Camp Half-Blood Role Playing Wiki:Policies Overview/Chat

The Wikia Chat is an on-site live chat that users may participate in. There is one main room of chat, and then users have the option of private messaging users into a private chat window. Generally speaking, in main chat, we prefer to keep roleplay out of it. Sometimes users may goof off a bit and pretend to fight or do random things, but we do not do any actual site roleplaying there. If users desire to do so in private messages, that is their prerogative.

We all come from different and various types of lives, homes and backgrounds, please try to respect your fellow Wikian's views and be polite and respectful while in chat.

Chat Rules
In general people must understand that people coming to participate in this wiki come from various ages, walks of life, countries, etc. They also come here, or should be coming here to this particular chat, to participate or talk about the Camp Half-Blood role play wiki. So any discussion that turns into a heated argument or debate, that has nothing what-so-ever to do with this wiki, is not appropriate here. Some topics that can lead to this sort of debate are religion and politics. Banning those topics may seem a bit harsh, but as this is a role play wiki based on the Percy Jackson books and Greek mythology, the conversations themselves have no real place here to begin with. As there is the option to privately message in chat, specific users, if you wish to carry on a religious or political debate with another user, you should do so in private messages, not open chat.

Just to clarify, a casual reference to something that may be religious, political or controversial but not intended to spur a massive debate is one thing, but once it's clear that a debate is occurring, it should be stopped. For instance, if someone's writing a character history that involves a character who was raised Jewish, they may ask a simple religious question in chat, as long as it does not turn into an all out religious debate, bordering on a fight, it's OK. Bottom line, anything that turns wiki into a heated argument or debate, will not be tolerated and chat mods should ask that the conversation cease or be taken to a private message and out of main chat.

This can be a bit of a grey area at times, what is a casual and light-hearted debate to one user, might be an uncomfortable argument to another user. Please above all else, respect the feelings of those around you, this chat is for the good of our users to use, if you have something you and another user wish to discuss, that could or does make others uncomfortable, there is no reason you can't take that discussion somewhere more private.

Also some less heated topics, but also not appropriate here, on this wiki's chat, would be heavy discussions and/or recruiting for other wiki's. That is the equivalent of a Pizza Hut Manager, walking into a Domino's Pizza to talk about Pizza Hut and try and get people to go work for them. It's pretty much downright rude. If you would like to request help with something, or would like to become our affiliate, again, you can do so on private messages.

Also, as there are many users here who are young, the conversations should try to remain pg-13, an occasional slip of a swear may be overlooked, but heavy swearing, cussing, name calling, sexual innuendos or harassment will not be tolerated.

Main chat is for out of character, we do not roleplay in chat. Some users may pretend to act things out, like *hugs* or *tackles* or some users may even mock fight in chat. As long as all this remains friendly it's fine, but as far as roleplay, if users wish to roleplay in chat, they need to do so in private messages.

Users in Chat with no Claimed Characters
As this chat is for this role playing wiki, anyone in chat should belong to the wiki, if you wish to join or are in the process of waiting on a character to be claimed, this is of course fine. However, if you keep coming back to chat, with no attempt to make a claim you may be asked to leave and/or kick banned, which is up to the discretion of the chat moderators on at the time. If you are banned from chat, once you have either adopted a character or made a claim for one, your ban will be lifted. As far as how many times a user enters chat before a ban is in place, that is at the chat mod's discretion, however a good rule of thumb is multiple times and for more than a day. This can be hard to monitor, as the same people aren't always in chat at the same time and so coming up with an "official" number isn't realistic.

Old users that come back to say hello but no longer have characters, it is of course fine that they pop in from time to time, but it would be preferred that if they are going to hang out in our chat on a daily basis, that they be an active user with characters.

Chat Warnings:
Specific to how in chat warnings/actions should be taken:


 * 1) One to two clear verbal warnings (depending on the severity of the rule break), for instance "So and so, please stop if you do not I will have to kick you from chat"
 * 2) If you don't think you are getting your point across, a "kick" may get your point across quicker that you are serious and that they need to stop.
 * 3) If they persist even after one or two verbal warnings and/or even a kick, immediately ban them for anywhere between a few hours to a few days depending on the severity of the issues. Once they are banned, leave a message on their talk page explaining the ban and how long the ban is for.
 * 4) If once the temp ban is lifted, they come back and repeatedly cause more problems in chat, they should be banned again for an even longer period, and should receive an official wiki warning.

Apologies:
If a user has committed an offence and has received only verbal warnings he or she may make an apology. It is up to the discretion of the Chat Moderator as to whether this apology will be accepted or not. If an apology is made within 10 minutes after the last warning was received he or she may be forgiven entirely. While they may forgive, Chat Moderators are by no means encouraged to forget.

Warnings Leniency:
An Administration which attempts to enforce rules and policies exactly by the book without restraint or remorse is often regarded as a hated one; as policy cannot be crafted to fit every potentiality. Therefore, it is necessary that Chat Moderators be allowed to deal with situations on a case-by-case basis instead of according to rigid or specific rules and regulations which may not be applicable. At present reasons for warnings are as follows:

Good Reasons

 * Personal attacks
 * Harassment
 * Spamming
 * Policy violation
 * Inappropriate language
 * Excessive YELLING

Bad Reasons

 * Disagreeing with an administrator, unless it gets to the point where it has turned into a heated argument and they have been asked to stop but won't

Naturally all of the above, with the exception of Policy Violation, Sock Puppetry, and disagreeing with an administrator are entirely subjective. Thus, if an esteemed user, or perhaps an entirely new member, does any of these things once or twice leniency may be a reasonable response. However if this unreasonable behaviour continues warnings may be necessary. Likewise, if a user with a history of offences does something, he may be granted less leniency or none at all. All of the above is up to the Chat Moderator's discretion.

Disputes:
If a situation occurs in which the accused disputes the subjective allegations laid against him he may ask his fellow chat members for an appeal. In this eventuality all those present in chat at the time the incident occurred will be asked to vote for or against the accusations. If the majority votes for, the accusations stand. If the majority votes against, they fail.

Note: If the accusations of a chat moderator fail, these are not grounds to make an accusation in return.

Cursing/Swearing:
At present, chat policy reads thus:

"Also, as there are many users here who are young, the conversations should try to remain pg-13, an occasional slip of a swear may be overlooked, but heavy swearing, cussing, name calling, sexual innuendos or harassment will not be tolerated."

Unfortunately "heavy swearing, cussing, name calling, sexual innuendos, or harassment" is notoriously hard to define. Users are allowed to use the following: Damn, shit, crap, bitch, and their variations/combinations. Other words like "F*ck" should have at least single letter replaced by an asterisk (*) as shown. Cursing in other languages is generally tolerated. All of the above is up to chat moderator discretion and is subject to the warning/dispute/appeal system discussed above.

Relevant Votes

 * Voting:Admin Team/Amendment to Chat Policy - Passed
 * Voting:Admin Team/Policy: Chat - Passed
 * Voting:Level 5's and Up/Chat Policy Amendment - Passed