Happy Birthday Yahoo

~ Wow!! Has it really been 10 years? How in the world has it survived so long? And who was that yahoo singing yahoo in their commercials? How have us honest game players found the patience to keep coming back? In every face to face life, there is no way we would tolerate the foul language, cheating, disrespect, and immaturity. So why do we accept it on our game sites?
~ Don't get me wrong, I like yahoo. Myself, I am a word game enthusiast, particularly Spelldown and Literati. For a change of pace I do play a few card games such as pinochle, hearts and cribbage. Of board games, the only one I play on a semi-regular basis is backgammon. Most of my time on Yahoo, however, is spent almost exclusively in Spelldown. If you have a good vocabulary and like playing against a clock, you won't find many word games as good.
~ Unfortunately Yahoo, not unlike other game sites, has more than its fair share of scum of the earth cheaters. Perhaps the lowest of low lifes are those who use programs to play the games for them. Thus they post the highest daily and monthly scores. These scores that they put up would take the best Spelldown players 10 hours or more to achieve, but their "bot" accomplishes it in 2 hours or less. What possible satisfaction someone can take in having the best score, a score they couldn't come close to earning honestly, I cannot imagine. If they ever decided to spend that much energy in doing something honest, who knows how far they could go. But of course, these people don't have it within them to try. All their cheating accomplishes is to deny honest players a ranking they earned and deserved. The honest players (good and fair) do it the old fashioned way, they earn it.
~ Then there are the message bots! Quite annoying programmed messages are broadcast directly onto the chat lines of the game rooms. Most of these bear an un-cryptic message: teen porn. The regulars have learned to ignore, no not ignore, but tolerate them. Some of us have complained directly to Yahoo about the bots, both cheats and porn, but it appears the complaints have fallen on deaf ears. Or perhaps, as we have learned to do, they ignore us! I can only guess that maybe the cheats and porn teens are paying Yahoo for the privilege to use programs and to broadcast.
~ Why else would they instruct us to report cheaters, foul language, etc., and then neither take action to address the problem, nor even respond? If for no other reason, there are some young kids who visit the site too. Isn't Yahoo concerned as to what these are being exposed? (Ironically, some of the offenders are kids themselves.) If they were investigated, wouldn't they be accessories after the fact?
~ Well, here's hoping that sometime soon in their next 10 years, Yahoo can turn themselves into a class act with the simple act of finding and forever banning the offenders. With the technology available these days, surely they can detect and lock out programs, whether they are "playing" a game or broadcasting unsolicited advertisements of porn.
~ In spite of all the above, us regulars hang in there. Why, you ask? We like the game and us regulars are friends. Only honest players remain faithful and continue to visit Yahoo and play their games, enjoying the challenge and the fellowship. As for the bots, they are simply acting out programmed commands, while the low lifes who run them might not even be in the same room or even awake.
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~ Happy birthday, Yahoo! May the next 10 years be even better. There is no way in Hell they couldn't be! That is unless you continue to ignore the complaints that you want us to make. If the parents of these cheats and especially of the teen pornies knew what they were up to, why they'd box their their ever-loving ears to say the least! Well, Yahoo you have ready access and far more power. Damn it, use it !!!
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~Curious about this game site? Like word games? Try spelldown. (The pointmeister hangs out in the Concordance room) Look me up! (games.yahoo.com)
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