Heads up - security leak if you complained to ESRB

[Ryno]

And I bet that person no longer has a job

Probably hung himself in his small apartment...

[Vephriel]

An apology letter sent out by the ESRB regarding this whole thing:

Yesterday we sent an e-mail to a number of consumers who wrote to us in recent days expressing their concern with respect to Blizzard's Real ID program. Given the large number of messages we received, we decided to respond with a mass e-mail so those who'd written us would receive our response as quickly as possible - rather than responding to each message individually, as is our usual practice.

Through an unfortunate error by one of our employees, some recipients were able to see the e-mail addresses of others who wrote on the same issue. Needless to say, it was never our intention to reveal this information and for that we are genuinely sorry. Those who write to ESRB to express their views expect and deserve to have their contact and personal information protected. In this case, we failed to do so and are doing everything we can to ensure it will not happen again in the future.

The fact that our message addressed individuals' concerns with respect to their privacy underscores how truly disappointing a mistake this was on our part. We work with companies to ensure they are handling people's private information with confidentiality, care and respect. It is only right that we set a good example and do no less ourselves.

We sincerely apologize to those who were affected by this error and appreciate their understanding.

Sincerely,
Entertainment Software Rating Board

I do feel a bit bad for them. I mean, I know it wasn't some schemed up plan and rather just human error (which happens to everyone).

[Sarayana]

I do feel a bit bad for them. I mean, I know it wasn't some schemed up plan and rather just human error (which happens to everyone).

I totally agree, but the scale of it... I mean, this is not some little, insignificant screw-up. One person on wow_ladies was unfortunate enough to have her address exposed, and she said she started seeing the impact immediately.

[Vephriel]

Yeah, not letting them off the hook, I just feel really bad for the poor guy who messed up.

[Saturo]

One person on wow_ladies was unfortunate enough to have her address exposed, and she said she started seeing the impact immediately. :(

That community always seems to overreact tough, at least in my experience. If it's true tough, I understand it.

[Vephriel]

That community makes me edgy as well. I dunno, perhaps it's just because I don't relate to the whole "I'm a girl! Pro feminine stuff and band together!"...I guess I just don't feel the need to associate myself as a female amidst other female gamers when I have plenty of male friends and don't see myself differently from them. I also don't like the strong feminist tones that permeate that place, it's rather off putting. Some excerpts from wow_ladies have just come across as far too snooty and anti-male for my tastes. Anyways, again that's probably just because I don't find myself as a pro-girl advocate.

[Saturo]

Exactly, Veph! Too much estrogen there.

[Vephriel]

I've never had a bad experience in WoW that stemmed from me being a female. To be honest I think a lot of girls that are always saying they're being stalked or harassed are the type that ask for it or bring it upon themselves. I just don't care for those types of girls that feel the need to flaunt their 'girl gamer-ness'. I know that's a generalization and I realize not everyone from that community is like that, and I also realize there are genuine issues that have occurred to completely innocent women. I just think a large chunk of them are self-inflicted.

I just don't see why males and females should continue to segragate themselves by making such groups. It's like 'Boys Only!' and 'Girls Only!' clubs to band together and feel all superb due to your gender.

I see myself as an equal with males and females alike...that much condensed estrogen in one community just seems like trouble waiting to happen. xD

Erm, tangent there, sorry.

EDIT: Agh, by the way that was definitely not directed at you Sarayana and I apologize if it seemed that way at all. I just felt the need to diverge there momentarily. I'm sure there's a number of fantastic people there, including yourself. I suppose it's just the idea behind the formation of that group that turns me off, as well as just too many instances where I was unimpressed by commentary there. No hard feelings! Just expressing my reasons for not liking it.

[Sarayana]

It's alright Veph. I understand what you and Saturo are referring to, though I disagree that it permeates the community. They have ~7500 members if I recall correctly, so it is impossible to have one unified voice or tone. If I don't like the way particular members discuss the game/their experiences/whatever, I just don't bother with it. You're never going to agree with everyone, you know? On the other hand, I find it's an extremely supportive and informative community. I enjoy reading the "help me improve" posts because you really get the sense that people in the community want to help and offer advice. Lots of information readily available there. I've learned a lot from them.

While the community is most definitely not comprised 100% of women, I think some of the more pro-female gamer voices in the community stem from people having sought it out because they've had bad experiences as women playing WoW. I know I have, unsolicited, simply by not disguising that I'm a woman when I play. If my past experiences were different, perhaps experiencing that type of harassment would affect me differently. I don't know.

Side note, Saturo: I've no reason to doubt her statement. Definitely, the community can be alarmist and spiral a bit out of control, but in this case, the comment seemed genuine and I don't know what she'd get out of lying about it. *shrug*

Either way, I've no doubt that the people who were exposed by the ESRB have had those types of experiences.

[Vephriel]

Yeah, I totally understand. Not sure if you caught by edit to my above post in time, but I realized afterwards re-reading my reply that it might have come off as ranty and I didn't intend it to. ^^;

[Saturo]

I just find that site a bit too much. I mean, for them, one prank phonecall counts as the end of the world, and the anti-feministic governements fault, and OMG that sucks if u need to talk mail me <3. It's one prank call, people. Now, getting pizza, orjehovas witnesses, that's bad. A prank call isn't.

No offense meant to anyone. It can certainly be a good site. The members just come off too strong for me.

[cowmuflage]

I just stoped reading on that site when they said that hole realid thing was done but uptight white men :S

[Palladiamorsdeus]

I dunno, I've grown up in an enviroment where women are absolutely equals. Women deserve the same respect that men get. But sometimes from women like that, I feel like I am being made into a bad guy for no reason. *Frowns* Maybe it's just me, but I don't think I personally did anything wrong against them, but sometimes it just seems like I am 'bad' because I am male.

[cowmuflage]

Aye i as a chick is can't stand that type of femisim. I don't like the hole "males made every thing wrong in this world" type.

[Palladiamorsdeus]

Not that that's technically wrong, I mean this is a very male driven society, and there is a good chance that if something was screwed up in history, that it was a man's fault. That's not to say that women or a woman would have done any better, but by sheer volume of whose at the top, we tend to just see men starting war's and doing stupid stuff throughout history.

Like I was just saying to Saturo, we need a better balance. Forget about sex, and base people on their performence. If you've got the skills to do the job then you deserve it. If you can do it better then the other guy or gal, then you desrve it more. More women in positions of authority would most likely help to better our society. Well, maybe. *Laughs*

[Saturo]

Palladia is a wise man.

[Vephriel]

And that's the gist of things. Women were oppressed throughout history for a long time, and now we've finally risen up to be looked upon as equals. That's awesome. But why go further than that? It seems as though some women want to claw their way to the top instead of being satisfied at being an equal.

Bleh...never been a feminist myself. ><

[Palladiamorsdeus]

Eh, there are a lot of place's in the world were women aren't equal, and there a lot of men who don't see them that way either. For the former, there isn't a whole lot you can do about another countries customs, and for the latter, well, those particular pig's'll never be able to see anyone not of their race and sex as equals.

I would like to see a lot more female politicians stateside, if for nothing else then to just spice things up. Would have LOVED to have seen women around when some idiot tried to create the 'filibuster.'

[Saturo]

I agree with ya Veph, being equals is enough. We still get paid less tough. :/

(What's a filibuster? o.0)

[Palladiamorsdeus]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filibuster


Basically, particularly long winded politicians can talk a bill or a law to death.