Considerations

This may be one of the most serious posts I will ever make on this blog. It is a story of right and wrong. I hope that a lot of you will recognise that what I did was right and not some moral crusade for political correctness.

The scenario began yesterday evening. I was bored so entered another 180-seater tournament on Poker Stars. I was having my dinner and thought I would play earlier in the evening so as to spend the rest of the night reading.

I was sat at a table and one of the players' avatars caught my attention. I looked closely and was shocked to see that my initial glimpse was in fact correct.

The image was of a young Asian child sitting in a shallow swiming pool without any clothes on. The child must have been three, maybe four. As the pool was shallow you could see the child's penis.

I had changed my avatar a few days earlier from a picture of Morrissey to Shawn Michaels thinking that the change will bring me better luck at the tables. The thing that annoyed me when seeing the image of this child was the site had told me the image I intended to upload was in a queue awaiting clearing in case it was offensive.

How did the picture of the child pass this kind of scrutiny? I was appalled.

I made a note of the username and continued with the tournament intending to email the support team at Poker Stars as soon as I had the time to write to them and make sense with no distractions.

So - a few hours later - I emailed them and informed the company of the offensive picture. I waited for their response. But I wasn't happy with their reply.

Hello David,Thank you for your email.After some consideration we have concluded that this image, might not necessarily be viewed as inappropriate by other players. Although we will not request a different image at this moment, we will keep an eye on future complaints (if they happen to arrive). Again, bringing this concern to us is truly appreciated. Best of luck to you at our tables! Please let me know in case you need further assistance.

I was irate. I immediately emailed them back asking them how they could deem a picture as insignificant. I told them that if a third party were to see images like this they would agree with me. I even mentioend how the FBI would find graphics like this appearing on people's computer to be a cause for investigation and that I wasn't going to play at a site that turned the other cheek to a serious matter.

I then fired off an email to an online group that would be intereested to hear of Poker Stars lax approach to a serious situation as this would or could have been.

I woke this morning to find a reply from Poker Stars. They had finally seen my way of thinking.

Hello David,After second consideration, we have decided to remove their image and request that the player submit a new one. Their image was inappropriate for use on PokerStars.We appreciate the time you took to write us regarding your concern and wish you the best of luck at the tables.

The emailer was a different person to the one who had contacted me claiming the picture wasn't offensive. I don't know what made them change their minds but what I do know it should never have got to be a 'second consideration' where the image was deemed inappropriate.

I recognise that some readers here may believe I was making a mountain out of a molehill and that the picture may have been innocent. To you - I agree. It may have been innocent but there are a lot of instances out there where children are being mistreated and big companies (especially ones that use the Internet) should be all for stubbing out this kind of filth.

My opinion and big mouth has often got me into trouble. I am proud that on this occasion these beliefs may have helped fight a good cause even if this victory was one battle in a lengthy war that is still being waged.