Sweeties Chatroom Etiquette

The Sweeties Sweeps Live Chatroom is one of the best features on this site. You will see the chat window on the right-hand side of the screen on the homepage. It has been disabled on post pages to help them load faster. To access the Chatroom you can type www.chatroll.com/sweeties-sweeps in the address bar of your browser or look for the chatroom button at the top right of every page.

It is super simple to use. Just click add your name, click in the white box at the bottom of the screen to type your message and then press Enter to send it.

I may not always be available but when I am I will answer your sweepstakes questions. There is usually someone in the chatroom at all times who is willing to help as well.

If you want to be a member of the Sweeties Sweeps chat community you can click the link at the bottom of the screen that will take you to the chatroll.com website where you can sign up. By signing up for a Chatroll account you get to give yourself a picture.

Chatroom Etiquette
Or what I like to call – think before you chat!

These guidelines as designed for Sweeties Sweeps chatroom. If you are on another site I am sure they will have their own guidelines they will want you to follow.

#1 Topics:
Feel free to talk about sweeps and just about any other topic that comes to mind. Maybe you just need to tell someone about your day. That is perfectly fine.

However, conversations that get into very personal issues are not appropriate for this site. This site is about sweepstakes and conversations should be light and fun. Deep, dark subject content is not appropriate for this site and should be taken elsewhere. While I know everyone needs someone to talk out their problems to, this site is not the place for it.

#2 Treat Visitors with Respect/Setting a Postive Chat Tone:
The chatroom is a place on Sweeties Sweeps that welcomes readers and visitors with open arms and sets a positive tone and non-threatening environment. I want everyone who visits to feel they can chat without being attacked or made fun of. You may find that on other sites but it is totally unacceptable on mine.

If visitors get way off topic or out of hand there is usually a moderator around to give then a friendly warning that what they are talking about is inappropriate. If necessary a moderator can ban a user for inappropriate behavior.

DO NOT fuel the fire of a visitor who is out of hand by continuing to talk to him/her. The best thing to do is to ignore them and they will eventually stop because they will no longer have an audience to play their games with. If that doesn’t work then the moderator will take over.

Here is the general rule of thumb: Do not verbally abuse, attack, embarrass, or threaten anyone else in the chat room, no matter what they might say to you. You are bound to find some troublemakers on the Internet. But, the best way to deal with them is to just ignore them, leave the room or alert a moderator who can ban that person from the chatroom if necessary.

Remember that you were new to this hobby once and no question is ever dumb. If someone has a question that means they don’t know the answer and you should consider yourself lucky to be the person who has the knowledge to answer that question.

If you are the person asking the question, please give the people in the room a chance to answer you. Although you will see a list of people who are in the live in the chatroom they may be off in another window doing something else when you ask your question.

#3 Language:
Do not use obscene, offensive, or sexually explicit language. You don’t need to use this kind of language in order to speak to someone or to get your point across to others.

#4 Linking:
Linking to specific sweepstakes entry forms and official rules pages is perfectly fine. Linking or promoting other sweepstakes sites similar to mine is not. These posts/links will be removed. Put yourself in my place. What if you had a sweepstakes site and I visited your chatroom, if you had one, and started promoting my own site. You wouldn’t be too happy either. It’s called “bad form” (see Captain Hook, Hook 1991).

Feel free to tell a visitor to use Google and type sweepstakes forums or sweepstakes message boards. They are so easy to find there is no reason to promote them. All of the sweepstakes sites I have been on have the same policy. I spend as much time building up my site as they do and while a little competition is a good thing I figure readers can search easily enough for these others sites that I do not need to go out of my way to promote them.

Why not ask other readers for their email address and chat about other sites via private email.

#5 Promoting Your Own Site:
I do not have a problem allowing readers to promote their own site occasionally (unless it is purely a sweeps site) but doing it to the extreme is not accepted. Once again, promoting your own site is taking advantage of my traffic and readers so while I do allow it I do not allow it to the extreme. I spent a lot of time building up my site and I do not feel that readers or visitors should use my site for the purposes of promoting their own site. Example: Posting the link to your site once a day is fine. Posting it 3 or 4 times in one day is not.

#6 Affiliate Links:
Posting an affiliate link or any other link that makes you money when a reader clicks on it is not allowed. These posts/links will be removed. See bad form reference above.

#7 Voting Links:
Feel free to ask other chatroom readers to vote for you if you are involved in a contest. However, please do not make a pest out of yourself by posting your link so often that it becomes annoying. Be respectful of others as other readers may also be in the same contest and want the same exposure as you get. Everyone should get a turn and there should not be favoritism shown to anyone. Everyone can post their voting link in the Contest Database.

Questions:
If you ever have questions feel free to ask someone in the chatroom for help. Josh, James, Breezy, and Adrienne are our current moderators (07/09).

Final Note:
I love having the chatroom on my site as it makes it more interactive but I also feel that it is a privilege to allow you to chat with others who are also interested in this hobby. If it gets out of hand and starts to get used by visitors for their own purposes I have no problem removing it. Remember I am usually watching even if you don’t think I am there.

Remember, think before you chat and remember why you use Sweeties Sweeps to begin with – to win cash and prizes!