Use Proper Chat Room Etiquette

When you go into a chat room for the first time, it is often hard to access or acquire the chat room rules even after lurking for a bit. These little hints can help. After all, making a wrong move as a newbie in a chat room can often land you in someone's figurative bin

Steps

  1. Do introduce yourself to everyone in the room in the chat room.
  2. State your question clearly in the room, should that be your reason for arriving. Simply asking for help, saying you need help, or telling the room you have a question will not turn attention towards you. People are not mind readers, and they cannot help you unless you ask for it. Be specific in what you are looking for, and provide all relevant details to your question.
  3. Be civil to others. This is important in any situation, but even more so in a chat room, because only text is seen, and you can not see facial expressions or hear tones of voice.
  4. Give the room a chance to answer you. Patience is a virtue.
  5. Don't spam or flood the room with repeated questions, statements, or links.
  6. Avoid using colors. mIRC users will be able to see them, but the more hardcore irc users will see nothing but garbage. Often, IRC channels have a mode that will prevent your message from being displayed if it contains color codes.
  7. Avoid typing in all caps. It is hard on the eyes to read and considered rude. It is the Internet equivalent to shouting. If you want to call attention to a particular word or phrase, Do so in the same manner that you would in conversation. Just ask, and see who answers.
  8. Avoid using the phrase 'A/S/L' or its variations. ASL is the common greeting and asking for a persons age/sex/location. Considered rude and unnecessary in most chat rooms, often you will give the impression that you are either ignorant or have no real reason to be there. If you want to know something about a person, stick around a while and find out. People are more willing to reveal such personal details about themselves once they get to know you and feel more comfortable around you. You wouldn't instantly walk up to a person in a bar and ask them for their age, or where they live, so don't do it in chat. Or, read their profile.
  9. If you want to PM someone, that is chat privately, like in an IM, ask first. It is an invasion of privacy to assume that you can open an instant message window with someone you do not know.



Tips

  • Be friendly, and respect others in the channel. You are, after all, a guest in someone else's domain.
  • ASCII art can be annoying, especially in highly populated channels. Often the scripts used to display the art uses multiple lines. Don't annoy other users with it. You're also risking an auto-ban if security measures are in place on the channel.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

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