JUST FYI ~ Inactive accounts for 1 Year will be LOCKED

[-Elie-]

EDIT: sticky update here





Check the DEV announcement and subsequent discussions here and here on the new Gaia security feature.

Locked accounts will have to fill out a ticket and answer some security questions to get unlocked. (This applies to mules.)

EXAMPLE QUESTIONS:
The email address currently on file for that account:
Details about some recent trades:
Details about some of the items in your inventory
The birth date listed under your account
Any previous user names your account has had:
Which Account Was Affected?:
Where you lived the last time you logged on:
Do you have access to the e-mail on the account?:
If no, please provide a new e-mail. Otherwise, just type N/A.:
Usernames of any mules you have:
Information about Gaia Cash purchases:

Uncle Kenny

Shintouyu

So we're getting a mandatory security which requires the help desk and all he jazz.

Firstly, when a failed log-in occurs, due to a 6-month-inactivity, will there be a message stating such? Secondly, is the instructional methods going to be stored somewhere easily accessible and not something I have to scrounge up through layers of Dev Notices to find?

The user will receive an error message when they attempt to log in that states the following:

Quote:

Thanks for trying to login to Gaia again - we're glad to have you back!

Since it has been at least 6 months since you last logged into your Gaia account, we've gone ahead, for account security reasons, and blocked access to this account. This was done to prevent the account from being accessed and/or misused by hackers, scammers, etc. We know this block may be frustrating for some of you, and we're sorry for that frustration, but we also feel this is the best way to keep your Gaia account and your items, gold, Gaia cash,etc. safe and secure!

Not to worry though, we have an easy way for you to regain access to your account! All you have to do is take the following steps to contact us about this matter, answer a few verification questions, and you'll be back in your account in no time!:

1) Copy the following link and paste it into notepad or another word doc for the time being. In other words, don't erase it!: https://www.gaiaonline.com/supportal/login/?task=ticket

2) In order to file a ticket, you'll need to do so from a secondary account. You may use an existing account you own, or may create a new Gaia account to file the ticket. Once you are on your secondary account, paste the link you previously copied into your browser to open a ticket.

3) Once on the ticket page, choose the following options from the drop-down menus:
a) For Subject, choose "General Account Inquiry"
b) For "Topics", choose "6 Month Reactivation"

4) Fill out ALL the form fields in the ticket then click "Finish" to submit your ticket. Once it comes up in our queue, a customer service representative will process your ticket and help you get your account reinstated!

See? Getting help is pretty easy to do! We hope to get your ticket soon so we can get you back into your account.
- The Gaia Online Admin Team

 

[Pxlated]

I hate that you Have to use an account to file a ticket. It'd be better if they just let you use your email directly like some other sites.

I wonder how long it will take Gaia to unlock an account after a ticket is submitted.

I wish this were optional.  

[Il Corvo di Verona]

I'm actually pretty okay with this move, myself. Gaia probably has its reasons, and it'll likely make it easier for me to remember that I have mules; I've got quite a few, plus some fairly obscure accounts I barely remember (but which didn't have anything good on them, at least).

I can definitely understand where everyone else is coming from, though. At least it'll be possible to reactivate deactivated accounts, instead of just having them deleted? sweatdrop  

[Pxlated]

Il Corvo di Verona

I am glad that they don't delete accounts here ; u;
Very very glad. The point is to protect accounts anyways.
xD I also have so many mules. I've recently logged into them though. The ones I could remember anyway.

Gaia definitely does have reasons for increasing account security. Considering how many people (used to?) get hacked here. I remember back when I was active in certain parts of the forums, I'd often get phishing PMs of people telling my my account was gonna be shut down unless I gave staff my password. That sort of thing.
A lot of people on my friend list would actually fall for these =/
They'd also get banned cause the hackers would then use their account to phish for other accounts.

That's why more account security is necessary. There are enough gullible people who do need it. I appreciate that very much, but I wish it were an option that would be on by default but that I could choose to turn off.  

[-Elie-]

I do understand where they are coming from tho i would have appreciated advance warning. I know a lot of friends that havent logged in for a long time and i wouldnt want them coming back to find their account locked. Such a pain and possibly they might decide not worth the effort.

Luckily i logged into most of my mules and my sisters mules that stores most of my items just recently but I'm sure at least 6 of them are locked.

Edited: just skimmed thru my friendslist and 27 out of the 50-ish friends on my first page are now locked out. And Gaia would have to manually check each one if-and-when they come back? I wonder how long the wait time would be D:

Edit#2: ok new sticky posted by the admins... its been temporarily changed to 1 year if you haven't logged in.  

[Vyli]

I can't access my old main account that I used for zOMG since of this inactive account thing. I don't think it's worth going through all the trouble either.

I wish they give us the option to not have this option at all.

*sigh* I feel like Gaia is pulling stupid things in the past few days. I've never been quite this agitated with Gaia


They're screwing around with the MP too, and there's so many problems with it just by looking at it. At least this is what is happening to me:

1. Every time I go on the Marketplace main page, a pop-up of Outfit Preview keeps coming up with nothing in it. It's an eyesore and I can't close it/move it, nothing.
2. I can't sell anything or even access the second or third page of my inventory to sell stuff.
3. The selling is pre-programmed for 1 day only, I can't extend the sale time for 14 days or anything.
4. The input your price field is automatically filled in with the Average MP price of the item.
5. The pop-up is rather ugly in my opinion.

Why couldn't it just stay the same? There wasn't anything wrong with the old marketplace.


Edit x3: well I have nothing to comment now XD  

[Il Corvo di Verona]

Vyli

All of that seems really strange, since I just checked the MP and was able to list an item, set the expiration date like before, and fill in the bid/buy prices and bid increment without any problems, or without anything being autofilled. The only thing that's changed is the pop-up to sell items, which actually seems to make the process more streamlined. Also, saving my avatar works fine.

Are you still having these problems? If not, then they were probably temporary glitches and Gaia's already fixed them; if you're still having them, they're apparently unforeseen side-effects of a site update, as mentioned in the Bug Report forum, and likely being worked on as we speak. =)

Edited, since you've already found that out! xD

On the bright side, as Elie noted, it's been temporarily extended to one year before an account is locked. It'll be interesting to see where it goes from here.  

[Vyli]

Il Corvo di Verona

Vyli

All of that seems really strange, since I just checked the MP and was able to list an item, set the expiration date like before, and fill in the bid/buy prices and bid increment without any problems, or without anything being autofilled. The only thing that's changed is the pop-up to sell items, which actually seems to make the process more streamlined. Also, saving my avatar works fine.

Are you still having these problems? If not, then they were probably temporary glitches and Gaia's already fixed them; if you're still having them, they're apparently unforeseen side-effects of a site update, as mentioned in the Bug Report forum. =)

I actually just editted my post when you quoted me XD Yeah most of them are fixed now. ^_^  

[Il Corvo di Verona]

Veiss Wynd

Ah, I remember those phishing emails! Pretty sure they're still going on, though I think most probably target newbies/younger members, and of course, there are/were the security holes in the flash spaces.

I do agree that the account-locking should be optional, though, like the smartphone authenticator app; at least, turn the account-locking on be default and make us opt out of it. Any accounts that get locked after that would either be because the user wanted to make use of the feature, or because they haven't logged in for a year/six months (which is on their head, not Gaia's).

They did already announce an initial extension, though, so who knows?  

[Pxlated]

Il Corvo di Verona

I definitely do feel better about the year extension.

Oh yea, the Flash hacking too...ah well. I remember that being such an issue a few years back that they told people not to use their flash content for a while. I hoped that wouldn't be an issue anymore.  

[Il Corvo di Verona]

Veiss Wynd

I'm not sure if it's as much of an issue now as it used to be, since I never really used the flash spaces, but Towns/etc were overdue for an overhaul anyway, so I'm glad they took the opportunity to patch security issues at the same time.

Like you said, despite all the "Don't give your password to people" PSAs, some people will still get taken in; Gaia can't do much about that, but at least they're attempting to limit the ways people might get hacked.