I don't know why this was changed, but Square Enix updated their forums where a character name is now REQUIRED to be shown in your forum posts.
Let me explain and show how this is a bad idea.
If someone decides they don't like you on the forums, they now get the information of knowing what data center you play on, what character you have, and can /tell or attack you in-game.
However it dives MUCH deeper than this.
While contacting live support to explain how this is an issue, I was able to tell them of an example of how easy it could be to harass someone, by googling a random person in one of the threads I started BY THEIR CHARACTER NAME
I was able to find out in two seconds:
1. Their character name.
2. Their datacenter they play on.
3. Their Free company.
4. Their FC Ward.
5. THEIR SOCIAL MEDIA
6. THEIR REAL NAME (attached to social media)
7. Their profession (onlyfans)
8. Their Hobbies (cosplaying)
Etc.
ALL of this information besides the first 4 was found out JUST BY GOOGLING THEIR CHARACTER NAME FROM THE FORUMS.
This is scary. This is awful. NO ONE SHOULD BE ABLE TO FIND OUT THIS INFORMATION!
And yes, it is partial fault of the user for using their ffxiv in-game character name on their social media, but the point is I would of never been able to find out this information, had I not been able to google their character name from a forum post.
DELICATE INFORMATION SHOULD NOT BE FORCED ON PUBLIC DISPLAY! EVEN IF IT AS SIMPLE AS CHARACTER NAMES!
This makes it TOO EASY to be a target of harassment.
I URGE square enix to change their forums, to add a privacy section on the forums to allow users to hide their character names, and any other information they do not wish to optionally, publicly share to everyone on the forums.
Continue reading...
Let me explain and show how this is a bad idea.
If someone decides they don't like you on the forums, they now get the information of knowing what data center you play on, what character you have, and can /tell or attack you in-game.
However it dives MUCH deeper than this.
While contacting live support to explain how this is an issue, I was able to tell them of an example of how easy it could be to harass someone, by googling a random person in one of the threads I started BY THEIR CHARACTER NAME
I was able to find out in two seconds:
1. Their character name.
2. Their datacenter they play on.
3. Their Free company.
4. Their FC Ward.
5. THEIR SOCIAL MEDIA
6. THEIR REAL NAME (attached to social media)
7. Their profession (onlyfans)
8. Their Hobbies (cosplaying)
Etc.
ALL of this information besides the first 4 was found out JUST BY GOOGLING THEIR CHARACTER NAME FROM THE FORUMS.
This is scary. This is awful. NO ONE SHOULD BE ABLE TO FIND OUT THIS INFORMATION!
And yes, it is partial fault of the user for using their ffxiv in-game character name on their social media, but the point is I would of never been able to find out this information, had I not been able to google their character name from a forum post.
DELICATE INFORMATION SHOULD NOT BE FORCED ON PUBLIC DISPLAY! EVEN IF IT AS SIMPLE AS CHARACTER NAMES!
This makes it TOO EASY to be a target of harassment.
I URGE square enix to change their forums, to add a privacy section on the forums to allow users to hide their character names, and any other information they do not wish to optionally, publicly share to everyone on the forums.
Continue reading...