Account Freeze/Password Reset & Broken Applications

Firebolt08 said:
what's going to pocket pal apllication

cinnamoncider said:
Is this has something to do with GDPR? Does MAL's services/API yet to be GDPR-compliant?

Maffy said:
I am glad we could finally make an announcement! The last couple of days have been worrying to many users, so it's nice to get something out.

To be honest, when I saw the password reset, I thought it wouldn't be a big issue for the users (I was done in 2 minutes). If anything, after a bit of hassle, everything would be back to normal and because of my own mindset, I thought people wouldn't mind all that much. I tend to trust such things on various sites (though this was a bit aggressive...), because most of all, they want their buttocks covered so they wouldn't do anything to rock the boat unnecessarily. I suppose that's way too casual for many people though and probably way too trusting :'D However, I didn't realise how many people had missing/removed/forgotten emails, or problems with the e-mails MAL sent, or problems with MAL itself with "incorrect username/password" notices. I have been checking the threads and I could see how people were losing trust, especially when there was no solid explanation.

Adding the problems with the 3rd party apps on top of that, it only makes sense people would be angry. I've been reading various theories and I realised that couple of them I would have thought myself had I been a casual user, because they made sense (as a moderator, I just trust the system here more so I leave the conspiracy theories aside until solid proof). It honestly is a very sudden change and one that no one appreciates. I will miss my PocketMAL and most of all, I will miss MalGraph (I was working hard on my 2.500 completed manga achievement *sob*). It's a shame everyone was left in the dark, but most of all, the 3rd party developers. If I were them, I'd want to slap someone at least. So they definitely deserve a lot of cookies!

Part of my post is my appreciation for Kineta. For most people that don't know her she may seem like this faceless admin that may not care about the community as much as others and runs the site however she wants. However, she always tries her hardest and the past few days have taken a toll on her because she was really upset and worried. She always tries to help, although she also gets the more hate which is not surprising to anyone, I guess. I just wanted to put that out there, because I saw her frustration with all this stuff.

Now, I also read the posts in this thread and I kind of disagree with some. I am not quoting, because it's a pain to find the posts again, but the one thing that stuck on me was how someone expected the site to sink after MAL was sold to DeNA because it's not the first time an owner sells to a company and the company drives it to dust. Thing is, MAL was already sold to Crave yeaaars before DeNA, which is also a company and one that did almost absolutely nothing for MAL other than fix bugs months later and answer to users with the usual PR nonsense. I think MAL survived then just by the sheer effort of the MAL staff (I came along just one year before DeNA, so I'm not really talking about me, just in case someone thinks I'm boasting :P) who kept the site at a good standard. So, I want to believe that DeNA can't bring MAL down so fast. Despite their lack of touch with the community, I think they have done some interesting stuff to push MAL further along (like the seasonal page. It may seem obvious, but trust me, Crave would have never bothered.), but I also see that MAL's relationship with DeNA is sometimes "1 step forward, 2 steps backwards, 2 steps forward, 1 step backwards" with them. One can only hope that this will be a breaking point for them and things get better!

Of course my post isn't meant to just glorify MAL. Everyone who is fed up with it and/or had found better alternatives, they should do as they please. I just have a soft spot for MAL and I genuinely think it's great and so, I wanted to share my point of view. I only wish for the new API to come ASAP and finally move on to greater things.

PS: Though my plan will always be one; let's buy MAL ourselves, mwahahaha.

Ramzee said:
I just want my list covers back bro.