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We love having everyone on our server, but necessity dictates that we set some rules so we can all enjoy our time at ChatFamily.
We advocate freedom of speech but HARASSMENT, RACISM, FOUL LANGUAGE, and any other DISORDERLY conduct will not be tolerated on Chat Family.
Policy regarding illegal activity
Policy regarding free speech and the restriction of expression
Harassment
Policy on 123FlashChat Client Scripts or Add-Ons
Policy on Bots
Policy on Moderators
If you are harassed
Room Rules
Policy regarding illegal activity (including but not limited to warez, child-porn, sedition, harassment, drug trafficking, Nuking, spiking, flooding, excessive pinging or anything that disconnects a user from his/her services or denies their service):
Should a user or channel engage in illegal activity (ie, activity that violates US Federal or State Law) or encourage it we will remove the users or channels in question from Chat Family. In fact, if we have reason to think that a user or channel tends toward or conduces to illegal activity we will take action (which might range from chatting with the people in question to killing the connection or seeking prosecution). Adding to this the Internet service provider (ISP) of any person banned from this server for the above mentioned reasons will be sent email with a log and a time stamp of said incident seeking termination of their services under their ISP's acceptable use policy. This is done in part to safeguard the environment on Chat Family and in part to protect the sysadmins and machine owners on Chat Family from legal problems that could stem from tolerating illegal activity on Chat Family. When it comes to illegal activity or the likelihood of illegal activity, we will act first and sort things out later.
Policy regarding free speech and the restriction of expression:
To be straight forward cussing on this server will get you banned. Chat Family has no quarrel with freedom of expression and we support freedom of expression as it has been traditionally understood. Freedom of expression has never meant that a person could use language however she or he saw fit. Freedom of expression was defended on the grounds that rational discourse paid off immensely with respect to education, politics, and personal growth. However language as a tool can serve more than just this purpose. Language can be used in many ways, including as a tool to hurt others.
Traditionally even the most liberal societies have not supported the freedom of expression in this form. Note, for example the long history of legislation forbidding slander and libel. Language can also be used to harm by means of threats, epithets and harassment. Again, such uses of language and expression have traditionally been proscribed and with good reason: None of the benefits of rational discourse accrue in such cases and many harms are generated. Any *public* expression on Chat Family of this sort (including expression linked to illegal activity) will lead Chat Family administrators to put an end to such expression by whatever means necessary. Note that by "public" we mean expression that users could not avoid (in /list, via /msg, nicks, user names, or chat on channels, for example). To a large extent channels can define the range of expression that is acceptable, however harassment will not be tolerated anywhere on the server.
There is, however, recognition that speech has to be protected from government censorship or control, etc. That for a democracy to work people must be allowed to express themselves. And that if we respect individuals as human beings people must be allowed to say what they mean. This is not a license to say anything anywhere, however.
NO suggestion is made that there is such a concept as absolute freedom of speech. Life would be quite unlivable if everyone were to be encouraged or for that matter permitted to speak their mind without second thought for the consequences. Absolute freedom of speech would constitute an infringement on freedom to live.
There appears to be a fairly common mis-perception that freedom equals license; that being free to do something means you possess an irrevocable license to do it. What seems to be lacking is an understanding that our "rights" also confer an irrevocable responsibility to exercise our freedoms intelligently and responsibly.
Harassment:
Harassment comes in many shapes and forms, for the most part harassment on Chat Family is deemed as: Any exchange in a room (public or private), at which ANY party involved did not consent to. If you are ask to stop discussing objectionable subject matter and you continue to discuss it. It is no longer chatting it is now harassing. Because persons chatting can be from all walks of life, from all over the world, with many varying points of view, what you consider objectionable may not be what they consider objectionable. Problems arise when a discussion changes from open minded to closed minded arguing, so often this takes place on discussions of politics and religion. These are very broad based topics and often tend to excite very deep personal feelings from parties involved. People become offended very easily when statements are made attacking their beliefs (any) whether you like them or not.
Policy on 123FlashChat Tools or Add-Ons:
There are several 123Flashchat add-on scripts/tools available on the Internet. Chat Family does not allow the use of any tools solely for the purpose of abusing the network or harassing users. Users found running these tools will be banned from the network with a notice sent to their Internet Service Provider. We feel no need to list these 123Flashchat tools and scripts, if you are using one of them, you know you are using it (so do we).
Policy on Bots:
Chat Family services were designed to eliminate the need for bots on Chat Family. We would very much prefer all connections to our servers to be from persons wishing to chat. Bots are not allowed.
Policy regarding Moderators:
Chat Family moderators have the power to keep you off of Chat Family. We expect that our mods will exercise that power when and only when they have cause to believe that Chat Family policies are being violated. If you believe that a Chat Family operator has abused her or his power, contact the Admin immediately. We will do our best to get to the root of any concerns that you bring to us. It should be noted that any user who abuses a mod does so at his or her own risk.
If you are harassed:
If you encounter any behavior that is in violation of our policies, and especially if you are harassed by flooders, please either log the incident or cut and paste it from your buffer to a text file with time stamps and time zone. We will need all of that information when we notify the system administrator at the site in question. Contact a mod as quickly as you can and if all else fails, mail the log to us. If you have questions about our policies, please send email to admin(@)chatfamily.com
Rules for ALL rooms on Chat Family:
- Chat Family room owners are expected to maintain all polices of Chat Family in their personal rooms, failing to do so will result in your room being closed and a server ban being placed on you. This includes the people that you appoint as room operators, you as the room owner are responsible for the actions of the persons that are in your room. If they get out of line it is your responsibility to remove them.
- Chat Family is NOT a dating service nor is it a place to pick up a girl or boy friend; this in itself is one of the most dangerous types of chat activity on the Internet. Our room administrators will handle any situation regarding this in a manner they see fit to maintain a clean and safe chatting environment for everyone.
- No explicit content allowed on our channels. We will never allow them. If a conversation is sex-themed or designed to serve prurient interests we will shut it down by banning you.
- Chat Family is an English speaking chat server, ALL languages are welcome. However, while in the public rooms you should speak ENGLISH, it is rude to the rest of the chatters to not speak English in the public rooms. If you wish to speak other than English, please create a private room for you and your friends.
- Typing in all uppercase letters is considered yelling in chat; it is disruptive to the normal flow of chat. Please do not type in uppercase.
- Scrolling, Flooding, and Unnecessarily repeating yourself is rude to everyone on chat and will not be tolerated in our chat rooms.
- No drug discussions allowed except for medical chat.
- No Gor-themed discussions or BDSM chat.
- While we welcome those who serve in the US armed forces, there will be no independent militia discussions on Chat Family.
- Rooms or discussion for the trading of MP3 sound files are not allowed, this is due to copyright infringement laws. This policy will not change until ALL record companies agree that MP3s are not an infringement of the artist contract or legal reproduction laws of the United States.
- Advertising on Chat Family is not allowed, this would come in the form of other chat servers or chat clients, including but not limited to all of Chat Family's competitors. Chat Family relies on revenues generated by our sponsors, advertising limits our ability to maintain a free service for all.
- We reserve the right to impose further case-by-case restrictions. This means a rule does not specifically have to be written down here to be enforced.
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