SAUK Chatroom Rules - Last Updated 26 Oct 2022

[SAUKops]

These rules were last updated on 26th Oct 2022.

SAUK CHAT ROOMS

The information below is a guide to chat conduct and the rules that are in place to maintain a supportive and friendly environment within the SAUK chat rooms. Please re-visit this page regularly as rules are updated over time.

We welcome everyone who experiences Social Anxiety (SA) and other related mental health or anxiety issues. There are two SAUK chat rooms:
#sauk – This room is for SA topics and family-friendly chat (swearing and adult/controversial topics are not allowed).
#sauk-lounge - This room is for more general chat and may contain swearing, adult topics and topics of a more controversial nature.

Please consider carefully which of these two rooms you might be best-suited to. We also ask you to bear in mind that the chatrooms are run by volunteer SA sufferers and are not dedicated support chatrooms able to provide professional advice. The rooms are simply intended for SA sufferers to socialise and share experiences, and topics may be light-hearted and not specifically SA-related. The chatrooms are open 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

Although the rooms differ in permitted topics/language, both are intended to be a supportive environment for people who experience SA. Consequently, some basic overall rules apply to both rooms:

CHATROOM RULES

To maintain a supportive environment, there will be zero tolerance of the following:

1. Racism / Sexism / Homophobia / Transphobia / Or other hate speech
2. Religious/Ethical provocation (i.e. deliberately antagonising other users with regards to their beliefs)
3. Sexual harassment
4. Abuse towards other chatters / trolling

In addition, the following specific rules apply to the chat rooms:

1. Both chatrooms have a lower age limit. No one below the age of 13 should be using #sauk. No one below the age of 16 should be using #sauk-lounge.
2. No pornographic links, links to graphic, or potentially triggering sites are permitted.
3. No discussion or promotion of illegal drug use or other illegal activities.
4. Topics likely to be painful or triggering to other users (this may include subjects such as self-harm and suicide) should be avoided. You may be asked to stop such discussions by an Op.
5. Posting of private information, e.g. PMs, real names of chatters or other personal information is not permitted.
6. Impersonation of chatters (i.e. using the regular nick/user name of another chatter) is not allowed.
7. No direct links to other chat rooms should be posted in #sauk or #sauk-lounge.
8. Topics of a controversial or adult nature should be discussed in #sauk-lounge and not in #sauk.
9. Swearing is not permitted in #sauk. In #sauk-lounge you may be asked tone down your language if you swear too frequently.
10. No discussion of Chat Op decisions in the chat-rooms. Please contact an Op if you have any questions over moderation decisions.
11. No deliberate ban evasion (i.e. coming into chat knowing that you have been banned by an Op).
12. No bots (unless permission has been sought from the Ops).
13. Mesasge flooding or intentionally disrupting the ability of others to chat is not permitted,
14. Chat Ops may remove your IRC client from the channel after idling for more than 12 hours.
15. Please do not invite other users into the SAUK chat rooms unless they also experience SA or similar conditions.
16. Disputes outside the SAUK chatroom should stay outside the chatroom.
17. SAUK is an inclusive chat room. Any meets between chatters that are organised and advertised in the SAUK chat rooms should be inclusive and open to all.
18. Chatroom Ops may warn, kick or ban for something not covered by this list if they deem it necessary for the good of other chat-room users.

RULE BREAKING

Please be aware that the chat in both rooms is automatically logged at all times.

Breaking any of the general or specific rules posted above will result in a warning from a Chat Op, potentially followed by a ban. The current Ops are:

• girlinterrupted

Subsequent rule breaking will result in a ban from the chat rooms. Note that a ban for first offence is 24 hr. Typically, ban duration's then increase for subsequent offences to: 48 hr, 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, permanent (the Ops reserve the right to deviate from this ban schedule where necessary). Deliberate evasion of a ban, or abuse to Ops following a ban, may result in additional extensions to the ban.

GENERAL CHAT RESPONSIBILITIES AND ETIQUETTE

1. Welcome new people into the chat rooms and be polite and supportive.
2. Try to be as inclusive as you can in your discussion, particularly with regards to new users.
3. If people wish to discuss social anxiety or related conditions in #sauk, these topics should be prioritised and casual chat moved to #sauk-lounge.
4. Abide by the rules of the SAUK chat rooms (above) and the irc network (which are not included here).
5. If you are unhappy with events in chat, please PM an Op and report/discuss it, rather than potentially exacerbating events by discussing them in the room.
6. Always comply with requests from Ops made in the rooms. You are welcome to subsequently discuss such requests via PM with an Op.
7. If you are away from your PC or busy elsewhere, it is good etiquette to change your nick to ‘away’ so that chatters are not worried by a lack of response.
8. PMs should be at the agreement of both parties – do not harass someone into PMing with you, and respect it if some people prefer not to PM.
9. Both chatrooms are busiest during the evenings (UK time) and may be quiet during the day. Please be patient if conversation is intermittent, and understand that this is the usual ebb and flow of the chatroom. A lot of people stay logged in for large chunks of time but only join in the discussion intermittently because they are busy elsewhere.

QUESTIONS AND GETTING HELP

If you wish to make a complaint about an event that occurred in #sauk or #sauk-lounge, please PM one of the Ops listed above or email saukchatops at gmail dot com. You should try and PM an active Op rather than an Op with ‘away’ beside their nick who may be busy elsewhere.

If you wish to complain about a PM you received from another chatter while using #sauk or #sauk-lounge, please be aware that Ops cannot view PMs and that overseeing what happens in PMs is not therefore possible. We will assist where possible, but essentially if you agree to PM with another chatter, you do so at your own risk.

If you require help with using the chat room, either ask a Chat Op or else visit some of the help threads that have been posted on the SAUK forums: