We want this to be a fun and friendly place where you can meet people, have nice conversations, learn more about your ancestors and make friends.In order to keep it that way, please read and follow the following RULES and GUIDELINES chat members need to follow.

1. Genealogy chat members must be respectful towards one another while in the chat room. No name calling, racial remarks or arguing/bickering. If you have a problem with someone - take it private to chat IM or outside of the room.

2. While the trivia game is being conducted, special chat topic(s) are scheduled or when lookups in the regular chat room(s) are being done, it would be appreciated if the idle chat and joking around was kept to a minimum. This is being respectful to those that are trying to concentrate on the trivia game, special chat event or their look up request(s).

NOTE: If there are no genealogy look up requests being worked on by chat members or no trivia game being conducted. It is perfectly okay to idle chat and joke around with your fellow chat members. This is a good way to get to know one another when we are not working on genealogy research.

3. Genealogy chat members should not use any foul language or obcenities in the chat room. Some foul words have already been filtered from being a used in the chat room.

4. Harass, Stalking, Threaten, Degrade or Intimidate other chat members or hosts/moderators is prohibited and will not be tolerated at any time in the chat room.

5. Genealogy chat members should refrain from posting disrespectful or negative comments about a particular scheduled chat topic or event. These comments should be directed privately to the host/moderator in charge or the chat room owner.

6. DO NOT USE ALL CAPS! It means you're a yelling and it's considered rude. We only use ALL CAPS when we are posting the surnames that we are researching in the room.

7. Genealogy chat members are required to register to receive the genealogy weekly newsletter and/or daily chat reminders. This will be the only way we will be able to keep them informed about their favorite future chats. Any chatter who refuses to sign up for it when asked, will be at risk losing their chat account.

8. Genealogy chat members must login into their chat accounts at least once a month to avoid risking losing their FREE chat membership. Any chatter whose account has not been active for 45-60 days will be at risk losing their chat account. Chat members will have to re-register a user name and password to join future chats if their account was removed. There is no guarantee that you will be able to register the same name again if it has been taken by another chat member.

NOTE: Chatters do not have to attend every chat session. We do ask them to attend at least one chat per month. I know that is hard to do since many of us have very busy lives and obligations. It only takes a minute to login within every 30 days to make sure your chat account is still active.

9. DO NOT post your personal mailing address or email address within the chat room. Please use the chat private instant message to give that info to the person you wish to have it or email your personal mailing address. This is for everyone to protect their privacy from those they wish not to have their personal information.

These rules will be enforced. Any chatter who chooses to violate the chat room rules will get a warning from the chat host or moderator scheduled in the room. If the chatter continues after they have been warned; they may be expelled for 30 days or will be banned from the chat room.

Serious Trouble in the Room?
If you are experiencing trouble with a chatter, please note the chatter's user name, when the problem occurred (Month, Date, Year) and the nature of the complaint or dispute.. File a complaint to our grievance committee Chat Member Complaint and we will look into the situation.

In the meantime, while the complaint is being investigated, please feel free to right click on the user's name in the list of chatters and select ignore.

Please note:
We can not be responsible for certain unintelligent people who choose to violate our rules in unhosted chats. Our chat sessions & private messages are logged daily for security purposes or to archive special chat events to be posted at a later date. However, if we detect such behavior at any time, hosted or not, we will notify our grievance committee or expell and/or ban (depending on the violation) that person from our chat rooms!