I don't know if I'd say I've been offended. I'm not sure what word I would use to describe how I feel about some of the nonsense I've seen in the chat box. I certainly don't care for it. I don't like seeing racial slurs and name calling. I'm a big boy and I can handle bad words, but that kind of stuff has no place in poker. But for it to offend me, it would first have to be directed towards me. And then, I would have to give a damn what that person said or thought.
I'm not going to let what pops up in a little box, next to some faceless, made up name upset me. If you pay attention, you will notice that when someone is at the table berating other players and criticizing what everyone else is playing, they're probably playing the same types of
hands. It's a tactic! Don't let it get to you.
For instance, when someone just ridiculed you for playing Q-10, you're never going to suspect him of making a move when he 3-bets you with Q-8 a couple hands later. Not only that, but I've seen players get so self conscious that they stop playing their normal game because they don't want to mess up and have this guy crack on them. They stop playing hands and let the loudmouth run the table over. The whole time they're getting themselves so wound up that they start looking for anything they can jam down his throat and shut him up with. The next thing you know they're ready to shove the second they catch a piece of the flop only to find that Mr. Loudmouth just flopped sixes and deuces.
As for the guy calling your mother names and wishing rectal cancer upon you, you mostly see that when they have just lost a hand. That's just sore loser talk. You just have to know how to translate it. A lot of the most horrible sounding phrases translate to things like nice hand, or well played, sir. In fact sometimes, when I pick off a huge
bluff, I immediately glance at the chat box and am disappointed not to see it fill up with a bunch of cussing and fussing.