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Dear Ms Netiquette,
I was playing Jungle Gin – several of us noted that a player who had just joined Pogo was not playing when we sat at his table. We would leave, his rating would go up and ours would go down. He made purple by the end of the afternoon. I noticed this and warned people who were coming into the room.
Soon, there were 2 others who joined that came to his defense. One of them called me a foul name, which I did not report. A bit later, another new screen name entered and asked if I was the one who was called a name, and what name was used. I repeated the name I was called and left shortly after.
Then I received a TOS violation warning due to repeating the horrid phrase I was called.
I’m so frustrated that we can’t do anything about people who cheat the system and now, triply frustrated that I can be in trouble with Pogo due to these game manipulations.
Help! And, thank you. I’m getting skittish about letting anyone join me in a game whom I don’t know.
Jungle Jinxed!
| Dear Jungle Jinxed!, Well, as they say (and they say it often): “that’s how they getcha!”. You were duped into repeating what someone called you so that the ne’er-do-wells could report you and watch you get in trouble. They were clever. The name caller left the room immediately, assuming that you would make a report. Then he or she came back under an assumed name and in the guise of friendliness tricked you into breaking the Terms of Service. Despicable behavior, no doubt! Next time you’ll see the bait and won’t fall for it. For, you see, even if you are merely repeating a bad word that someone else said, that’s still a violation of our Terms of Service and you not only can find yourself suspended, but if you’ve had violations in the past, you might even lose your account! I have requested that your last infraction be overlooked, but that’s really up to our Customer Experience team. Technically, any way you slice it, what you did was a violation. Be thankful you didn’t lose your account, and chalk the whole thing up to a learning experience. As for their method of ranking up in Jungle Gin, all I can say is shame on them. They’re not using any program, or doing anything, really, except holding a table and waiting out new opponents. When the opponents tire of waiting, they leave, and the ne’er-do-well gets the ranking. It is frustrating, but all we can really do when confronted with these types of folks, is be happy we don’t have to walk a mile in their sullied shoes. |
Dear Ms. Nettie,
I frequent Uncensored Chat rooms now and then, and while I know it’s more for adult chat, I see sexual harassment take place in them quite often. I politely tell people that Pogo Terms of Service (the TOS) still applies in those chat rooms regardless of the term “uncensored”, but recently got cussed out with them saying “it’s uncensored chat and we can say anything we want.”
Please set the record straight about Pogo TOS and any chat room.
Signed,
Frustrated BearCub
| Dear Frustrated BearCub, I’d be happy to. You are correct. While some “salty” language is acceptable in Uncensored Rooms, all of the other Terms of Service continue to apply. It’s that simple. Now, at the risk of sounding a bit like your obnoxious tea-drinking Aunt who has too many cats and offers too much advice, I must say you sound like a very nice gentleman. Alas, nice people sometimes make the mistake of thinking that being nice to ne’er-do-wells will elicit a positive response. But, let’s think this through. You walk into a room where some miscreants are harassing another player. Did you really think that they would stop in their tracks and think to themselves: “Well, he certainly has a point! Perhaps, we should change the topic of discourse and discuss flowers and pudding!” Of course you didn’t. But, because you’re a nice person, you did think you were providing a service. Now ask yourself – did these people even deserve your warning? No, not really. Instead, you might have simply reported the abuse as soon as you saw it. This would have proven your point without you even having to have made it! Now, I do encourage you to continue being helpful to those folks to do deserve it. |
Dear Ms. Netiquette,
I was recently reading your column and I was surprised (and saddened) to read the letter from “No Longer a Wife”. While I thought your response was a good one, I really think it would be better served if people were reminded that Pogo is indeed a very public forum and not everyone on here is going to be your personal “real life” friend.
As you can see, I became a member over a decade ago and there isn’t a single person on this site that knows anything remotely personal about me. For some reason, people tend to form fast and furious internet friendships and may find themselves trusting people they shouldn’t. In addition, the amount of real life personal information that some people put on their profiles for everyone to see is amazing (and scary)!
I just thought a gentle reminder to everyone that your personal information is best left for the real world and the information you share with your internet friends should be limited and carefully thought out before divulging anything you don’t want to see in print!
Sign me: The Ghost in the Machine
| Dear Ghost in the Machine, Thank you for your letter. It does serve as a reminder to folks to think twice about what they might post about themselves. People will find it behooves them to employ a little modesty when it comes to what they put in their profiles. Of course, it is true that there are a lot of people who feel that their lives are open books and don’t feel as though they have anything to hide. They’re not going to put their credit card numbers in their profile, but they may be fine with posting personal information about themselves in hopes that others who have some commonalities will contact them and a friendship may form. They are aware of the risks and accept them. For the rest of us, the points you make in your letter are well taken. A little caution now can save a lot of headache later! |
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