Abuse at the table

[JustaDummy]

I kib a lot, in order to learn. I like to compare my own playing intentions to those at the table, since I know that they are generally more expert than I. So I watch tables much more often than I play. I'm grateful to BBO that I can do that.

 

But sometimes, actually really quite often, I find that chat comments are abusive to the other players at the table. I'll give you two examples, taken from two logins to BBO just yesterday and today. In the first, the table Queen wanted to remove a player because she was playing more slowly that the host preferred. In the other, the abuser impugned not only the bidder but the whole Nation from which the bidder came.

 

Let's be clear here - I don't spend much time on BBO, but nonetheless both of these situations arose within ten minutes of my logging in. It seems that every time I log in and choose a Main Bridge Room table at random to watch, I see this abuse.

 

Well, this is surely an issue for BBO to address. And they have abuse@bridgebase.com so that we can report this kind of inappropriate activity whenever we see it. But that system is broken.

 

So it seems that anyone at any table can hurl abuse at anyone else at the table and at their nationalities and who knows what else, and nothing will happen.

 

That is totally unacceptable to me. Does anyone else care? Is it just me?

 

Here are the screenshots I took. I hid the identities of those responsible, to protect the guilty. I'm sure that if I hadn't done that, this post would be deleted. That may still happen.

 

And there is no point in my forwarding the second of these images to abues@bridgebase.com. I sent the first, and that is why I know that the system is broken.

 

http://i40.tinypic.com/2rgz6vd.png

 

http://i44.tinypic.com/15nnlf8.png

[Bbradley62]

We can't see how the commentary fits with the play at the table, and we don't know how many prior requests there were for faster play, but I don't see any problem at all with the first.

[wank]

you seem to have blacked out all the abusive parts

[xcurt]

I suggest you edit the post to really render theplayers names unreadable.

 

On the other hand I played a few hands with one of these characters and am not surprised to see this here.

[Codo]

This is no BBO problemm at all, it is a problem of "any" Internet community. As your personality is hidden and nobody can slap your face for your rude behaviour, some people abuse this situation and are abusive.

 

I put all these guys into my enemylist and chosee the "ignore all enemies" option.

 

About the "faster please". I do not share the view of the other posters. I cannot remember one single event where this call was appropiate. IF you are in a hurry, while do you have the right to speed up the play of others?

 

But: do NOT whatch random MBC tables to improve your play. There are many players out there who have no understanding of the game. Watch star players, watch the "Cayne-matches" and you will get better bridge and less abusive behaviour.

[Bbradley62]

About the "faster please". I do not share the view of the other posters. I cannot remember one single event where this call was appropiate. IF you are in a hurry, while do you have the right to speed up the play of others?

We cannot tell from the post how slow the one player was playing. (Her two opponents both complained about the slowness.) If she was taking too long to follow suit, possibly because she was playing on BBO while doing other tasks, then yes, the other players certainly are right to expect the game to progress at a reasonable pace and to complain when it does not.

[nige1]

About the "faster please". I do not share the view of the other posters. I cannot remember one single event where this call was appropiate. IF you are in a hurry, while do you have the right to speed up the play of others?

Admittedly, players whose mantra is "Faster Please" are the slowest on BBO. But Codo may not understand that their tanks are necessary for profound analysis. We are just time-wasting :)

[Codo]

We cannot tell from the post how slow the one player was playing. (Her two opponents both complained about the slowness.) If she was taking too long to follow suit, possibly because she was playing on BBO while doing other tasks, then yes, the other players certainly are right to expect the game to progress at a reasonable pace and to complain when it does not.

 

So, you and me had not been at the table.

What is your take: That the OP claimed that faster please was written because the player was "doing other things"? Or because he thought, that it was wrong to speed up the game?

[mgoetze]

I think you uploaded the wrong screenshots ... the ones you uploaded only contain normal everyday internet communication.

[aguahombre]

We might have discovered why your report to abuse got bounced back. In one post you misspelled the word, and maybe you did that when typing the address line.

[barmar]

We might have discovered why your report to abuse got bounced back. In one post you misspelled the word, and maybe you did that when typing the address line.

Why would anyone have to type the address line when replying? The Reply button fills it in automatically.

[aguahombre]

Why would anyone have to type the address line when replying? The Reply button fills it in automatically.

Let's try this again. OP states he reported something to "Abues@....", and the system is broken. He did not say he was replying to anything. I was suggesting that he look at the address line he used to see if "abuse" or something else might have been spelled wrong.

[barmar]

Let's try this again. OP states he reported something to "Abues@....", and the system is broken. He did not say he was replying to anything. I was suggesting that he look at the address line he used to see if "abuse" or something else might have been spelled wrong.

He said he got the bounce when he replied to our anti-spam verification message, not his original email to abuse.

[aguahombre]

O.K. Perhaps, since I don't see that in the OP, one of us is thinking about the other thread related to this one.

[JustaDummy]

We might have discovered why your report to abuse got bounced back. In one post you misspelled the word, and maybe you did that when typing the address line.

Nope. My email to Abuse (sorry about my earlier typo) was received. It was the anti-spam system which required me to reply to an automated message, sent in response to my email to abuse@, which didn't work. The reply I sent bounced. Twice.

 

And you are right - I did outline that more clearly in the other thread.

[olegru]

As for second example, abuser had some reasons to be really annoyed, his partner bids in board in question were way out of line. Sure it cannot completely excuse him, but …

[JustaDummy]

As for second example, abuser had some reasons to be really annoyed, his partner bids in board in question were way out of line. Sure it cannot completely excuse him, but …

Nothing can excuse that behaviour. And what you and I both know is that when I commented on the abuse after the target of the abuse had logged off (and no wonder), the abuser started accusing me of spying, and asked why I was kibbing.

[JustaDummy]

… do NOT whatch random MBC tables to improve your play. There are many players out there who have no understanding of the game. Watch star players, watch the "Cayne-matches"

What are Cayne matches? Are you referring to matches involving jec?

[olegru]

And what you and I both know is that when I commented on the abuse after the target of the abuse had logged off (and no wonder), the abuser started accusing me of spying, and asked why I was kibbing.

I was under impression that abuser never get informed by abuse team about person who fill out the complaint. But I easy can imagine paranoid player who always suspects something dirty is going on and simply not comfortable with kibitzer on his table.

 

Advice to more kibitz matches with star players was a good one.

 

>> Cayne matches? Are you referring to matches involving jec?

 

Yes, matches involving jec hosted by LLANDE

[barmar]

I was under impression that abuser never get informed by abuse team about person who fill out the complaint.

I think he meant that he commented to the abuser directly in chat.

 

Basically, if you're going to play with or kibitz randoms, you need to have a thick skin. It's been studied for years, and people are much ruder online than they normally are in person.

[nigel_k]

It's a huge amount of work for BBO to verify what happened and go through a process of warnings etc. Even if they eventually ban someone, the person can just log in with another username. So it makes sense that BBO will give priority to cases of serious abuse rather than just general rudeness.

 

I suggest that if you do feel someone is being rude, ask them to apologise. If they don't apologise, quit the table and go somewhere else. If enough people do that, the abusive players will have to change. If not, at least you will be at another table.

[diana_eva]

I think asking them to apologize is kinda childish and wont do any good.

 

Also, OP was kibbing, not playing there.

Edited February 6, 2012 by diana_eva

[aguahombre]

I think asking them to apologize is kinda childish and wont do any good.

 

Also, OP was kibbing, not playing there.

Yes, IMO Kibs should not interact with actual players for any reason at all except discussion on whether they may be seated to play. This includes after play has concluded on a board or a set.

 

Private messages later are different. There is no longer a Kib/player connection. I am conflicted about whether a Kib not assigned by BBO to monitor activities at a table should be encouraged to report alledged abuse. They are not really in a position to know the relationships of the players to each other, the context, or the manner in which the chat is taken by the players. Foul language, rather than seemingly abusive comments, might be another matter.

[barmar]

In particular, while a remark like "ugly turkish bidding" sounds like a racist remark, it could just be a commentary on the prevalent style of bidding in Turkey.

[Bbradley62]

So, you and me had not been at the table.

What is your take: That the OP claimed that faster please was written because the player was "doing other things"? Or because he thought, that it was wrong to speed up the game?

Given that two players at the table complained about the slow play, it is my take that the other player was exceedingly slow. Since OP thinks the table host's comments were abusive (those would be the two that included the word "please"), I put little stock in his evaluation of the situation.