Redeem your 
Dear Ms. Netiquette,
I just had to write and let you know about the most wonderful experience I had in First Class Solitaire.
A couple of ladies were chatting about Texas weather and the fact that one of them would be visiting the (IMHO) great state of Texas soon. I jumped in to the conversation and told them about one particular Thanksgiving where the weather was warm on one day and freezing and sleeting the next.
For no reason, I thought maybe I had been rude, so I apologized for jumping in and went back to playing. I was working on a personal badge. To my surprise both ladies came back with “No, you weren’t rude!” and “Feel free to join the chat, it’s open.”
We had a nice chat as I continued to work on my badge and a little later we parted company for the night. We told each other HAGN and went our separate ways. I felt that it was a truly nice way to end a day and a challenging evening.
So now I know not ALL people on Pogo are rude and crude.
Thanks for all your advice and comments.
Sincerely yours,
A Happy Camper in Pogo Land.
| Dear Happy Camper,
Thank you so much for sharing your positive experience. It’s important that we regular readers of this column recognize that the letters we read about rude-niks every week really represent a very small portion of players. Most players are quite pleasant, or completely silent. Most of the letters I receive do have to do with some sort of manners infraction, or questions about game and chat etiquette. It can sometimes feel like most players in the Pogo population are churlish roughnecks out to offend others. Not so! As your letter indicates, there are plenty of wonderfully friendly, well-mannered, and flat-out awesome folks in the game rooms who are there to give others encouragement, engage in lively conversations, and really help make Pogo a fun place to spend time and play games. And lots of times, we get what we give. So, in general, the friendlier we are, the friendlier others will be to us. Your letter is much appreciated. |
Dear Nettie,
I enjoy reading your weekly columns and I wonder why there are so many players complaining about the way they are treated in open chat.
For instance, the player getting angry about being yelled at for chatting with her friends in a foreign language. Why don’t people take their private conversations into private chat? Then they won’t be open to argument or criticism. When I meet up with friends in a game room we immediately go to private chat so as not to disturb or include strangers in our personal business.
Maybe these complaining players aren’t aware it even exists. It gets tiresome reading about people complaining about others interrupting their personal conversations. If you don’t like it, then go to private chat!
Sincerely,
Get a Room
| Dear Get a Room,
There are, no doubt, lots of folks who are unaware of the private chat. However, there are also plenty of people who do know about it, but prefer to chat in the open channel. Those who spend a lot of time in the game rooms realize that the chat is usually used by happy chatters just having fun, and together they enjoy the experience. Also, Free players do not have the ability to go into private chat, so if you’re in rooms that are not Club Pogo exclusives, then you will be with lots of free players who can only chat in the open area. And to reiterate some of what I said in response to the first letter: if you read this column regularly, you do see a lot of complaints. That doesn’t mean that EVERYONE is complaining. In this column, you do see a lot about players who behave poorly, but we must keep in mind that these folks are the exception, not the rule. |
Dear Ms. Netiquette,
I was in a game yesterday and there were 3 “Guests” in the room one of them won the game so I said “way to go, Guest” and I was told that they don’t speak back and I was wasting my time because they are Robots and not real people.
Can you please tell me if that is true or not.
Thanks a lot,
Are Guests People?
| Dear Are Guests People?,
Guests are definitely real people. However, when we created the “Guest” system, we did not give the “Guests” the ability to chat. Why not? Because we did not want to give abusers the ability to log on to Pogo completely anonymously and cause problems. Are you wasting your time? Not really. They are humans, and they can read your chat. If anything, you may be encouraging them to register for a real account so that they, too, can partake in the chat. So, while they’ll never be able to give you a “ty” or return a “gg”, they can see the kind sentiments you’ve offered. |
