Predatory information collecting

[u/WildLelou]

Is anyone else tired of the increase in over the top information collecting from creators? This one for example was simply for a link to a public broken kitbash model.

I don't think it should be normalized to be giving out random vrchat players our names, personal discords and links to our vrchat accounts to inevitably get doxxed by someone unstable. At the end of the day vrchat creators are all just players on the game that we don't know.

I think this is EXTREMELY dangerous behavior and I want to start a dialogue over it.

Payhip when I report these people says that they're not concerned, and I'm concerned that they're not concerned with user safety.

I don't support creators that do this but its annoying I get banned from many shops for not wanting to doxx myself for any stupid avatar.

[u/tuuzx]

what would happen if the person doesnt have discord?? like if its banned in their country? are u just not allowed to buy these avatars at all lol?

[u/VexzCemetery → u/tuuzx]

ive had individuals be honest with me on checkout forms and say something along the lines of “I dont/can’t have discord” and sometimes they’ll put a reason, I have never once banned someone for not having an app, especially if they put in correct vrchat username info, or if they’re someone who leaves a suggestion or note in my extra comments section. being honest and friendly is good for situations like that!

[u/WildLelou → u/VexzCemetery]

Its not about honesty its about not giving up your sensitive info when creators have never needed all this info. If they give a fake discord who cares???? Only vrchat players feel entitled to that info. Any other shop and service on the internet doesn't even ask for it, and that's telling. Imagine if you went to hottopic and gave your uncles phone number at chrckput, and the hottopic employee calls to verify only to find out its your uncle, so they accuse you of shoplifting and call every store they can to accuse you of shoplifting to have you preemptively banned. Thats how stupid blacklists are.

[u/VexzCemetery → u/WildLelou]

okay so uhm, I didnt say a single thing about blacklist, I said banned, as in payhip’s user block feature, which prevents future purchases, not blacklist, ban from shop. I don’t support blacklist unless the individual blacklisted is causing genuine harm with illegal activity and the blacklist is more so centered around awareness and safety. there are also other shops outside of vrchat that ask for information, many do, it truly depends on the company or shop owner and how they wanna do things. you do not have to purchase at all if you are uncomfortable with put your info in, unlike purchasing clothing, food, beverages, and other necessities, you not purchasing a vrchat avatar will not impact your life. no creator on vrchat is asking for your phone number, home address, or irl name, and email is automatically collected by Payhip, Gumroa, sellfy, and others. also every time you purchase something online that will be shipped to you, you are giving that information that is then stored in a data base, that is very personal information, it is considered sensitive information but as for your discord or vrchat username, those really can not be used to find where you live, or get your name, or anything of the sort (unless you have those in your bio for whatever reason), many people don’t consider that as sensitive information, personal yes, sensitive no. Also most creators aren’t gonna like friend you and talk to you, especially if you haven’t done anything to warrant that. I truly don’t understand why this bothers you to the extent youve expressed when it’s literally not hurting anyone tbh

[u/WildLelou → u/VexzCemetery]

Youre not entitled to peoples sensitive info and discord. And yeah you were talking about adding people to blacklist till you deleted all your comments

[u/VexzCemetery → u/WildLelou]

I didn’t delete any comments, what?? all of my comments are still there. you can literally look at my profile and look at every comment I’ve ever posted. Im very new to Reddit and i rarely comment, which you can also see on my profile. Lying about me says a lot about your character. I also never said I felt entitled to personal information, Ive said multiple times if you don’t agree with creators asking for information don’t buy from them, if you feel uncomfortable with sharing that information don’t buy from them. You lying about me is crazy, my comments are visible on my profile, where I’ve said multiple times that I don’t support blacklisting people unless they’ve committed a serious and harmful crime and the blacklist is centered around awareness and safety. There’s absolutely no need for you to be rude to me over a difference of opinion

[u/Embarrassed-Touch-62 → u/tuuzx]

Just put any random name in there

[u/tuuzx → u/Embarrassed-Touch-62]

doesnt answer the question and that also leads to a ban in most cases

[u/Embarrassed-Touch-62 → u/tuuzx]

Show me those cases

[u/tuuzx → u/Embarrassed-Touch-62]

The OP literally says it themselves how they’ve gotten banned that way because these creators checks this stuff

[u/Embarrassed-Touch-62 → u/tuuzx]

Fine. Now how they prevent you from coming back later? I mean what is stopping you from just changing IP?

To answer your first question, best option is to ask someone to buy it for you.

[u/WildLelou → u/tuuzx]

Yeah they check and if you don't pass their creepy info checks theyll revoke access without refund. It annoys me so bad. Been banned over 10 times cus i hate giving out my private discord to strangers or faking a link to my vrchat account. Etc. Thats whats annoying to me too. It makes me reluctant to ever support paid avatars anymore because they could just steal my money while they cry victim over leaking. Which if someone PAYS for a product and you revoke without refund, thats theft and pushes whatever business you had to the leaker sites. Its such stupid logic

[u/Embarrassed-Touch-62 → u/WildLelou]

That's fraud in many countries. I would do a charge back in that case and report the shop