Read through the comments, agree with most people. Got a few additional comments.
-Really harsh wording in the original post. It IS victim blaming, no matter how many times you staff say is isn't.
-It's been mentioned by people a few times that Mara wasn't hacked, but I don't think anyone said Mara was hacked?
-Staff getting defensive saying it wasn't Mara's fault this all happened, and again, I don't think anyone blamed Mara. But it equally isn't really the players faults either.

Well, this is it. I've been on here since like 2008. I was 9. And now I've realized I've wasted time and money.

No matter whose fault it is and no matter how irritated or frustrated you are, you can't attack the people who literally pay your bills. You run a company. No matter how much you want to call it a second home or a family, we are your customers. You can't talk to customers like that, or as you did in comments.

In absolutely no way can you blame players. You've been around for 10+ years and just now updating security? You're just now making people update passwords?
The issue isn't their passwords. The issue is you haven't made people verify a new email and you haven't updated password security and it's 2018. I get it, you run it by yourself and with your admins. I don't care about the new costumes. I care that it's taken this long for you to notice and pay attention.

What upsets me the most is how cold this post is while you obviously know younger people play. It's careless and gross. Ian & staff, you can be irritated by the work, but we made you. The work you're so overcumbered by was preventable. And we are paying customers. We buy your product and give your site traffic and ad revenue. Don't treat us like we're the issue.

I agree so much. When I read this I couldn't believe my eyes :(
I've only just started playing 2 weeks ago and now I feel like if I ever got hacked/compromised I wouldn't have any help. And it feels like the staff aren't very friendly or helpful sadly. :(

@Bubbathefrog 100% accurate. We get that staff are important, but there wouldn't be a mara AT ALL without these long time users, some who often pay a lot of money for AU. To blame your customers for the problems that you could have prevented it just awful. Especially a staff member who invalidated someones abuse history earlier. This whole post and the comments by staff are rude, defensive and plain nasty to those of us who have spent years of our time and money here.

the language used in this post makes me very uncomfortable :shocked:

@Bubbathefrog @Starlingwood Amen. That snark makes me really question what I’m even doing here. And this definitely isn’t the first time I’ve seen it, but I’m glad it’s getting called out. This is not okay.

With all these negative comments, I think I'm gonna take another long hiatus from this site. I almost want to quit. I'm not denying the wording of the news post was harsh, I just can't take all this negativity.

Lmao yikes, when so many people are telling you the wording and attitude is wrong but instead of apologizing or changing it you double down on it.

lmao so this cancer chest am i right guys

I like the new background looking forward to when the birthday starts

At this point with so many people expressing discomfort with the wording in the news posting, why hasn't it been edited? The snarky staff posts at least hold that individual member accountable for how they're treating other players, but the main post makes Mara as a whole seem like a terrible site.
I have been a member for 10+ years and never had to change my password once. I used the same simple 5 letter word from my previous account for the last 8 years. I should have definitely been prompted prior to this to change it. Even after the Josh hack no one was encouraged to change them, so thank you for making us change them, but this could have been prevented.

TLDR; edit your news post and thanks for helping us secure our accounts. :like: