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Ms. Netiquette,
Today I was happily playing a game and watching the chat (I rarely ever chat) and noticed a player talking about her health. She was complaining about not feeling well and the medications she was taking. Before long, others started chiming in about what they thought she should do. A couple of people recommended she stop taking her medicine (for high blood pressure) and see if she felt better. This is absolutely contrary to what she should do!
I find it scary that people are offering medical advice here on Pogo, and others may be taking that advice. Would you please speak to this issue? I think you need to remind people on Pogo, that they are chatting with unknown people who all have differing opinions and experiences. It is NEVER okay to offer (or take) medical advice in this kind of forum. Advising someone to stop taking their medications could have fatal results.
I did add my two cents to the conversation… I explained to the player that she should continue to take her medicine as prescribed and immediately call her doctor. I did not say anything to the others about offering medical advice, but I did mention the dangers of stopping medicines, adding medicines, changing doses etc. I then was told that “I was on those medicines and they did that to me too, so she should stop taking them” by another player. Rather than get into an argument, I again advised the original player to call her doctor, continue to take her medicines as ordered and I left the room.
Could I (should I) have done something more or differently?
Wanting Pogo to be Healthy (and Safe)
| Dear Wanting Pogo to be Healthy (and Safe), I think you did the player in question a huge favor by reminding her that her doctor is her best source for information. Her doctor knows her. Her chat friends only know what they, themselves, have experienced, and as you point out, while they may have had bad experiences on a certain type of medication, that doesn’t mean that she will, too. Certainly, people will discuss medical conditions on Pogo, and certainly people will have some great information to share with others. We’ve heard stories of how someone’s good advice helped another player with their condition. But when it comes to medication or treatment – it is most polite to leave that to the doctors. While players can certainly share their experiences about what has and has not worked for them, they should never tell another player to stop their medication. They can certainly advise another player to talk to their doctor about side effects or to get a second opinion, but even a full-fledged doctor telling a player to stop taking medication without knowing the player’s medical history is irresponsible. Your handling of the situation was spot on. You did a great job of not accusing others, or causing others to get upset, by simply staying focused on the one player seeking the advice. |
Dear Ms. Netiquette,
I have a few questions regarding account hacking in Pogo. I understand that it is Pogo’s contention that it is near impossible to hack another player’s account unless their password information is somehow compromised… i.e. giving it to other players or using a very weak, guessable password.
However, I would like to play Devil’s advocate and base my questions on the assumption that a player’s account has indeed been hacked.
Hacking has been the topic of many heated discussions in chat and I would like for you to clear the air over a few issues as I believe they pertain to privacy. I understand also that Pogo must abide by certain privacy standards when dealing with abusive players… including those who may have or may plan to hack another’s account.
I have heard it said numerous times that Pogo has given the name of the offending hacker to the victim of said hacking. Although I believe this to NOT be this case because I have read Pogo’s Terms of Service policies and regulations and know that Pogo is under strict obligation to maintain the privacy of a player’s screenname and real name irregardless of the infraction… there are those that believe the contrary.
There have also been those who purport that because they reside in Canada, for example, that Pogo’s privacy policy is different from that in the United States and therefore Pogo is under no obligation to abide by the same practices. I have maintained that Pogo’s policies are not subject to change based on the residential status of each player, but have received much debate on the issue.
Could you PLEASE state for the record right now what exactly Pogo’s actions are relative to this issue when dealing with releasing information to the victims of abusive behavior in ALL countries? I will continue to be steadfast in my conviction that Pogo adheres to the highest level of privacy protection when dealing with every player… even the abusive, hate mongering troublemakers.
Please acknowledge this issue and either refute or affirm my proclamations.
Thank you very much,
Privacy Schmivacy….
| Dear Privacy Schmivacy, While not technically an etiquette question, privacy is always an etiquette issue. We take privacy very seriously. Our Privacy Policy, which you can find at the bottom of any Pogo or EA web page, is global. That means it applies worldwide. To answer your basic question – you may continue to tell others that we adhere to the highest level of privacy protection… even for the troublemakers. We do not give out information on abusers to those that they have abused. That would be a breach of our policy. However, in cases where the abuse is illegal, we may provide information to law enforcement officials. Certainly, there are some who believe that they are entitled to know exactly who has attempted to hack or take their account information, and that’s understandable. However, putting aside the Privacy Policy for a moment, there are a number of other reasons it’s a bad idea to do so. Certain players may decide to take the law into their own hands and parcel out a punishment far greater than the crime. And they may end up doing so to an innocent party. Ne’er-do-wells usually cover their tracks very well, and may use another person’s information as a way to throw would-be sleuths from discovering their true identity. So, it is best to let our Customer Support team deal with these folks. In cases where laws have clearly been broken, players are advised to contact their local authorities and work with them for resolution. |
Hello Ms. Netiquette,
I have two unrelated questions/concerns that I hope you’d take a moment to address.
First, I notice lately that your comments regarding filing abuse reports for minor incidents is that there are better things the support staff could be doing with their time. I have a few questions on your perspective on this matter. Do you find it a different matter if someone says “You are a (swear word)” than if the person simply is frustrated by not winning and says a swear word? To me, addressing it to someone feels bigger? In these cases, do you recommend filing a report or because it is only once, maybe not?
And what about when someone posts those Token and Gems links? Is that a big enough problem?
Even though it doesn’t “offend” me when mild, I usually report when I see any swearing and your columns have gotten me to change that, to wait until someone does it at least a couple times. So, thanks for further guidance on how to handle these.
Second, I was recently playing Battleship. During the first game, I said “Hi” and “Good luck” and a couple other things and the person never responded, making me think that they probably don’t pay attention to chat. About 20 minutes later, we played another game against each other and this person accused me of copying her method of playing.
Well, she was using a very common method, one that I often use myself to some variation (starting on the diagonals) and I let her know that I wasn’t copying, but instead always start on diagonals… and sometimes decide to focus on power-ups right away and sometimes don’t.
She wouldn’t let it go and proceeded to call me a swear word. I muted her and let her know that this was making the game not as fun, as I realized that my continued protests would get me nowhere. I wanted to finish the game, even in silence, but she kept letting the timer run out on her turn (something she didn’t do the first game) and when I didn’t extend the timer, she would sit back down anyway.
Is there any other advice for dealing with situations like this? I was just so shocked to see someone get so involved and rude, even after hearing an explanation! Thanks Nettie!
Looking for Guidance
| Dear Looking for Guidance, To answer your first question – it all comes down to intent. I do encourage players to report abuse when they have been the target of the abuse. If someone says “You are a BLEEPing BLEEP!” then that is an attack on an individual, and should be reported. If someone says “BLEEP! I lost again!”, that is an exclamation of frustration directed at a game, and nobody is being attacked. In those cases, provided the words used aren’t super horrendous or the player is not repeating offensive words over and over again, I suggest players either let it go, or mute the player. I look at it like this: if the person is actively trying to cause others some sort of upset, then report them. This includes those spamming the site, as they’re promoting items that will likely cause upset to anyone fool enough to follow up with them. If the player is essentially minding his or her own business otherwise and blurts out a bad word, or is conversing about something and not attacking someone and lets one slip, mute them or ignore them. On to your second question! This player falsely accused you of copying her, and then would not accept your explanation. Furthermore, she directed a swear word at you. That’s a case where I would encourage you to report her, as her intent was to upset you. Unfortunately, there’s rarely much you can do when someone is being unreasonable or irrational. BATTLESHIP does track your statistics, but doesn’t have ratings. Whether or not you end up reporting her, you really have two choices: stay for the sake of your statistics, or leave for the sake of your sanity. So, depending on the game, if your stats or ratings are incredibly important to you, then you may decide finishing out the game with the less-than-polite player is worth the frustration. If, however, stats or ratings or both mean nothing to you, then you may politely excuse yourself and find another person with whom to play. |
Have an etiquette question for Ms. Netiquette? Email msnetiquette@pogo.com
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