Post by Rho The Badge Slayer on Aug 31, 2010 15:00:22 GMT -5
Much of this you probably know already, but you may know someone who is new to Pogo or the Internet, and sending them a link to this column may keep them from making a terrible mistake!
- Make sure you have a secure password! Choosing the right password is a little like putting a door on your house. If it's hard to break into, chances are nobody will. Choose a password that mixes capital letters, lower case letters and numbers.
- Invest in anti virus software! It's not fun to spend the extra money on something you may or may not need, but it's even less fun to have to deal with a computer virus. Ask anyone who's had a particular nasty strain! Different viruses do different things-- like erase programs, files, cause your computer to do bizarre things, or cause your web browser take you to all sorts of strange places.
You can do a search for "Best Anti Virus Programs" in your favorite search engine, and learn about the different types. If this is all new to you, I'd recommend talking to your trusted friends and going with one of the more popular brands. - Be careful where you browse! There are sites out there looking to take advantage of people. Be especially wary of sites that offer "free" things of value-- even simple things like music downloads! I, myself, once downloaded a horribly annoying virus by clicking on a link to listen to a favorite song off of a weird web site. The virus proceeded to take over my browser and blocked me from accessing my favorite sites! If it sounds too good to be true, it likely is!
- Don't fall for a con job! Con artists are all over the Internet, and occasionally, you may even find one on Pogo. They'll tempt you with visions of free or highly discounted things-- like gems or tokens-- and once you've gone to their site and entered your screen name and password, they'll steal your account, move all the tokens from your account to their account, spend all your gems, possibly reset all your stats, and then abandon the account all before you even know it's happened. Instead of checking out their site, report them for abuse.
- Never type any confidential information into a chat room. Some folks may attempt to befriend you in chat, only to try to trick you out of your information. For example, a few years ago someone was going into chat rooms and taking people into private messages to say "Did you know if you type your password in chat, Pogo blocks it for everyone but you" And after the Pogo player said "Really" this person proceeded to type "Watch, I'll type my password. I'll see it on my end, but all you'l see is characters. @#%$@$@". Of course, the Pogo player typed his password, and the ne'er-do-well was able to log on to his account, change his password and e-mail address and cause all sorts of problems.
- Don't share your account with people you don't really know. I know there are couples and family members who share a single Club Pogo account, and that's fine-- you know where they live!
But there are way too many people who share their account information with total strangers just so that they can "get the badge" or make rank, or beat another player in a table game. While at first everything might be fine, too often accounts are compromised, and that leads to heartache and a lot of back and forth with our Customer Support department.
And besides-- you really should be earning those badges yourself. It's a lot more impressive to have earned fewer badges all by yourself than to have every badge ever released, earned by many. - Don't believe everything you read or receive! There are a lot of scams done via e-mail. Some of them sound enticing-- "loan me $1,000 and I'll pay you back with $2,000!", but if you think they sound reasonable, or like there's no way that you can be ripped off-- think again. You don't think like a criminal, so it's likely you're not seeing the scam. If you receive an e-mail from someone you don't know asking for help, delete the e-mail.
- Don't get taken by sad stories. There are some folks who will lay on a sad story so thick that you'll feel like a true heel by turning them away. While it is possible that these people are in a bad situation, it's far more likely that they're just trying to get you to give them some money. There are plenty of online resources for people who are truly in need, and you can remind them of this after you tell them "no".
- Be careful when you answer personal questions. As we get to know people, we tend to open up to them and share more information. In most cases, this leads to friendships. In some cases, however, we're dealing with someone who may not be on the up and up. If someone ever asks you a question and your first reaction is to wonder "why on earth would this person need to know this" don't answer. In fact, never answer a question if it makes you uncomfortable.
Furthermore, if asked a personal questions in open chat, don't answer it. Never reveal the names of your children, your street address, or any other information that you would not want everyone in the world to know. Some players give their family members aliases online so that they can say "Man that Charlie is driving me nuts with his constant screaming!" while little Percival continues to scream in anonymity. - You own your online experience-- learn to control it! The Internet is vast, and many people use it in many different ways. It can be fun, relaxing, informative and a great way to keep in touch with people. Unfortunately, some people find themselves in situations that cause them discomfort-- usually caused by social situations that have escalated over a period of time. People end up in a sort of drama with other people they've never even met face to face! If you find that it's causing you more grief than pleasure, then take control of your experience.
Use the tools you have available to you. For instance, on Pogo, the mute and block player features will probably be better friends to you than those you choose to mute and block. You can also turn off chat, or if you're a Club Pogo member, you may decide to have all your conversations in Private Chat with only those people you consider friends.