Redeem your 
Dear Ms. Netiquette,
I have been having a problem with messages from players I don’t know. Most of these messages are the stupid ones that state “send this email to everyone you know and you will receive 10,000 tokens.” (So far, I’ve had to work for my tokens) First of all, I haven’t given this person authorization to send me any emails, I realize they “steal” my addy from other players, and secondly, it is very aggravating to go to my message box and see completely idiotic messages that shouldn’t be there.
Even if I don’t know the person, I still have to open the message to block sender. Can you please print this to hopefully divert these players from being insensitive to the privacy of others?
Respectfully,
Blocking the Unknown Senders
| Dear Blocking the Unknown Senders,I receive quite a deal of e-mail regarding players spamming other players with already forwarded messages. Some of these messages, as one writer pointed out, are up to ten years old. When e-mail first hit the planet, people were giddy with excitement and felt that they were making the Internet more fun, or more important, by forwarding on these messages.But it’s now 2006, and it’s high time people look at the use of e-mail or messaging more responsibly.What can you do when you receive a message? Let’s be charitible and assume that the forwarding frenzy is rooted in good spirit. That is to say, let’s give the sender the benefit of the doubt and assume his intent is good. You have four options:
1. You can simply delete the forwarded message I suggest that the first thing you do is attempt to educate the sender. It’s possible that the sender isn’t aware that the activity of spamming is considered rude. You might simply say:
After that, if this person continues to send you forwarded messages, then you can add them to your blocked senders list, or report them for abuse. Of course, you could also guide them to this article by telling them “Read what Ms. Netiquette has to say about spamming in the Community News!” |
Hello There Ms. Netiquette,
I have been doing some reading in the archives for “Letters to the Editor” and your column. There was one letter that stuck out to me. It was the one where someone asked you if it was rude for younger people to be going and chatting and playing in a 50’s + rooms. Well I wanted to mention something that I did not see anyone else mention. I myself am 25 and I do go into the other rooms that are marked 30, 40 , 50+ because I do have friends that play in those particular rooms but also I am in some leagues, and some of the leagues are in the 30, 40 50 + rooms that is where the tournaments are held and such. And I have noticed that some folks don’t pay attention to the age or dont care (I dont know).
Sincerely,
Pogo Member Who is Not Age Biased
| Dear Pogo Member,You bring up a very good point, and I thank you for writing. One of the most wonderful things about the online world is that you get to meet people you might not ordinarily meet. You may end up becoming good friends with someone who is 20 years older or younger than you. You may meet people who have a completely different perspective on life than you do and you may learn to look at things with a more open mind than before.We have set up the tab system in many of our games to guide people to rooms where people in their same age range will most likely be playing, but we don’t require that this is followed in any way. If you are in an age related room, you can expect that on occasion you will meet people who are not of that same age range. Hopefully everyone will get along, but if not, that’s why we have that beautiful mute button! |
Ms. Netiquette,
Does “lol” stand for lots of laughs or lots of luck. It is used frequently during the games and I don’t know if they are being nice or nasty.
Thanks
Foxy P
| Dear Foxy P,Welcome to Pogo and the language of the Internet! “LOL” generally stands for “Laugh Out Loud.” At least on Pogo. In a cooking forum it might stand for “Lettuce Over Liver” or “Left Over Lasagne.” The possibilities are endless!Anyone who’s ever been confronted with an acronym they don’t quite understand might find a search engine quite useful in figuring it out. A simple search for “What Is LOL” will give you a number of sites you can visit that define that and many other Internet acronyms! |
