Punished for PSA

I have fallen way behind; i wanted to write a post to wrap-up my trip to LA. I wanted to write a post to discuss my trip to Foxwoods. I wanted to write a post (or several posts) about the trip to Vegas. I got ummm distracted. I may still get back to those topics, but something happened last night that I just had post here.

Some of you may know about the Public Service Annoucement. It has become custom to issue a "public service announcement" at the end of the first break of a rebuy tournament. It consists of something like this: "ATTENTION DONKEYS: THE REBUY PERIOD IS OVER. This has been a public service announcement." It is useful in that some people as though they can rebuy. You know, donkeys.

So I did this last night at the DADI. Perhaps the PSA worked; I took 2nd! I got an e-mail from Stars about it:

Hello weak_player,

We have received a complaint regarding some things you said in chatvat our tables. I have reviewed the chat log and did find some of yourcomments to be inappropriate.

Our goal at PokerStars is to be a fun place to play, where everyone can feel comfortable. Foul language and abuse of other players takes away from everyone's enjoyment, and therefore cannot be permitted.

We must ask you to refrain from using this type of language in the future, or we will be forced to remove your chat privileges.

Please note that you may not be the only one receiving a message suchas this. When we receive a chat complaint, we review the entire chatof all players at the table. Any other offenders at the table were also warned or revoked as appropriate to our policies.

Regards,

PokerStars Support Team

---59782771 weak_player ATTENTION DONKEYS: THE REBUY PERIOD IS NOW OVER. Observer 7/26/2006 10:02:32 PM

Uh, WTF?

I respond:

You have got to be kidding me...this is the lightest possible language and it was meant playfully...was someone really offended by that? If so, wouldn't that be their problem? Come on now...seriously.

It is customary to joke about the rebuy period being over because some people keep playing like it isn't. Is "donkey" an offensive word? If so, maybe you should add it to your filter; it gets used a lot at your site, and it is usually is meant personally as in addressing a specific person, as opposed to a humorous greeting meant for a friend that is sitting at that table. This is the way in which I was using it. Especially in a private event that I am a part of. Someone was pulling your leg or it is remotely possible that another practcipant that is new to to these events took offense, but seriously, so what?

In short, I completely fail to see how the example you offered is in any way offensive to anyone, let alone something that you should be warning me about. If there is something about this that I am missing, please explain it to me. Otherwise, I will be forced to assume that you have gone off the deep end.

Since you chose to take this issues seriously, I am too. I would like a response from the management team explaining this. I demand that you either retract this warning and apologize, or at least justify why the language is offensive...it really is not obvious.

Or, I may be taking offense to the things that are said to me that are much more offensive; things that i typically just ignore. I will dutifully report them all, and expect you treat the other customer as you have treated me. It will be a lot of work. Or you can admit that you made an error in judgement, retract the warning and apologize to me. That would be easy. Or you could chose to escalate this further and risk losing all of my business. Have you looked at how much rake I contribute? It is a lot of money to lose over the word "donkey"

Thanks for your quick attention to this matter.

Aaron (weak_player)

They respond:

Hello Aaron,

I am sorry about this warning. It was sent to you in error.Good luck at the tables.

Best Regards,

Ellis

Shift SupervisorPokerStars Support Team

So, appearently, my PSA is still okay. Good to know.