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The Chat Room Rules
of Conduct
- No Posting Personal
Information:
Do not give out or
ask for personal information. For example, do not post or ask for last
names (first names are okay), phone numbers, credit card information,
street addresses, town names, zip codes, neighborhoods or school names
(big cities are okay -- it's safer to say you live "near Ft. Worth" than
to say you live in Arlington, Texas). Additionally, do not post or ask
for Internet contact information such as email addresses, AOL messenger
service #s, MSN messenger service #s, ICQ #s, or any other instant
messenger service. Our adult room monitors will never ask for personal
identifying or personal contact information. Be suspicious of anyone who
asks you for any personal identifying or personal contact information.
If you do get asked, please contact us right away at
chatmaster@chatters.com. To be sure, our adult room
monitors will boot you out of the room if you try and give out or ask
for this kind
of information.
No Shouting:
Do not use
all capital letters when posting messages. The use of capital letters is
considered shouting and is considered to be very poor chat room
etiquette. Here is an example of shouting: THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF
SHOUTING IN A CHAT ROOM. Shouting is also very irritating to a lot of
users. Please do not try to get around this rule by typing in
a combination of lower and upper case characters. The final judgment of
what is ruled to be "shouting" is at the sole discretion of the Chatters™ staff.
No Flaming:
Do not
engage or participate in any activities directly or indirectly which
harass, threaten, abuse or intimidate other users. In other words, don't
be mean to others. The final judgment of what is ruled to be
"flaming" is at the sole discretion of the Chatters™ staff.
No Flooding:
Do not
rapidly enter text/or images that tend to occupy multiple lines of the
message screen. When this is done it keeps other chatters from being
able to post messages. It is very rude and disrupts the flow of chat in
the chat room.
No Offensive Language:
Do not post, or attempt to post by disguise (represent
swear words with symbols or numbers), any words which are "foul",
"obscene", or "cuss" words. Additionally, explicitly
violent talk, fights, racist language, or other abusive language is not
allowed. The final judgment of what is ruled to be a "foul" word,
an "obscene" word, or a "cuss" word inappropriate for viewing by Chatters
members is at the sole discretion of the Chatters™
staff.
No Disrespectful
Behavior:
The Chatters™ staff (Guardians) are sometimes in the chat
room to watch over things and keep our chat rooms safe and fun. You can
always recognize a member of the Chatters™ staff when they are in the
room because they will have the title "Guardian" before their user name.
For example: Guardian ChatBob, or Guardian Bleu, or Guardian SoccerMom.
Sometimes Guardians have to make decisions which are not popular but
have to be made for the benefit of all concerned. it is important that
you respect the
Chatters™ staff like you would your teacher at school
or your athletic coach. Please do not engage in a conversation with a Chatters™ staff member which is disrespectful or argumentative to the
Chatters™ staff member. Again, the final judgment of what is ruled to
be disrespectful or argumentative and in violation of this rule is at
the sole discretion of the Chatters™ staff.
No Posting of Web Sites : Do not post web site addresses (URL) to the chat
room. Our adult monitors cannot check out the appropriateness of all web
sites posted while they are monitoring the chat room. Breaking this rule may cause for immediate termination of
membership if it is concluded by the Chatters staff that there is
significant risk the offender will commit the same violation immediately
upon release of "Access Hold." If a second chance is granted,
a second violation of this or any other rule carrying the same penalty
weight will cause for immediate termination of membership.
No Posting of
Other Chat Rooms or Instant Messaging (IM) Services: Do not post to
the chat room the web address of other chat rooms, chat services or IM
services. Also, do not post invitations to other chatters to join you in
other chat rooms or IM services. Most other chat rooms are not monitored
and are probably not safe. Inviting or enticing other chatters to leave a
monitored chat room (luring) is a tactic commonly used by people who have
bad motives in mind and are probably dangerous. They want to "lure" a kid
chatter to a place where they can say and do whatever they want with no
adult monitor watching over their activity. Breaking this rule may cause for immediate termination of
membership if it is concluded by the
Chatters™ staff that there is
significant risk the offender will commit the same violation immediately
upon release of "Access Hold." If a second chance is granted,
a second violation of this or any other rule carrying the same penalty
weight will cause for immediate termination of membership.
No Boyfriend
(BF) or Girlfriend (GF) Solicitations or Romancing:
"Soliciting" is asking if anyone wants to become your boyfriend (bf)
or girlfriend (gf). "Romancing" is when you use romantic words or
actions to express your feelings for a bf or gf. For example, cyber
kissing, hugging, "I love you" exchanges, etc. While Chatters™ is
a fun place to meet other kids, it is not the
place to be looking for or engaging in romantic relationships.No
Inappropriate Role Playing: "Role playing"
is where you chat or play games with others and pretend to be doing things.
Inappropriate role playing is when the role playing breaks a
Chatters™ chat room rule.
For example, it is okay to have a cyber pool party as long as everyone
keep their bathing suits on. "Truth or Dare" is okay as long as the truth
or dare does not break a Chatters™chat room rule. Another good
guideline is: If you wouldn't say it
or do it in front of
your parent or teacher, don't say it or do it in a Chatters™ chat
room. The final judgment of what is considered to be inappropriate role playing is at the sole discretion of the
Chatters™ staff.
No Sharing User Name or
Keyboard: One of the most serious offenses at Chatters™ is to share
your user name or your keyboard. "Sharing" your user name means you are
allowing someone else to use your identity while chatting in the chat
room. Usually kids make this mistake by letting a friend, a relative, or
a brother or sister use their identity. "Sharing" a keyboard is
basically the same thing. Usually "sharing" a keyboard is done while you
and someone else are using the keyboard at the same time to post
messages in the chat room.
Breaking rule #11 is a very serious
matter. The reason it is such a serious matter is that "sharing" is a
security risk. When you share your user name or keyboard we do not know
for sure who is on the other side. That means we have to assume whoever
it is using your keyboard is not who you or they say they are. When that
happens our chat service is no longer secure. So, the only choice we
have is to take immediate action and ban your user name from the chat
room until we can talk with a parent. Breaking this rule may also cause
for termination of your membership. If a second chance is granted, a
second violation of this or any other rule carrying the same penalty
weight will cause for immediate termination of membership.
Perhaps the most important rule of all is a
rule you have probably already heard of: Treat all others in the chat room
the same way you would want them to treat you. Follow this
"Golden Rule"
and you are sure to make a lot of friends and have a lot of fun
chatting.
Top
Of Page
What Happens When Rules Are Broken?
We have specific procedures we use when
disciplinary action is required. When a chat room rule is broken, four
things happen:
- Warning to stop:
First, in most cases, you
are given a warning to stop violating the rule. How many warnings you
get is left up to the Chatters™ staff member, so you may get one
warning, get up to three warnings, or you may get no warning at all!
Usually the number of warnings has to do with the severity (how bad) the
offense was. For example, flooding the chat room might get you two
warnings but posting an adult web site might result in no warnings at
all. In general, the purpose of a warning is to tell you to stop
breaking the rule or you will get "booted" (ejected) from the room.
However, as stated earlier, if the offense is deemed to be serious
enough on the first incident you may not ever get a warning.
Booted (ejected) from room:
If you do not listen to
warnings or the offense is deemed to be too serious to permit warnings,
you will be "Booted" (ejected) from the chat room. Once "booted" your
access will be blocked for a pre-determined time of at least two days.
Depending on the seriousness of the offense, "Access Hold" can be for a
period of up to 30 days.
Disciplinary Notice:
When you are "booted
(ejected) from one of our chat rooms and placed on "Access Hold" you
will be notified of such by a Chatters™ "Disciplinary Notice" email.
The "Disciplinary Notice" email will detail the nature of the offense
(rule broken) and the "Access Hold" time period. It will also notify you
of the amount of "Disciplinary Offense Notice Total" Penalty Points,
often referred to as Chatters™
"DONT" Penalty Points.
DONT Penalty Points: Each broken rule
(offense) carries with it a number of DONT Penalty Points. The amount of
points assessed is proportionate to the gravity (seriousness) of the
rule broken. An accumulation (total) of twelve (12) points in any one
twelve (12) month period can cause for you to lose your Chatters membership. The final judgment regarding membership termination is at
the sole discretion of the Chatters Guardian Advisory Board. How do
you know if you have any DONT points? You will know because you and your
parents will receive a Chatters Disciplinary Action Notice telling
you how many points you have been given if you have broken a chat room
rule.
When a "Security Incident" is observed: In our effort to maintain a high degree of security in the chat
rooms we may observe what we conclude to be a "Security Incident"
which requires immediate action by one of our staff members. When it comes
to protecting the security and safety of our Chatters™ users, the Chatters™ staff will not hesitate to err on the side of caution.
Examples of a "Security Incident" include:
- False User Information: Observations
concluding the user may have provided false user information in the
creation of their account.
- Multiple User Names: Observations
concluding the user may have created multiple user names
(identities).
- Suspicious Behavior: Observation of
user behavior that is concluded to be suspicious in motive.
In these cases involving a "Security Incident"
a Chatters™ user's account will be placed on "Access Hold" and will
remain on "Access Hold" indefinitely or until we can successfully conclude
our investigation of the "Security Incident." In all cases of a "Security
Incident" there will be an immediate assessment of twelve (12) DONT
Penalty Points. If as a result of our investigation we conclude there is a
"Security Risk" caused by the "Security Incident" observed, the assessment
of twelve (12) DONT Penalty Points will remain and the user's Chatters™
account will be terminated. The final
judgment of what is ruled to be a "Security Risk" is at the sole
discretion of the Chatters™ management and its staff.
When a Chatters™ "Acceptable Use" policy is
violated: If a Chatters™ user account violates a policy prescribed in
the Chatters™ Statement of Acceptable Use Policy, we reserve the right
to terminate that user's account without advance notice. Clearly, we
prefer to advise our members of inappropriate activity by the means
described above. However, flagrant violations of the Chatters™ "Chat
Room Rules" can result in immediate termination of membership and access
to the Chatters™ chat services without prior notice. Our failure to
enforce this policy, for whatever reason, shall not be construed as a
waiver of our right to do so at any time.
DONT Penalty Points Guidelines:
Each broken rule (offense) carries
with it a number of DONT Penalty Points. The amount of points assessed is
proportionate to the gravity (seriousness) of the rule broken. An
accumulation (total) of twelve (12) points in any one twelve (12) month
period can cause for you to lose your Chatters membership. The final
judgment regarding membership (user account) termination is at the sole
discretion of the Chatters™ Guardian staff and its
management.
Remember this: The DONT Penalty
Points system is only a guideline for enacting disciplinary measures.
If
it is determined by the Chatters staff that there is significant risk
the offender will commit the same violation immediately upon release of
"Access Hold" termination of membership may occur immediately.
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