Want to see who is using DTRPG?

[Rasyr]

Just visit their forums and check the member list....

I swung by DTRPG this morning to check out what this week's freebie is going to be (I won't pay for DRM, but I am willing to put up with it on the freebies -- things I would be unlikely to purchase normally anyways) when I noticed a link for their forums.

So I clicked and went to visit, and read all 3 or 4 messages posted on it. One of the messages was the Admin saying that he had set it up so that when folks log into the online store/front page of DTRPG, it automatically adds them to the forums as a registered user. (note: was not logged in, so I tested it and yes it does add you)

Not a bad idea, at least not if I had been given a choice about it, been asked, or been given the option to opt out. To me, what is worse is the fact that you do not get to select a screen name. It automatically adds you using your full name. So much for any sort of confidentiality, huh?

Thus, the forums' member list page has become a list of DTRPG customers, visible to anybody who wants to look. You do nto have to be a forum member to see this list!

I am not happy about this at all. What is your opinion??\

 

[Voadam]

Have you e-mailed them about it?

 

[EricNoah]

If true, that's not cool. Not cool at all... :/

 

[Wombat]

That is utterly bogus!

I have downloaded a couple of their freebies, but now I won't even do that!

 

[Henry]

Well, isn't that special?

 

[DragonLancer]

What difference does it make?

 

[Janx]

I'm a software developer, and what you're seeing is pretty common.

From the developer's standpoint, the best design for them is one user table.

Thus, you only have one account with DTRPG. Thus, you do immediately get a forum account from your perspective (because to them, you only have 1 account). This is actually good design practice

I think the real negative is in that they're not giving you a screen name, and seem to effectively be revealing your real name to people when you might not want not.

The best solution for them was this:
have a real name field (for credit card stuff)
have a Screen Name field (default to blank)

If your screen name is blank, then make the forum pretend you don't exist (can't post, can't be found)

If you enter the forum for the first time, ask for a screen name (and fill it in in the database)

Some variation on that theme would protect your privacy, give you custom screennames, and still get the efficiency of design.

Janx

 

[Henry]

Some variation on that theme would protect your privacy, give you custom screennames, and still get the efficiency of design.

I agree, because as it is now, it's a list of every customer they've had since it was turned on, complete with location data. While real-world info on the internet is not impossible to come by, there's no sense making it instamatically easy...

Oops, I forgot to have it automatically add people's accounts to the forums when they logged in to the main site. That's fixed now, so if you were having problems posting before, they should be fixed now. My bad!

It may be his bad, but it may be far worse for them in terms of publicity now...

I have GOT to wonder if White Wolf's Online Site does the same thing?!

 

[XO]

Why Worry ?

From the looks of things, either this function has only been in use for the past 72 hours, or reg'd names only stay re'g for such a period (if you look at the "Joined" dates).

Which also enabled a quick survey of the marketplace with respect to the annoying (at least imho) Politically Correct un-English WotC speak: based on names of the 540 or so present, female purchasers of PDFs represent approximately 1% of the buyer's market.

Interesting, no ?

 

[Darren]

I've sent my angry email about this. Anyone else?
A company just shouldn't display its users' full name and location to anyone who drops by, especially without even notifying them of this new 'feature.'