What to Do About a Threatening Message?

I am sorry that you did receive a threatening message, and you are correct in your desire to report this ne’er-do-well, as threatening people is a major Terms of Service violation. And, quite thankfully, one that’s very easy to determine in our messaging system!

If this should ever happen again, you’ll notice in the “From” line that there’s a link to “Report Abuse”. Click that and you’ll be taken to a page where you can fill out an Abuse Report. It will take all of maybe 30 seconds, unless you decide to include any notes about the abuse. Usually it’s quite obvious and no note is needed. Once the report is sent, that player will automatically be added to your “Blocked Senders” list. Please do yourself a favor and keep them there!

Now, if someone is just sending you messages that are annoying, but the messages don’t actually violate the Terms of Service, then you can just click “Block Player” also located next to the “From” line.

However, Pogo is not a person, and there are some frustrated people out there. It’s a lot easier to say outlandishly hostile things about a faceless company than an actual person, so these statements should be taken with that consideration.

That said – comments made on Facebook and in the Pogo Forums are governed by a set of Terms of Service, and if they use language that violates those terms, you certainly could report them.

I’m not going to say that we read every single comment made, as there are so many I’m positive we do miss some, but we do read them regularly, and we see exactly what you are describing.

Do we make changes based on those types of comments? Unlikely. We’re far more likely to listen to a well written complaint that details why a person feels the way they do than a blanket statement about how “Pogo can’t do anything right!”. And we can point to many examples of this – a few years ago players complained about a change we made to the art in First Class Solitaire. Many letters explained precisely why the change was negative (the game was now harder to see), and we sharpened the colors and contrast and update the game.

Of course, whether or not we change something also has a lot to do with other factors, and there are times when we make a change that is unpopular, and for whatever reason, we may leave the change. There are times when it hurts on the “outside”, but longer term, the “inside” is improved. Or, we do something that seems wrong on the surface, but there are good reasons to do so (some technical, some business, etc…)

Ultimately, while it doesn’t exactly feel great to read those comments, we do recognize that we’ve given people these avenues to make their comments and thus, we must accept them, good or bad. Unless, of course, they violate our Terms of Service.

I actually received several letters from players who made similar requests. I can’t really forward e-mails to people, however I can (and did) set up a thread in the Pogo Forums titled Friendly People Unite! as a way for people to connect.

If “Speaking Out for Others Like Myself” is reading this, perhaps she can leave a note of introduction. No need to announce that you’re the letter writer, but you can certainly leave a message.

Now, one word of warning – while the intent of that thread is to unite people who will be kind to one another, the sad truth is that sometimes ne’er-do-wells will use these types of threads to try to gain trust and then use information garnered against others.

So, BE CAREFUL! Friendships evolve over time, and I encourage you only to disclose information you’re comfortable giving out. Pay attention to the little voice inside your head and don’t be too trusting. A kind person will respect your boundaries and will play games with you and have fun without being pushy.

It is sad that I have to give such a warning, but I do. Now, if you are a friendly, kind person who would enjoy helping someone in need of a friendly, kind person, I encourage you to go introduce yourself on that thread.