Irma and Site Upgrade Announcement (Part I)

[Beguile's Mistress]

I've been praying for all of our friends in Florida and the states in the path Irma and other hurricanes on their way here.

Also, for others worried about the Equifax situation, please remember there are two other credit reporting agencies - Transunion and Experian - who track your credit standing and usage.  If you are having difficulty resolving issues through Equifax try contacting the others to to see if you can put a watch on your ID and credit while Equifax sorts things out.  It isn't the most ideal solution but it might give you some notice or warning if your ID is being tampered with.

[Kuroneko]

Thank you for the update, Veks. Your hard work on this transition is greatly appreciated.

[The Green One]

Thank you for the information!

I'm excited about the upcoming changes~

[Haibane]

A note on  the buddy system

You will find the transitions to be a bit smoother if you ensure you are mutual buddies with your friends here.

Veks, is there any way to do this automatically or should I drop everyone on my buddy list a note advising them of this and asking that they mutually buddy me?

Thanks.

[Missy]

I only have two questions:

1) whats the buddy system thing? Do I need to have a buddy?

2) Whats the equifax thing and what does it have to do with E? Did I miss an announcement back in august or something when I was in the woods???

[Nadir]

The buddy system is our Friend thing, you input a name into it and it bolds that person's name when they are online in the Who's Online section.

Equifax has nothing directly to do with E but they had a major security breach so if you have business with them (they are a credit group) your details might be compromised.

[Oniya]

Equifax is one of the credit reporting agencies.  There was a major breach that was discovered recently, which means a lot of people's financial and identity data was seen by unknown parties.  According to the link Veks provided, the ass-covering is in high gear, and the actual 'doing something about it' is pretty superficial.  If you live in the States, it's possible that it affects you.

It affects E the same way Irma does:  it could severely screw over you or people you know.

[Missy]

How likely is it to have effected you?

[Vekseid]

If you are an adult United States citizen, then probably.

Equifax put up a site to 'check if you had been impacted', but it returns a random result and tries to push their credit monitoring service.

It is a situation that demands a legal resolution. Not paying Equifax more money to maybe, possibly, clean up a bit of the mess that they have caused.

[gaggedLouise]

A note on  the buddy system

After the move to Elkarte, the buddy system is going to begin taking a more and more prominent role on the site.

You will find the transitions to be a bit smoother if you ensure you are mutual buddies with your friends here.

This may be confusing, as currently SMF treats buddies as a sort of afterthought. It will make more sense once Elliquiy has upgraded, however.

I got a notice this morning pointing me here, from a lady who has me on her friend list - we've been in a couple of games together, we're good friends and writing buddies, but up until now I had not added her as a buddy in a formal sense. I did at once after she had been in touch this morning. But if those lists will be getting more functionality in the near future, does that mean we're encouraged to send an alert to the fellow member when we're adding them as a friend?

[DarkAria]

Thank you for the update and for all your hard work, Veks. You are appreciated. <333

[Verasaille]

Glad to hear the update will be soon. Also very happy the Tampa situation is alright.

You do amazing work Veks!!

[MagicalPen]

Is there more information on what this Buddy System is and why it is important for 'buddies' to be selected and vice versa? What is the benefit etc?

[Nessy]

If you are an adult United States citizen, then probably.

Equifax put up a site to 'check if you had been impacted', but it returns a random result and tries to push their credit monitoring service.

It is a situation that demands a legal resolution. Not paying Equifax more money to maybe, possibly, clean up a bit of the mess that they have caused.

Just my two cents here,

Check your credit reports from Transunion and Experian. You can get your credit reports for free, and anyone who is using your information should show up there. It is true some lending institutions only report to one of the three bureaus but many report to more than one. If you don't see any unusual activity there or on any of your existing accounts, I would suggest you wait until you do whatever Equifax is telling everyone to do. Their plan right not is not sufficient, doesn't work, and will most certainly change due to pressure and legal considerations... the company may very well go belly up too which makes anything they offer in question anyway.

[gaggedLouise]

The buddy system is our Friend thing, you input a name into it and it bolds that person's name when they are online in the Who's Online section.

Veks hinted that the functionality of the Friending system is going to expand in the future - so far it's been little more than a memory aid to spot which of your favourite folks are online - and that this is where the Mutual friending thing comes in. is there anything we could get ti hear about what this expansion is going to look like, what the buddy system will be used for, and so on? :)

[Vekseid]

I am being largely mum for now. : )

One thing that won't be in 1.1 but will happen in the future is factoring limits on the bcc system for private messages and conversations. Mutual buddies not counting against such limits, for example.

[gaggedLouise]

*nods, also silent* :)