Mandatory e-mail validation for new accounts! Woo hoo!

A change went into effect in the last few days that the registration process for new accounts now requires you to indicate the country you live in, as well as requiring a MANDATORY VALID EMAIL ADDRESS. They send you a link via e-mail that you must respond to, in order to activate the new account!



Yes, I had to wait about 2 minutes more for the e-mail to get through to me. Big deal. I'll happily put up with that if it at least forces the griefers and scammers to use some real data on the registration forms.

This is still a far cry from a real ID system, but it is definitely a step in the right direction.

Will this change apply to existing non-verifieds, or only to new registrations?

Ummm: [email]JoeBlow@hotmail,com[/email] set up via a proxy server is totally worthless for "identification" purposes. A "valid" email address, even one not set up via a proxy adds NOTHING for ID purposes.

.

.

Griefers can create a hotmail address in just 5 minutes.

Am I missing something?

1 minute

It will only apply to new accounts. Though LL will probably, when they institute the promised "better ID system", voluntarily collect that data (and more) from people who opt in to the new ID validation system.

What you're missing is that this now requires that griefer to take the additional time to set up that Hotmail account, and requires them to click a link in an e-mail sent to that account. That can be used to trace them, and delays their re-entry if they get banned.

As I said, it's a far cry from decent ID. But it's a step up from being able to enter "usuck@biteme.com" or similar pure drivel for the e-mail address, and never using that address in a tracable way.

How?

It wont stop determined griefers

But it will Help bore the idiot griefer who is just goofing off.

The more steps you add to them making a throwaway account - the more they are going to give up and go back to watching home made Jackass clips or Porn on You-Tube.

At a number of forums I am registered they don't allow the use of the populair mail-sites as Hotmail, Yahoo, GMail... I know, there are also not that well known onces... but better something then nothing.

Morwen

What does your forums have to do with Second Life?

Doesn't Second Life allow Hotmail, Yahoo and Gmail?.

I think the important thing here is that this represents a first step to a larger validation system. While I'm not going to jump on the "Yay, Griefing is over" bandwagon (because griefing will always be with us), I will say that I'm glad to see that LL is taking steps on what promises to be a very long road. It seems LL has finally realized that "we can't eliminate it 100% so we won't even try" isn't a very productive strategy for dealing with anything--and their legal liablities do requrie them to make an effort. (Underage person breaks LL security to gain access--their responsibility. Underage person signs up because LL has no security--LL's responsibility.) At any rate, I'm reserving judgement until the final and complete system is in place and has had a chance to be tested. Until then, it's a step in the right direction.

You would be appalled at how much information about you and your computer can be data mined by the simple act of you clicking on a hyperlink in an e-mail. Why do you think it is a bad thing to click on links in unsolicited e-mail spam? How do you think most viruses are transmitted these days?

What we know the link does is take you to a web page in LL's site and validate that the embedded numeric code in the link matches the one assigned to that account in the e-mail that LL sent. But it could just as easily, while running that bit of Javascript to validate the registration against their database, also query your system and get your IP address, record the time and date stamp for that communication, do a packet trace back to your ISP, noting the IP of every node along the route between you and LL. So at that point they have a record that can be matched to the ISP's records indicating that at that specific time, that specific IP was used to validate the account. And that is just a very rough start on what they could get on you, from clicking the validation link.

E-mail service providers have data logs for what e-mail was sent and received by what accounts, and that includes any forwarding. While it may require legal action to trace such communications from a sender to the actual recipient, it certainly can be done.

Set up an account?
Not likely with dodgeit.com and a million others.

Email validation is pretty worthless for stopping griefers. It does however serve a purpose in preventing your mail system choking on bounce messages when sending global messages or forwarding IMs to email.

I think the 2 week free trail period was an excellent idea. If you like SL and want to continue, provide info.

Simple and effective.

Linden Lab aren't a bunch of hackers and many people have a dynamic IP address.

I suppose email verification is nice in that it makes people like Ceera shout "Woohoo!".

Nothing wrong with a "Woohoo!" now and then. Be happy, Ceera!

Oh, it's still worth a woohoo even if it's just reducing a small amount of load.
Sending a few million emails and only getting a thousand bounces has to be better than getting back hundreds of thousands.
The way SL is, all load reduction is a good thing

Tell me again what this will stop? We all know you can get one time only email activation addresses....they along with signing up for accounts in any program are a dime a dozen.

I think the reason Ceera is "Woohooing," isn't so much about the email verification, but the fact that LL is at least doing something more than going, "Can't stop it, so why bother trying?" Hopefully this will mean that LL will stop doing this in the near future on other projects too. It's hopefully the start of a good trend and I'll 'woohoo" it too if it encourages LL to do more about it.

Just because it isn't fool proof, it doesn't mean you should roll over onto your back in submission to the griefers. Every wee bit helps..

I'll be cynical and say you just discovered the new ID system .

If it was requiring an email from the same ISP/host as the sign-up that would be far more of a deterrent.

Sadly this is true and this new addition will not stop any griefers or scammers who will no doubt have a 100 proxy emails already at their disposal. Just because they're griefers or scammers doesn't mean they're stupid, quite the contrary in fact. Doesn't mean they aren't a pain in the ass, unthinking, vain and arrogant nuisance though. But that's what they get their kicks from, go figure.

I think you are placing way too much emphasis on the "hard core" griefers.......and those are few and far between compared to children who think it's fun to be smart asses and trouble makers. And the fact that a possibility would exist for tracing back the originator of the emal account will deter a few............at least the ones who are just being little sh**s with their cages.

It is a step in the right direction. And certainly deserves a "whooooa whooo". It isn't the answer to everything but it might just prevent one griefer attack in game for me......and that is a good thing.

Now just you wait a minute!. It definitely doesn't deserve that many Os.

Let's compromise here - How about a "whoa whoo"?

Excellent!

This idea that if something can never be 100% foolproof (and what can ever be?), then it's not worth even trying, has always been nuts.

This is very good news indeed.

coco

There's less than foolproof, and then there's completely, utterly useless.
This falls into the latter category as far as stopping griefers goes. Luckily it has other merits.

It's generally "not even worth trying" things that are pointless. Spending time and energy on things that work is better. Not that griefers care if they can be traced, of course. For a "Global attack" with a scripted object (read "mario", you'll be sentenced to 2 weeks account suspension.
Outright bans, and more effective tracking of banned avatars and their alts would be more productive.