The TeenHelp Chat Room is a place for teens from around the World to get together and talk to others like them. We encourage you to get to know others from the site here, help newer members feel welcomed, or give advice to anyone who comes looking for it, as well as asking for help for any problems you may be having yourself. If this is your first time using our Chat Room, here is some information that will help you get started.

On the user list, Administrators, Super moderators and Chat moderators are shown with a red icon. These people have the ability to silence, kick or ban you from the Chat Room for breaking the rules. These people are TeenHelp staff members, so if they ask you to stop doing something you should listen to them. All other users appear with a blue icon on the user list.

The TeenHelp Chat Room is split into four subrooms. These are:

• Chat Lobby - The main, all-purpose room for general chat.
• Support and Advice - A room for giving and receiving advice.

There are two of each room for use when the Chat Room is very busy.

You can contact other Chat users through a private message by clicking on their name to bring up the user menu and selecting "Instant Message". This will open a window that will let you talk to them away from the rest of the people in the Chat Room. This can be useful if you need advice for a problem and only want to talk to a certain person about it.

There are many other features available in the Chat Room, all of which can be explored by either clicking the buttons near the bottom of the chat room, or through clicking on a username. If there's anything you're unsure about, just ask one of the other Chat Room users to help you out.

Commands

The basic user commands in the Chat Room are as follows. Don't include the brackets [ ] as they are used to separate parameters from the commands. Type a command (starting with the /) into the main Chat window to use it.

/me [action] - Does the specified action. This can be any action you like, e.g. Joe says hello to everyone.
/msg [username] [message] - Sends a Private Message to the designated user. [message] is optional; a blank message window will be opened for the targeted person if not included.

Toolbar buttons

Color button - Changes your font color.
B button - Makes the selected text bold.
I button - Makes the selected text italic.
U button - Makes the selected text underlined.
Smiley button - Displays a list of smiley faces.
+ button - Makes the font on the screen larger.
- button - Makes the font on the screen smaller.
Clear button - Clears everything in the main Chat window.
Clock button - Turn timestamps on or off.
Speakers button - Turn sounds on or off.
Float button - Float the Chat Room out of the page.
? button - Opens up the Chat Room documentation.
Log out button - Logs you out of Chat.

User menu

Instant Message - Initiate Private Message with a user. Same as /msg command.
Ignore - Ignore messages by a user.
View Profile - View a user's forum profile.

Discipline will occur when the Chat Room rules are broken, and might include being silenced, kicked or banned from the Chat Room.

• Silences - A silence prevents you from typing in the Chat Room. They are usually issued for a short period of time, probably around thirty seconds.

• Kicks - A kick will temporarily disconnect you from the Chat Room. You may re-enter freely if you are willing to follow the rules.

• Bans - A ban will block your access to the chat room for a time. The minimum chat room ban is thirty days. A Moderator should generally contact you to explain why a ban was issued.

More serious discipline (i.e. bans) will be given to users who are familiar with the Chat Room or who have been warned about inappropriate behaviour previously. Questions about chat room discipline can be directed at an Administrator or a member of the Disputes Committee (click here for details).

The Moderator will generally tell you either before or after silencing or kicking you exactly what you did to merit being silenced or kicked. If not, you may ask the Moderator in a polite and non-intrusive fashion. Do not argue with the Moderator about whether or not what happened was fair; if you have a problem with the Moderator's actions, please contact an Administrator or a member of the Disputes Committee. The site's Terms of Service can be found here.

Transcripts of the chat room are recorded 24 hours a day. The transcripts include conversations in all rooms and through private messages. The transcripts are usually only viewed when there is a problem in the chat room that must be investigated, however as it is possible that an administrator might read your conversations, it is advised that you keep conversations out of the chat room if you wouldn't be comfortable with an administrator reading them. Rule violations found in transcripts when staff members were not present will still result in disciplinary actions, including the issuing of chat room bans.

Chat room moderators and administrators reserve the right to kick or ban you from the chat room at any time and for any reason, whether specifically listed in the chat rules or not, and should explain these reasons to you if you do not know what they are. If you have any problems with punishments given to you in the chat room, please contact an administrator or a member of the Disputes Committee (click here for details).

Below are some specific examples of Chat Room problems, however most technical problems with the Chat Room can be resolved by following our general Chat Room troubleshooting guide here.

If you do not see the Chat applet on the Chat Room page, you more than likely need to install Java. You can do so by visiting this site.

The Chat Room cannot connect to the server.

If the Chat Room loads but fails to connect to the server, you're probably behind a firewall that blocks the ports our Chat Room uses. This is common in schools and universities. You may need to contact your network administrator or service provider to request that ports are unblocked before you can access the Chat Room.

Alternatively, the Chat Room will not be able to connect to the server if your Internet disconnects. If this happens, you will have to reconnect to the Internet and try again.

It says I don't have permission to use the Chat Room.

You may receive a 'no permission' message when you try to access the Chat Room if:

• You are a guest or aren't logged in.
• You have registered but haven't confirmed your e-mail address (account activation).
• You have been banned from the Chat Room.

If you are a guest, you must register before you can use the Chat Room. When you register you're sent an e-mail with a link that you have to click in order to activate your account. Unactivated accounts aren't allowed to use the Chat Room. Accounts require activation to make sure that people have used a valid e-mail address.

It says my username or password is invalid.

If you're being told that your username or password is invalid, you may need to clear your web browser's cache and/or temporary files. When updates are made to the Chat Room sometimes your computer will retain the older version. You need to clear the old version off your computer to be able to properly get the newer version.

Alternatively, some special characters may not be supported by the Chat Room. If you use special characters (such as those from a language other than English), you are advised to remove those characters from your username.