Should I stop helping people who got hacked?

[chazus]

So I've been perusing the Diablo Bug Forums the past couple weeks, and there has been a veritable tsunami of hacked accounts. People who log on stripped of items and gold.

My response is usually, get an Authenticator, scan your system, change your password, contact support to get a 'I got hacked' ticket rolling.

These are people who:

-Don't have an authenticator
-Logged on with their gear/gold gone
-Started in Tristram, Act 1 Normal
-Have strange people on their friends list

So its pretty cut and dry, right?

But more and more people are accusing me that I'm spreading lies, and its a bug that was caused by the patch that stripped them of SOME gear and gold (usually non-vendorable items are left over, and some other lower level characters are untouched)

Am I actually in the wrong? Should I put up with people accusing me of being an idiot when I'm trying to help? Many of them say their computer is clean and safe... But obviously something is awry. And obviously Blizzard hasn't said a peep about it either. They made a post a couple weeks ago, but it seems like the problem is only getting worse.

[KrazyK923]

How are you actually "helping" people?

Sounds like you're just telling them they should get an authenticator. And from the tone of your post, I'd wager that you are doing it in an incredibly snarky way.

So, should you stop being a jerk on the forums? Who cares, the Diablo forums are a shithole anyway.

[Deleted]

yea keep posting bro, if your really lucky they might make you mvp, good job

[Santti]

Well, it's not much of a lie if you advice people to get authenticators and post a ticket, so you shouldn't bother with that one at the very least.

[chazus]

This is a copy and paste of what my current post is:

Unfortunately, it sounds like you've been hacked. Take the following steps:

1) Get an authenticator, it's the best line of defense regarding this.
2) Scan your system of malware and viruses.
3) Change password
4) Contact battle.net support and open a "I've been hacked" ticket. Have patience, it may take some time to respond.

You might notice strange names in your Recently Played friends list like "shsrjsrsjh" and were moved to Act 1. Other characters might not be affected. Also, there is a report of Staff of Herding disappearing. These are separate issues.

It sucks, but Diablo 3 is currently a hot ticket for gold sellers, and this is the unfortunate result.

Good luck.

Am I jerk? O_o

[Rugz]

Just don't bother. All the information people who get hacked need is already stickied all over the D3 forums, and the rest of the posters are all drooling morons who are convinced that there is a corporate conspiracy of Blizzard selling account details and being infiltrated by gold sellers.

It's best just to assume that no one's computer is clean and safe, and people who say it is just haven't found the infection. Unless of course you believe that there are people out there who only use their computer for Doablo 3 and the Battle.Net forums and nothing else.

[xebtria]

creating awareness and try to make people increase their security can't be bad. it's very much like some sort of "charity" work. If you feel, that it's necessary, just do it. it's not "illegal" or anything like this. after all, it's other people's account, you try to save. no one can blame you, if you do it, and no one can blame you, if you stop doing it. so, in the end it's only up to you, if you want to do it.

[chazus]

Well, it's not much of a lie if you advice people to get authenticators and post a ticket, so you shouldn't bother with that one at the very least.

Most of the people I'm posting to dont even know how to make a ticket, and I sometimes have to give the link for it.

The majority of the people are pissed and state that the authenticator is BS, and its blizzard's fault this happened. Others are pissed that I would 'insinuate' that they're stupid and got a virus when they're computer experts.

There are a couple things that make me question myself though.

1) Many of these people CLAIM that their systems are totally clean. Is this a new attack that is memory resident temporarily?
2) Some of them have stated that not only are they in Act 1 Normal, but their previously gained waypoints are deleted. This strikes me as odd.

I would feel stupid if there is actually some bug that literally stripped thousands of players of gear and gold, and I've been saying otherwise... but... Even if that were true, wouldn't taking the above precautions STILL be valid? O_o

[Rugz]

1) Many of these people CLAIM that their systems are totally clean. Is this a new attack that is memory resident temporarily?
2) Some of them have stated that not only are they in Act 1 Normal, but their previously gained waypoints are deleted. This strikes me as odd.

Easily explained, especially since these people are too incompetent to make a ticket on their own.

1) Exactly that, CLAIM. Better to just ignore this statement,
2) They forgot to change their quest back to where it was before, to vendor gear someone will likely set the quest to Shattered Crown or similar to be right next to the vendor.

[Detheavn]

This is a copy and paste of what my current post is:

Am I jerk? O_o

Nah, but people probably think you are, simply because they are unable to comprehend that they personally may be at fault.

You may want to fling in a 'register your account with a new email address'. I used to have a RaF account which I never bothered to put an authenticator on, which probably got compromised by my own fault. Blizzard asked me to change the email address of that account to prevent people getting into my email and with that my B.net account again.

Strangely enough, my other 2 accounts which do have a mobile authenticator, never got compromised

Anyway, people should make of it what they want. Just keep helping them if you want to, just make sure your brain is able to filter out the douchebag comments, because that is basically what makes you wonder if you should stop

On a personal note ... I'd tell them to go <copulation related expletive > themselves and feast on their tears

[Santti]

Most of the people I'm posting to dont even know how to make a ticket, and I sometimes have to give the link for it.

The majority of the people are pissed and state that the authenticator is BS, and its blizzard's fault this happened. Others are pissed that I would 'insinuate' that they're stupid and got a virus when they're computer experts.

There are a couple things that make me question myself though.

1) Many of these people CLAIM that their systems are totally clean. Is this a new attack that is memory resident temporarily?
2) Some of them have stated that not only are they in Act 1 Normal, but their previously gained waypoints are deleted. This strikes me as odd.

I would feel stupid if there is actually some bug that literally stripped thousands of players of gear and gold, and I've been saying otherwise... but... Even if that were true, wouldn't taking the above precautions STILL be valid? O_o

Oh yes, they are still very much valid, no doubt about that one. It's quite understandable that some people get rather angry when stuff like that happens to them though. They are just venting their anger for a moment and calm soon(ish). Don't let it get under your skin.

[Rife]

You're helping but it's pretty redundant.

People being hacked is no secret. Authenticators can be gotten for free on phones or your computer so if you don't have one then you're not valuing your account much. The effort to reward ratio on using one is like 1:99999999 effort to reward.

You don't even have to enter in the number every time you log on anymore, only when your IP changes or the servers are reset, like after maintenance.

[Glurp]

You're not really helping people, you're just backseat moderating. Not really much point in doing it because they'll always go defensive and claim their computer is clean. I've never been hacked on any sort of online game (even when I was 11 and 12 playing RuneScape) and I've never had to use an authenticator.

If people go around being stupid getting malware and keyloggers on their computers then it's their fault and you shouldn't be wasting your time trying to help them. They will ignore everything you say and just blame everyone else for their account being hijacked.

[Deleted]

My experience of the official forums is that people often post there to get an official response from a blue, including creating troll threads to get attention from blues sometimes. What a lot of people posting on the official forums don't want is help from another user who is not blizzard and I personally don't offer help/advice in the bug forums there because I find people very rude and dismissive of a user trying to help (especially one that sounds like they're a blue poster but aren't) - because that's often not what they wanted. Even though technically they should have created a ticket to get support.

On the contrary, people who have posted bug reports here have been looking for community help/input because they accept they probably won't get an immediate blue post and are a lot more appreciative of any input, even though it's not "official support".

In short, if people are not appreciating your help on the technical forums I'd say it may be worth you just leaving it to blizzard to respond which is probably what people are looking for... it's certainly not worth stressing or getting upset over.

[Reavyn]

My experience in MMOs over the years, has taught me not to bother trying to help anyone with anything unless they are either a friend/guildie. They WILL find a way to turn it around and piss all over you no matter how friendly you might be.

[starkey]

My experience in MMOs over the years, has taught me not to bother trying to help anyone with anything unless they are either a friend/guildie. They WILL find a way to turn it around and piss all over you no matter how friendly you might be.

Pretty much this, you go outta you're way and you get shit on or called names, so now i dont even bother responding i dont even visit blizzard forums its just not even worth the effort.
You have to remember no one is ever wrong on the internet and if they are they will never admit it.

[levandor]

True, never try to help anybody, its a WASTE of your time, people will either be ungratefull OR go straight in your face for suggesting the problem could be with them in the first place.

[monkin]

never try to help anybody, its a WASTE of your time,

[anabolicz]

ignorant people u dont need to infect a computer to hack an account.... alltho it makes it easier u dont need it...