First things first. This is an unmoderated chat room.
Your About.com Guides may be present during scheduled events but the Guides do not constantly monitor their chat
rooms on a 24 hour basis and, therefore neither the Guide nor About.com, are responsible for any content and
behavior in the chat rooms. About.com reserves the right to remove any Guide or user created content from the
chat room, once it is brought to our attention, if we find in our sole discretion it violates these chat guidelines, or otherwise is in
violation of the law. However we will not be held under any obligation to do so.
We welcome you to stay and chat as long as you like, but please remember that there may be minors in these rooms. That
said, About.com's chat rooms should not be used for any of the following:
- Conducting or fostering any illegal activity.
- Activities that support or espouse non-consensual and/or extreme violence or sexual aggressiveness towards another
individual or group for any reason.
- Activities that support or espouse hatred towards another individual or group based upon any criteria (including race,
religion, gender, sexual orientation, beliefs, etc.).
- Activities and input from individuals that violate our inclusive standards.
For a complete reading of our content policy guidelines please see: User Agreement.
Again, please keep in mind that About.com does not police its chat rooms. If you happen to come across an
offensive user, here are a few things you can do to keep your chat experience pleasant. YOUR MOST EFFECTIVE
OPTION IS TO:
Highlight the name of the offensive user and click the 'Ignore User' checkbox - all messages from that user will
not appear on your screen. It will be as if they just went away.
If you feel a problem is particularly egregious, please email us. However, please be aware that bad behavior is
typical of Internet chat. We make no representation that we will be able to take any action whatsoever.
About.com wishes every user a positive chat experience. Once again, it is at the sole discretion of the Guide or The
About.com, just how to proceed or not to proeceed with or handle any problem situation.
