Removal of names when unfriending someone

[Beelhi]

This is probably the 4th or 5th thread I've seen about stalking/friendlist issues and it really saddens me. SE NEEEDS to adress this.

When I first started playing back in ARR I played alone and ended up in an FC that turned out to be pretty crazy. They forbade me to hang out with other people I had met (I was in a really bad place when i started playing so my weak mind managed to get manipulated even in a game).
They made me do things to get Gil from someone I had met (wich i paid back fully after I got away from that FC). They ended up stalking me whenever I would try to hang out with some other people.
I don't know how they managed but no matter where I went they always found me, sent me screenshots and asked why i was hanging out with those people. They had an "intervention", pressing me against the wall saying if I wouldn't stop hanging out with them they'd make my live hell.
Now LUCKILY the other people I had met helped me get away from them. The only thing i regret is not reporting them (I was new to the game, reporting seemed complicated and in my head I thought "they maybe didn't mean it like that") and just left things as they were.
Every now and then they kept coming back to stalk me, but the last time i told them if they contacted me again I would report them with the evidence I had. I've changed my name twice and plan on moving servers altho they havn't made any contact in like 2 years so it's fine as it is now.

But enough of me. YES, this seriously needs to be changed by SE. People can laugh all they want "haha how do you get stalked in a game, just ignore them" but depending on ones situation even things happening in a game can affect your mind.

[Ssmiley_Bjakkzz]

oh ye ive been in this seats...., creepy and annoyin as fukk..., fooled because i removed the person and their acting like some new another player by changed name trying to get to know you, was exposed when addin to discord.
Thank god.

[Natama]

Hey Natama, it saddens me that you are going through a thing like this and it has no place in a MMORPG and most certainly don't like it FFXIV.

Apologies for contradicting what you are saying, however, even if SE were to implement said features it will not necessarily stop it. I'll assume anyone who would want to stalk anybody and is adamant about it the player search feature is the place for it to happen, granted you would have to be online for yourself to be found I think a stalkers mind would literally not let go of stalkee and consistently keep looking up your name while they are online, thus, still showing your position in the FFXIV world you are on when you are online.

The issue is that even if I were to change my name - The person still has 100% access to the character name that it's changed to. If you have someone on your friends list - even if they have you blacklisted - it reflects name changes and server jumps. I have just learned even if you transfer off the data server, your name changes to (character unknown - world unknown) Even if you have THEM blacklisted, the same happens. I think even that feature should be changed and instead of a character name for blacklist, it should reflect the character ID just for both parties sake. But the problem is still that SE does absolutely nothing to fix the friend list. I am 100% fine with people knowing I had a character change if it means fully REMOVING my private teleports that they have access to even if they're on my blacklist. That's the part of stalking that bugs me. This person could easily pull up my FC teleport to teleport to it - Which they have. So there is so much more that could be done and prevented - I shouldn't have to fully delete a character because a single person won't leave me alone and neither should anyone else. Sure - ban the crazies. But things still need done by SE to prevent this besides being told the same thing everyone has been told: Go to the forums and make a suggestion. Nothing has been done about this person by the way - even though this person has had at least 5 reports from myself and others about stalking. Like I said in my original post, we are told to basically deal with it and that they would look into the issue and to post on the forums - which totally helps as we can all read. Thanks SE.

[moregano]

This has been an issue for a long time, I ended up transferring dc's to get away from a toxic fc leader. twice. but even though im listed as "character unknown - world unknown" on her fl after removing her from my own fl, she looked up my lodestone info and will always know when i change my name, world, dc's. everything. its scary that i don't have any privacy to my fl or to even have the option to hide my character's server on lodestone. i contemplated deleting this character and starting all over again just so i know they won't be able to find me, but that is two years in the making of MY hard work to be lost over one persons stalking! blacklisting does nothing, as well. blacklisted them and a couple of their friends and they still were able to track me down. PLEASE SE, at least fix the fl/blacklist issue!

[Canadane]

This has been an issue for a long time, I ended up transferring dc's to get away from a toxic fc leader. twice. but even though im listed as "character unknown - world unknown" on her fl after removing her from my own fl, she looked up my lodestone info and will always know when i change my name, world, dc's. everything. its scary that i don't have any privacy to my fl or to even have the option to hide my character's server on lodestone. i contemplated deleting this character and starting all over again just so i know they won't be able to find me, but that is two years in the making of MY hard work to be lost over one persons stalking! blacklisting does nothing, as well. blacklisted them and a couple of their friends and they still were able to track me down. PLEASE SE, at least fix the fl/blacklist issue!

Sounds like you may just want to report them for harassment.
There’s alternative methods too but you may not like ‘em.

[MercedesAnnMaria]

Unfortunately nothing has changed as far as removal of names from the "friend's" list. It will never change because frankly SE doesn't care that people are stalked or harassed sometimes in this game. You can transfer your character to another data center and change their name and it won't do any good. Even if you transfer to another data center, people can still track you via the lodestone if they still have you on their friend's list. The lodestone reveals the world where you transferred to, if you joined a FC on that new world and the name of it, and other pertinent/personal information. In this game, there is no such thing as privacy and the sad part about the whole situation is that SE uses some ridiculous excuse for not doing what is right according to what I have read in previous forum postings regarding this issue (SE uses a "privacy" excuse). If I remove someone from my friend's list, then that means I no longer care to associate with them in the game and that is my choice! SE doesn't seem to understand that though. As mentioned above, the lodestone is a stalker's venue for following you. When you add someone to your friend's list, it's a double edged sword that could possibly prove to be a very bad decision.