Project Lore

This past week, for me at least, has been all about crazy, oh-no-they-didn't moments in WoW, and hopefully educating our dear readers a bit about how not to get duped by would-be bad apples. I have one more tidbit to share before shifting my concentration back to where it belongs, which certainly isn't on these griefers. This one's all about keeping track of those enemy spies, Raid ID thieves, trolls, ninja looters, serial gankers, and just general douchebags. Beyond adding them to your ignore list or just blacklisting said players from your raid invite list, you also can go beyond by listing them at wowjackass.com (Thanks to Eric, who alerted me to this site in a previous comment.) Here's how it works: When you are the subject of any of the above offenses, you go to the site, enter the name of the criminal and their server, describe the act in detail, and submit it to the site. They process submissions within 24 hours, and the roughly 50 percent who make it through the screening process then are listed on the site's front page, and Twitter and Facebook pages. After bumped from the front page, they'll remain listed on their respective server page. The site also ranks servers according to the number of listed jackasses. Currently my main server, Khaz Modan, is listed at the number 1 spot with more than double the number of  listings as the next-closest server, Skullcrusher. Is this because Khaz Modan has an unusually large number of jackasses? Possibly. But, it also could mean that more people on the server are aware of the site through trade chatter, or it could also mean that people are retaliating against getting listed by reporting others. The site doesn't collect or display names of those reporting the information, but someone accused (especially if they're a RL jackass) may take a guess at who reported it regardless. Which brings up another potential problem: False accusations. I'm a firm believer that there are always two sides (or more) to a story. Unfortunately, WoWjackasses, at least initially, only reports one side. And, just because a person can tell a tale of ass-hattery in great detail (which is part of what the team looks for to figure out which entries are authentic), the story still could be pure fiction. WoWjackasses attempts to thwart this possibility by allowing site-goers to add a comment of their own, or give each listing a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" based on their own experiences. Finally, someone who feels they have been wrongly accused may contact site developers and give their piece. At least that's a step in the right direction. Criticism aside, the site makes for some fun reading, especially if you recognize some of the names listed on your server. And I don't mean to belittle the mission of the site; it's certainly a worthy one, and would be hard to pull off without these side-effects. You'll just have to decide whether you trust the information enough to let it guide you in your quest against getting jerked around.