Banning hotmail/live for member

This is feedback nvr, not a negative post thanks.

But i think the move towards banning hotmail for all users is one of the worst decisions made on HabboxForum to date.

As you probably know hotmail/windows live mail is one of largest email companies and most popular so banning every member who registers with a hotmail address is over the top.

Even if a normal account gets compromised, whats worst that will happen a few spams posted - which moderators are hired to deal with either way - not as if they can compromise habbo adminCP or anything :S

Your views?

New members won't go and create a new e-mail when they see they can't user their own. They just simply won't register.

I haven't noticed it being a frequent problem with normal members getting hacked, and like you said, no harm can be done to the forum if they do. For staff I can understand though. Also, for people that do just use their hotmail email address, it would be a pain having to create a new email account just to register, and might put them off.

My current address is a @msn one for this, do I have to change it?

I agree to an extent. Sure, they're easy to compromise but there are now "revert links" for gmail and yahoo which ask for the same information so it's a no-brainer. They are just as easy to fill out than the hotmail ones. However, the majority of members don't even give out their emails to other members of Habbo(x) so their emails aren't under threat.

The only way you can ensure your account is safe is by using common sense not to be infected by keyloggers or istealers etc and making sure nobody knows your email. Using those two measures you should be pretty much safe.

I think this is over the top, it's the biggest email provider out there and banning it for every single member isn't right in my opinion. However, I'm not General Management and I know it would have been discussed before it was announced and they would have came to a general consensus so I respect their decision although I don't think it's correct.

You have to remember that all is trying to be done here is to make your time less stressful at habbox and not having to worry as much about hackings. I know what you mean by your post, but the managements real concern is you(the members of habbox)

I have a separate hotmail account that's linked to this rather than my main one, and no-one in the entire world knows that address but me, so it'd be a pointless inconvenience to me anyway. For staff obviously it's more useful but members without any powers shouldn't need this extra security when most of us don't have non-hotmail addresses

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Originally Posted by DJ::Beatz

You have to remember that all is trying to be done here is to make your time less stressful at habbox and not having to worry as much about hackings. I know what you mean by your post, but the managements real concern is you(the members of habbox)

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I hate to say it but a slightly typical reply perhaps?

I am not stressed by other people getting hacked, infact I have yet to be affected by someone else being hacked. I trust the moderation team deals with hacked accounts quickly as I've never seen them as an issue.

I also see this as another burden on registration, there's already forced verification and their first 15 posts have to be approved. You want to encourage people to register not check the members through and throughout as they're the 'future' of the forum, new people are always needed on a forum like this and we don't want to hassle them.

We did seriously consider the point you made before implementing the system, and yes it is a serious concern. However we'll have to look at the tangible security benefits, if the registration stats don't drop off and the number of hacked users does drop off, then we will keep the system.

It really is a testing phase and if it doesn't work out then I am fine with reversing the decision. I was just trying to avoid calling it testing so people would give it a chance before calling for an end to the test - we'll be deciding when that phase ends :P

If you are going to stand by one of the worst decision ever made on this forum, you should probably make it clear to new visitors as a few people in hxhd just came in

"OMG ADMINS BANNED ALL OF MY EMAILS" and they have no clue why, so they'd probably just not sign up.

So probably another notice for guests to see.

I actually don't see a big problem with this. I have been on a few forums that don't accept free emails including @msn/@live etc. Although people still sign up using their ISP email address or even something else. Like nvr as said, its a trial and error run and we will have to wait and see for the results. :)

well fact i'm sure probably like 60% of the current members have a hotmail/live account registered.

I know i wouldn't give habbox my ISP email address, and i think habbox has banned my own domain unless it got removed, and as most people would register and see the admin has banned your email, i'd just click off and sign up for clubhabbo or something.

I don't see the security risk of NORMAL MEMBERS to compromising habbox's security.

Like if i got hacked whats the worst that can happen they post some crap which your moderation team should be able to deal with asap, no harm done there.

On the other hand your making the registration even harder which isn't kl either.

I think this has got to be the most stupided thing to ever do. Not everyone can get their own personalized email so they sign up to Hotmail and then get told they can't use hotmail on here.. hmm stupid idea to even trial.

I've been put off registering on many a forum because its too much hassle to create a non-hotmail account just to sign up. I'm gonna call bad move but we'll see :)

If I was somebody new and liked the look of this forum and wanted to sign up but I couldn't because of a msn account, I simply wouldn't sign up.

Same with any website or company. I'm not going to change my email provider because of a forum. Hell no.

I agree with who ever stated this is one of the stupidest ideas I have seen Habbox do.

At the end of the day. not everyone has a non-msn e-mail. i believe that Habbox should respect this.

**** move if ever i've heard one...

there's no point to this.
fair enough staff, but if someone hacks my account what're they doing to do? post naughty words in spam? crazy....

I do think this was unnecessary, members have very little power on the forum anyway so hackers wouldn't really target them. I suppose if they wanted to protect their rep and post counts :S?

I agree with this being stupid. So what, someone posts a porn picture or a few "dirty words" if they do get hacked. (I don't see people targeting non-staff anyway.. what's the point).

And even if they do hack a user, isn't that the point of Habbox having a moderation team? To moderate, and solve problems like this?

Banning an entire email provider is just stupid. Because that is not limited to just @hotmail.. but @hotmail.com, @msn.com, @live.com, @microsoft.com, and any other custom service which uses the Live Mail system, because it all uses the same revert link, which all "poses a threat to Habbox".

So if I bought the domain, bill.com, and set it up with a Windows Live Mail service, using my custom domain (like Google Apps GMail for custom domains), then it would pose a security risk too.

I just think this is stupid. Fair enough for staff.

Not to be an ass but I've stated pretty clearly that we have taken into consideration some of the things that were discussed, most of which was considered, some of which is being brought to light now. However we do have a set period over which we will be testing it and I intend to allow it to run over the testing period.

After that period is over, I will look at the results. If I'm wrong, I'm not afraid to admit that and I will repeal the changes. If the results show me that its very beneficial for Habbox to adopt, then I will discuss it with my AGM team and we will consider adopting it permanantly.

For now, sit tight, your forum accounts will not be affected.

Could you answer my question anytime soon, what security risk does NORMAL MEMBER pose to habboxforum?

Staff, ok some have mod powers, smod power, can post in announcements, can see things normal people aren't meant to see.

Normal members, ok have no powers, can see things everyone could see regardless, at worst could make a post with a pornographic image or a pointless post, which you hired mods in the first place to deal with

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Originally Posted by scottish

Could you answer my question anytime soon, what security risk does NORMAL MEMBER pose to habboxforum?

Staff, ok some have mod powers, smod power, can post in announcements, can see things normal people aren't meant to see.

Normal members, ok have no powers, can see things everyone could see regardless, at worst could make a post with a pornographic image or a pointless post, which you hired mods in the first place to deal with

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When a member starts spamming the forum its very difficult to get it all under control, especially if no smods are online at the time (if the spammer is smart, he'll choose that time to start spamming). It isn't a security risk as such, it seems habbox are trying to get to the root of spamming problems rather than deal with it and as when it happens. It makes sense but I still don't agree with the implementation.

Of course, maybe that isn't what they were thinking at all but that's the only plausible reason I can think of.

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Originally Posted by nvrspk4

Not to be an ass but I've stated pretty clearly that we have taken into consideration some of the things that were discussed, most of which was considered, some of which is being brought to light now. However we do have a set period over which we will be testing it and I intend to allow it to run over the testing period.

After that period is over, I will look at the results. If I'm wrong, I'm not afraid to admit that and I will repeal the changes. If the results show me that its very beneficial for Habbox to adopt, then I will discuss it with my AGM team and we will consider adopting it permanantly.

For now, sit tight, your forum accounts will not be affected.

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Congratulations, you made it pretty clear.. but that doesn't mean we have to stop expressing our opinions, thoughts, and issues on the matter.

Just because you have spoken and told us what you will do, are going to do, or anything like that.. that doesn't mean that we still don't have concerns.. or everyone has spoken their opinion on the matter yet.. you're not the only one who can speak..

That's just what you made it sound like.

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Originally Posted by nvrspk4

Not to be an ass but I've stated pretty clearly that we have taken into consideration some of the things that were discussed, most of which was considered, some of which is being brought to light now. However we do have a set period over which we will be testing it and I intend to allow it to run over the testing period.

After that period is over, I will look at the results. If I'm wrong, I'm not afraid to admit that and I will repeal the changes. If the results show me that its very beneficial for Habbox to adopt, then I will discuss it with my AGM team and we will consider adopting it permanantly.

For now, sit tight, your forum accounts will not be affected.

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Why don't you just listen to the users, you know, the most important people on this board, rather than going ahead and testing something WE DON'T WANT.

It's that simple.

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Originally Posted by scottish

Could you answer my question anytime soon, what security risk does NORMAL MEMBER pose to habboxforum?

Staff, ok some have mod powers, smod power, can post in announcements, can see things normal people aren't meant to see.

Normal members, ok have no powers, can see things everyone could see regardless, at worst could make a post with a pornographic image or a pointless post, which you hired mods in the first place to deal with

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If you read the post it was due to the high number of people getting hacked through hotmail email addresses. It does cause a problem when people get hacked because of the backend, sometimes the hackers change the recovery message (as its fairly easy to do) so its a lengthy process getting people back on the forum, if they don't have enough details there's very little we can do.

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Originally Posted by Dentafrice

Congratulations, you made it pretty clear.. but that doesn't mean we have to stop expressing our opinions, thoughts, and issues on the matter.

Just because you have spoken and told us what you will do, are going to do, or anything like that.. that doesn't mean that we still don't have concerns.. or everyone has spoken their opinion on the matter yet.. you're not the only one who can speak..

That's just what you made it sound like.

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I'm sorry if I made it sound like that, you're absolutely right, express what you want, however it seems like certain people are trying to convince me. You are entitled to have your discussion, or roast, whatever, but I wanted to make a final post on the issue at hand to show what my position was and what it would continue to be :P

And I think that several people missed the original post so I wanted to get a second one in there :eusa_whis

I apologize if I came across like that but I was getting a little bit tired of some of the remarks that were more destructive than constructive. Normally I ignore them but with finals I'm a bit crankier than usual ;)

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Originally Posted by 'deccy!

Why don't you just listen to the users, you know, the most important people on this board, rather than going ahead and testing something WE DON'T WANT.

It's that simple.

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I'm sorry but get off your high horse and get a grounding before you start making baseless accusations. Since I took over as GM, one of the biggest improvements has been the amount we listen to users. If you took the time to go through and read all the forum changes you would see all the credit given to users, the number of ideas that have originated out of this forum.

At times we make administrative decisions that aren't popular and at the end of the day, this is a free service and at times we have to make unpopular decisions for what we believe is the greater good. We have a method for you to express yourselves, and you have done just that. You have also recieved a reply stating very clearly that your points are valid, and explaining why we have considered that points but choose to trial it regardless. So yes, we did listen to the users, however listening to the users does not imply always doing what is suggested. Though I would point out that even when we need to make those decisions at an administrative level (ie: cutting down the number of forums) we did try and take the maximum level of user input (by utilizing the forum chopping block thread).

So please, get your facts straight before you lecture me.

I don't get the rule. Can't people use gmail and yahoo next? It's just a small inconvenience that should of been implemented years ago when Hotmail/MSN addresses were easy to comprimise, even though normal email addresses are just as bad! Surely the idea should be to warn people of these dangers and how to better protect their email addresses? A simple message similar to what I think new members get when they join would of been useful, but I'm not new so wouldn't know :P

Yes but i'd assume majority of members wouldn't make a new email account etc just to sign up to a forum, when i could go to chf, hffm or something and sign up with a hotmail account :S

It seems like a step too far. But I've noticed ***** members are increasingly trying to attack larger fan forums like Habbox, and also did not that long ago.
Reverting an email is easy peasy so basically all msn emails on this forum are at risk.

I do agree though that if a guest has to make a new email to join they simply will go else where.

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Originally Posted by nvrspk4

I'm sorry but get off your high horse and get a grounding before you start making baseless accusations. Since I took over as GM, one of the biggest improvements has been the amount we listen to users. If you took the time to go through and read all the forum changes you would see all the credit given to users, the number of ideas that have originated out of this forum.

At times we make administrative decisions that aren't popular and at the end of the day, this is a free service and at times we have to make unpopular decisions for what we believe is the greater good. We have a method for you to express yourselves, and you have done just that. You have also recieved a reply stating very clearly that your points are valid, and explaining why we have considered that points but choose to trial it regardless. So yes, we did listen to the users, however listening to the users does not imply always doing what is suggested. Though I would point out that even when we need to make those decisions at an administrative level (ie: cutting down the number of forums) we did try and take the maximum level of user input (by utilizing the forum chopping block thread).

So please, get your facts straight before you lecture me.

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I clearly did not say you don't listen to users. So don't go all defensive. I'm saying listen to them, now.

This change is pointless, non-staff can't do anything other than post.

You're trying to fix a problem which doesn't exist. Don't fix it if it isn't broken.

When was the last time a HxF user was hacked and caused problems on the forum? I can't remember any? If it does happen, what's the worst thing that can happen, they'll post naughty words? The Mods are here for a reason.

Btw, replying saying my points are valid but we're doing it regardless doesn't make things better. It just annoys people.

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Originally Posted by 'deccy!

I clearly did not say you don't listen to users. So don't go all defensive. I'm saying listen to them, now.

This change is pointless, non-staff can't do anything other than post.

You're trying to fix a problem which doesn't exist. Don't fix it if it isn't broken.

When was the last time a HxF user was hacked and caused problems on the forum? I can't remember any? If it does happen, what's the worst thing that can happen, they'll post naughty words? The Mods are here for a reason.

Btw, replying saying my points are valid but we're doing it regardless doesn't make things better. It just annoys people.

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He does have a point - there hasn't been a problem for a while now, and the way it was portrayed was that it happens regularly and that loads of people have this happen, when that simply hasn't been the case for ages! Also, don't members have to have their first few posts checked, or was that removed?

yeh first 15 posts are requierd to be confirmed.

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Originally Posted by scottish

yeh first 15 posts are requierd to be confirmed.

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So what the frig is the problem?! All spam posts by these people won't materialise on the forum anyway :S

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Originally Posted by GommeInc

So what the frig is the problem?! All spam posts by these people won't materialise on the forum anyway :S

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People who are hacked tend to be members? :P