Note About Chat; Browsing While Driving

[Chelsea]

Within FlashChat, our site's chat software, all messages sent in Chat are logged for 24 hours, and available to administrators of the site as well as Associate Producers.  All messages, including messages sent via the chat software's "private message" function.  As such, although a very wide latitude has traditionally been given private messages that contain content in violation of site rules, conduct and behavior and messages that involve legal liabilities for the sender are and have been strictly prohibited, and users are still held accountable as such. 

Also, just to be direct: This site, it's games, the show: yeah, it's a great community, and if you're a devoted Price is Right fan, the CSS, FPG, etc can be great tests of knowledge and fun.  They aren't worth getting in a car accident for because those CSS bids just had to be submitted or the recap/play by play was just too can't miss.

Seriously, I love you guys, but don't be on the site if you're driving a vehicle. I've lost a loved one due to distracted driving, and I wouldn't wish that sense of loss on anyone, nor would I wish the guilt and shame for causing an injury or death if you wreck because you're too busy trying to send a PM to Wayoshi.

[WhammyPower788]

It's just a game.

If you've got something happening on (x day), it's okay. Life happens.  If you think trying to put in your CSS bids is more important than, say, school, you have much bigger problems.

[Torgo]

Is this because I told whammy007 that I didn't send PA picks because I was driving? I meant that I didn't respond for nearly five hours after the PM because I got it while driving.

[Wayoshi]

Not at all Torgo... I'll make it clear: rrf played CSS on Thursday while doing this and has been punished accordingly.

[mechamind]

Drinking and driving.
Texting and driving.
...now bidding and driving.

But how the heck does the staff find out that one's on the road while driving? What if a user is taking transit or in the passenger's seat of someone else's car?

[Wayoshi]

Rrf boasted to another user in chat PM that he won CSS while driving. In transit or passenger seat is perfectly fine, but this was breaking the law.

Consider this incident a warning that serious transgressions revealed somehow in chat PMs are not immune to punishment.

[therealcu2010]

Not only is it an action that is illegal in many jurisdictions, punishable by fines in most cases (in my home state of New York, for example, texting while driving is a fine upwards of $200 and five demerit points for the first offense), it is also incredibly dangerous and, frankly, stupid. 

You do not need to play every CSS game. If you have somewhere you need to be, you can miss CSS for one day. It's not going anywhere. I realize it's a fun game, but there are things in life far more important than it. If you send a couple of bids while driving, and get into an accident while doing so, killing somebody, well, you won't be playing CSS for a good long while anyways, because you'll be in jail. Is one game worth it?

[Roadgeek Adam]

Not only is it an action that is illegal in many jurisdictions, punishable by fines in most cases (in my home state of New York, for example, texting while driving is a fine upwards of $200 and five demerit points for the first offense), it is also incredibly dangerous and, frankly, stupid. 

You do not need to play every CSS game. If you have somewhere you need to be, you can miss CSS for one day. It's not going anywhere. I realize it's a fun game, but there are things in life far more important than it. If you send a couple of bids while driving, and get into an accident while doing so, killing somebody, well, you won't be playing CSS for a good long while anyways, because you'll be in jail. Is one game worth it?

Speaking as someone who also lives in IL at the moment, it is completely illegal to use a non-bluetooth device at all.

[whammy007]

Is this because I told whammy007 that I didn't send PA picks because I was driving? I meant that I didn't respond for nearly five hours after the PM because I got it while driving.

Definitely not the case, as already mentioned. You handled things absolutely the right way, finished your driving and then took care of the PM. Regardless, that was in a board PM and not in chat, which was the medium in question.

Not at all Torgo... I'll make it clear: rrf played CSS on Thursday while doing this and has been punished accordingly.

And did so while BLIND. So good job RRF, your actions were both against the spirit of CSS and the letter of the law (assuming you're not in a backwards state like mine which turns a blind eye as long as you're over 21).

[PatrickRox80]

You can't get arrested for admitting your reckless actions on a forum, can you? I don't know what's more stupid, though: breaking a law or gloating that you got away with it.

[Flerbert419]

How could you even explain this to a police officer?

"I was typing a private message to send to somebody online with two numbers that are my guesses of the prices of the Showcases on The Price is Right episode on television right now. They have to be sent in a 2 to 3 minute period so I wasn't paying attention to the road."

His/her head might explode.

[Roadgeek Adam]

How could you even explain this to a police officer?

"I was typing a private message to send to somebody online with two numbers that are my guesses of the prices of the Showcases on The Price is Right episode on television right now. They have to be sent in a 2 to 3 minute period so I wasn't paying attention to the road."

His/her head might explode.

The fine will be the amount the bidder went over by.

[Mr. Weatherman]

"The Price is Right" alone being one's excuse for getting into a car accident would likely be enough to have he or she committed to the nut house. If padded rooms aren't your style, don't bid and drive.

[bigblue999]

I've seen it all.

[Schfifty]

I don't play every single game of CSS. If it's a day where I absolutely want to play, but I'm unable to watch the showcases or go to Chat, I don't play. CSS is just a game...it's not a huge priority of mine. I know some people like to play the game a lot, and that's understandable, but come on...

Just don't bid and drive. Don't risk taking your life or someone else's. If playing a game of CSS is that important for someone, then I don't know what to tell you.