Ms. Nettiquette

[notmypogoname]

LOL... yesterday I was cussing out the tinheads and DH thought I was talking to him.  :P  That one took a little smoothing over.

[Helen]

LOL... yesterday I was cussing out the tinheads and DH thought I was talking to him.  :P  That one took a little smoothing over.

LOL, I bet it did!!  :))   :))

[nightperson]

sometime i think i here dead ppl  :))

[hades]

you must of had fun doing that  :-X

[Helen]

sometime i think i here dead ppl  :))

What do they say??? lol

[Jonathan]

ive said a few things to the bots as well lol

[SaintHiρρo]

I swear I was only kidding about not saying "hi" in your native language...

Dear Ms. Netiquette,

There is a problem in the game rooms that REALLY upsets me. It has happened to me several times and I would like to share it with you and get your opinion. Sometimes I run into a player who has an obviously German screenname, and me being German (living in the USA for many years) I will ask that person if he/she is from Germany and if so, we will start talking in German.

Recently there were four German ladies with me in the room, and all of a sudden someone piped up and said how rude we were by chatting in a foreign language, and that if we wanted to talk in our language we should go to "private chat." This player went on to say that the only reason we were talking in German, was so that they couldn't understand what we were saying! This is NEVER the case!

It got really nasty, and more and more people started in on us and sided with the person who first called us "rude." I told all of them that I was under the impression that Pogo is an "international" site and the Germans (or people from any other country) are free to type in whichever language they choose, just like the Americans. The more I thought about this, the more upset I became. I get excited "running" into people from my country! I got so upset I clicked out of the room and promised never to go to the same room again!

What are the rules on people talking other languages than English? And what should I do if this happens again?

German Girl



Dear German Girl,

There are absolutely no rules or any Terms of Service dictating what languages people can use to chat. As long as you're not violating our Terms of Service in whatever language it is you're using, you are free to chat away.

So how do you best deal with someone who interrupts your conversation to tell you that you are rude simply because he or she doesn't understand what you're saying?

First of all, you must accept the fact that the vast majority of players on Pogo are English speaking. Unfortunately, not all of them read this column, and the reality is that you will no doubt find it a common occurance to be accused of rudeness should you type in your native language. I'm certainly not suggestion you should stop-- I'm merely being frank. You must be prepared for this behavior and deal with it rationally.

So, I will give you the same advice I would give someone who is upset by someone typing in a foreign language. Utilize the mute button. The moment someone says something to the effect of "you're being rude by not typing in English" is the moment you should use the mouse to right click on that person's name, mute them, and forget them.

[lostinpogoland]

at least she didn't say to learn to type in german ;::

[Bree]

Especially in a "partner" game. You can cuss out the bot without getting in trouble.  :))

Helen that is why I like private rooms so I can fuss with the bots and not get into trouble either.  I slam the tinheads all the time and I have fun doing it.   :))

[stewieG]

too funny bree