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Dear Ms. Netiquette,
I love to play Pogo, and getting lots of tokens makes me feel good– like I have accomplished something. But just when I got on Pogo I saw this spotlight that said “Get 1 Million Tokens.” I was just about to click on it, but then I decided I would look at the news. So I did. And then I saw the Myth Mashers article and it said not to click on those things, but it also said that the bad ones are on different sites. The one that I saw was on the Pogo website!! I am now really worried and I would hate for people to lose their accounts to a scammer! So I was figuring maybe you would know something about this! It was on the Pogo homepage.
I would really like to get 1 million tokens but I am very worried! So please let me know if you know anything about this!
Worried For the Players!
| Dear Worried For the Players, While yours is not technically an etiquette question, it does venture into the matters of manners in that it refers to the uncouth practice of unscrupulous people creating sites that offer free tokens, badges, and what not. The Pogo promotion offering the million free tokens is a legitimate promotion. It’s sponsored by Dove® and while it does require you to register to enter it, you will see that it never asks you for your Pogo.com or Club Pogo password. So how does one tell if a promotion is legitimate? Most of the flimflammers will tell you about their sites through the Club Pogo Message system, or through one of the game chat channels. Pogo never promotes these kinds of offers through those channels. These types of Pogo promotions are almost always presented on the front page of the Pogo or Club Pogo homepages, or in the Community News. Generally, a cursory look at the type of promotion is all you need to do to see if it’s legitimate. Look to see if there is a story about it in the Community News, and if you are ever in doubt you can contact our Customer Support department. They will be able to tell you whether or not the promotion is legitimate. |
Ms. Netiquette,
I read your suggestion to the person who was annoyed with people who speak, as you call it, “Netspeak”, in Pogo rooms. It is called “leetspeak” and sometimes AOLspeak, and I too, find it annoying. In some MMORPG communities, it is banned. Proper English is still preferred, thank goodness.
I don’t find it amusing, nor will I engage in it. Your response to the reader was not only inappropriate, but as someone who is in the “know” about Netiquette, absurd. To suggest that she “try it” sometime, sent me into fits of laughter.
Instead of typing “U”, why not take the time to type “you”. I find it rude that someone will not type a few extra letters so that everyone else can understand what it is they are saying. Leetspeak is frowned upon in most Internet communities. Unless, of course, you are 13 years old and trying to impress your friends by calling everyone “nOOb” and telling them to …well, be quiet but adding in a few unacceptable adjectives.
I would have ignored what you had written had you not suggested that she “try” it sometime. Let’s just throw the English language out the window and everyone, no wait, e1 use l33tspeak.
U no wat I mean Dude? Ur 2 cool. tyvm. urqw. wtg. gg. glng and cu l8tr.
Nonsense.
Sign me,
Sick of L33tspeak
| Dear Sick of L33tspeak, While I certainly understand your frustration, I am in the position where I must consider both sides of every issue. For example, let’s look at typing in all capital letters. Many people find this very annoying and liken it to yelling or screaming. However, for many people with imperfect eyesight, it’s the only way they can really partake in chat. The same is true for “netspeak” or “l33tspeak.” I received many letters from many players on this topic. Most people felt that netspeak is just the way people type on the Internet and that we needn’t worry about it’s effect on the English language. Some explained that they have difficulty typing and the only way that they can communicate is through netspeak. For the vast majority of players it’s merely an efficient way to convey a longer message, but for some it is actually the difference between chatting and not chatting. Read on! |
Ms. Netiquette,
Thank you for your recent response to the person asking how to get folks in the rooms to chat using proper English. While I very definitely sympathize with the writer (Ms. Proper English) MOST of the time, you made a very valid point in saying that it is sometimes used to speed the chat. With few exceptions I do not use Netspeak myself – except in Bowling! The Fast Rooms leave very little time to type out complete sentences so it’s actually quite difficult to chat in proper English – and still play the game. So when it comes to congratulating a player on something (winning the game, getting a turkey, etc.) it’s much MUCH faster to type “wtg” than to type out “way to go.” Typing takes time – which takes time away from the games.
Using such Netspeak terms as “wtg,” “ttyl,” “cul,” etc. is actually a part of the “fun” of Internet AND Pogo chatting. I hope that Ms. Proper English will take your advice and try just a little bit of it to become more acclimated to the “language.” On the same token I do agree that there does sometimes seem to be a bit of “overkill” so maybe others who do use “too much of a good thing” will take Ms. Proper English’s plea to heart and using the fun Netspeak a bit more sparingly.
Thanks!!
Chat Angel
| Dear Chat Angel, Thank you for giving us a real world example of when netspeak is valuable. In a future column, I will be defining many of these acronyms for people who are new to Pogo or new to the Internet and I would love your help! If you come across some netspeak or acronyms you’ve never seen before, please send me an email and I will define it in that column. Or if you happen to know of a few that seem to confound people, I’d love it if you sent them to me. Furthermore, if you’ve created one yourself that you’d like to see used on Pogo, send that along too! |
