Possible aid from doctors to file police report against Steam trolls

After speaking with my doctor today & apparently being able to convey the seriousness of the attacks from Steam, as well as my intentions to contact the police about the attacks (but only after I get the new articles published about the revictimization from Steam), she took concern about this & stated that I should get that police report filed as soon as possible, even offering to get me in contact with a Case Manager to aid in contacting the police & filing the report.  I told her I would like to attempt to file the report myself, but she said she was going to have a Case Manager contact me about it regardless & she wanted me to speak with the individuals in that office that I do speak with (Doctor, Therapist & Case Manager) every week (rather than once every month).  My next doctor appointment was scheduled to be in 2 weeks rather than the normal month later (give or take a week).

I will point out that this hasn't been discussed with only my Doctor & Therapist, but also friends, friends of friends, family, neighbors & so on.  The discussion has gotten some of them extremely concerned that I might take my own life in response to the continuing attacks from Steam (and Steam Management's decision to support it when they issued restrictions against my own Steam account rather than doing anything about the organized attacks from Steam aggressors).

I'm not going to lie, the thought had crossed my mind, but there are 2 reasons why I don't see myself going through with what concerns those I've talked to about this:

• I haven't been pushed far enough yet (not yet anyways, but I don't expect we're far off).
• From a troll's perspective, if their attacks push somebody to take their own life, this is the BIGGEST victory for them; I'm not ready to give them that victory.
  

Ultimately, now that my Doctor is getting involved in this & getting an individual involved that may have some contacts to get this taken care of quicker, I expect the police report will be filed by the end of next week (if not sooner, considering I intend on doing so myself as soon as the new Steam revictimization article & boycott is published, but I'll ultimately need to discuss this with the Case Manager if I haven't done so before they contact me & that may push it getting filed before the new publications are up).

What was to be expected (why comments were disabled)

Putting things into perspective on what was to be expected when I did publish new videos to YouTube & this is in continuation to the harassment, internet stalking & doxing from Steam users (what Steam wouldn't deal with themselves & instead chose to revictimize by issues restrictions against a victim of mass-harassment starting on their platform), you can see in under an hour after these were published, they were already getting downvoted.  The YouTube channel gained 6 new subscribers since this harassment on Steam started & it was expected that most (if not all) of those new subscriptions were likely Steam trolls from that thread utilizing new video alerts to quickly cause more problems.  Even some of the comments from the trolls on that Steam thread stating they were waiting for me to upload new videos (which already gave me indication this would happen).

Click for full-sized image

Ultimately, I expected the rating to drop much quicker (likely slower because of the time they were published, roughly 7 AM in the morning), but this is EXACTLY why comments were disabled on my YouTube channel (as well as I've stopped linking them to my Steam profile after being personally revictimized by Steam management).  Unfortunately this affects other options that were offered through comments (like higher quality downloadable versions on request or allowing users to respond when they were being called out for poor behavior, which had resulted in removing evidence videos in the past when a civil response is left), but in order to deal with the actions of the aggression from toxic Steam stalkers, this was a necessary step that now affects all viewers of the channel because of the illegal actions of those stalkers, and furthermore, Steam management's inactions to do anything notable to protect their users from it.

 

Steam supports harassment, additional permissions locked up

On January 14, 2024, I woke up to find that Steam had apparently put restrictions on my primary Steam account, which showed they supported the harassment coming from their users on their platform:

These actions from Steam made it clear that they were no longer a trustworthy source for purchasing video games anymore.  I had already been holding off on new purchases from Steam due to the cutoff of Windows 7 becoming known half-way through 2023 (the exception being a couple of Platinum purchases in Warframe), but this makes the decision set in stone, there won't be any more purchases being made through Steam anymore (I don't even feel I can trust them to have access to my payment information, so any F2P purchases that would have been made using the Steam API will be done directly through the company, no longer through Steam because Steam benefits on those purchases are no longer a bonus when I can't trust the company).

Once I found out about these restrictions, a number of things started happening to start negating information from my Steam profile, in addition to cutting ties from Steam over other sites:

• All other voluntary information, showcases & optional information was removed from my Steam profiles.
• A slew of comments were posted to my profile regarding this matter & additional steps that were being taken in response to it.
• All self-posted comments in the thread where these attacks that have been happening since October of 2023 were self-deleted.
• My Steam wishlist was cleared out, given it was clear I wouldn't be putting any more money into Steam after the revictimization. 
• My Steam profiles were stripped down to basic display options, no longer showing additional profile display options I had earned or purchased using account points.
  
• The Steam Facebook page was blocked.
• Referral traffic from Steam domains to my personal site are now blocked, resulting in a ban message.
  
• My Twitch channel was updated to disclose details about the revictimization & why streams of Steam-exclusive games won't be done on that channel anymore.  Streaming of Steam games may still happen, but links that would lead to purchases of Steam versions will no longer be provided when streaming those games.
• Chat restrictions on my Twitch channel now prohibit links to Steam domains.
• Chat restrictions for Twitch accounts that don't have a phone number on them now have the highest restriction available before they can participate in chat:
• Chatters without a verified phone number must have accounts older than 6 months (previously 1 week).
• Chatters without a verified phone number must have followed for more than 3 months (previously 10 minutes).
  
• A new command was added to the StreamElements bot that responds to mentions of Steam with details of why it's no longer a trustworthy gaming platform I'm willing to purchase from anymore.
• Giveaways were discontinued on my Twitch channel (given they only included Steam activation keys or giftable guest passes anyways)
• All Steam activation keys were disabled in the StreamElements store for my Twitch channel.
  
• Comments were FULLY disabled on my YouTube channel, along with a post in the Community section of the channel explaining why this happened.  This hid any existing comments that were on the channel, as well as negates any option of a user disputing a video calling them out for poor behavior in games.
  
• Open joining of my Discord channel was disabled, now only being allowed through private invitation using expiring invitation links.
  

Additional articles are expected to be published to WonderGamer.net giving details about the ongoing harassment, internet stalking, doxing by Steam users & revictimization from Steam management, but will have to come later when I have managed to catch up on some other tasks that have been getting put off for a few days already.

Despite removing the original comments from that thread where the targetted harssement started, that thread is still be monitored & I will continue to document the harassment, given that harassment is going to be evidence when this matter is reported to police seeking action against the criminal actions of Steam's users & potentional fines against the platforms that refused to do anything when reports were filed.

Discord access currently private invite only

After getting past messages fixed on my Discord server, I noticed that the one individual that was still on the server (joining when these attacks were active) had apparently passed around links to other Twitch channels that aided me in getting affiliate status (following me to a Discord server through one of those channels, attempting to add & message me, at which point I contacted the owner of that server, which resulted in them being banned from it because they had also attempted to do the same with them).  That individual was booted from my server & permanent invite links were revoked.  Until the attacks have died down, invites to my Discord server will be private invite only using expiring links.

Video ratings now a factor on visible comments

As of today, I am putting a new policy in place on what comments will be considered for publication after they are made on videos on my channel.  This change in policy come from the following factors:

• Continuing harassment over 3 months.
• Most comments left being abusive anyways.
• Any comments being accepted sparking more negative attention & retaliation.
• People following the channel only for the purpose of downvoting videos as soon as they are published (without even viewing them).
• Nearly ALL recent videos getting downvoted in a short time (one exception to this appears to be self-flagged age-restrictive videos getting hit less, which indicates these are mostly kids with nothing better to do with their time than being a problem & causing issues for others).
• A mis-information video being published on another channel (which I expect I will be publishing a review against if the report against it goes ignored by YouTube).
  

It may have been noticed that the public can not see ratings on videos on my channel other than their own vote, this was done intentionally because of expected harassment in retaliation to videos calling out others (or being used as evidence in violation reports) when running into griefers.  While the public can't see the calculative ratings, I can.  The abuse of the rating system doesn't hurt the channel because they aren't public, but after years of this type of abuse & extensive harassment that neither Steam, Twitch or YouTube management will do anything about it (without legal action taken), those ratings are now going to play a part on whether comments will go public or not (ultimately coming down to the only comments that will be going public will be by whitelisted individuals on the channel, everything else will just time out because they were never processed through moderation).

UPDATE:  Taking this a step further, comments have been disabled on the majority of videos with a less than a 50% positive rating.  Normally this won't affect existing comments, but in rare cases (particularly on videos published since the mass targeted harassment started from Steam & the Warframe community), comments may be hidden if the majority of what was received was abusive (whether they are still there should comments be re-enabled on the video at a later date is unknown).

Of course the hiding comments on videos plays a part in disallowing those that have been called out to clear up any possible miscommunication of their actions.  In most cases the normal response is to retaliate against the video through abusive comments, however there have been rare cases where they may apologize for their actions & I'm willing to work with them in changing the visibility of the video (or at least the listing of it).

The most recent of these situations being with a Warframe player (of who shall remain unnamed) who replied to the video apologizing for killing of a Simaris target when the video went public & used in a report against them; the video was set to unlisted, removed from the Warframe Wall of Shame playlist & I gave additional information so they could educate themselves on what the scanning of Simaris targets was (referring them to the official wiki).  There has also been the rare apology or clear up of comments over both Destiny & Dragonball Xenoverse (both of which I don't play anymore).

Given there are now people that are following the channel for the sole purpose of immediately downvoting a video as soon as it's published, their actions will result in comments getting disabled fairly quickly & if the individual in question does attempt to reach out to clear up their actions with an apology, this venue of contact will be cut off by those that are abusing the comment & rating systems on YouTube (that means the video stays up permanently, even if the player attempts to make civil contact).

Ironically, some of the people mentioned in videos later became whitelisted on the channel after a civil response (once again, not going to mention names), which is going to restrict possibility of new individuals being whitelisted on the channel (which bypasses comment moderation before being published, however comments can still be addressed if out of line later) when the option to leave a comment is revoked through the actions of hostile abusers, the exception being that people I already know ahead of time may still get whitelisted directly without having to leave a comment.

Forced YouTube ads, how I respond to them

YouTube recently started cracking down on people using security protocols on their site, regardless of whether they were being used to block ads or not.  I personally find mid-video ads intrusive & many times I do not finish watching the video once one destroys the experience for me, usually voting down the video for a ruined experience & finding something else to do.  For this reason I usually stuck to watching YouTube videos on my PC & rarely used the Shield TV, game system, mobile or tablet apps.

The recent change now blocks the player from even running, giving you a 3 video grace period, however that gets counted down even if you didn't start the video (refresh the page even if your browser prevented the video from auto-starting & you still get docked on the unstarted video).  This even affects videos that are not monetized & do not have ads on them (as with my own videos, which I will be making a point NEVER to monetize my channel with this type of bullshit being forced on users).

My response to having to disable my security plugins on YouTube lowers my trust rating of YouTube (which is likely going to be updated to state as much in my reviews of the site) & additionally leaves me open to not finishing videos as a result of intrusive mid-video ads (if I even decide to watch videos on YouTube anymore, I know I'll be looking at other sites for videos to watch before considering similar/same videos on YouTube).  If I do decide to continue watching videos on YouTube, I will continue to vote down EVERY video that is interrupted with mid-video ads.  This ultimately means that ALL monetized videos over a few minutes will be getting down-voted as a result of YouTube's insistence that you either pay their premium plan or you have to deal with intrusive ads that don't allow you to finish what you are trying to watch (or just go to another service to watch the same videos; quite frankly there's a reason I have subscriptions to other paid streaming services over YouTube).

I will be attempting to find another service to upload new videos to (as well as I have backups of EVERYTHING I have on YouTube, so I can always move them to that new service once I find something else that has an acceptable platform).  Additionally I will likely be looking to persuade Steam into allowing other video sharing services to be used on user's profile pages (which probably won't go anywhere, I know my attempts to get them to allow Twitch has been a dead end).

I've been waiting for Google Fiber in my neighborhood since I moved here in 2016, being on that notification list of availibility for almost 10 years since I moved into my previous residence.  I have refused to put my payment information on ANY Google service since they allowed the attacks from Bandai/Namco targeting a link on the live streaming page of my channel that never got removed after the first attack (getting hit once again a month later even when the live channel was not even active, this time not allowing an appeal to be processed; I have had live streaming on my YouTube channel disabled ever since & do not mess with any other live channels on YouTube because that function was targeted on my own channel).  I've been saying that if Google Fiber were to become available in my area, this might be the thing that ends my boycott against paying into Google services.  However with what has happened with ads on YouTube, I don't know that I will even be switching to Google Fiber IF it ever becomes available in my area, I am much more likely to just switch back to Xfinity/Comcast or stick with CenturyLink (provided the upload rate is good enough, which has the primary reason why live streams on Twitch ended; I don't really want to stick with the piss-poor customer service of CenturyLink, but right now my mindset is I don't know that I can trust Google-owned services with my payment information.

Possible Warframe videos coming to YouTube channel

Considering I've been playing a lot of Warframe lately & have had an increase in running into Warframe leechers, I've decided to start recording my gameplay again.  These recordings could also result in Warframe highlight videos being uploaded/published on YouTube (unfortunately not on Twitch as I have had issues with audio desyncronization when trying to upload longer videos to Twitch, one of the reasons Twitch channel update videos are mostly exclusive to YouTube when previously recorded).

When I started playing Warframe regularly, I started using the SteamLink app on my nVidia Shield TV Pro (and older model, not the newer ones).  Unfortunately after the last Steam overhaul update a few days ago, performance over the SteamLink app took a serious turn for the worse, so I'm back to playing on the actual PC again.  It was determined after running into 2 leechers in 2 consecutive missions (1 per mission) that it was time for me to start recording missions in case I needed to start publishing videos of violations to go with reports again (again running into a third leecher in the third mission, which only destroyed my interest in continuing to play it for that day).  The 2 leechers previously stated were not recorded, but screenshots of their information was uploaded to my Steam profile, so the information is still out there regarding their disgraceful actions (or more accurately, inactions); I didn't even feel like messing with processing & uploading the video or reporting the third leecher, this was just the "I'm done with it" point for Warframe for the day...

Unfortunately I am still stuck with CenturyLink & a lower upload rate not capable of streaming online games (only offline games are possible with my current upload rate, the bandwidth from steaming interferes with online gameplay too much), so streaming to Twitch still is not a viable option.  Also as much as I want to get back into streaming, health is still an issue & I am unable to get a date set on my operation (which will require more recovery time as was the case when I last had this same operation done, something I didn't take seriously after the first surgery, which is likely why it has to be done again).

The plus side is my father told me that it appears that Xfinity/Comcast (my parents going back to being a customer of theirs) may have a disability discount, so I may start looking into going back to Comcast (at least for internet, if nothing else) in the near future.  Unfortunately with the lack of preferable health to do extended streams, any streams that might be done after the switch will still be limited to "as my health permits" & likely be no longer than a few hours (at the most)...

Preparation for upcoming Steam cutoff

In 2024, my Steam accounts will go inactive as a result of Steam deciding to cut off it's ability to run on OSs earlier than Windows 10.  I have no trust in Microsoft after they decided to blacklist my personal site & this blog from Bing, so I don't intend on putting any more money into Microsoft until the issue on Bing is resolved (which is clear it won't, as is the case with many other sites that got blacklisted backed up by search results when you do a search on Bing regarding webmasters that were looking for answers why it happened & receiving NO RESPONSE WHATSOEVER from Microsoft) & because Steam is forcing this purchase, all further purchases on Steam have also ceased (at least until I am able to acquire a copy of Windows that meets the new Steam OS minimum requirement that won't be taking money out of my own pocket, whether that means it's a gifted copy, acquired with fund donated towards it's acquisition or just ends up being a downloaded/cracked copy).

This cut off on Steam is going to be the same steps I have taken with:

• PlayStation after their cutoffs on the PS3 on their website & mobile app.
• Epic Games after they forced V-Bucks to the Battle Royale mode of Fortnite (a mode I don't play), effectively stealing 37,100 V-Bucks from the mode they were acquired to be used in & 4 years of my life from me acquiring them.
  

COMPLETED or CURRENTLY ACTIVE

• No further purchases on Steam.  Any games of interest on Steam are searched out on other sites (starting on GOG, then over other PC clients, lastly on Nintendo Switch) or ultimately determined will not be a game I will be purchasing.
  
• No purchases of products promoting Steam-exclusive games, products or franchises.
• Cease all trades through Steam.
• Deny all incoming friend invites through Steam.  PSN & Epic Games at least had privacy options to auto-deny friend invites or restrict only to friends of friends, which has been active since I decided I was no longer a paying customer to those platforms.
• Notifications for Google Play Steam app disabled or set to silent (depending on whether categorized notification disabling works correctly).
  

IN PROGRESS or STARTED

• Remove/Hide Steam store page & profile links/associations to Steam from other profiles & websites:
• Steam profile & store links removed from Twitch channel.
• Steam profile link removed from side-bar navigation links on Twitch/YouTube blog.
• Steam profile link removed from YouTube channel.
• Steam profile link removed from Wikipedia profile page.
• Steam account association hidden on Discord.
• Both Steam accounts removed from "Other contacts" Discussion in private Steam group.
  
• Transfer games on Steam wishlist to wishlists on other platforms and/or online stores.
• Remove likes & block the Steam Facebook page, as well as any other game page exclusive to Steam or for a game I lost access to as a result of Steam's OS cutoff.
  

PENDING or NOT COMPLETED/STARTED

• Start contacting developers/publishers of games that don't provide another PC alternative to a Steam version regarding releasing the game on other PC platforms (like GOG, Origin or Uplay).
  
• Publish details about Steam boycott to personal site when PC client is no longer able to be run, including details about how much money was put into the account (over $5300 directly, not including activated keys from other sites/store purchases/giveaways or gifts from other accounts/users) prior to knowing about this upcoming cutoff.
  
• Remove/Hide Steam store page & profile links/associations from other profiles & websites:
• Remove Steam store page links from personal site.
• Append details about boycott against Steam on every published review of a Steam game on personal site.
• Find other profiles where links to my Steam profile hasn't been removed/hidden yet & remove/hide it (provided it don't break account linking of content in games or game redemptions).
  
• Download official versions of F2P games originally owned & played on Steam (or look at playing those games over another PC platform that also has them, provided they can use the same account).
• Test games downloaded through Steam to see if they will run without forcing Steam to run when run directly from the executable, make sure the latest version is downloaded prior to the cutoff date.
  
• Uninstall Steam games that won't run without forcing Steam to run by running the game executable directly.  Update published reviews of those games to give details about their inability to run after the OS cutoff.
  
• Seek out other versions of games that are owned on Steam (or a Steam crack that will allow already downloaded Steam versions to be played without forcing Steam to attempt to run) to play while Steam won't run on PC as a result of OS cutoff.
  Repurchasing those games on other platforms won't be an acceptable option, however purchasing on another PC platform if they haven't already been purchased is & is already being looked into for games still on my Steam wishlist.
  
• Remove the Steam Authenticator as the primary means of 2-step authentication (leaving texting of authorization codes active) on both Steam accounts.
  
• Remove all Steam game-specific showcases (Game Collector, Badge Collector, Achievement, Rarest Achievement & Screenshots) from Steam profile.
• Update Video Showcase on profile to only feature videos for non-Steam games.
• Update details on profile to inform that the account is a "dead/inactive account" after the OS cutoff that is essentially holding well over $6000 worth of games hostage until my OS meets their new standards as of 1/1/2024...
• Update profile to state other PC gaming platforms I may frequent (GOG, Origin, Uplay, etc.) since Steam became an defunct PC gaming option.
• Set game activity to Private on account.
  
• If PC alternatives can not be found to unpurchased games that I was intending on purchasing on Steam (prior to knowledge of the upcoming cutoff), consider whether paying the monthly subscription for Nintendo Switch is worth it.
  If this does happen, it is likely that most games will be purchased on Nintendo Switch (outside of FPS games & other games that require precise aiming from a first/third-person perspective) over other PC platforms even if Steam ever does become an option to be run on my PC again.
• Remove SteamLink app from all 5 personal devices it was installed on (Samsung Galaxy S6, S9 & S20 5G FE and nVidia Shield TV & Shield TV Pro) & update Google Play review to a 1-star review detailing it's loss of functionalty due to defunct PC client after OS cutoff.  Look for another means to remote access PC on nVidia Shield TV devices (using single-monitor HDMI cables run under the house if necessary); remote access on Samsung Galaxy devices will remain primarily as TeamViewer, SteamLink really only be used on them when playing a Steam game).
• Hide all channels on personal Discord server created for use with Steam games (as has already been done with Epic Games games or use the Unreal Engine).
  

This list will continue to be updated as I have time to work on it & in between starting/continuing/completing steps already listed.

For those who were friends on Steam or would like to add me, I expect most of my PC game playing & purchases will be on GOG until otherwise assured that I will not lose access (or have re-aquired access) to my Steam games based on an operational PC client for Steam (which won't be the case once they kill support for Windows 7).

YouTube handle assigned

Many of us who use YouTube may already be aware that handles are now a thing on the platform, today I attempted to re-assign my handle to the display name on the channel & found that was not an option (apparently already taken), so I had to assign a new one (one that I use on many other sites when WonderGamer is unable).  For those who are interested in getting my attention on other channels, my handle on YouTube is now @WonderGamer1978.

Note that the custom URL hasn't change, it still remains at wondergamerx.

Unlisted videos being relisted on YouTube

After the blacklisting of WonderGamer.net & this blog from the Bing search engine (as well as all other search engines powered by Bing), it was determined it was time to set a number of the unlisted videos on my YouTube channel back to public (previously being set to unlisted in response to attacks by certain companies).  While the non-gaming videos still remain as unlisted on the channel (even after attacks from said companies), the video game videos have been relisted as public.  It's expected this will result in even more retaliation from those companies that have attacked the channel in the past, however they are likely already aware of articles I have published in the past of their attacks trying to cover up negative publicity of their products (or the companies themselves), I'm certain they will be well-aware that further articles will be published in the future if they continue this same type of anti-consumer censoring.