Beta Feedback Thread

Houseman

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Tech first.

I'm not as strict as you probably think. We're pretty lenient on the website in allowing discussion, along as it remains civil and arguments don't become personal. Plus all the usual stuff like racism and all that.

Let's put it this way. I'm the opposite of how Kyle Gaddo was managing the forums when V2 was launched.
That's nice to hear.

My question remains: Will there ever be a proper time and/or place to give feedback on the rules?
 

Nick Calandra

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That's nice to hear.

My question remains: Will there ever be a proper time and/or place to give feedback on the rules?
Yes. I mean we're going to have specific rules, but we're gonna work together with the community to make it fair when we're ready. I have no idea how popular these forums are gonna be, so we need to be strict for now.

I know on V1 it often felt like an "us vs them" situation, but that's now how I operate. I'm part of the community too, so we'll make it work for everyone.Not to namedrop, but this will not be another ResetEra haha.
 
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The Rogue Wolf

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Okay, so, I understand wanting to be careful about security, but there's no way I'm installing an app on my phone to access forums, and this whole thing about needing a confirmation code every time I log in feels a little overkill-ish. (And it's the first time I've ever had to save backup confirmation codes.) What precisely is the deal with this?
 
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Nick Calandra

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Okay, so, I understand wanting to be careful about security, but there's no way I'm installing an app on my phone to access forums, and this whole thing about needing a confirmation code every time I log in feels a little overkill-ish. (And it's the first time I've ever had to save backup confirmation codes.) What precisely is the deal with this?
Haven't heard of an app, and you definitely don't need one to access on your phone. Can you provide more details on what you were asked to download?

The confirmation codes are two-factor authentication. This protects us against spam and your personal information / account if there was ever a data breach.
 

Houseman

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I think he's talking about the 2FA app.

Okay, so, I understand wanting to be careful about security, but there's no way I'm installing an app on my phone to access forums
If it's any consolation, 2-factor authentication apps are pretty common-place. I use the Google Authenticator, so it's not like some specific custom-made app just for this site. I already had it installed for use with other logins. The client app you use is completely decoupled from this site itself
 

The Rogue Wolf

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Haven't heard of an app, and you definitely don't need one to access on your phone. Can you provide more details on what you were asked to download?

The confirmation codes are two-factor authentication. This protects us against spam and your personal information / account if there was ever a data breach.
I didn't go so far as to see which app it wanted me to download; it was presented as an option when I first logged in. I opted for the emailed codes instead.
 

Samurai

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So, I figured I'd take the effort to sign up with a disposable email to see if stuff worked with that.
It does seem to. You might want to look into restricting the use of temporary emails, as it's a potential source of abuse.

There is an issue in the sign up process, however! The 2FA will email you telling you that an IP attempted to log into your account. And tell you this IP address. However, the IP address it's giving is the local address of the server hosting the forums. Not the external address of the person trying to login to the account.
I'd rather not post the IP in question, so, if you need more info, I'll DM You a screenshot of the email.

On the greater community issues of the forums, there is an elephant in the room. I understand you'd rather focus on the technical side of things. So, consider this a side note for the time being.
The Moderation of The Escapist was.. Infamous. There were news articles for how flubbed the past (And some present) moderators handled some issues which cropped up in the past. There are a number of people who received harassment and abuse from moderators past and present. To see the forums with the same mod team, the same rules and an even shorter allowance for mistakes will put a number of people off.

You seem to have a different attitude, and I hope it's cause for optimism. I wish you all the best with the new forums!
 

Nick Calandra

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So, I figured I'd take the effort to sign up with a disposable email to see if stuff worked with that.
It does seem to. You might want to look into restricting the use of temporary emails, as it's a potential source of abuse.

There is an issue in the sign up process, however! The 2FA will email you telling you that an IP attempted to log into your account. And tell you this IP address. However, the IP address it's giving is the local address of the server hosting the forums. Not the external address of the person trying to login to the account.
I'd rather not post the IP in question, so, if you need more info, I'll DM You a screenshot of the email.

On the greater community issues of the forums, there is an elephant in the room. I understand you'd rather focus on the technical side of things. So, consider this a side note for the time being.
The Moderation of The Escapist was.. Infamous. There were news articles for how flubbed the past (And some present) moderators handled some issues which cropped up in the past. There are a number of people who received harassment and abuse from moderators past and present. To see the forums with the same mod team, the same rules and an even shorter allowance for mistakes will put a number of people off.

You seem to have a different attitude, and I hope it's cause for optimism. I wish you all the best with the new forums!
Ha, I did notice your temp email and figured it was someone testing that. I'll have tech look at that on Monday.

I'll be keeping a close eye on these forums as we develop them. I wasn't as involved over on V1, but I will be here.
 

Drathnoxis

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Okay, so, I understand wanting to be careful about security, but there's no way I'm installing an app on my phone to access forums, and this whole thing about needing a confirmation code every time I log in feels a little overkill-ish. (And it's the first time I've ever had to save backup confirmation codes.) What precisely is the deal with this?
Yes. Two step authentication seems ridiculous for a gaming forum. I haven't given them any personal information to lose. My bank account doesn't require me to do two step authentication. I'd like to opt out of this.
 

sXeth

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I would also say I'm not sure what would require the two step/factor authentication for posting on a gaming forum. (Particularly with the email option, as burner emails are a dime a dozen so it doesn't serve to even thwart spam/ban jumping).


On other notes, if you go into preferences to manage your alerts and whatnot, the "Forums" link next to the Escapist link at the top disappears, preventing regular navigation back. You can still back button or bookmark back to it, but its kind of a minor annoyance.
 

Drathnoxis

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On other notes, if you go into preferences to manage your alerts and whatnot, the "Forums" link next to the Escapist link at the top disappears, preventing regular navigation back. You can still back button or bookmark back to it, but its kind of a minor annoyance.
Actually that seems to be a problem with the site collapsing the top navigation when you zoom your browser in. At least, that seemed to be my issue with it. You can still navigate back to the forums through the 3 horizontal line menu on the left, but it's a little bit annoying.
 

IceForce

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The choice of subforums is rather curious. There's a "Tabletop" board, which I can't see will get much use, if at all.
And the Off-Topic board currently has two reviews in it because there's no "User Reviews" board for them.

Probably will also need a "Forum Games" board at some stage, although I don't see any of those sorts of threads here ...yet.
There are a number of people who received harassment and abuse from moderators past and present.
As long as Barbas doesn't make a return, I think we're safe.
 

bluegate

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Yes. Two step authentication seems ridiculous for a gaming forum. I haven't given them any personal information to lose. My bank account doesn't require me to do two step authentication. I'd like to opt out of this.
You shouldn't be looking at what your bank does as a standard for security, because by the sound of it, your bank's security is woefully inadequate.
Please contact them and tell them to step up their it department and security department.

Okay, so, I understand wanting to be careful about security, but there's no way I'm installing an app on my phone to access forums
I didn't go so far as to see which app it wanted me to download; it was presented as an option when I first logged in. I opted for the emailed codes instead.
Why complain about an option you didn't have to take and didn't even properly read about?
 
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Nick Calandra

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The choice of subforums is rather curious. There's a "Tabletop" board, which I can't see will get much use, if at all.
And the Off-Topic board currently has two reviews in it because there's no "User Reviews" board for them.

Probably will also need a "Forum Games" board at some stage, although I don't see any of those sorts of threads here ...yet.

As long as Barbas doesn't make a return, I think we're safe.
We'll add and adjust more subforums as we go. Our Discord community was actually using Tabletop a bit more than I expected, so we brought that in here. I'll make a User Reviews subforum today.
 

Worgen

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Whatever, just wash your hands.
I think you have the security set way too high on this site. When I logged in today it took one of those 2 step codes for some reason. The high security option is nice to have if you want it but rolling it out for everyone is kinda overkill.
 

Drathnoxis

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Are profile details going to be expanded? Because on the old site we had the option to put a lot more stuff into our profile, well before that system broke. Personally, I'd like at least country and gender to be included. Then I can always look at someone's profile and make sure I'm using the proper pronoun.

Also, I'm missing the little recent posts dropdown that the old forums had, which would give you links to your four most recent posts. That one was really useful.
 
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JoJo

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Are profile details going to be expanded? Because on the old site we had the option to put a lot more stuff into our profile, well before that system broke. Personally, I'd like at least country and gender to be included. Then I can always look at someone's profile and make sure I'm using the proper pronoun.
To add to this, I put a couple of sentences in the "About You" section of my Account details, but this doesn't actually seem to appear publicly anywhere on the site.
 

Asita

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The two-step factor seems a little...frequent. Every time it asked for email confirmation, I opted for the "remember this computer for 30 days" feature, but I've had to do the email confirmation 3 times since yesterday. Same computer, same IP. Offhand, the only variable is that I don't always use the same browser, but the verification seems to count for all of them.
 

Nick Calandra

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Alright, I turned 2 Step to optional. It's HIGHLY ADVISED that you do use that feature, but it's up to you guys.

I also disabled signatures as I can already tell people are gonna abuse them.

I'm digging into why certain elements of your profile are not visible now. But I have added Custom Fields for Gender and Country.
 
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