Notice Regarding Trading Harassment

[rubyshoes]

While it may be rude to not answer somebody, perhaps the PM they are ignoring is rude itself or the PM shows they didn't read trading request rules the user has up or perhaps they just forgot. Let's please not twist the purpose of this topic.

 

No one is required to answer a PM.

 

One gentle poke PM just in case the person simply forgot to reply should be fine. Any unsolicited PMs after that are harassment.

 

~

 

When PM'ing mods with harassment, please forward the PMs if possible. Otherwise, do include details so mods can better look into and address the situation.

To add to this, if possible don't delete the PMs from the other user so that it can be confirmed that the PMs were sent from the user in question.

[dustpuppy]

This is really sad.

It won't stop it from happening but it is good to know what can be done if it does happen. A thank you to the mods!

 

I'm really glad there are other examples too, only yesterday I had such a nice PM from a player asking if they could give away an egg they traded from me, knowing it was theirs to do what they liked but asking anyway to be polite. Things like that give me hope that all isn't going downhill yet.

[Maiden]

What a shame that this is happening! DC is by far one of the friendliest, cleanest forums I've ever visited on the internet, so it must be a very small percentage of users who do this. It's still too bad that our lovely mods had to post such a topic. I'm one to just go ahead and block a user if they get rude or aggressive... not that it's ever happened here.

[XiziX]

I am SO glad this was brought up right here. I knew from the get go that this was going to be a problem when the new shimmers came out. Some of the winners reported people repeatedly "gifting" them eggs. Which is why I encouraged one of the winners to block -anyone- that tried to claim they were owed a Shimmer egg after gifting them many eggs. If it's a gift, it means you don't owe that person anything, let alone a rare prize egg! Some people will do sneaky sneaky things to get their hands on those things. - It's scary.

 

To those harassing: Shame on you!

 

To the people getting harassed: Don't be afraid of asking for help from the mods! They are very kind individuals, and from my experience know they are more than willing to help you! :]

 

I know how harassment can be. I had people assuming I was talking about them in a thread (when I wasn't) and sent rude PMs. I have also had noobs sit here and ask me for Holly eggs and other stuff a few times even after I said no. It is ridiculous. >.<

Edited February 18, 2013 by Lyxii

[WraithZephyr]

I had NO idea stuff like this was happening...

Not often but yes it does happen. All of the breeding requests I have ever gotten were always polite and respectful. But there was one person last year who flat out targeted several people including myself with their demands that I trade high value eggs/hatchlings I had on my scroll for their worthless stuff. I ignored the first 2 such PMs. After the 3rd, I simply blocked them from being able to send me PMs. Then when they realized they could not send PMs, they started sending me messages through the email link, I immediately reported them to their email provider as a spammer. Didn't have any further problems after that LOL.

 

But on the occasions I have been poked repeatedly and rudely, I simply block that user. Only one once followed it up with emails asking why I hadn't bred them the dragons they asked for (I think he even said "told you to" ) Whatever his age, he cannot have failed to grasp that I had said no - and I know that several others blocked him at the same time as I did.

 

I think this was the same person I was dealing with too at that time.

Edited February 18, 2013 by WraithZephyr

[Ninetails]

Yes m'amm.

[PointOfOrigin]

You'd be surprised how many noobs expect to just be GIVEN things that it's taken the rest of us years to get, and for FREE no less.

 

I've run into this problem a few times in trading over the years, but mostly I just ignore the people until they find someone else to bother.

 

 

~Tara

I've never run into it when trading. I did however encounter such individuals when I still participated in gifting threads. In those cases, I would just skip over them and give the egg/hatchling to politer people.

[Mysthunter]

Although, how is this going to be policed? Should we send the PMs to the mods, is it just a trust thing? People going to get warnings?

 

I would like to know what is considered the line, of what can and can not be said...I just don't want myself to get in trouble for crossing the line, that I did not even know was crossed.

 

I hope this is written out in the rules some place.

[WraithZephyr]

Although, how is this going to be policed? Should we send the PMs to the mods, is it just a trust thing? People going to get warnings?

 

I would like to know what is considered the line, of what can and can not be said...I just don't want myself to get in trouble for crossing the line, that I did not even know was crossed.

 

I hope this is written out in the rules some place.

I'm sure if you forward copy's of the harassment to a mod it becomes pretty clear cut if someone crossed the line and deserves a warning or not.

[shikaru]

Although, how is this going to be policed? Should we send the PMs to the mods, is it just a trust thing? People going to get warnings?

 

I would like to know what is considered the line, of what can and can not be said...I just don't want myself to get in trouble for crossing the line, that I did not even know was crossed.

 

I hope this is written out in the rules some place.

It's a little hard to give a line. Wording can be manipulated to skirt a defined 'line' and some people are more offended by things than others. Generally, if you wouldn't like someone to do it to you, don't do it to them. There were some examples provided in the first post, but there's no hard line when it comes to interacting with other people. As long as you're not being intentionally rude or demanding you should be fine.

[_Z_]

Please do send the pm's to mods with a forward of the pm in question. As shikaru posted it is difficult to post a hard line of what members can say. If a pm from any member makes you uncomfortable ask a mod.

Edited February 18, 2013 by _Z_

[Psykotika]

I am SO glad this was brought up right here. I knew from the get go that this was going to be a problem when the new shimmers came out. Some of the winners reported people repeatedly "gifting" them eggs. Which is why I encouraged one of the winners to block -anyone- that tried to claim they were owed a Shimmer egg after gifting them many eggs. If it's a gift, it means you don't owe that person anything, let alone a rare prize egg! Some people will do sneaky sneaky things to get their hands on those things. - It's scary.

 

 

You know it's actually kind of funny, I saw this one person's wishlist in their sig (actually I was wandering the forum searching for just such things for which I could breed-glomp) And I was like I can breed that! and my dargons actually did breed it so I glomped em with it. About a minute after sending it, I was still reading the same thread when I realized that person was posting in that thread because they were a shimmer-winner I was like d'oh! I hope I don't look like I'm trying to suck up x.x haha aah

 

I've surprisingly gotten very little in the way of rude PMs personally, very little in the way of request PMs in general really, considering I have an open invitation for it on my profile

I've run into a few with questionable wording, or ones which seemed borderline rude. I tend to stick to the guidelines I set out in my profile in these cases, and try to be polite in response because I've often found out later that these cases often turn out to be from a non-native-english speakers, and it's not that they're trying to be rude, it's just a limited vocabulary or a misunderstanding of meaning. :3

I am glad this is being posted however, it's just a game and no one should be subjected to abusive or stressful situations over a little pixel game really, and it's good to know what you can do if such situations arise ^^ (but srsly, if anyone's hassling any of you's gaiz, send em ova ta me, I'll straighten em right quick )

[KrazyKarp]

I didn't know people were being little children like this 0-0

Hopefully this'll put a stop to it, thanks Z.

[Starscream]

Just for the record:

 

The no PM noticesI have in my profile, scroll and whatnot is simply for requests/trades (what the topic is about).

 

Feel free to contact me for matters that need my professional help. Does not matter if its here or irc. Just keep in mind that when I am at school or swamped with work, I may not get to your message in a timely manner. You can also drop a note to me using the note service in irc.

[Dragonhatchling]

Thank you Z for putting this notice up. I hope that it'll stop the harassing going on around here and curb any one else who might think of it in the future.

[Husky51]

Good call, ~Z~. I'm just sorry that such a thing is necessary...

[Riverwillows]

If a person offers a trade, and says no pms. But you have a great offer, you pm them saying sorry, but that you can add this or that to it, just the one time, would that be considered harrassment?

[skauble]

This is, of course, secondary to the official trouble one can get into harassing another player, but it's probably worth noting:

 

But on the occasions I have been poked repeatedly and rudely, I simply block that user. Only one once followed it up with emails asking why I hadn't bred them the dragons they asked for (I think he even said "told you to" ) Whatever his age, he cannot have failed to grasp that I had said no - and I know that several others blocked him at the same time as I did.

 

This kind of thing can actually get around really quickly and then, even if people don't report a player who is harassing them, the harasser still suffers in the long run because reputation is meaningful and the trading community has a lot of networking going on that passes things like this from one player to the next.

 

But, karma aside, I'm glad people are being re-encouraged to report this stuff because you know if someone is hassling one player then they're probably doing it to a lot of them, and while some of us have no problem saying no, we do have a lot of younger players in this game and a lot of people who frankly don't want to deal with that kind of thing when they're doing this to give them a fun break from RL for a bit. So even if it's not a big deal for you if someone's being rude, you're probably helping other players out by passing the PM on to a mod.

[jellyscent]

Thanks Z. When did this happen.

[Vhale]

I've only had one person try to guilt me into a trade, but you always remember that one person.

[Walker]

Thanks Z. When did this happen.

Mods do not discuss specific events publically. This merely functions as a general reminder~

Edited February 18, 2013 by Walker

[majors]

Thank you for posting this. Im glad to see the mods care about these kinds of things. My friend has has issues in the past with this and didnt know who to report it to. So that you Z.

[Walker]

Thank you for posting this. Im glad to see the mods care about these kinds of things. My friend has has issues in the past with this and didnt know who to report it to. So that you Z.

Even if you guys don't know where to report, send it to anyone in a colored name. If we're not the right person, we'll make sure it gets to the right person <3 We're all here to help and make sure things get sorted.

[Starscream]

If a person offers a trade, and says no pms. But you have a great offer, you pm them saying sorry, but that you can add this or that to it, just the one time, would that be considered harrassment?

I think if they are offering a trade and you wish to sweeten the deal it may not be seen as a harassment because they've invited offers. But with that said it's up to the individual to determine if it was invited or not.

 

I have done trades where I have had PM involvement and not taken it in a wrong manner.

 

Just as long as the person Pming the trader is not asking the trader to add this that or the other to the deal. either direction.

[majors]

Even if you guys don't know where to report, send it to anyone in a colored name. If we're not the right person, we'll make sure it gets to the right person <3 We're all here to help and make sure things get sorted.

Thank you for that I will inform my friend if she has anymore trouble with (said user) she now knows where to go now Thank You mods for all you do around here!