Don't you think it's kinda lame and arrogant to have Private Chat set to 'Friends'?

[tedbundty]

PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE FIRST POST (especially the bottom part) BEFORE REPLYING AND IF SOMEONE HAS ALREADY SAID BASICALLY WHAT YOU WANT TO SAY, DON'T REPEAT IT (like "I do it cuz I get spammed by unwanted PMS")

 

I always leave my Private chat set to 'On'. I always felt that by turning Private Chat to 'Friends only' people are basically saying that:

 

(1.) They're too good/busy to talk with people who aren't on their friends list.

 

(2.) They're unwilling to help anybody who might be PMing them for help with something.

 

(3.) They are at a higher level above those who have their Private Chat set to 'On'.

 

EDIT: I thought of one other reason not to have it set to 'Friends':

 

(4.) Say you delete a dear old friend from your friend's list because he hasn't been on for a long time (or for whatever reason) and then A week or so later he starts playing again. If you have Private Chat set to 'on' then can PM you, you can re-add him and your friendships will be restored. If you have it set to 'Friends', though, he won't be able to PM you and might even think that you don't play anymore - your friendship won't and never will be restored.

 

So, my questions to you are:

 

- What do you have you're private chat set to and why?

 

- When (if ever) you have Private Chat set to 'on' about how often do you get spammed by other players? (e.g. once a day, twice a day once a week, etc...)

 

- In what ways do you agree/disagree with what I'm saying. Explain.

 

In light of responses I've been getting, I'd like to make a few comments

 

>> If you honestly get unwanted PMs all the time when you have Private Chat set to 'on' then I see no problem with keeping it on 'friends' except that you may run into the #4 problem (read above). I doubt, though, that the average person gets many unwanted PMs. I think Morionic says it well:

I think since it's so easy to just set it to friends, people do it and never turn back.

 

The number of pm's you receive from random strangers, at least for me, is pretty negligible.

and it's so easy to just not respond to them. I don't see the point of keeping it on friends.

 

what if an old RS friend i deleted by accident needs to msg me?

 

try turning ur private chat to on sometime and see how many unwanted im's you actually get.

>> Some people are saying that, while leaving private chat to 'friends' they leave public chat 'on' to help other people. To me, this makes less sense than keeping private chat 'on' and public chat to 'friends'. It is in public chat where the most spam is - especially at places like the GE. If someone in public chat does have a question or wants to talk to me (which barely ever happens), they can simply PM me and so I avoid all the other public chat spam.

 

>> If there are particular times when you need to concentrate or particular places where you get lots of unwanted PMs (like, as mentioned, being asked to borrow stuff by noobs at GE) then turn it 'off' or to 'friends' and then turn it back when you're out of that situation. These are not good enough reasons to always keep it to 'friends' or 'off' though.

 

>> Sure you have the "right" by Jagex to keep private chat to 'friends' or 'off' just as you have the "right" to talk to only your own friends or nobody in real life. That still doesn't mean that's it not lame or arrogant to speak to people not on your friends list or, in real life, to not speak to people who aren't your friends.

 

>> I really do not think giving out your phone number to random people is comparable to leaving private chat to 'on' for two main reaons:

 

1) There is no actual threat in leaving P Chat set to 'on' but there is one in giving people your phone number.

 

2) By turning Private Chat to 'on' you're not giving something out, you're merely not blocking other people who might by chance PM you. A better analogy would be this: to set your phone so that only people already in your contacts can call/text you is like setting private chat to 'friends' - which I'm sure would cause some inconveniences. To set your phone so that everyone can call, regardless of whether their phone number is in your contacts, is like setting private chat to 'on' - yes people whom you don't know could call you for no reason and curse at you but this hardly ever happens and most of the time it will be people calling for a legitimate reason (maybe they changed their phone number or it was just A friend who had your phone number but you didn't have theirs for some reason).

[Alg]

I'd agree in some cases, but not your three points. I always hear from higher level players that they keep getting PMs from lower level players that add them for status reasons.

 

(1.) They're too good/busy to talk with people who aren't on their friends list.

Or they don't want to be messaged by people that they don't know. I do this with Xbox Live: I filter the chat to friends because I don't want to hear some random 12 year old swear at me, I just want to play the game.

 

(2.) They're unwilling to help anybody who might be PMing them for help with something.

Or, again, it's a byproduct of the first reason, and that the filter is all or nothing; you can't filter it to just friends and players asking for help.

 

(3.) They are at a higher level above those who have their Private Chat set to 'On'.

I'm not sure where this came from.

 

I had private set to on up until a few months ago. I changed it because a) it was hard to keep track of who I had added because they were friends and who I had added because they asked me questions that either I couldn't answer or were in the guide, or B) because most of the names I had added were people who I honestly didn't know.

[Slayer_Jesse]

i usualy have it set to on, but if i get too many annoying/random pm's ill shut it to freinds. also, you sound like you have arrogance issures yourself.

[Borei]

Personally, I don't find I agree with the points in the first post, either. If we were talking about Public Chat that would be one thing, but the way I see it Private Chat is private for a reason.

 

Think about it, how much sense does it really make to try to get help by sending a private message to a random person that might not even be able to provide it? What are you going to do if he/she can't help you, send private messages to another 20 random people one at a time until you find someone that can?

 

I can certainly see leaving Private set to "On" if you're in such position that you might need to stay available for questions from people you don't know (i.e.: a clan leader making him/herself available for questions about his/her clan). Aside from that, I don't see any real problem with someone setting his/her Private Chat to "Friends Only" if that's what they choose.

[qeltar]

I don't give out my phone number to random strangers, or pick up phone calls from people I don't know -- unless I feel like it. Why should this be any different?

[BloodAngel]

I have my private chat set to "Friends" for 90% of the time and it's not for any of your three reasons listed, it's because I see private chat as a means of chatting with people I know. The only time I really have it set to "On" is during TET Events and "Off" if I'm boss hunting.

If someone wants my help they are more likely to ask me in passing in public chat rather than in private unless they plucked my name randomly off the highscores list.

 

I don't really see why you think people who have their setting to "Friends" are arrogant just because they want a bit of privacy.

[Bladewing]

I can't have a little peace and quiet without being arrogant?

[Tempest_Mike]

Mine's on "on" just because I like them all green. :roll:

[quelmotz]

It's arrogant to not give your phone number out to a stranger?

 

Setting your private chat to "on" is parallel to walking around with your phone number/address printed all over your clothes in real life. Anyone who wants to call you to irritate you will do so.

 

(1.) They're too good/busy to talk with people who aren't on their friends list. I'm too GOOD for you! I didn't give you my phone number! Seriously, if you're busy concentrating on grinding or doing something that they don't want to chat at the same time as they're doing it, then how is it "arrogant" of you to set your private chat to "friends"?

 

(2.) They're unwilling to help anybody who might be PMing them for help with something. They might be in a bad mood or something. Are you expecting everyone to be benevolent saints, always ready to help anyone in need?

 

(3.) They are at a higher level above those who have their Private Chat set to 'On'. How so?

[Darkblade424]

Mine is always set to off, no matter where I am or what I'm doing.

 

Why? Simple, I don't want to speak to anyone else. Unless you're in my clan or the clan I'm fighting, there's no need for me to talk to you, and all conversation can occur in either an IRC channel, Clan Chat, or in-game message box. Even if I'm not at a clan event (rarely, it's all I do in RuneScape), I'll still leave it off for the simple reason above. It has nothing to do with me being "lame" or "arrogant", I just don't care and don't have the time to talk to people. If I'm on doing something, then I'm doing it in a specific period of time, and don't want to answer random questions that can be answered with a 30 second Google or Knowledge Base search, nor do I want to be "friends" with someone I've never met, never will meet, and will never speak to more then 30 seconds a week. ;)

[tedbundty]

 

(3.) They are at a higher level above those who have their Private Chat set to 'On'.

I'm not sure where this came from.

 

 

I mean that it's almost a matter of stature for some people whether or not they have Private Chat set to 'On' or 'Friends'.

 

i usualy have it set to on, but if i get too many annoying/random pm's ill shut it to freinds. also, you sound like you have arrogance issures yourself.

 

Sure, I have a pride in treating everyone how I would treat them in real life. But is that a bad thing? I don't think so.

 

- I'll reply to more posts soon but I g2g now.

[unkn0wnwarrior]

My private chat was always set to friends a while back when I played a lot. But it was because I kept getting people messaging me for free stuff or asking me repeatedly for help even if I already told them I couldn't. More recently I have it back on because I took some time off and nobody really bugs me anymore.

[tedbundty]

My private chat was always set to friends a while back when I played a lot. But it was because I kept getting people messaging me for free stuff or asking me repeatedly for help even if I already told them I couldn't. More recently I have it back on because I took some time off and nobody really bugs me anymore.

 

Yea, I don't really have much of a problem with people doing it because they really get spammed alot - as I mentioned in my first post. I was at one point getting spammed alot by people asking me how to merch so I was thinking of turning on private chat to 'friends' but instead (because I thought it was kinda lame) I just wrote a merching guide they could read instead of always asking me and so I haven't been bothered nearly as much since.

[sees_all1]

My private is usually set to "Off" or "Friends".

I expect that 90% of the RS community is like this.

 

I don't consider myself superior to other players because of my stats, lets face it, they're not. I've had too many PMs asking for my account details to be bothered.

 

Don't you think it's kinda lame to have people you don't know spamming you?

[Kalafai]

This must be why people keep telling me to friend them.

 

But I eventually had to turn mine to friends.

 

People were all "Katrithunder, Y U so awesome?" and "Katri, how can I be more like you?" and lets not mention "GF? plx"

 

But eventually I had to just start a new account, and only play with people who were already nearly as awesome as me.

 

Also, helped when quests ran low enough that I wasn't completing one every single day, thus bringing my awesomeness to a simmer.

 

But the thing was, all these people were right next to me anyways, and this was back when before the GE you could leave your public chat to On or Hide while you did stuff, because the GE wasn't there to crash you if you didn''t have it Off, so you could talk at people with all the run on sentences you could please, without them having to squint because they are colourblind to red.

 

Then, of course, you have people that are the best at something. Imagine you are Zezima or some other front page player, literally being followed and gawked at by a gaggle of people. Would you want to offer them information about what world you are on, and when you are on, much less receive "omg, you are my hero, free stuff plx!" spam?

[jsboutin2]

I turned it to off just when I'm not in the mood to talk.

 

I had it to friends for quite some time because someone was spamming me, then I added him to my ignore list and I wouldn't bother changing the setting back.

 

Now I think it's on...or maybe friends if I played FoG recently.

[tripsis]

I can't have a little peace and quiet without being arrogant?

Exactly. My PM is almost always on friends. I get a lot of PMs from people I don't know and sometimes I just want to play the game - not chat (so sometimes my PM is completely off). Whenever I'm on RuneScape, I'm always runecrafting. Runecrafting is a skill that demands your attention and I'm constantly running somewhere and thus having to click. Talking to people greatly slows down my progress and call me anti-social, but sometimes I just want to play the game and play it efficiently. I see absolutely nothing rude about wanting a little privacy.

[stonewall337]

Ye, I don't want to talk to everybody. Same as in real life. I don't want to talk to everybody.

[Obtaurian]

It's kind of a true stereotype that high level players get PM'd by random low levels. I know I do. I keep my private on most of the time, but I do turn it off if I start getting random private messages. I've had people from TIF PM me just to insult me for whatever reason, so I tend to use my ignore list more than my private chat options.

[tedbundty]

I can't have a little peace and quiet without being arrogant?

Exactly. My PM is almost always on friends. I get a lot of PMs from people I don't know and sometimes I just want to play the game - not chat (so sometimes my PM is completely off). Whenever I'm on RuneScape, I'm always runecrafting. Runecrafting is a skill that demands your attention and I'm constantly running somewhere and thus having to click. Talking to people greatly slows down my progress and call me anti-social, but sometimes I just want to play the game and play it efficiently. I see absolutely nothing rude about wanting a little privacy.

 

 

As I said, I don't have much of a problem with people doing it just to avoid spam but average player does not get constantly spammed. And, of course, there are times when it's appropriate to turn Private Chat off because you're doing something that requires complete concentration.

[Kiriyama]

No, I do not think it is lame and arrogant to have Private Chat set to Friends..

 

I do this myself because I like actually knowing who is PMing me, if I've had a decent conversation with someone, and they ask to add me, I've got no problems with that.

 

However, tell me why I should have to deal with someone who has randomly added me that I've never spoken to. Plus..I like to argue a lot, and the people I do it with often get annoyed, wouldn't put it past people to do it just to insult me/whatever.

[tripsis]

Either way.. people have a right to privacy. There is absolutely nothing wrong with not wanting to speak with strangers. There's nothing lame or arrogant about it.

[Alg]

 

(3.) They are at a higher level above those who have their Private Chat set to 'On'.

I'm not sure where this came from.

 

 

I mean that it's almost a matter of stature for some people whether or not they have Private Chat set to 'On' or 'Friends'.

And I was saying I've never heard of this happening until now. Closest I've seen is players with something that makes them high status filtering their chat, but in that case it's they're filtering it as a result of preexisting status.

 

Usually filtered chats are so that they can focus completely on what they're doing without people they don't know interrupting.

[Libozal]

I always have mine set to "On" because I love helping people out. I normally get spammed by random people who I used to be friends with, yet drive me insane with their lack of intelligence daily. But it's whatever. My Private is "on" and my Ignore list is empty. (:

[Sir_Squab]

I usually keep mine "On" but I don't give a rats [wagon] what someone else has theirs set to. I really don't. If they want it on friends, perhaps to not get bugged by some random noob, fine. Maybe they don't want to be a green dot to something they don't have added o.O

 

As for not helping a newb out, well... Some people would rather play their own game then help someone else out. I don't see anything wrong with that.