Character name can't be hidden.

[Greatguardian]

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

It can work that way. It doesn't always. People suck. Generally? People are just best off not associating with bottomfeeders anyways. Being male and/or pretending to be male helps too. But those are preventative measures rather than solutions.

Byrth hit the nail on the head though. Your 5,000 person server already has all of this information. Who the hell cares if a few more people have it now?

[Dallas]

Byrth hit the nail on the head though. Your 5,000 person server already has all of this information. Who the hell cares if a few more people have it now?

You come from BG. You have an entire forum devoted to tracking players you don't like. You use their gear to track them from server to server. Naturally you want access to everyone's information so you can use bullying tactics instead of having to learn how to be civil.

[Karbuncle]

You come from BG. You have an entire forum devoted to tracking players you don't like. You use their gear to track them from server to server. Naturally you want access to everyone's information so you can use bullying tactics instead of having to learn how to be civil.

BG is not devoted to tracking players they don't like. If you're talking about the "Cross-Server Warning" sub-Section. its not devoted to people BG hates, It tracks people who have performed terrible deeds in their past in an attempt to keep others from falling victim to these players bad deeds.

As they have been shown to repeat said deeds.

Insulting BG in itself simply because you don't enjoy the website is uncivil. the irony is palpable.

Edit: Sorry, On the topic of "People will either use a mule or stop posting".

I wrote this a while back in this thread, But i've been using my In-game name on FFXI related forums and have never been stalked/harassed/etc in Game. The Community as a whole generally does not care about Forums. Very few of the population actually visit/read FFXI Forums.

I'd venture as far to say probably only ~20% of FFXI population regularly read/visit FFXI Forums. Of that % i would say less than 5% of that 20% Will actually insult/harass someone in-game over a forum post.

People might say "Oh, its xxx on the xxx server, lululul" but i bet if you asked anyone who has been "targeted" like that, It probably hasn't effected their in-game play at all. No one on the forums openly act on players in game they recognize from the forum because its harassment, and they care about their characters.

I can see the idea of wanting to remain anonymous if you're afraid people who disagree/don't like you might "Stalk" you, but they wont, if they do blist and GM them for harassment, they're obviously idiots.

Edit2: And all these people talking about "finally knowing who the char behind the forumer is" aren't going to go around harassing people. They just want to know who it is. They don't care about you in game. Its literally just knowledge they seek.

I personally wouldn't care either way. All i need to know about you people is in your posts. That information alone tells me rather you're stupid or not. I don't need to know anything else.

[Atomic_Skull]

The only thing this will achieve is to annoy a lot of users. Any imagined "positive" effect will be defeated by those same users selecting a level 1 mule. Some may just stop posting at all.

So all it will achieve is to annoy a bunch of people and drive some people away. So why waste time on this at all?

[Karbuncle]

The only thing this will achieve is to annoy a lot of users. Any imagined "positive" effect will be defeated by those same users selecting a level 1 mule. Some may just stop posting at all.

So all it will achieve is to annoy a bunch of people and drive some people away. So why waste time on this at all?

I should note i'm not "for" this idea. i agree its entirely pointless. It accomplishes nothing other than us removing a little anonymity from the boards.

Just that its not going to black out the sun and destroy the forums >__>. I don't think its negatives are devastating, but i also don't see a lot of positives.

My guess would be they instated this just so people might be able to know eachother a little more, but its mandatory, so theres something else behind it if you ask me.

[Seriha]

Being on the same server is on some levels more limiting. They won't have access to linkshell/party conversations unless they happen to be in the party/linkshell. Shout wars are one angle, yeah, but that's something I've usually just avoided due to the inane, of unrelated to the game, content being slung around. We're also largely past the days of Kings drama, and while little tiffs inevitably spring up here and there over popping mobs or claim jacking, ego flexing has tapered off significantly. Even then, being on the same server doesn't automatically give them a clue on how any person plays or even when. We're effectively phantoms once we're offline or text scrolls from view.

Not quite the same for boards, where this post and all we've made will remain for however long SE hosts them or google makes a back-up copy. Players don't even have to be on at the same time to pick a fight with one another, and an issue someone dropped weeks back could suddenly be dredged out of necrobump hell just because they thought they were being smart/cute/witty/WINNING!/whatever. I suppose with the average FFXI player being a college male or older these days, the fear of being stalked isn't really there. Regardless, a toggle would not harm while at the same time offering some peace of mind.

[Greatguardian]

Oh gee. Forums hold people accountable for their actions? You don't say.

Yes. If someone says something really bloody stupid, people are going to be able to dig it up and find it 6 months or 6 years from now.

Solution? Don't be stupid. Be responsible. Keep in mind that everything you say might be remembered forever. Look before you leap and think before you speak. Age-old lessons that everyone here should have learned anyways.

I really can't buy the stalking angle, though. These forums don't even have a bloody PM function. No one is going to start stalking someone because they badmouthed Red Mage while having a female avatar on a forum. If they do? Report their post and they can be potentially banned from the forums / game. Any sort of facebook / real life information that people could garner from the forums was and has already been available to everyone on your server anyways. My personal advice? Don't let things from your online persona link you to your real life any more than you want them to; and always assume that if one person can see it on the internet, everyone can.

Edit: GV, if you care what everyone thinks about you you're not going to have a lot of fun no matter what they do. Do I care that the majority of these forums think I'm a mean-spirited, egotistical, narcissistic son of a biscuit? Nah, not really. I have great friends in game, who I've know for years, and who all know that I'm nice to a fault and fun to hang with. Who cares what rumors some jackhole spreads about me? My friends all know me better. That's all I care about.

[GlobalVariable]

Edit: GV, if you care what everyone thinks about you you're not going to have a lot of fun no matter what they do. Do I care that the majority of these forums think I'm a mean-spirited, egotistical, narcissistic son of a biscuit? Nah, not really. I have great friends in game, who I've know for years, and who all know that I'm nice to a fault and fun to hang with. Who cares what rumors some jackhole spreads about me? My friends all know me better. That's all I care about.

Yeah thats totally it /rolleyes. If your being accused of crap like nin lotting groups are going to avoid you. But the most trolltastic jerks are proud to show their in game names.
That accountability for bad behavior on forums is in your imagination. I've seen people post screenshots of those they've goaded into crap "for the lols". That kind of person is NOT worried about their rep. And don't even try for the "it must suck to not have friends" crap. Yeah sure they'll all sit in PJ at odd hrs for me to defend my name form joe random slanderer who's PO'd about something I said on a forum and just wanst to hassle me, right, sure.

[Greatguardian]

Let's see here. I dare say it's impossible to accuse me of ninja-lotting when I don't do things with people I don't know, Bob.

Protip: No one who you'd actually want grouping with you is going to take some retard's unsubstantiated shouts or /tells seriously. I mean that. So what if a few less random full-aurore pickup groups want to deal with you because some tard made up some story about you kicking his puppy and stealing his Rani? Does that really affect you at all?

[GlobalVariable]

I've seen it happen to others.

You feel safe and so dismiss anyones concerns over this change.


You know whats got me riled up? The idiocy of acting like anyone concerned must have been a bad person/poster/player/stupid. Imagined positive effects are a close 2nd.


This thread should have died pages ago.

Just wanted to add: shout groups are the root of all evil. You can't join shouts without encountering stupid and unfortunately some of us do have to join/use shout groups for some things. Example was crappy but I meant to point out you can't all hassles it by blist. And why is my name Bob now o.O?