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Drama Mamas: Dealing with a stalker
Drama Mamas Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are experienced gamers and real-life mamas -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of the checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your realm. Harassment comes in many forms. Sometimes it's a one-off, like last week's letter. The bullying was ongoing, but by different people in discrete incidents. Harassment can also be felt from generalized statements made to the public, such as racial remarks in trade chat. But this week, we talk about ongoing harassment or stalking. The actions we say to take are not for someone who was being harassed, but the stalker stopped. Nor are they for someone who just doesn't want to ever hear from another player, but nothing offensive has actually happened. Stalking = ongoing harassment = a serious problem. This week, we tackle the issue by offering some advice to help reduce -- and hopefully eliminate -- this very harmful drama.
Wolfram Alpha lets you stalk yourself on Facebook, reminds you how noisy you are
You know Facebook's got dirt on you, it's one of modern life's unavoidable trade offs. Now though, thanks to Wolfram Alpha, you can data-mine yourself -- something its creator has been doing for years -- and get a true sense of exactly what the social network knows about you. You'll first have to head over to the computational knowledge engine, then search "Facebook report." Follow the prompts to give the app permission etc, and you'll be rewarded with a detailed breakdown. The data shows information about your interactions, friends, most popular photos, most common demographics and more. For example, you might discover that you know someone in the Philippines, have a clutch of non-connected friends weirdly in the same location, or that you mom is your top post commenter. Though you probably knew that last part already. Paranoid or curious? Jump on the source link to get started.
Gold Capped: How to deal with AH stalkers
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Gold Capped, in which Basil "Euripides" Berntsen and Fox Van Allen aim to show you how to make money on the Auction House. Email Basil with your questions, comments, or hate mail! Camping and stalking are two different things, and I got an email from someone facing both asking for help. I was wondering if you had any advice on discouraging less palatable AH competition? I'm speaking in particular about obsessive AH campers and their stalking tendencies. I know it's pretty standard for competitors to add each other to their friends (or enemies) list in order to keep an eye on when they're around, but over this expansion I've encountered some behaviours which seem to be pushing the boundaries of what is and isn't OK. Earlier in the year I had one competitor follow me across Stormwind, then to Darnassus, then to the Exodar, and finally to Shattrath where I eventually logged because it was getting beyond creepy to cut a gem and then moments later see this guy targeting me and cutting the same thing. I'm not an AH camper, but when I am on I'm happy to list/relist against the guys that are – this one following me now seems to be the dominant one on the server (or the most persistent), but I wanted to know if you had any advice on how to discourage this?
Drama Mamas: The combustible combination of minors and romance
Drama Mamas Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are experienced gamers and real-life mamas -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of the checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your realm. This week, we tackle a topic that I find rather scary, as a mother of a budding drama queen and gaming geek. Hi, This may be way beyond the kind of thing you can help with but my guild has recently suffered a few bits of drama that have revealed a worrying situation and I'm having a hard time working out what to do next. About a month ago a young girl (mid teens) joined the guild, we don't have a specific age range although as a casual end game guild we expect a certain level of maturity. She didn't interact much with the guild although one guy who helped her out a bit she really latched onto. She wouldn't run heroics unless he was there and they often moved into different vent channels to be alone. After a couple of weeks we had to kick her from the guild as she simply couldn't take criticism. It also turned out that she had recently been pulled out of school due to depression although some of the higher level officers in the guild were speculating on if that was genuine or was an excuse.
The Undermine Journal reboots with AH sales profiles
I reported when it went offline, and it looks like The Undermine Journal is back. It's added a bunch of realms, to boot. Additionally, the development blog post linked above has a few tidbits about some features coming down the pipes, including Twitter direct messages as a potential vehicle for market notifications. Also exciting is the possibility of a raw auction house feed being made available (for free), so other sites could make AH mashups of their own without having to redesign the armory crawler. This site is an amazing tool for stalking the auction house efficiently when you can't be directly in front of an AH. Combined with the Remote Auction House, this allows people to keep a semi-persistent presence on the market without needing to be in game all day. It's also invaluable for researching new markets and strategizing against your serious competitors. In fact, the only feature people have really voiced a lot of concern about is the seller activity page. The heat map can tell people when it's worth logging in to undercut, which can lead to people feeling like they're being unfairly targeted. The current items section tells interested players what other markets they could target someone in. The standard response to concerns is that this is all just data, and what people do with it is not the fault of site that makes the data accessible. There is no privacy in an open market, and just like you can hardly be upset if someone puts a photo of a sale sign in your storefront window on the internet, you can't get upset if a site like the UJ makes everything you have for sale available through a public interface. Personally, I like being able to stalk my competition more than I'm afraid of what they might do by stalking me. After all, there's only one of me and at least 50 of them. Additionally, I like to practice what I preach about market agility, and I like to think that every time a competitor closes a door on me, I can find a new door. Maximize your profits with more advice from Gold Capped, plus the author's Call to Auction podcast. Do you have questions about selling, reselling and building your financial empire on the auction house? Basil is taking your questions at basil@wowinsider.com.
Halo stalker arrested after making 2,600 mile trip
A 20-year old male was arrested in Spokane, Washington this past weekend for stalking a 15-year old girl he met online playing Halo (the report does not specify which iteration). The accused was from Saratoga Springs, New York, which means by our estimations he drove around 2,600 miles in order to drive past the girl's house and send her a text message. According to Seattle news outlet KOMO-TV, the parents of the girl caught his license plate number as he passed and called the police. He has been charged with a felony count of stalking. Let this be yet another warning to all online gamers out there: don't give out your personal information, including where you live and your phone number.[Thanks, Foolio]
Man arrested for stalking girls via Halo
A New York man by the name of Joshua R. Stetar was arrested Friday for stalking two young girls, a 15-year-old and her sister, he met while playing an unspecified title in the Halo franchise. Stetar, 20 years old, had discovered the girl's address by searching online and had been sending flowers and other packages -- which her parents returned -- to her home since they first met online in 2006. Stetar had apparently driven 40 hours straight from his home in Saratoga Springs, New York to the girl's home in Spokane, Washington, where he drove by her house and sent her threatening text messages. According to the Associated Press, the girl's parents were outside the home at the time and saw Stetar driving past. They wrote down Stetar's license plate number and called the police, who later tracked down Stetar at a hotel and arrested him. He has since posted the $10,000 bond and was released on Saturday. A disturbing story to be sure. Let this be a reminder to the parents out there to utilize the 360's parental controls and keep an eye on what their kids are playing. [Via Gaming Today. Thanks YGZ Kentucky and Foolio] Read - Detailed report from KHQ Read - AP report via KOMO
16 year-old girl stalked from WoW to her high school
In today's online world of MySpace and Facebook, the trend seems to be against what the media has been warning the public of for years. Don't mention your name, your school, your town; wait, I meant, please join the "School X" and "Town Y" social groups! No one wants to feel anxious about their online identity these days. We all want to connect, to play, to share information, to put ourselves on Youtube videos, post photos, and it has even become uncool to be antsy about meeting people you met online. Unfortunately, regardless of what we'd like to believe, stalking still happens. A high school girl was recently approached at school by a man who crossed borders and travelled hours to find her.
Stalker remotely controls family cellphones, even when they're off
To use a TV news cliche, it's like a horror movie come true: three families from Fircrest in Washington State are being harassed by a unknown individual, who somehow has the power to turn cellphones on, send messages, and change ringtones. Over the last few months, the families have had calls that threaten death and violence against them, calls that tell the people what they're doing at that time, and calls that originate from the cellphones of other members of the family. In one case, the stalker changed the ringtone of a phone to say "answer your phone." According to one James M. Atkinson, an apparent expert in these matters who used to provide the CIA with advice in counterintelligence, the technical profficiency to pull off this level of stalking isn't that high: if the FBI can do it, why not some anti-social kid, right?
Citizens catch cop speeding with cameras / radars, face arrest
Three cheers for citizens arrest! Actually, the case might end up going in the opposite direction, as a Bartow County couple could be arrested and tried for "allegedly stalking a Kennesaw police officer by installing cameras to track neighborhood speeders." While it seems perfectly okay to mount radars and speed traps all over our bustling highways in order to fine citizens for their hasty ways, apparently it's not so cool to keep an eagle-eye on a police officer breaking the same law. The couple spent around $1,200 installing a trio of video cameras and a radar gun outside their home in an attempt to monitor neighborhood speedsters and convince residents to slow down for safety, but things got a bit hairy when the surveillance system tagged a cop scurrying by at 17 miles-per-hour over the posted speed limit. Oddly enough, it seems that the officer was able to generate an acceptable excuse to dodge the penalty for speeding, while simultaneously planning to press charges against the dutiful couple for "stalking." So, dear readers, how exactly does an immobile, stationary camera go about stalking someone, hmm?[Via Digg]
Sprint opens, closes data leak on customer service line
It sure feels like Sprint usually just can't buy a break when it comes to quality customer service. This time around, JD Power's sometimes basement-dwellers have been called out for an automated line that was just a little too ready and willing to dish out customer data to anyone who called in. Basically, you'd call the line, enter any Sprint customer's number of your choosing, and promptly be asked to verify the customer's compu-spoken name and home address --among other juicy details -- while calling another number would spit out their bill balance. Understandably, this raised a ruckus in the user community; to their credit, Sprint patched the system rather quickly and issued a statement to that effect -- but not without going into full CYA mode, pointing out that "this process operated well within the bounds of applicable federal and state privacy laws."
"Love Detector" service now available for mobile matchmaking
We're not quite sure that the type of person who uses Nemesysco Entertainment's home or PocketPC (pictured) versions of the "Love Detector" service is out and about all that much, but the Israeli company has nonetheless released a mobile alternative that lets you discover your crush's innermost feelings while chatting on your cellphone. Already "wildy popular" in Israel, "Love Detector" allows you to dial a certain number before calling your intended target sweetie so that the company's server (and no snickering employees, we're certain) can eavesdrop on the coversation and calculate (with deadly accuracy, we're certain) four key parameters that supposedly determine your chances of mating. After the call is over (or the other person hangs up on you), the server delivers a text message to your phone that helpfully breaks the complicated analysis down into plain English, and even more helpfully, offers advice on how to proceed ("Love is detected! Proceed with caution!" or "Never call this person again, you perv."). Besides Israel, the precision service is unfortunately (?) only available in Turkey, Hungary, and the UK for now, but we're sure that once our US readers begin deluging Nemesysco with pleading emails, they'll have a version for the States in no time.[Via Shiny Shiny and Gizmos for Geeks]
