Konrad: Hey guys,
We just rolled out two new features on the website, including changes we've all been anxiously waiting for. Here's what's new:
1) Fraud Protection We've recently faced a significant number of fraudulent transaction attempts with stolen cards. It's a serious issue for us, so to combat this we just introduced a new form of fraud protection during gift checkout.
Starting today, purchasing gifts via Credit/Debit Card will be limited on new accounts. The security measures will be automatically lifted two months after you complete
any purchase on your account, regardless of the payment method used.
Gifting via all other payment methods will not be affected. So you can make any transaction with any payment method, and two months later you'll be able to start gifting with your Credit/Debit card. If this applies to your account, you should see the following message during checkout:
"Purchasing gifts via Credit/Debit Card is not yet enabled on this account - these security measures are automatically lifted two months after completing any purchase, regardless of the payment method. Please keep in mind that you can always purchase gifts through another payment method.
If you have any questions or concerns, our customer support team is ready to help."
[…]
I hope this works out with no unpleasant surprises for any party involved.
Care to share why
The Witcher 3 is still restricted though?
Konrad: […]
Clear Conversation: This will clear out the entire message history with that user, but it will not affect the other person's chat history.
[…]
I assume that this action is irreversible?
Konrad: […]
Block User: This will prevent both users from contacting each other. You will see a message stating that you've blocked the user, while to them it will only appear that you've adjusted your general privacy settings.
[…]
I’m not sure I understand what “it will appear that you’ve adjusted your general privacy settings” means. I assume that the blocked user won’t be informed in any way that they were blocked, yes? Which in turn means that they will assume that one has just tightened their privacy settings in a way that doesn't allow private communication with everyone, yes?
Why won’t they be informed of the block? If the goal is to maintain a positive vibe around these social features, then, imho, it’s not only (a bit) hypocritical, but it also has the potential of leading to the exact opposite result:
User A wants nth to do with user B so they block them.
User B wants to message user A, and finds out that they can’t. Being left to believe that everything’s fine and that user A just tightened their privacy settings, user B contacts user A in the forum asking for private communication.
At this point, user A either tells user B that they blocked them, or ignores them.
So, either everyone on the forum will know that user A has blocked user B, or at the very least that there’s some conflict between them.
How is this better from keeping things between the interested parties via applying full transparency between them? You don’t seem to think things through.
Konrad: […]
Blocking users and clearing conversations: To block someone who contacted you before, you can you do this directly through the tooltip on your Account > Friends page. You can also search for any username, open a conversation window, and locate the tooltip in the top-right hand corner.
You can use the same conversation tooltip to clear your chat history with that person.
[…]
Perhaps I’m the only one, but why would I want to block a friend?
And do I understand it correctly that we can only block someone that’s already in our contacts list? That’s what the “block someone who contacted you before” implies.
If it’s not limited to only those already in our contacts list, why do we need to go through the conversation window?
In the initial thread started by Ciris, she said that the option to block someone would also be available in the forum. Her words were:
You will be able to block a user on chat not only via the chat tab itself, but also in the forums via the tooltip that currently lets you add them to friends, view their wishlist or send a message. Therefore, if you see a spammer on the forum, you will be able to pre-emptively block them from contacting you.
and
An important feature that I'll be adding to the main topic as well is that blocking users on chat will also be available through the forum tooltip (where you can start a conversation with them or add them to friends) - this aims to help you avoid personal attacks or spam from users you're already recognizing as ones you want no contact with.
I did not understand this as having to choose the “Start Conversation” option, but as a “Block user” option being made available right there among all the other ones. The way you describe the process though sounds like following:
1. Hover over a user’s avatar in the forum.
2. Choose “Start Conversation”, which in turn has the following results:
2.1 A conversation window opens.
2.2 Said user is added to one’s contacts list.
3. Choose “Block User” with the following results:
3.1 A message informs one that they’ve blocked said user.
3.2 Said user is added to one’s “Blocked Conversations”.
3.3 Said user remains in one’s contacts list.
Perhaps I’m dense, but why would one want to add someone they want to block, a spammer for example, in their contacts list when even blocking them does not remove them from there?
And where is the option to report a blocked user?
It'd appear that there's no way to block a user if they're not in one's contacts list already or without putting them before, which defeats the purpose of wanting to block someone.
I’m sorry, but the whole procedure is unnecessarily complicated and just adds to the messy way the contacts list and the chat system in general works.
Konrad: […]
Unblocking users: You can manage your list of blocked users through a dedicated page located under Account > Settings > Blocked Conversations.
[…]
And this “Blocked Conversations” might be the answer to why the implemented procedure is as complicated and messy as it is, and why blocking a user doesn’t remove them from one’s contacts list.
While I appreciate that some much desired features were finally implemented, the way they were chosen to be implemented seems like another half-baked job.
Unless I’m missing something obvious, in which case, please do enlighten me.
I can only hope that the issues pointed out in this thread will be taken into consideration, and improvements will be made really soon – and I mean soon, not
soon™ - along with adding a “Report User” option, as well as status (registration date and rep), and everything else that still needs to be improved/ added.
I won’t comment on GOG’s terrible communication this whole time, others have already done a good job at this.
