ettiquette

Chatters' Ettiquette is a pretty BIG TERM for something pretty SIMPLE.
COMMON SENSE & RESPECT.

1: It's a bit rude to ask personal information from people you've just met. You wouldn't tell a complete stranger your address for instance if you met them on the street, so use your common sense and don't do it in a chat room either. As you get to know people better, these details are usually OFFERRED and you won't need to ask.

2:Foul Language is a bit rude to your fellow chatters and can even get you booted from chatrooms so please try to keep foul language to a minimum or get a thesaurus and find new words for them. Or be respectful and use symbols to "bleep" yourself. A Chat Room is a community of people and not all of them appreciate the effective descriptive impact of "colorful metaphors".

3: Respect people and treat them as you would like to be treated. This does NOT mean that you have to be a doormat but try to be nice until someone gives you a reason to be otherwise. Some people like to come into chat Rooms just to be a pain or abusive to other Chatters and it's best to just ignore these types of people. In a worse case scenario you are not trapped anywhere in OnChat you can leave or change rooms at anytime. You may request that a Moderator help you, if you are in a room where one is present and able to help ((not all chat rooms may be so protected so be wary)).

4: Be tolerant. The world is made up of a million kind of people and the views someone holds may not be ones you share. They however like you are entitled to their opinions and viewpoints. Try to learn about these different viewpoints and understand them, even if you still cannot agree, rather than fight about them.

5: Remember not everyone in a Chat Room has come there to hear your life's woes or triumphs but rather to escape their own. But please keep in mind it IS just a Chat Room and you are free to leave at anytime or change rooms.

6: It's polite to ASK someone before you whisper them if you do not know them. You'll get a warmer response if you make the request out loud rather than in whisper, as that sort of defeats that ask before whispering point. Many people will ignore a whisper from someone they do not know. Or tell you outloud that they will not whisper people they don't know. Often whispering without asking will give people a false first impression of you. Remember to be polite to people and they will be polite in return. As you get to know people this restriction is really no longer needed.

7: It is polite to ask people if you may add them to your buddylist before you do so ((if such a feature is available to you)).

8: Respect the rules of the room/chat/community you are in. If you do not know the rules than ask someone to tell you.

9: Respect the authority of room Moderators. Their jobs aren't easy and they are there to ensure that your chat is as enjoyable as possible. If you have been treated unfairly by a room moderator then most chats have some recourse available for disputes. Take the matter up through that means rather than arguing with the moderator and making the situation worse.

10: Please try to keep personal disputes PERSONAL, so as not to affect the other chatters. No one wants to come to a chat room to watch a personal dispute raging on.They've come to chat not watch your dog and pony show. Save the grandstanding for the stage.No one else CARES that you've got problems with so and so and in fact may like the other person so respect them and yourself and keep private disputes private. It's a chat room, not a civil war. If you don't like someone than ignore them or change rooms but cut the drama, you're not going to win any pity points from people, just BE pitied BY people. Save the smart. not so veiled comments for quiz shows and just leave people be that you don't like and they'll usually return the favor.

11: It can be very difficult to enter a new chat, as we've all experienced.Just be polite,consistant, and patient and you'll fit in, in no time at all. Act like you were at a party in your home, not in a chat room. If you wouldn't do it offline, than don't do it in a Chat Room either. Try to be the same person regardless of wether it is offline or online in a Chat Room.

12:Have Fun.