News & Opinion

Back-End Updates

I've done quite a few updates this morning to update some legacy email support.  So if you see some weird errors, please send Feedback and let us know!

Groups & Games Updates

We've made a couple of minor changes to our Group Finder pages.  These changes were to help clear up some confusion and make it easier to navigate the Groups. 

Breadcrumbs were added to the top of the page.  The selectable "I'd like to" button was moved up to the breadcrumb bar and is now green instead of blue.  We hope it makes the button easier for members to find.  A fair few of our members weren't aware the "I'd like to" button allowed them to add their own groups or change the search from Local to Online Groups.

Over the years a few members have asked why we don't have a Game Finder - well, we do.  Take a look at the search results, each line shows you the game each group is currently playing.  And to emphasize that games are listed, some of the in-page text was changed to Search Groups & Games.    

Let us know if these changes are helpful to you, we'd really like to know.

Login Bug Notification

Hello Gamers.

Yesterday a troublesome programming bug was discovered and fixed.  It was a coding error that could trigger during the log-in process, it could have affected some of our members under the right circumstance.  Our database was not exposed, it was not a web-site hack.  Luckily the problem was found quickly and patched.  

In the right circumstance, the bug could have allowed someone to log in as a different user.  Luckily, there isn't evidence of a single account affected.  We have thousands of members - however fewer than 200 members could possibly have been affected while the bug existed.   

I wanted to make certain our members knew about this incident just in case someone was actually affected.  Good communication is the cornerstone of trust, especially with so many large company websites not informing it's members for months or longer.  

Members who could have possibly been affected will receive an email today.  If you don't get the email, then you were not affected.  

If you do receive the email, it does not mean you were actually affected.  It means your account was logged-into during the time the bug existed.  There are still no signs of any accounts compromised.

If you do get the email, this is what you should do:

• Check to make certain you can still log-in.  Your passwords could not be exposed even if someone logged in as you.
• Verify the email address in your Gamer Profile hasn't changed.  
• Examine your Gamer Profile settings.  Are your avatar or text comments in About Me the same?
• Confirm your Gamer Interests haven't changed.  This include Game Systems and Genres.

Members who receive the email and believe they were affected should Send Feedback.  Please provide information explaining why you think you were affected.

Minor Upgrade

Today (July 4th) we upgraded software on the server side of our site.  Originally we thought it would force everyone to change their passwords, surprisingly that turned out not to be true.  No one is happier about that than Maelish.

For our members, the upgrade gives a minor speed boost and changes to password encryption.  The new version will encrypt (hash) your password far more effectively than before.  We recommend that our members change their passwords.  When you do, it'll save a far more difficult to crack version of your password.

If you experience any other odd problems or error messages, please send Feedback.  We really do appreciate it!

Password Migration

Sometime in the next month Find Gamers will upgrade it's password encryption methods.  We have not been hacked or had a security snafu.  Rather, it's a proactive measure to keep your account more secure.   It's not just us, a lot of websites are doing the same.  Honestly, it's just a smart move and helps to lock things up a little tighter.  The change should be fairly painless for our members.  

What You Need to Know: 

• The update will invalidate everyone's current password including my own.  
• You'll need to use Forgot Password? on the Sign In page.
• There will be a notice on our front page afterwards pointing back to this news article.  It will be there for at least 30 days after the upgrade.
• This news article will be updated to reflect the change.

Why are we doing this upgrade now?  It's because we're updating the coding language to make the site faster.  Faster and more secure sounds good right?

Vote to add Games for your Biography

We've added a new survey page to Find Gamers.  Our first batch of polls will be a follow-through on something I've promised quite a few members, the ability to vote on adding game systems for our user's Gamer Biographies. 

Going forward - members can request newer options, game systems et cetera through Feedback.  Then we'll typically add a poll to the Survey page, members can then vote to make it available below and to our member's Gamer Biographies.

If our new polling page is adopted by our users, we might add comments to them.

You can jump to the survey page by clicking here.