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Dear Ms. Netiquette,
Several weeks ago I was playing in Solitaire and two men were using hateful and vulgar language towards women. One woman was very upset. All she and I wanted to do was play and enjoy a normal conversation, so I said to her: “Pay no attention, they are just stupid (racially offensive term).” And Bang – I was banned for 5 days from all games.
My husband is a 24-year military, retired – is this what he fought for? Didn’t anyone hear about 9-ll and the Pentagon where we lost a good friend and Ft. Hood? Where we lost many young people?
I mentioned all this when I reported the situation, I guess you don’t care.
Now, I was playing poker, when one man did not like my winning and said the “F” word in its entirety, I returned with “F you” – not spelling it out. What kind of people are you allowing to play these games – and worse yet – letting them loose with no reprimands?
And now I just a letter – telling ME I was wrong! What kind of people are you?
And to think my husband fought for this!
How Dare You!
| Dear How Dare You,Wow. My, oh my. Where to begin? Let’s start with a napkin. To be honest, after reading your letter, the sip of tea I’d just taken nearly exited my mouth in a less-than-polite manner. First of all, to answer your last question, we’re generally the nice kind. Now on to the rest of your letter: While you are in America (the United States, presumably) and you have the freedom of speech to stand on a street corner and say just about anything you want. However, when you log on to Pogo, in order to access the service, you agree to follow the rules set out in the Terms of Service. That is to say, the first amendment does not apply. That’s not even addressing the fact that Pogo is available to anyone who can access it, no matter what country they live in. You’ve heard the old saying “two wrongs don’t make a right”. If someone calls you a name, that is wrong. If you call that person a name back, that too is wrong. Thus, you received your boot fairly. I do understand that for a lot of people that’s hard to grasp when it comes to something as seemingly inconsequential as chat, so think of it like this: You neighbor breaks into your house and steals your favorite teacup. Do you call the police or break into his house and steal something of his? And let’s say you choose option two, is that illegal? Yup. Two wrongs. Neither right. Like everywhere in the world, Pogo has rules. If you break them you may suffer the consequences. In fact, you are quite lucky to even have your account after the first offense. Engaging in hate speech can result in you losing your account entirely. Your assumption that a few ne’er-do-wells represent an entire race is, well, both wrong and impolite. I do hope that this experience will teach you something. |
Ms. Netiquette,
Several times I have been in a room where two people were chatting in a language other than English. An indignant person from the US tells the chatters to “speak English because this is America.” As a person from the US, I find this comment quite rude and inaccurate.
The internet has no physical location. The indignant person has three options: 1) ignore the conversation; 2) turn off the Chat feature; or 3) switch to another room.
Could you please help spread the word (mot, palabra, wort, etc.) that trying to make every Pogoland person across the planet to speak English is not one of the options.
Thank you for your time!
Lover of Language (All of ’em)
| Lover of Language (All of ’em),I think you just did! The only thing I’d really add is that if you don’t like what’s going on in the chat room – be it a conversation you can understand or one you can’t, you are always welcome to engage the mute feature! |
Ms. Netiquette,
You have just proved that even Ms. Nettie can be scammed by someone on the Internet and on Pogo. (RE: Second letter of last week’s column)
I have seen this guy and his sob stories in rooms and I think he even has more than one account because that same spiel came out another time with a more feminine name. And the people in the room knew him and told us via private chat exactly what he was gonna do. I went over to his page to check him out and saw that he had quite a few MnM’s gifted to him, yet he had not been on Pogo long enough to have that many friends. It looked scammy to me right away and when I saw that he wrote to you I was reminded that when someone has to get long winded to tell you what a good person they are, they are usually not.
And in the words of someone Pogo puts out there for advice – We all know what they’re after – ATTENTION! And you gave him just that.
Beggin’ for You to See if it Walks Like a Duck
| Dear Beggin for You to See if it Walks Like a Duck,I received a few letters from players claiming they know who this person is. I don’t know who this person is, and while you may feel like you know who this person is, unless he or she tells you, I recommend you don’t assume you do. Even if there’s a 98% chance it’s the same person, there’s still a 2% chance it’s not, and in the long run, it doesn’t really matter much. I generally take the letters at face value, and I don’t feel that I’ve been “scammed”, even if this is the same person you’re talking about. The letter brought up an interesting situation, and I’m glad I answered it! Drink tea! |
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