Please Consider Helping New Players

[File2ish]

*EDIT* Sorry for responding to off topic, but I had to in this case =p */EDIT*

/grammar nazi on

While you are perfectly correct in the manner of which "they" should be used in the English language, many locales of the language use "they" when referring to one person when speaking to another. For example, I could say "The healer wasn't healing enough, it was like they didn't know what they were doing." While in written form it is easy to spot the grammatical error, you probably wouldn't think twice about it if someone said it in a regular face to face conversation because you understood what they [the person] were [was] referring to. It can become habit, I'm sure.

It's certainly not the proper use as the single person is being referred to as a collective with the pronoun, but the point is still understandable. I understood it at least.

[Noxifer]

Sorry for wall of text :3 And for some of it being a tad off-topic.

[...]he got super pissed at me when I told him to keep the bird faced away from his healer. He then went on a rant about how he was asking for any special specifics and not "tank 101', [...] If someones going to explain mechanics for you then you probably shouldn't be rude about it when you get what you ask for.

And knowing the boss in question has a forward AoE attack (or a rear one, in some cases) is part of the tactics, yes. So it does seem a bit silly to go off on you for that. Then again, there's this whole world of Interpretation, and if you read the tone differently than was intended (having no voice or body language to help you), it can be very difficult to see things for the advice it is =)

I've done this many times. I've done it because a tank marking a target isn't always right. [...]

[...]I'll let the tank know afterwards if the mob needed to die because it'll turn into something nasty if not prioritised ( like the harrier), I don't harass or even criticise, I just say why I did it.

I rarely mark targets these days, unless I'm running with people who are new players and/or they ask me to; I just focus on the mob that takes the most damage. But when I started out and was running a dungeon for the first time, I did ask the others (who were often heavily level-synched) if they'd mind marking any particular mobs in groups that should be taken down first. Just because I was the tank didn't mean I automatically know every place I set foot in :3 And I've never seen 'tank' as a leading position. I just help my squishy friends by taking the beating for them.
Explaining after the fight is just fine, in my opinion. That way, the tank will (hopefully) know for the next time =D

/grammar nazi on [...]
You are using the word "they" incorrectly. The word "they" is a PLURAL pronoun, meaning that it refers to two of more persons, places, or things. When speaking about a single person, you use either the pronoun "he" or "she". In the English language, the proper pronoun to use when gender is unknown, or neutral, is "he". (except in a few limited instances, ships for instance are referred to as "she" rather than "he") The word "they" should NEVER be used to refer to a single person.

[...]While in written form it is easy to spot the grammatical error, you probably wouldn't think twice about it if someone said it in a regular face to face conversation because you understood what they [the person] were [was] referring to. It can become habit, I'm sure.

It's certainly not the proper use as the single person is being referred to as a collective with the pronoun, but the point is still understandable. I understood it at least.

*coughs* No. "They" is a perfectly acceptable word to use when the subject/object is of indeterminable gender. Of course, when the gender is known that's no longer an issue, is it? Such as with ships; the known 'gender' is female, therefore "she" is the appropriate pronoun.
"Long before the use of generic he was condemned as sexist, the pronouns they, their, and them were used in educated speech and in all but the most formal writing to refer to indefinite pronouns and to singular nouns of general personal reference, probably because such nouns are often not felt to be exclusively singular: If anyone calls, tell them I'll be back at six. [...] Such use is not a recent development, nor is it a mark of ignorance. Shakespeare, Swift, Shelley, Scott, and Dickens, as well as many other English and American writers, have used they and its forms to refer to singular antecedents." (quoted from dictionary.com)

And since you first of all never really know what gender the player is, and secondly don't always pay attention to the gender of their character (especially with how androgynous some can appear to be), it's a lot easier to use 'they' or 'them' than to always write 'he/she' or 'him/her' =)

[Blossoming]

has a forward AoE attack (or a rear one, in some cases) is part of the tactics, yes. So it does seem a bit silly to go off on you for that. Then again, there's this whole world of Interpretation, and if you read the tone differently than was intended (having no voice or body language to help you), it can be very difficult to see things for the advice it is =)

Thing is though I didn't use any type of tone with him. In fact I never do with anyone as I am pretty laid back and totally okay with a dungeon being rough if people are new even if I have run it 100 times. That's the only person I've ever had get aggravated at me for giving any advice for as long as I've played(1.0 beta). If your going to ask for important boss mechanics I'm going to tell you every mechanic so that way there is no "Oh I didn't know" or me going "woops I should of remembered to tell you xxx." Have to make sure the whm/sch doesn't have a more difficult job as it is.

[Noxifer]

Thing is though I didn't use any type of tone with him. In fact I never do with anyone as I am pretty laid back and totally okay with a dungeon being rough if people are new even if I have run it 100 times. That's the only person I've ever had get aggravated at me for giving any advice for as long as I've played(1.0 beta). If your going to ask for important boss mechanics I'm going to tell you every mechanic so that way there is no "Oh I didn't know" or me going "woops I should of remembered to tell you xxx." Have to make sure the whm/sch doesn't have a more difficult job as it is.

Oh, I know =D But that's sort of what I was trying to get at. Since text-based conversation is very tricky to interpret at times, due to lack of tone of voice or body language, it's easy to imagine a negative/dismissive tone unless the opposite is very obvious (which it rarely gets to be due to time constraints in typing things before people get impatient and run off anyway). Especially if you've run into people being openly rude or condescending before. And once you start imagining it, it's even more difficult to change your interpretation filter.

And I'm not trying to put any responsibility on you for it, not at all; he did ask for tactics and types of attacks to be aware of (like directional AoEs) is part of that. But there might be mitigating circumstances as to why the tank took it the way he did, and I know from personal experience that it sometimes can be very tricky to know what intention/attitude lies behind those words in your chat window (or forum posts, for that matter :3). So I was just trying to keep an open mind about him instead of instantly going all "what an idiot" or something ^^