Chat & Forum Safety
Chat Safety
The purpose of this thread is to inform you and others of some of the dangers of the internet, and what you can do if you feel uncomfortable, unsure or in danger.
This thread covers the basics in Chat Safety. For a more in depth guide, click here.
This post is for Chat Room Safety, for Forum Safety scroll down to the next post.
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Index1: The Important Stuff!---------------------------------------------
2: Chat Room Safety
3: Information For Parents
1 The Important Stuff!
We do our best to maintain a safe environment, but much of that safety must come from your actions, not ours.
We all are eager to make good friends, but slow down. We are here all the time. Making real friends takes time so please take a few weeks or months to get to know someone before you give out personal information and even then use discretion. Until then, here are a few guidelines that will hopefully keep you and your loved ones safe.~ Do not give out your full name or last name. First names only.---------------------------------------------
~ Do not give anyone your phone number.
~ Do not give anyone your home address. If someone wants to know what city you live in, give them some nearby city name instead.
~ Do not give anyone your email address.
~ Do not give anyone your AOL, Yahoo, MSN or Skype screen names.
~ Do not give anyone your password to any website.
2 Chat Room Safety
Sexual predators are very sneaky people. They act nice and will engage you in friendly conversation. Soon they will begin dropping in words and phrases that will steer you into sexual situations and before you know it, you could be in for serious trouble. Keep in mind the following:~ You are not obligated to talk to anyone.Some warning signs to watch for:
~ If someone makes you uncomfortable, stop talking to them.
~ People who try to engage you in private chat as soon as you enter the room.
~ People who are overly fixated on highly personal subjects, things you would usually not discuss with a total stranger. If they can't seem to get off the subject, consider it a serious warning sign.
~ People who go out of their way to make you feel sorry for them. Do not let people abuse your sympathy.
~ People who suddenly ask you if you have a picture or a webcam or ask for your AOL, Yahoo or MSN screen names. If you give this information to a total stranger, you're a total idiot.Be safe, not sorry. Use the brains God gave you.
If you know of a predator who frequents the chat room, or is participating or talking of illegal activities, alert a moderator in the room. Moderators in the chat rooms have blue names, except for Girls Only Chat - the moderators of that room have red names in the chat room.
If no moderator is online, you can contact the administrator of the room and alert them of the situation. Try to include times the user is in the room - it will help find more moderators to cover that time in the future. Here is a list of the administrators, their room and a link to their profile.
Administrators
Abriel - Video Chat Administrator
BassMON! - Live Chat Administrator
Cat - Adult Chat Administrator
Diante - Music Chat Administrator
Chelle - Teen Chat Administrator
GrEg.R - Boys Only Chat Administrator
J - Sports Chat Administrator
Kelly - Lesbian Chat Administrator
Laurenn - Girls Only Chat Administrator
Miss - General Chat Administrator
BennyBluEyes - Dating Chat Administrator
cait - College Chat Administrator
purplerose - Singles Chat Administrator
Krass - Kids Chat Administrator
Chatmaster - Video Games Chat Administrator
toby - Gay Chat Administrator
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3 Information For Parents
This section is for parents: Again, we do our best to maintain a safe environment, but much of that safety must come from your actions, not ours.
Things you should consider before allowing your child to enter in our chat rooms:
Children Below The Age Of 13:
If your child is under 13, they should not enter our chat rooms. Predators can easily pose as other children. Instead, they should be outside playing with friends or doing some other activity that involves fresh air. Most people in our chat rooms are adults and we occasionally talk about adult subjects -- things children should learn from parents, not strangers in a chat room.
Children Aged 13 And Above: If your child is now discovering the wonders of the internet, talk to them about chat rooms and the subjects covered in this thread. Make sure they understand not everybody out there is who they seem, and turning a blind eye may lead them into a lot of trouble - possibly endangering their life.
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