Zipcode Controvicy

Dooms now requires members to input their Zipcode.



For one, I don't really feel safe with my friends, that is, the admins knowing where I live. I have horrible images of one in particular turning up at my doorstep. The awkwardness would be unbareable. They have assured me that it is only for confirmation perposes about people's location and that no mods will ever see it. Well, for a start, I've looked everywhere and I can't see anything that stores the data but upon submitting the form the info is sent off to another website.

The big problem is that the website's address isn't given so I really don't have any way of confirming whether the site is secure. Now I've known the mods for a long time and it's not like they're running some sort of insurance fraud scam or anything, but as this is one of Ben's ideas, I'm kinda worried that the site that he's used to confirm the data might be dodgy. He does tend to rush into things when he gets excited about something and doesn't think it through or do a proper job.

Now so far, you only require your zipcode for 1 little feature but it will be used to confirm new accounts. All the old users will have to do it too though. The idea is to crack down on people using false names and multiple accounts but there are some obvious flaws. You can easily make a fake address and if we have some way of finding out the postcode from that then it makes sense that others can do the same. So it kinda acts more like a deterant than actually stopping people.

We already have something that checks the IP and Mac address of the PC they're using but somehow they seem to be slipping through the net almost literally. They can mask their Mac and IPs using gate software and servers as we do with our mod accounts but at least we're not being malicious.

I've seen people bet against themselves on auctions to get people to buy things and weird monologues where they sometimes even refer to themselves in the third person to big themselves up. So it's a worthwhile idea but I really need to know how secure the whole thing is.

I really wouldn't mind the mods knowing the country I live in but I don't want just anybody knowing where I live. Even if they explain to me, I'll need some outside knowledge on the subject, just to make sure it all ties together. But we have some pretty hefty kit so I'll need someone who really knows what they're talking about.