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Dear Ms Nettie,
I have been an avid Pogo player for over a year. I have seen time and time again where there seem to be “Hatfield and McCoy” type battles between groups of people. I have also been targeted in these wars.
I have to be honest that at one point I would engage, because I would feel my reputation as a good, honest person was being called into question. However for sometime I have muted or ignored these folks. They are either not on my friends list, or blocked (as some had been friends) and my list is set to only my friends seeing me.
Here is where the issue comes in. My friends and I (who are also targeted) will go to a room where there are either no other players or few others. We end up being followed repeatedly. If not by the “real name” but often from “spoofs” We all either ignore them or if the harassment continues we will leave.
Our issue is that we like specific rooms and feel it is not fair that we have to leave when these people are making death threats, wishes of personal injury, threats to show up at our doors, and to follow us and harass us until we leave Pogo.
We have reported repeatedly and it seems that Pogo doesn’t take the reports seriously (especially in uncensored rooms) I understand cussing and such are acceptable, but stalking, harassment, death threats should be taken seriously.
Please help us to deal with all this drama.
Tired of the Stalking
| Dear Tired of the Stalking,I’m sorry that you’ve had to endure the bad behavior of these less-than-savory types. The chat that these people have engaged in is clearly against the Terms of Service, no matter where you are on the site, and these incidents are taken seriously. However, it may take a bit of time before they’re properly addressed. Please continue to report individuals when they engage in hate speech. Avoiding stalkers, sadly, can be a bit of a chore. While Pogo can (and does) cancel the accounts of our repeat offenders, there is nothing we can do to prevent them from coming back under a different name (and using a Guest Pass for Club). Thus, it’s really up to those who don’t want to be stalked to take some action. So, what can you do to rid yourselves of these stalkers? First off, I’d recommend that all of you in your group of friends take some time to clean up your Friends Lists and remove anyone on there with whom you’re no longer friends. Once you’ve done that, go to your Blocked Players List and check the box next to “Show my current location to players on my Friends List only.” This will prevent people who are not on your Friends List from finding you. Next, it sounds like you may have a set of favorite rooms for whatever games you play. I’d recommend that you find new rooms. Your stalkers may try visiting your old haunts to find you. If they do find you, you can either mute them all or go to a back up room. If you mute them all and continue to play in the room, giving the abusers no attention whatsoever, you are effectively saying to them: “you are not worth my time, and you hold no power over me.” However, unless everyone in your group can stay strong like that, you may just find it easier to go to a back up room. And, finally, I applaud your realizing that engaging the “griefers” does nothing but lead to more grief. |
Dear Ms. Netiquette,
I would like to say something to the people who are upset about people who are complaining about the Badges being too long or too hard, etc…
Just a tip – some of these badges are long and boring or hard and a lot of the complaining is just good natured whining to make it go faster. You know that old saying “misery loves company”? Well, that is true here. We are just having fun and are not out to upset people.
I admit I am one of the for fun whiners and did my share in Ali Baba today. A lot of us had a good time complaining about the 15 tokens we were getting a spin. The joint sympathy really does help ease the pain.
Sincerely,
Whining While Winning (And Enjoying Every Minute!)
| Whining While Winning,Thanks for your words of truth. While some players do find it upsetting to hear people complaining about Challenges, there are many folks who enjoy the banter that goes back and forth in the chat while making progress. Those who don’t like it can either mute the chatters, turn off the chat, or – here it is again – use the /mute * command to mute the entire room and still see their badge progress. And since I said it, I’ll explain it in case anyone doesn’t know about it. You can mute the entire room and still see your Badge progress by typing the following into the chat:
That is a “forward slash”, the word “mute” a ‘space’ and an asterisk. Someone out there is rolling their eyes and saying “Over explain much, Nettie?” and to them I say, “Drink a cup of chamomile tea, please.” ;-) And before I forget – you can unmute all of those folks by typing the following into chat:
So, if you’re having a good time poking fun at the Challenge, please continue to do so. Pogo is about having fun, and if you’re having it (so long as you’re not breaking the Terms of Service), then don’t worry about it. |
Dear Ms. Netiquette,
Numerous times I find myself becoming frustrated with the lack of courtesy by players who go on and on about stuff only of interest to themselves.
I am aware that I have the option of shutting of the chat column, but many times it’s required to be left on to check one’s progress either with earning a Badge or in games where I might wish to know when a particular score has made the daily high score list.
Is there a polite way of asking the chatty parties to go to private chat without sounding like I have a case of sour grapes?
Not Interested in Your Conversation
| Dear Not Interested in Your Conversation,To answer your question most bluntly – no. So long as nobody is being abusive or breaking our Terms of Service, the chat rooms are there for people to chat about whatever floats their boat. So, my darling, it’s up to you to either ignore it, mute the players who are chatting, mute the entire room (as described in the last letter, or turn off Chat entirely by clicking the options menu above the chat area and unchecking “Show Chat”. Now, that may not be the answer you want to hear, but the bottom line is that the chat is there for a purpose, and whether it’s mundane, too personal, or just plain silly, people are welcome to engage in it… so long as it does not violate the Terms of Service. |
Have an etiquette question for Ms. Netiquette? Email msnetiquette@pogo.com
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