Board Thread:Support Requests - Getting Technical/@comment-217.128.44.247-20200919181420/@comment-37.164.189.32-20200919210833

Andrewds1021 wrote: If you do not have a valid email attached to your account, you will need to and ask if there is an alternate means to reset your password. This is why it is important to confirm your email address and keep it updated. If the email address attached to your account is confirmed and valid, then you should have received an email regarding the password change as well as instructions on how to reset your password. If you don't see such an email, you can try using the "forgot password" option on the login screen. Make sure to check your spam folder as sometimes emails from Fandom can end up there.

In your particular case, Special:ChangePassword won't help because you need to be logged into your account to use it. Also, the reason why the passwords were reset was because those accounts were compromised. Some hacker gained unauthorized access to Fandom's servers and stole the passwords for those accounts. As such, Fandom has 3 options: Fandom decided to go with #3. If you have a better solution, I am sure Fandom would be very interested in hearing it. Alright, I understand the password reset better with your comment. However, I don't understand why my email wasn't confirmed. I reconfirmed in July (2020), as I had to change my old adress due to another breach. (I'm still keeping both, because I have one particular account I'm waiting to get back, but I only register my second now.)
 * 1) Allow the hacker to retain access to the accounts. In this case, they would have probably changed the passwords to lock out the legitimate users.
 * 2) Disable the accounts. In this case, both the hacker and the legitimate user are locked out of the account forever.
 * 3) Change the passwords and notify the impacted users. In this case, users who have a valid email attached to their accounts have the opportunity to recover the account and the hacker is locked out.

Thank you for the link to contact staff, I apologise for my snarky comment about the password reset. Gonna try to get this account back...