How can I turn off the bot spam messages? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is there a slash command to mute (or squelch) a player in Diablo 2?
Diablo 2's multiplayer has been a wasteland of spam messages for years—bots who enter, post long, green, gigantic messages, and leave. I've asked several party members about how to stop this and they said I can only try to squelch them from the party menu if I'm fast. Is there truly no other way? How have power users dealt with this nuisance for years?
1
Is there any way to stop all incoming messages, like a kill switch? If not, is there any way to at least minimize the message area's size so it only takes up a fraction of the screen? Is there any way to block these users from entering? (Perhaps blocking new users or just any new party members even before the party limit? Will that even matter?) Is the idea to play on private with people found in other games, just to avoid the spam? What else can I do to avoid these messages?
1. Drop this "ignorelist" file into C:\Program Files\Diablo II. 
2. Start or restart to activate.
3. Enter /o igw to ignore non-friend whispers.1
The final D2 patch (1.13d) introduced an "ignore" filter for blacklisting unwanted phrases.2 It's on by default, toggled by /ignorepersist. You can blacklist phrases with /filtermsg <phrase>. This creates (or appends to) an "ignorelist" file in your D2 directory. (It's easier to download mine above.)
You'll still see user join/quit messages, but it's nothing. As per the other answers, you can still:
Press N to clear those messages
Join games restricted to level 2+ characters, as most bots are level 1
- Create a private game
The answer is right there in your screenshot. By default, N will clear the screen of all messages that have been posted.
Unfortunately, there isn't really anything you can do to prevent the messages in the first place. Bots will join all newly created public games and message everyone who appears in a public chat. If you want to avoid the messages, you should never join a chat room and always add a password to your games.
It's annoying, but it generally only happens briefly when the game is first created and then you're free to play without interruption. Just keep the N hotkey in mind and you'll be good to go.