Redeem your 
Dear Ms. Netiquette,
What is with all the ethnic slurs in Pogo?
It seems Pogo violates its own terms of service. I have seen ethnic slurs in screen names? Why is it allowed? Look at your Terms of Service. I am offended when I see the screen names and I do report, yet they are stilled allowed the screen name. It looks like bigotry is alive and well on Pogo. Please do not say it is a term of affection among a group. That is just perpetuating the use of bigotry. If ONE person is offended by the use of such a screen name it should be deemed offensive.
Here is the tos:
Organize, effectuate or participate in any activity, group, guild that is harmful, abusive, hateful, racially, ethnically, religiously or otherwise offensive, obscene, threatening, bullying, vulgar, sexually explicit, defamatory, infringing, invasive of personal privacy or publicity rights, encourages conduct that would violate a law or in a reasonable person’s view, objectionable and/or inappropriate.
Ignorance = stupidity
Shame on Pogo!
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Dear Shame on Pogo, I can see your frustration. I do assure you that Pogo does care, and that when we are made aware of such violations, we do take action. You did not mention the slur you saw in the screen name, which makes it very difficult for me to know whether or not there’s something wrong with our name filtering, or if it’s truly an offensive word. If you could write me back and let me know the name, I will look into it. My guess, again not knowing the specific slur, is that the creator of the account did somehow manage to bypass our filtration system, and now has a name that’s causing issues. This is fairly common, for there are so many variations of letters and numbers that can be put in such a way that it’s impossible for us to catch each and every one. There’s also the issue of where to draw the line – do we create a bigger problem by filtering a very common string of letters than by manually just dealing with the minute number of offensive names that do slip by? Unfortunately, as is with much in life, nothing is simple. If you were to attempt to create a new account right now using some sort of common racial slur, you would not be able to do it. But, if you get creative, no doubt you can come up with something that’s offensive. And if you do, and if you log in and others see you, you’ll likely be reported. And maybe you get away with it for a few weeks – maybe a month or so… and maybe if it’s obscure enough and most people don’t see the violation, you get away for longer. Eventually, however, you’ll get reported and you will lose your account. There is also the issue of what is deemed offensive. There are words that are offensive in some places and not another. Just ask someone from the UK what some of the other terms for a cigarette are! The name you find offensive may not be considered offensive to others simply because they don’t get the meaning. So, I can’t really offer any solution, but I can encourage you to send me an e-mail with the screen name in question, and to continue reporting any screen names that violate the Terms of Service. |
Dear Ms. Netiquette,
I have been a player for quite some time now and have enjoyed meeting people and making friends. I so enjoy most of the games–not all, but most.
I thought this was a great place for families to play games but now I am not too sure. Why is Pogo allowing such pathetic advertisement of girls half dressed, implying all, to be on their website. I think that in this day and age, of that kind of garbage going on, you would think Pogo, if they need someone to advertise on their site, they could pick something else other than advertisement of girls wanting sex. I am appalled at Pogo and think they better find some other worthwhile ads before people get so sick of it, they leave and then Pogo will be no more.
Appalled by Ads
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Dear Appalled by Ads, Like Shame, you didn’t mention the product advertised, so my hands are a bit tied in terms of informing our ad sales team about the offensive ad. There are a couple of reasons why you may be seeing an offensive ad. Most likely, the ad is part of a “package” of ads that Pogo displays. We don’t approve each and every one, but we do have a set of standards that we expect the ads to adhere to. On occasion an ad does slip in that shouldn’t be seen by our audience. In those cases, you can inform our Customer Experience team and let them know the product the ad is promoting, the placement of the ad (did you see it on the homepage? Where on the homepage? Was it in a game?) and they can send that information to our ad sales team who can see that it gets taken down. It can also be that you’ve accidentally downloaded something called “adware” – it’s a program that feeds you ads just about everywhere you happen to go. It essentially is a vehicle for advertisers to make money. You can find out more on Wikipedia. If you have Adware, then it’s going to be a little more difficult to fix. You’ll need to have it removed from your system. There are a lot of programs out there that offer solutions, but of course, some of those programs are actually adware themselves! My advice is to contact your most literate computer friend and have him or her advise you one which solutions is best for you. |
Dear Ms. Netiquette,
I was recently playing a game of Dice City Roller, and there was 1 other player. Every time I would bid on a card, she would overbid me. I can understand if the room is full, but with only 2 players, I think this is rude. I asked her why and she just laughed and said whatever! I think this is ver rude when there are only two people playing. There are plenty of cards to bid on to bid on! I am very upset and feel that this is very rude.
Dice City Raging
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Dear Dice City Raging, Well, you’ve got me in a bit of bind on this one. On one hand, it does seem a bit invasive to bid on *every* card that you bid on, despite whether or not she actually wants the card. Obviously, if it’s something like “Extra Dice” or “Wilds” I can see natural competition, but it’s unlikely that would occur for every Auction. On the other hand, there are the rules of the game, and those do allow her to bid on whichever cards she wants, so she’s not technically breaking any rules, or even necessarily being rude. Until, that is, she laughed and said “whatever!”. In my opinion, she crossed the line there. If she’d said “I’m a very competitive Dice City Roller player” I’d have to give her credit for her honesty and absolve her of any breach of etiquette. However, her behavior was less than polite, and I can understand why you took offense at her response. That said, there’s really not a lot you can do about it. You met an unfriendly person who did not play the way you prefer to play. But she didn’t break any of our Terms of Service, so there’s no point in reporting her. If you should experience a similar situation in the future, I suggest you simply find another room the moment you recognize that she’s a rude player. |
