Terms of Service & Guidelines

The purpose of our chat room is for:

1) evangelism (explaining, exposing & leading people to salvation through Christ)

2) discipleship (encouragement, prayer & building up of fellow Believers)

Please follow these stated guidelines.

Wherever there is a community, There are certain expectations of acceptable behavior among its participants. Our chat rooms have both hosted and topic-oriented discussions as well as times of open chat.  During moderated chats, time restraints make it necessary to maintain focus and depth. We ask that all comments and questions pertain to the discussion at hand.

By entering the Chat room, you are agreeing to these terms.

Failure to abide by these Terms and Guidelines will be handled according to the discretion of the Administrator in the room at the time, or according to "Trouble Reports" received. This may include being expelled or banned from the room.

YOU THE USER:

1. It is assumed that chat users have read and agreed to these Terms of Service & Guidelines and, by occasional rereading of them, will be aware of changes to the text.

2. Chat users understand the commitment to provide a safe and sensitive chat environment. However, all chatting is done at one's own risk. While we are committed to maintaining respect and good manners, we cannot be responsible for the safety of children in our chat rooms.  Women Today chat room is primarily for women, and the Life is for mixed audiences. (more about men in chat below)

3. Chat is not to be used for any unlawful purpose, any posting of foul, vulgar, obscene, or sexually explicit language, racial epithets or hateful words, or variations on such words spelled so as to suggest such words. Such users will be expelled immediately. Inappropriate talk of sexual nature or efforts to use the chat room as a dating service, will also result in banning from the room.

4. Nicknames that are inappropriate will either be banned, or be asked to change the nick, according to the discretion of the administrator in the room.  (This includes any names that include sexual words or sexual connotations.)

5. Our chat rooms are public rooms monitored by a team of administrators, during various times.  

6. Consistent disruption of the focused flow of dialogue or acting in a manner that negatively affects other members or hosts will not be permitted.

7. We reserve the right to edit or delete any interactive material that in violation of our Terms of Service.

8. The opinions expressed are **not necessarily** those of the host site or administrators.

We reserve the right to respond to the violation of any of the Terms of Service & Guidelines including issues discussed below.

CWT AND CO-HOST:  (these instructions apply to all administrators present in the room at any given time, including open chat.) The administrators are a team of people hand selected by our Directors, to serve as administrators and leaders in our chat rooms. They direct chat discussions, as well as to deal with disrupters. For their protection, and the protection of the room, their user names are not revealed in open chat. If you happen to know one of their user names, please respect their privacy and protection by not discussing this with other users, NOR revealing this information in open chat at any time.

THE MONITOR:

Occasionally, there is a monitor in the room. The Monitor is there for your protection, as well as to deal with various situations that come up in chat, according to the stated purpose of the room. Please respect requests the Monitor makes of you.  For safety purposes, general use of the private chat feature is currently disabled. Hostesses, monitors and administrators in the room may use PC to address an individual chatter as needed. Please respect any request made of you by an administrator using private chat. You will be unable to respond in PC to the administrator. If a response or explanation is needed, you may use the chat-feedback form to contact the site administration.

SPECIFIC BEHAVIOR : Please abide by these guidelines.

Any one of the following activities will be viewed as slander/gossip/dissention, and will result in banning from the room.

  • Emailing other users about decisions of the chat administrators
  • Discussing in open chat or pc the decisions of the chat administrators
  • Discussing other chat users in any negative or unkind way.
  • Sharing news about others, positive or negative. (Allow people to share their own stories. If another user has asked you to share a message for them, please be sure to let the room know that you are sharing at their request, and that the content of the message is in keeping with the purposes of the room.)
  • “Attacking” another chat user in any way, whether it be under your normal user name, or with a different user name.

Issues you have with other users are to be addressed to chat@christianwomentoday.com  not with other chatters in any way, shape or form. 
When you have an issue with another chat user, please try to resolve it between you and the person, and if that is not possible, then please take it to the leadership of the room.
Coming in the room as multiple users at the same time, will result in immediate expelling.
using any nicks or words that include sexual connotations in an inappropriate way. 
 

The following attitudes are also required, as they make the chat room a safe place for all visitors.  Violation in these matters will result in a letter of reprimand, but continued activity in any of these areas will result in banning.

  • Be culturally sensitive. We have visitors from all over the world.
  • Enjoy learning from others, and apply grace. Many different denominations participate, and many people are at different places in their spiritual journey. Please apply grace to each, especially in "Non-essential" doctrines. The purpose of the room is not for debate.
  • Because the chat room is like a park, we do sometimes get men in the room.  While we do not encourage them to stay, we should still be welcoming to them, and see if we can minister to them by a) answering their questions b) inviting them to write email mentoring for a specific problem. c)being aware that they also need the Lord, and may be seeking to grow spiritually.  It is not our intention to make CWT co-ed, but neither is it our intention to make CWT so unwelcoming that we chase men away.  Men who break the terms of service will be dealt with.
  • Don't flood the chat window with lots of messages, (5 or more in a row, or very long messages) preventing other chatters from participating in the conversation. Be careful with the use of humor, so that it doesn't distract from users who wish to share more serious concerns.
  • When there are times of praise & worship-please pause when other users enter to greet them..and see if they have a need they wish to share before you continue.  As the purpose of the room includes evangelism, please be **aware that there could be "seekers" in the room at any given time.**
  • Do not develop or include users on email lists, without their express permission.  Emails are considered private information. Official chat email lists are available through the chat newletter, and joining the "pray-er's" email list.
  • Do not press your point of view regarding someone's problem to the point that it is argumentative.  People are free to make their own decisions.  Opinions are welcome, but to make negative comments when the person chooses not to agree is not acceptable, even if it is an important decision.  If someone's choice is hurtful to you, please feel free to leave the room and return at another time. 
  • AVOID USING ALL CAPS. Using all caps is the virtual equivalent of shouting and should be done sparingly. If you need to emphasize a word, use asterisks, like *this.*
  • Stay on topic, and honor the leadership of the room..
  • Evangelism is, of course, welcome, but please be sensitive to the Spirit when seeking to share the Gospel. Having a listening ear, and caring heart is often necessary before the Gospel can be presented. Also, offer to pray for the needs expressed. Evangelism in the chat room:  Please read and follow these stated guidelines.

ADVERTISEMENT AND PROMOTIONS:

Please refrain from advertisements or promotions of personal websites, business or asking for money for any purpose in open chat, or in pc.  Users who persist in advertisement/promotion/asking for money will be banned.

Tips on specific use of the features of the chat room can be found in our Chat Tips


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