Can we ask for more privacy features in forums to feel more secure?

Community General Discussion
1496

How? There’s nothing you can do with BattleTags that you can’t already do more effectively with charactername-servername.

If I know a person’s character name and server name, I can verify if it’s an actual character and then start harassing them in-game. And if it’s not an active character, then I can use that information to start figuring out alts that might be active.

If I know a person’s BattleTag, and they have BattleTag invites blocked, then there’s nothing I can do to them that I can’t already do on the forums.

3 Likes
1497

As I said, they’ll stick post history with the tag no matter what they post on here as.

1498

Yes. We have established that bad actors will do bad things. Only thing is there is a difference between making things harder for bad people to do bad things (btags requiring an extra $15 monthly subscription to use a different one) or easier for bad people to bad things (Everything the OP has suggested).

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1499

Your post history is only a problem if you’re embarrassed by it. I’ve said some dumb things before, but I’m not going to run in fear if someone digs through my past.

But for people who are concerned with privacy going forward, BattleTags would be the superior solution.

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1500

Anonymity might work, perhaps even be better if the proper security features are in place.

Though I have a good feeling that whatever Blizz had intended for these forums continues to satisfy them to the degree that they won’t need to do any changes.

1501

Not being able to know who you’re talking to would be a breakdown in communication. What if there were two different Anonymous Female Night Elf Hunters in the same thread? How would you tell them apart?

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1502

Color tints?

A unique identifier that applies only to these forums?

In either case it won’t stop the fighting or grudges.

1503

Yea sock puppets do tend to do that.

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1504

That would defeat the purpose of being anonymous though if you could tell them apart.

And what if you see an Anonymous person in a thread, and make another Anonymous character that’s the same class/race/gender as them? What if you have an entire thread that’s all the same class/race/gender? Because don’t tell me that wouldn’t happen, because “Anonymous Female Night Elf Hunter Megathread” would take about two seconds before being created.

1505

And there are piles of dead bodies as a result of online anonymity causing enough problems as to necessitate a legal precedent be set to curb cyberbullying and stalking over online mediums. Every state in America has laws against the acts even to the point where even if someone was hiding behind anonymity, if they were guilty of those crimes, the family of the victim will be able to go through the medium (Blizzard in this case) to press charges against the anonymous person.

So… Might work? Doubtful. They’d have to be heavier on the ban-hand to even consider an anonymous option.

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1506

Depends how serious Blizzard considers it.

Which appears to be unshakably the same as it always has been.

1507

Wouldn’t that not make it anonymous though?

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1508

Fun Facts with Jae! :taco:

Battletags are not personal information. They are just random usernames.

You cannot find out any personal information by knowing a battletag. The only thing you can do is send a friend request which can easily be denied and blocked. This is safe.

Currently, all you need is the character’s name and server and you can message them AND add them without permission. This is unsafe.

The character you are playing on is not your own. It belongs to blizzard and you’re just borrowing it! Your armory and character are not personal information.

Personal information is your real name, address, phone number, social security number, etc. It is NOT your fake video game character!

Being anonymous is a breeding ground for toxicity. This has been proven via multiple studies over the years and 4chan is a prime example of places no one wants to be because it’s basically the wild wild west with no law or order. Anything goes, including doxxing and swatting! This is not safe.

Having your characters tied to one account prevents people from accusing you of sockpuppeting. It also stops sockpuppeting. You also get your trust level and posts tied to one account!

Account wide ignores helps to prevent toxicity by nipping the problem in the bud. If you ignore an account, they simply can’t switch between 30 different characters to continue to harass you. Safety!

Did you know? A battletag is not personal information and I’m not afraid to share mine because I’m confident of that fact. You may friend request me, but you can do nothing else with it. You can’t find out a single thing about me! Vongola#1794.

When you post on a public forum, everything you say is public information and can be shared to other places! Make sure you don’t say anything that can come back to bite you later.

Every single blizzard forum, aside from this one, has battletags and there have been no issues. Isn’t that neat?

Did you know that having a streamer mode in game to prevent stream sniping does not apply to the forums? The overwatch forums use battletags, too!

Protect yourself today by investing in battletags for the forums! :dracthyr_blob_dance_animated:

This educational message has been brought to you by Vongola#1794!

13 Likes
1509

I thought of something.

You only get the option to post with the anonymous facilities if you have trust level 3.

Shows you’ve been around the forums long enough.

3 Likes
1510

Make not visible to users.

1511

Blizzard can already see who is who I thought?

We can’t but they can.

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1512

So the user still wouldn’t be able to tell Anonymous Female Night Elf poster from the other Anonymous Female Night Elf Poster.

1513

If you really wana know the solution ask someone who works in web design.

1514

We already have the solution, BattleTags. A person posting With BTag#4321 would be distinct from someone named BTag#3433. You’d be able to tell them apart while knowing even less about them than Anonymous Female Night Elf Hunter.

1515

No you just have a preferred solution.

Not the solution.

Blizzard might not even have the capacity of doing it without starting from scratch.