RootsChatterbox - Chatroom Information and 'Terms of Use'

[Berlin-Bob]

RootsChatterBox

RootsChatterBox is a Chat-Room where you can conduct a Roots-Chat instantly with a number of other people at the same time. It can be very useful if you've only got a quick easy to answer question, or perhaps if you just want to natter. It's sometimes difficult to work out what's going on in RootsChatterBox at first, and it can be confusing seeing others people's messages on the screen - but after a while you will get the hang of it!

To enter RootsChatterBox click on the "chat" button in the forum menu
(the number in brackets - if present - is the numbers of people currently in the chatroom)



At the bottom of the chatroom screen you will see an input box. 
To join in the conversation, just type in the box and press <enter>, or click on [Submit]   

To leave the RootsChatterbox please click on "Logout" (top left-hand corner of the screen).

Please note: 
If you are inactive for 30 minutes, you will be automatically booted from the chatroom
(to make room for others).


Terms of Use

Very important: The Chatroom is part of the RootsChat Forum,
and you are also expected to abide by the Terms of Use and the RootsChat Copyright Policy here.

In particular:

"You agree, through your use of this RootsChat forum, that you will not post any material which is false, defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a living person's privacy, or otherwise contrary to law."

Anything that is not allowed on the forum boards
is also not allowed in the chatroom.

Private messages (PM) within the chatroom are private and can only be seen by the parties concerned.  However, all RootsChatterBox messages are automatically logged. Please be aware that these logs also include all private messages from within the chatroom. These logs can only be read by the administrators and moderators of RootsChat but this will normally only be done when acting on complaints.

Your decision to use the chatroom must take this into account. If you cannot accept this,
then please do not use the chatroom.  Please read Reply #3 for a fuller explanation.

The Chatroom is open to all RootsChatters. Provided all chatters abide by the Terms of Use there are no 'rules' about the subject matter.

BUT: experience shows that discussions about politics and religion bring out the worst in us very quickly,
so to keep things friendly, we recommend that you avoid these subjects.

Some members use the Chatroom for family history research, some members use it to "chat about this and that", most members use it for both purposes, chatting about other things, when nobody wants FH help.

Please remember that the Terms of Use also limits advertising to one particular RootsChat board,
the For Sale / Wanted / Events board.
Do not use the chatroom to advertise websites.

Important: Please remember, the RootsChatterbox is visited by people from all over the world.  Other countries, other customs, other humour, other points of view, etc.  Please be tolerant and of other views, and in particular, be careful with  humour. 


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There have been several discussions about the Chatroom here on the forum and we have been asked by several Chatroom users if we can publish a set of rules in the Chatroom for the benefit of all users, especially newcomers.

The chatroom software is a proprietry "add-on": we cannot change it. 
This means it is not possible to add a "Welcome" screen or a "Terms of Use" screen.

Nor is it possible to "sticky" anything in the Chatroom itself, so instead,
we have gathered some of the results of the various discussions into this topic.

As some members rarely read these items, and only log-on to RootsChat in order to visit the Chatroom, we ask all regular Chatroom members to inform new users about the help available and to pass on these links:

Help Page:
http://www.rootschat.com/help/rootschatter.php
RootsChat Topic: RootsChatterbox - Chatroom Information and 'Terms of Use':
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,309726.0.html

Thank you,
The RootsChat Team

[Berlin-Bob]

Some do's and don'ts for the Chatroom ...

Here are a few tips and guide-lines. As usual, in such cases, most of this is

just normal politeness, good manners and common sense

Every one is very friendly, so don't be put off if every one starts saying " Hello & where ya from " just take your time and type what you want when you are ready. We are pretty patient lot and we were all new once in there.


The chat room can seem fast when you are new, so take your time,
and converse with one person only for a start, and then slowly begin to converse with a few.


You can choose what colour you want your messages to appear in (see below) and it is sometimes easier to follow the colour(s) of the people you are talking to.


If someone puts up information for you, you can click on the "Save" button, just above the box where you type your input, and then click on "File" and "Save as ..." This will save all of the conversation, including any private conversations you have been having, to your computer, where you can process it at leasure.


Now and again you will meet someone whose questions may be a bit penetrating,
but as in any other community, don't "give away" too much until you know the people a bit better.  If you don't want to 'talk' to people by private messages (PM), you can click on that person's profile and and on "ignore", to block  their PMs.


Please be very careful with humour and jokes in the chatroom.  In face-to-face conversation you can use body language, tone of voice and facial expressions to convey the "jokiness" of what you are saying, but in the chatroom there is only the printed word to go by, and this can easily be misunderstood.  Usually you can pick up the tone of a conversation fairly well, when you know the people involved but one problem about chat-rooms is that there is often no way to "read the intonation" of what a person is actually meaning to say. 
Some try to convey this by using smileys or chatroom abbreviations (see below).

If in doubt, ask

I think it can best be summed up by saying:

stay friendly, polite and helpful ....  and tolerant of typos !,

the rest is trimmings 


Capitals

As in most internet chatrooms and forums, writing in capitals is considered to be shouting.
(see also: Topic: >>----- Guidelines for Postings / Netiquette -----<< )
You will be told soon enough, if you've accidently locked the shift key


Abbreviations
Here are a few of the most frequently used abbreviations:

b4	:	before
bbl	:	be back later
bfn	:	bye for now
brb	:	be right back
cyl	:	see you later
lol	:	laughing out loud
Blimey	:	Oh my gosh / God / goodness / ...
rofl	:	rolling on the floor laughing
ty	:	thank you
wb	:	welcome back
yw	:	you're welcome
	:

[Berlin-Bob]

Work in progress ....



Individual settings

Colours

You can choose a background colour by clicking on the pull-down list for styles. The standard style is Core off-white (Style: Core). Text colour: Click on tools on the bottom right (spanner and screwdriver) Tick "persist font colour" Click tools button again to save Then change your font colour by selecting the [Font Color] button at the bottom. Click the button again to save your colour.

Some text colours clash with background colours, and can cause headaches, eye strain, etc.
Please choose colours carefully.
remember, this is your health we're talking about !!


Buttons, bottom left:

- [ b ] : bold
- [ i ] : italics
- [ u ] : underline
- [ Quote ]
Either: click on the relevant button and then enter the text between the ] and [ brackets
Or: mark the text and then click on the relevant button


- code
- URL

- Image	(only online images can be used for this)
	click on [Image]
	paste the inline-URL of the image between the ] and [ brackets
	press <enter> or click on [submit]
IMPORTANT:	use sparingly and only small images please. Posting post census images is not allowed.

- [ Font Color ]
Either: click on [Font Color] and then enter the text between the ] and [ brackets
Or: mark the text and then click on [Font Color]

When finished, click [Font Color] again, to remove the colour bar (it overlaps and hides the smileys )


Buttons, Bottom right:

- 1 Help: chatroom commands
- 2 tools: individual settings
- 3 heads: user list
- 4 sound on/off  : Some like them, some don't.  Turn them on/off here.
- 5 automatic scrolling on/off : turn off if you want to look at previous replies
      or if the chat is going too fast for you.

[Berlin-Bob]

Work in progress ....

Some changes from the old RootsChatterbox ...

• It is no longer possible to save the chat conversations with [Save]-Button.
  You will need to mark the area you wish to save and Copy&Paste it into a document (Word or editor).
  
  
• It is no longer possible to link to a Chatter's RootsChat profile through the 'Online Users' list,
  you will have to search for them
  - in the list of members
      Navigation bar at the top of every page: [MEMBERS]
  - in the list of Users Online at the bottom of the forum index page
      Navigation bar at the top of every page: [FORUM]
  
  
• The name used when registering in Rootschat is known as the user name,
  This is also automatically entered as your profile name (displayed in your posts).
  Registered users can (if they wish) change their profile names.
  In the old chatroom the user name was displayed
  In the new chatroom the profile name is displayed
  
  

Some possible technical problems ...

"Macroed", "booted", The Revolving Door Syndrome

Please be aware, that you will sometimes be "thrown out" of the chatroom. 
This may be because you haven't done anything in the chatroom for 30 minutes or left the room by simply closing the window/tab.

The software then kicks you out, because
1) If people don't log out properly the list fills up and at some stage the room is full and nobody else can get in.
2) some people just come in and lurk. this will kick them out and if they keep returning, we know they are only lurkers and can deal with them accordingly.

Or it may be a timing problem ...
And if it's any consolation:  this is not solely a RootsChat problem.  It happens in other chat rooms as well.  Chat rooms are happening in "real time" and are therefore very "resource hungry". There could be umpteen computers, routers and switchgear, and hundreds of miles of phone cables between your computer and the RootsChat computer, and if a reaction doesn't come within a certain time - anywhere along the (computer) chain - one of the components involved might "say": I'm not getting a reaction - and will "timeout", thus cancelling the program.

• It could be a bottleneck (high traffic load) at one of the many servers between your computer and the RootsChat computer,
• it could be that your computer has a lot of other stuff running and can't always cope,
• it could be that your computer is  a bit older and simply can't react fast enough, thus causing a timeout.
• it could be that the phone lines are being affected by weather conditions
  (don't laugh, I'm being serious. It does happen !)
• it could be ..... well, we just don't know

This is often referred to in the chatroom as being "macroed" or being "booted" !

If it happens to you, just log back in again, and carry on 

Some days it can be particularly bad ... then it's called RDS - Revolving Door Syndrome   


Trouble getting in

Some members report having a problem entering the RootsChatterBox. 
we still have no answer to this.
Possible cause suggested so far:
- computer can't cope: older computers sometime have problems coping.
- Internet connection problems (see ' "Macroed", "booted", The Revolving Door Syndrome' above)

[Berlin-Bob]

Tips and FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

Q:	There is a flashing light/button at the top right-hand corner of the screen.  Why is it flashing, what does it mean ?"
A:	This indicates that the data in the chatroom is being "refreshed".  If nobody is talking, then there are no changes in the chatroom window. But the flashing light at least shows that the chatroom is still working, and hasn't frozen.
Q:	Why are some names still in the "Online Users" although they have left the chatroom
A:	If you use the [ Logout ]-Button, your name will be removed from the list. If you simply close the browser window or tab, then your name will stay in the list for 30 mins (until you are timed-out - ChatBot:YourName has been logged out (Timeout).).
Tip:	If you are doing a lookup for someone, make it clear that you are searching, and tell him/her to stay in the chatoom till you report back.  Sometimes people leave the chatroom by just closing the window, and you don't know this, because you can still see them in "Online Users" until they are timed-out, 30 minutes later

[Berlin-Bob]

Chatroom Moderation / Complaints from the Chatroom

We do not moderate the Chatroom on a daily basis, and there is no specific "Chatroom Moderator" but all moderators (with chatroom access) can be asked to help out.

Nor are there any "Chatroom Bosses", neither officially appointed, nor self-appointed.
So if any (non-moderator) says "I'm the boss here", ignore them

Moderators in the chatroom can be recognised by their name colour in the chatroom "Users online" list. According to the particular style being used, moderator names will be either green or blue.

In the case of a complaint about unsuitable behaviour in the chatroom, the moderators will determine what has happened and act accordingly.

Complaints are usually about

language, flaming, bullying, vandals, trolls, and sexual harassment

Bullying (in schools at least) is defined as

The repeated intimidation of others by the real or threatened infliction of [..] verbal, written, electronically transmitted, or emotional abuse

Flaming is defined as

... a hostile and insulting interaction between Internet users.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flaming_(Internet)

Vandals and trolls are people with no interest in family history, who come into the chatroom and make a nuisance of themselves.

Please report any obvious vandals, trolls, sex maniacs, etc to a moderator immediately^(*).

In general, we assume you will act responsibly and we do not normally step in just because someone has taken a joke the wrong way, or because a rude word is used occasionally. You are all adults (apart from a few exceptions) and we expect you to deal with these things in an adult fashion. 

However, if you feel that any chatroom user is repeatedly behaving unsuitably, please contact a moderator^(*). In the event that a complaint is made to the moderators, they will consider whether the complaint is justified and act upon same.  This action may be a request to members to modify their behaviour, or it may be an immediate ban, either temporary or permanent, depending on circumstances.

A temporary ban will usually be for 1 - 3 months. After it has expired, if a further situation arises where this same member is the cause of complaints, then a second ban will probably be permanent.


The complaints probably apply only to a very small minority of
Chatroom users but we cannot tolerate that they spoil it for the other users.


For your reassurance:

Apart from spammers, vandals and sex-chatters and similar trouble-makers, who will be banned from RootsChat immediately, a chatroom ban is not made impulsively. 

In case of complaints the moderators will analyse and discuss the chatroom logs and decide by consensus what action to take.  This decision will reflect not only the behaviour that triggered the complaint, but also previous behaviour on RootsChat.

_____________________________________________________________

^(*)If there are no moderators in the chatroom
then to contact a moderator for any reason, please see

Topic: Contacting a Moderator
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,40033.0.html
or
Help-pages:  http://www.rootschat.com/help/mods.php#contact

[Berlin-Bob]

Chatroom Moderation

The RootsChatterbox is open 24 hours a day.

This makes it very difficult to moderate it continuously, so we have the following possibilities:

• 1st. possibility: Self regulation - although the moderators do occasionaly come into the chatroom, this is not enough, so the chatroom users must also moderate their own language and behaviour - i.e. not moderate others, but moderate themselves.
  
  If each and every user checks that s/he is doing nothing in the chatroom that is not allowed on the forum boards, then there should be no problems.
  
  
• 2nd. possibilty: We only open the chatroom at specific times when a moderator can be present. 
  Due to the international membership of RootsChat this is not really a viable option,
  as there will always be members wishing to use the chatroom when no moderator is available.
  
  
• 3rd. possibility: We close the chatroom down.

As none of the users wish the chatroom to be closed down, this means that only the first option is viable:

Self regulation: Every RootsChattterBox user must always moderate
their own language and behavior in the chatroom.


If it is not allowed on the RootsChat forum, then it is also not allowed in the RootsChatterBox.

[Berlin-Bob]

This topic has been updated:


As some members only log-on to RootsChat in order to visit the Chatroom,
and rarely read the board topics, we ask all regular Chatroom members
to inform other users and to pass on this link:

RootsChatterbox - Chatroom Information and 'Terms of Use' :
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,309726.0.html

Thank you,
The RootsChat Team