Go check: Xbox may have changed your real name sharing settings

Does it matter if you don't have any friends on your account?

That thread makes it look like it may only affect users in the insider alpha update

Edit: Nevermind! I was affected and I'm not in the alpha.
You can check here https://account.xbox.com/Settings
Mine was set to allow friends of friends to see my last name, but it was still set to only share my name with "friends I choose", so I'm not sure who was actually able to see my name. Weird

Edit: I wish we would be moving past gamertags and people didn't feel compelled to use them, more like any modern social media platform.

It's clear that there are still good reasons for it, but mainly because our community is filled with garbage. It's a shame hat we require anonymity so that people can feel safe from swatting, slurs and harassment.

.

*To clarify, I do not think it's fine people are having their names shown without consenting to it. I just personally feel usernames can also bring out poor behavior because people feel they can hide behind anonymity.

Also who uses usernames anymore? Sure on this website, but if Resestera wede not born from an old community would we all still be using them?

I would never use a username online anymore other than here if I signed up for a new site, so it feels a little silly sometimes.

My settings look fine. /shrug

Doesn't appear to affect me, though it wouldn't really do much anyway. Everyone on my friend's list knows my name. Those who don't wouldn't really do anything otherwise.

It's strange to think that our first and last names being known to others counts as "doxxing".

Kingpin Rogers said:

Does it matter if you don't have any friends on your account?

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

If you play online, then yes - it's showing in "recent players" according to the linked reddit thread.

I noticed this happen to some of friends and I thought they wrote their names :/

Edit: Just checked through the app and mine was there too wtf?!

My settings were still selected as block. Something must have triggered it to some people. Changed my name to some random letters anyway because no way in hell I want salty randoms knowing it if it shows to more than friends.

Lol i didnt have my full name on my profile before, and now it updated to it.


edit: profile was still set to only show it to friends i choose tho

Looks like someone tripped a switch they likely shouldn't have.

Curious to see the response to this.

This is a serious breach of privacy.

Thanks for the info, I had to change mine back so no one could see my real name

I changed my real name to a fake name ages ago to cut this issue off at the pass.

Looking at my friends list it seems about normal for the people I usually see w/ names. Could be a couple others, but hard to tell if I just never noticed before.

borges said:

Yeah, I explicity set this to block, though based on some friends comments, they did it also. Definitely a bug going on.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Went through recent players and only 3 names showing out of a fucktons
Maybe it's fixed already? Or maybe I can't see because apparently it didn't trigger to me? Man this is confusing. Perhaps it's a popular game that bugged out? Comrades was the last thing I've played online and out of 20ish people only one is showing their name (which is quite similar to the gamertag so perhaps they chose to let it appear)

Burdmayn said:

Doesn't appear to affect me, though it wouldn't really do much anyway. Everyone on my friend's list knows my name. Those who don't wouldn't really do anything otherwise.

It's strange to think that our first and last names being known to others counts as "doxxing".

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Having your first and last name and easily found IP address is a good way to get hacked by a rando or worse.

Mine was set to block, but it seems like everyone's name in my friends list including mine got displayed from this supposed bug.

Nothing here. I have mine set to block

Yup saw my name and see a lot of others in my friends list now too.

Xeontech said:

Having your first and last name and easily found IP address is a good way to get hacked by a rando or worse.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Oh I definitely get the dangers associated, it's just weird to think about. Hell, I've worked customer service jobs where I felt weirded out when people read my name tag and addressed me as such. Names being such a "private" thing just feels odd overall.

Just checked mine and on the "Friend of friends can see my real name" it's set to block. Am I safe then?

Just checked on the app and yeah some names of people that have never shared them have appeared while others haven't. Weird shit

Checked my settings and they were the same (Only sharing w/ selected people).

Alpha preview here.

My settings don't seem to have changed, thankfully.

Henry Gale said:

I wish we had to use our real names honestly.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Last thing i need is racists having a new easier way to know im mexican so they can discharge their slurs.

borges said:

Just in case ask a friend if he can see your name on the friend list.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Haha I have no friends on my Xbox Live account so I can't ask.

I think its an app problem? Seeing a lot more names on the app than when I was using the xbox

Henry Gale said:

I wish we had to use our real names honestly.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Is your ResetEra name and pic your actual name and human self?

Easy way to check: https://account.xbox.com/en-US/Settings

Share my real name (Xbox One Only)
Decide whether friends can see your name. You can choose specific friends from your profile.

Everybody
Friends
Friends I choose
Block

Share my real name with friends of friends (Xbox One Only)
Decide whether friends of friends can see your name.

Allow
Block

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

AlexFlame116 said:

Just checked mine and on the "Friend of friends can see my real name" it's set to block. Am I safe then?

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

* Share my real name (Xbox One Only)
* Share my real name with friends of friends (Xbox One Only)

I guess are the two things you might want to check your settings for.

This is absolutely unacceptable. The fuck?

Mine seem fine.

Not in preview program.

Name is blocked for everyone.

Friends of friends can't see my name either.

Henry Gale said:

I wish we had to use our real names honestly.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Sorry but that's way too dangerous for women

Henry Gale said:

I wish we had to use our real names honestly.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Last thing I need is some salty little fuck swatting me because I bested him in fortnite.

Hmm, it seems my profile on Xbox.com shows my real name. Think my other settings are fine but my name is visible to me which is not normal from what I remember.

My Microsoft account doesn't have my real name so it doesn't matter anyways.

Editing my original comment, I'm not suggesting people shouldn't be annoyed by this. I also believe sometimes that the shitty behavior of people comes out because they feel emboldened by anonymity.

PSqueak said:

Last thing i need is racists having a new easier way to know im mexican so they can discharge their slurs.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

More than fair, I suppose my initial instinct would be having real names might curb shitty people. Then again it doesn't seem to matter on twitter or facebook so maybe not.

Rychu said:

Is your ResetEra name and pic your actual name and human self?

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Name no, pic yeah, but I also have posted about that before. Something feels so archaic about usernames instead of real names in todays online world.

After 9 years on the previous forum though it felt strange to not continue to use the same name, and almost no one else is using theirs. That being said I've posted tons of personal info on this site that links to my real name so I'm not worried about it.

Maybe I am extremely naive to the situation and uninformed. But its only showing people your name? It honestly doesnt sound that bad to me. When i think of doxxing I think that they are posting your address, email, phone number, everything.

Henry Gale said:

I wish we had to use our real names honestly.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Considering that some dude got killed because of Swatting I'd rather not.

Title is really misleading. Showing your last name because of a privacy bug isn't really huge.

matrixman92 said:

Maybe I am extremely naive to the situation and uninformed. But its only showing people your name? It honestly doesnt sound that bad to me. When i think of doxxing I think that they are posting your address, email, phone number, everything.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

I thought the same thing.

Title is a bit extreme.

Xbox is doxxing users!!!!!

People want to throw that anti Xbox nonsense around. Throw it on titles like this.

my settings were fine when it comes to my name.

Changed other concerning settings about data collection though.

matrixman92 said:

Maybe I am extremely naive to the situation and uninformed. But its only showing people your name? It honestly doesnt sound that bad to me. When i think of doxxing I think that they are posting your address, email, phone number, everything.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Just like "hacked", the word has lost all meaning.

I am in the Preview Alpha and my name was fine, as was everyone on my friends list. I also went through my recent players list and only saw 3 real names, and I am not sure if they were already showing or not. Weird bug.