so I just don't go in it. I don't understand is the BBM Shop popping up when you open BBM? Or at random times while you are trying to use BBM. I just don't get it. How is it bothering anyone?

Posted via CB10

[bjohnston7]

Agree. Making BBM worse.

[NG888]

Incredibly annoying, I'm finding myself using BBM less frequently now.

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[NaijaBerry]

I agree with you 100%, I'm a business user and BBM is getting too busy for me these days, I'm still in it because I can send PDF documents to my clients etc with ease, but then again I can always email them, I've thought about deleting BBM for good, but its still very useful for me, then I read this today New BBM beta offers the ability chat with people outside of your BBM contacts | CrackBerry.com and I'm thinking WhatsApp so anyone that has my email address can send me a BBM, what the....So looks like au revoir BBM any mo.....

[Delron Washingbeard]

Agreed. The plan to monetize BBM is going to kill loyalty. They are ruining one of the best features of blackberry.

Not to mention the Feeds being annoying. I don't need someone changing their display picture to show up on my active tiles! Thankfully that can be disabled, but you still get "Blank is now a contact" showing up on your active tile months after they have been added.

Posted via CB10

[crackberry_geek]

Hey Chen... you want some spam... you're an 1d10t with your stupid BBM strategy.

Posted via CB10

[Madhuchandran]

BBM shop could possibly be made a paid access!

Posted via CB10

[sk8er_tor]

Use the Block function. I haven't received an ad in forever.

[KingRichard]

Honestly I'm leaving BB for good. Z10 is now retired as I dont see its use anymore. For BBM I now use it on my iPhone and I dont notified anything out. So, the ads doesnt really bother me and since most of my contact use WA then I dont really used BBM that much anymore. Seeing the changes of BBM toward its own downfall then I'm felling lucky.

[lnichols]

The spam seems annoying, I haven't experienced it but from what people are saying on here, I wouldn't be happy with it. As for BBM Shop and Stickers, I don't see what the problem is. You don't have to click on the shop. If you don't want to go in the Shop then don't go in it. How is it bothering anyone. I never go in the shop, I could care less about the stickers. My daughter loves them but I could care less so I just don't go in it. I don't understand is the BBM Shop popping up when you open BBM? Or at random times while you are trying to use BBM. I just don't get it. How is it bothering anyone?

Posted via CB10

When you open BBM and see the Spark symbol on the screen you are ingrained to think something is important if you are a long time BBM user. I haven't bought a single sticker pack, or app via the BBM Shop, nor will I. I want the option to disable the shop all together so when I'm using the app I'm having to click on the shop to get rid of the spark. As a BlackBerry phone user and BBM user for over 7 years now the experience is degrading severely fast. BlackBerry keeps giving fewer reasons to stay a loyal BlackBerry user.

Posted via CB10

[bb10adopter111]

I have to agree with this. This kind of spam needs to be opt-in. I can no longer push my contacts to use BBM because of this.

Rather than monetizing BBM, BlackBerry is limiting its appeal so that they can tell investors a sexy story that doesn’t correspond to reality.

BBM can be monetized only if it's a world-class experience, and the spammy marketing of grade-school stickers to busy professionals doesn't qualify.

I am a strategy consultant, and I used to ask all of my clients (principle shareholders and CEOs) to add BBM to their phones so that I had a direct channel to communicate with them. I can't do that anymore, so I just SMS and email them. That’s bad for me, them and Blackberry.

Posted via CB10

PS, it is possible to block senders, but it's not intuitive, and therefore is not really an option for new users.

[bigbadben10]

This is so daft. My goodness we are bombarded with spam by all sorts of avenues and now BlackBerry is taken to task over bbm spam. What a joke

How about confronting Google or Facebook/whatsapp over this. They are way more pervasive. SMH

Posted via CB10

[habs_fan]

I must be lucky, I've gotten maybe 3 invites since the start and the sparks don't bother me, it doesn't take much effort to click on the feeds section to dismiss the sparks

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[thymaster]

Hmmm. The ads doesn't bother me at all. If you find it annoying and you claim you are a professional then you can afford to pay a dollar a month for a no ad version.

[ljfong]

The painful thing is all these apply to BlackBerry handset users too. People may be loyal to BlackBerry but BlackBerry has absolutely zero loyalty to them.

[drinkmorejava]

Hmmm. The ads doesn't bother me at all. If you find it annoying and you claim you are a professional then you can afford to pay a dollar a month for a no ad version.

We paid for blackberries, we shouldn't need to pay more to not be spammed.