Is there a direct chat channel for the MOD's?

LadyNerevar · February 2016

JBG.ITTMANb14_ESO wrote: »

Keep in mind it is highly likely that the ticketing team, as with most ticket handling systems, and call centers within the US will go to the desk of an individual who would be unable to achieve so much as a high school diploma in this country (and since our education systems is one of the weakest world wide, not even being able to pass our low standards is pretty sad). This is the reason why almost no one likes calling Tier 1 and Tier 2 technical support at ANY company in the US, if it isn't in the narrow cookie cutter, McDonald menu style of easy "can you restart it" fixes, it may never even cross the desk of someone qualified enough to make it right.

ESO has in-house support teams in the US and Ireland. If you're saying that ZOS is incapable of hiring competent individuals to look at support tickets, what makes you think that they're going to hire someone capable of writing a script to somehow scrabble thousands of usernames? Or take them all offline until the user re-registers? Or whatever other system you think is preferable.

If you're concerned about your privacy, and have already submitted a ticket, I would suggest that you stop posting on the forum and drawing attention to yourself. If you trust ZOS to fix the issue, wait it out. If you don't trust ZOS to fix it, I'm not sure why you're still here.

If you *really* want to make sure that this gets seen, contact a moderator directly. There's no guarantee that they'll ever see this thread.

Dieadre · February 2016

If there was a way to directly contact a moderator I would happily take it. There really should be.

This thread is about a complete inability to directly contact a moderator. I understand that you would like me to shut up for your convenience. Your sentiment is duly noted. I did say it was highly likely that IT and account concerns could be outsourced, as that is a common industry practice. If you think ZOS does such a stellar job handling customer concerns then please explain all the threads regarding tickets that never receive any contact or resolution. If you trust ZOD so much to protect your data, how come this issue has remained unresolved since 2014? I don't dislike ESO, work has simply prevented me from spending as much time with online games as I would like, I log in and play whenever I can, and if I had a chance to be more active in the community I would have noticed this a long time ago. My concerns would have been just as valid then as they are now. At every company I have ever worked for if someone popped into the Facebook channel, forums, or any other method of communication and mentioned so much as a word of customer data being available to anyone who is not authorized to have access, immediate action would be required. Failure to do so would be grounds for instant termination, and trust me the lawyers care about this more than anyone, so failure to act DOES result in termination. ZOS staff, regardless of location are likely aware of this at some level, more so if they are located where you claim they are. Customer data matters in IT, and there are huge liability issues if it is not addressed properly.

Since it seems the moderation staff only occasionally visits the forums, or answers tickets being active on this issue is a more sensible course of action than succumbing to not so subtle bullying tactics attempting to shut people up.

Again, If there was a way to directly contact a moderator I would happily take it. There really should be.

If you're suggesting I hop in game to do so, I WOULD LOVE TO! just let me dig a coax or fiber line up the mountain a few hundred miles to the nearest major city so I can log in. And those who are stuck with limited internet access have just as much right to have their concerns addressed as everyone else. It could be months before I'm back in a place with real internet, that's a long time to ignore major security concerns.

Dieadre · February 2016

And there is no guarantee they will ever see the ticket, or provide an adequate way for moderation staff to be reached. It is likely by now they are aware at some level by now, but as there has been no response to assume so would be foolish and silly.

I find it unlikely that no one noticed this problem since 2014 when it began. I honestly find it hard to believe that no users have ever mentioned this before, and if you think the only course of action I have taken is a ticket and some forum posts, then I feel sorry for you. Try to put more thought into things. Someone who understands the situation, internal policies and procedures of companies like this and cares enough to speak out about about this is fully aware of what actions may need to be taken to ensure this gets looked at. The sooner the better, and the more people are aware of this the better at this stage of negligence.

LadyNerevar · February 2016

You can leave a comment on any moderator's profile. You can also send them direct mail over reddit or twitter. I would suggest either of those three.

It is, however, currently 2am in Baltimore.

I'm sure that people have noticed it before, but I've never seen someone get so worked up over what is, if I remember right, a partial email address. Everyone who came over from beta (myself included) just had it changed when we started posting.

Dieadre · February 2016

Try it, ZOS shut down the internal messaging system. That was of course the FIRST thing I did after opening a ticket. There was no method of directly messaging a staff member, moderator, or admin.

anitajoneb17_ESO · February 2016

JBG.ITTMANb14_ESO wrote: »

succumbing to not so subtle bullying tactics attempting to shut people up.

Again, If there was a way to directly contact a moderator I would happily take it. There really should be.

You sound a little bit paranoid.

There is a way to contact mods directly : PM them using this forum.

As to the issue at hand, I too was quite annoyed when I found out that the ID that I had chosen ingame was the thing that was going to be displayed to anyone and everyone and my "ingame" name forever. I did not know that. Luckily, it was "sort of OK", even though I would have chosen something else if I had known.
Forum is even worse because they ask you for your real name and then make an ID without asking you, with elements of your real name. Luckily again, my real last name being extremely rare, and making me easily trackable, I actually never ever use it on the internet, even if my real name is what is asked. That's why I didn't bother having my forum ID changed : it's not my name anyway ;-)

I believe that given the time this has been going on (two years now), everyone who felt necessary for his forum ID to be changed has done so by now. Of course it would be better if the issue would be solved once and for all, but I don't believe things to be as urgent as you make them to be. And if you fear for your privacy because your real name is probably something like JB Gittman, rest assured that it is not enough for anyone to find you anywhere. Unless, of course, like you've done in your previous post, you give plenty of hints as to where you are, what you do and for how long.

Dieadre · February 2016

I'm worked up about it first of all because, there are a lot of people posting with that, and second of all, there was no way of knowing until it was too late and posts were made.

Kildayen · February 2016

I don't think I have ever gotten a headache like the one I have from reading the OP's posts. 5 minutes of my life that I will never ever be able to make up. I need to be more selective with my reading...

Dieadre · February 2016

@anitajoneb17_ESO it would be very easy to track someone down with a lot less than whats in my user name on the forums. Most people in my field on both sides of the fence would care a lot more than I do about this. In order to protect any information system you have to know how it can be broken and used against you. This isn't a little thing. And it's not only effecting me, in fact since this thread opened I'm sure there's at least a couple of people who know my real name, address, phone number and more. Just for fun, because they can. I'm not exactly scared of that. I am annoyed however by the entire situation.

Dieadre · February 2016

And I do challenge you to try to send a PM to a mod, see what message you get. I'll be happy to try again too, just to humor you.

Masuimi · February 2016

JBG.ITTMANb14_ESO wrote: »

And I do challenge you to try to send a PM to a mod, see what message you get. I'll be happy to try again too, just to humor you.

someone smoked way too much weed tonight

anitajoneb17_ESO · February 2016

Just PM'ed a moderator. Works wonders, no issue.

Masuimi · February 2016

Pretty sure this is a troll thread. Unless the OP is wearing a tin foil hat right now i can't believe a noprmal person would get so worked up about something so insiginifcant

babylon · February 2016

OP I think your thread went down badly because of the wording. A simple suggestion like "wouldn't it be nice if we could change our forum names from our account page" might have been received better.

Again, I do believe that would be a reasonable request.

Dieadre · February 2016

@Masuimi, I have no doubt you couldn't care less. I don't need a tin foil hat. It's an insulting and dismissive way to try to attack the OP. Try harder.

I'm worked up because by the time I noticed, it was simply too late.. It's cute that you don't think someone may have a valid reason for being concerned about their information leaked without their consent. Trust me I have plenty of emails I couldn't care less if people had. I haven't even used this email in a very long time. And if someone tracked me down in real life, or to one of my online accounts for work/school/family, it wouldn't be the first time. I'm not that worried about myself. Annoyed but not that worried. This still isn't OK. This is still a valid concern, on behalf of many people who don't even realize how bad this could be for them. and ZOS does have an ethical and legal responsibility to protect that information (especially when they ask if you want to share that info in the account page *check the little check box* and they share it regardless).

anitajoneb17_ESO · February 2016

JBG.ITTMANb14_ESO wrote: »

I'm not that worried about myself. Annoyed but not that worried. This still isn't OK. This is still a valid concern, on behalf of many people who don't even realize how bad this could be for them.

OK, we got it. You can stop worrying about us now and go back to sleep.

.

Dieadre · February 2016

Thanks @babylon, I quite agree. I am mostly annoyed by the inability to contact Admin's about it. However I did try again a moment ago as I said I would and was able to send a PM. I would assume the earlier inability to send a PM may have had something to do with the maintenance on the servers and subsequent downtime that happened an hour later. The message generated indicated that the PM system had been shut down. A ZOS Admin has received a very nice message alerting the situation.

It's rare to run into a situation like this, and its easy to forget that people who don't work in deploying, designing, protecting, information systems don't realize how big a deal this is.

Dieadre · February 2016

Child, I can't exactly afford to sleep. I have quite a bit of work to finish before this weekend, if I had time to sleep then maybe I could afford to play a game more than once a month lol. I really didn't have time for this, but hey sometimes it's important to blow off some steam.

babylon · February 2016

JBG.ITTMANb14_ESO wrote: »

Thanks @babylon, I quite agree. I am mostly annoyed by the inability to contact Admin's about it. However I did try again a moment ago as I said I would and was able to send a PM. I would assume the earlier inability to send a PM may have had something to do with the maintenance on the servers and subsequent downtime that happened an hour later. The message generated indicated that the PM system had been shut down. A ZOS Admin has received a very nice message alerting the situation.

It's rare to run into a situation like this, and its easy to forget that people who don't work in deploying, designing, protecting, information systems don't realize how big a deal this is.

ZOS have always been a little oldschool about things like this, took them ages to realise players needed bag and bank space. I'm not surprised we don't get to change our forum names like in other forums...I think people here have come to accept that it's just how it is.

I expect the general suggestion to make forum name changes for all people available on their account page won't go anywhere, but you will at least be able to get someone to fix your forum name.

Dieadre · February 2016

Agreed, have a nice night Babylon.

babylon · February 2016

Anyway nn and don't worry, the Customer Service team or a mod will fix your name for you

ZOS_AlanG · February 2016

During beta, accounts were created for testers, and members were allowed to change their names. The ability to change one's name at will was removed at launch, and this was announced well in advance so people would have a chance to change before then. Unused beta accounts were wiped before launch.

After beta, new players received invites and were allowed to choose their name. Existing users could request a name change. Our help site details one way to do this, and as others have pointed out you can also post here.

This specific issue has been resolved, but speaking generally to the initial question, there are several ways to contact the moderators.

If there's a problem on the forums, it can be reported. This isn't a good option for support concerns, however,
You can post in the General Help forum for support issues related to the forums.
We can be sent a private message. This ability isn't initially available to accounts as an anti-spam precaution.
A ticket can be submitted to support. Please make sure you specify your question or concern is forum related so it gets to us as quickly as possible.

As this matter has been resolved, and there's a fair amount of off topic sniping in this thread, we are locking it. (Some posts have been removed.) The OP is welcome to PM me or another active moderator if they have additional questions.