Character name can't be hidden.

[Karbuncle]

Tell that to Sony playstation........If you give hackers the starting point they will find a way in. I think its actually a good thing to have the information linked but not public. If you want less people to use the forums carry on. you will then end up with a few people making the decisions for the majority who dont care about the forum rules. Sounds just like politics to me. Few loud mouth peoples opinions overriding the majority who dont care less.

No, To completely different situations. I'm sorry..

Your Name, Server, and Jobs are completely irrelevant information for Hackers. They do not need any of the above to hack your account. If you were to get hacked it would not be because of this.

If they wanted you hacked, They wont need your Name, Server, or Jobs. They could do it without.

hence - Irrelevant Information. You will be absolutely no more susceptible to hacking after this update than you are right now, because the only thing being displayed is information hackers DO NOT NEED to hack you. When you log into Playonline do you enter your Character name, Server, and jobs? no.

It is absolutely worthless information to a hacker. Because they don't need it to hack you. They need your Playonline ID, Password, and your SE I.D, The problem is the 1-time Token Password, making it almost impossible to be hacked unless its happening real-time.

Which is even further unlikely if your protect yourself with things like Adblock, Noscript, and safe internet browsing.

So to a Hacker, your Char-Name, Jobs, and Server are useless information, none of it is necessary to hack you.

Edit: Edited for nice-ness.

[wildsprite]

Tell that to Sony playstation........If you give hackers the starting point they will find a way in. I think its actually a good thing to have the information linked but not public. If you want less people to use the forums carry on. you will then end up with a few people making the decisions for the majority who dont care about the forum rules. Sounds just like politics to me. Few loud mouth peoples opinions overriding the majority who dont care less.

you might want to revise that, because it isn't "if you give hackers a starting point they will find a way in" its "if you piss off a hacker and expose the right starting point they will find a way in"

real hackers are explorers searching for information, they don't just hack without reason, why would they want your account, what makes it so special?

besides, the attack on PSN was the entire network not individuals so as Karbuncle said, your point with that is irrelevant

[Selzak]

Oh no, how will I be able to make threads about subjects that I have no clue about now!?

[Seriha]

My concern is more the digital footprints we (unknowingly) leave behind. Someone ambitious enough with a name and server could track down a linkshell forum, from there there might be a thread where people share pictures or other RL information like their job or roughly where they live when it comes to planning good times for LS events. Even an innocuous slip of a first name from someone the person's more intimate with could lead to a clue that would further direct someone to a blog or social networking site where cross-referencing info can help narrow down possibilities. With the existence of sites that attempt to append email addresses to real people, that can also cut down on time needed in investigation.

Is all this possible now? Yes. Is it a guarantee that a poster with Handle Y is using that as their in-game name? No. Are there people who feel "obligated" to preserve some level of "knowledge" or "skill" here and will go to any length to do so? Yeah. It's not too hard to get on their bad side, either, especially when it comes to opinions.

Even so, while the boards might not be the sole instigator of malicious intent, it could later become a point of reference for those digging up dirt on someone. Mules aside, the only option people concerned have with this is to not post, and that's not good business.

[Selzak]

Is all this possible now? Yes. Is it a guarantee that a poster with Handle Y is using that as their in-game name? No. Are there people who feel "obligated" to preserve some level of "knowledge" or "skill" here and will go to any length to do so? Yeah. It's not too hard to get on their bad side, either, especially when it comes to opinions.

Even so, while the boards might not be the sole instigator of malicious intent, it could later become a point of reference for those digging up dirt on someone. Mules aside, the only option people concerned have with this is to not post, and that's not good business.

Absolutely any information you leave anywhere can become a point of reference for someone digging up dirt on you. There is just nothing significant enough to warrant any fear whatsoever over your virtual character's in-game information being linked to your forum handle. You'd be better off fretting over the fact that you post in language-specific boards and that someone could determine what region you live in that way.

[Raxiaz]

I can't believe how much exaggeration is going on in this topic...

[Byrth]

Unless you know and trust everyone on your server (who can see both your in game name and linkshell name), that argument is a chromosome short of normal. You're infinitely more likely to pick up a stalker from your own server, and they already have all the information (and more) that you could get from the system SE is proposing.

Now, with exactly what I've said in mind, try and think about why this information would necessarily not make the system any less secure. Hint: Look at paragraph 1 again, but replace "stalk" with "hack"

You're making public information . . . more public? Don't be idiots. There's essentially no risk involved.

[wildsprite]

Unless you know and trust everyone on your server (who can see both your in game name and linkshell name), that argument is a chromosome short of normal. You're infinitely more likely to pick up a stalker from your own server, and they already have all the information (and more) that you could get from the system SE is proposing.

Now, with exactly what I've said in mind, try and think about why this information would necessarily not make the system any less secure. Hint: Look at paragraph 1 again, but replace "stalk" with "hack"

You're making public information . . . more public? Don't be idiots. There's essentially no risk involved.

isnt the point of the /blist command to get rid of unwanted attention such as a stalker?

[GlobalVariable]

Excuse me but knowing my in game name was exactly how it began for me (different game, years ago). Blist doesn't do s*** for you when they keep making new characters (vanishing before a GM bothers to make any kind of record) and eventually pretend to be some friend of a friend long enough to get information from someone you know. Not to mention the potential to get trash talked by random strangers who log out before a GM arrives to say "just blist them" yeah, so they can keep talking crap about me and lie about things to everyone else that I can't see to defend myself from, awesome! Oh we want people to be accountable. Sure. Right. Accountable for that omega ring, accountable for that unpopular opinion, accountable for everything but whats actually against the rules that should already be enforced and thus not need a feature that we'll pretend actually increases accountability for bad behavior. /ramblerantoffrustration

[wildsprite]

a lot of exaggeration will always happen due to paranoia and it seems we have many who are paranoid if their char info is released it will tell personal information about them, but the truth is it wont, any personal information they are looking for they will need to find some other way