The picture shown above is a typical chat room screen. They are called chat rooms because people can meet
there and send messages to each other. Of course it is not really a room like in our house, but rather an
imaginary room where people can get together to chat.The frame on the right shows who is in the room. Lots
of chat rooms allow you to click on the person's name to send them a private message that no one else in
the room can see. The bottom frame is where you type your message. When you type a message and send it
from this frame everyone in the room can see it. The largest frame on the left is where everyone's messages
are displayed. Usually in front of each message is the name of the person who sent it.
The first thing you must learn about chatting on the Internet is to never under any circumstances reveal
your name, phone number, address, or any other personal information! You never know who you may be chatting
with! Just because someone's name might be Sweet_Lisa it does not mean that Sweet_Lisa is even a she!
Sweet_Lisa might actually be Mean_Old_Man who is only in the chat room to try and find out where someone
lives so he can go hurt them!
A mean person always tries to act very nice so he or she can become your
friend. When they have your trust they can find out everything about you! I do not want to scare anybody
from chatting, but you MUST always be very careful! As long as you use a fake name and never give any
personal information, you should be alright. If someone ever bothers you, is mean to you, or scares you
in anyway, tell your parents immediately. Write down this person's username, what was said, and the time
and date. Inform the people in charge of the website about it. Usually you can find their email address
somewhere on the site.
There are several places for kids to chat online. One place is here at Kids Online in the Kids Club chat room. If
you ever have a problem with anyone in our chat room please let me know immediately. I try to keep Kids
Online safe, but it is always possible for someone to be in our chat room that shouldn't be. There are
several other places where kids are fairly safe to chat. If you look at the bottom of this page you will
find some links to other websites that have chat rooms designed for kids. Please remember that even though
these places are much safer than most other chat rooms, there is nothing to prevent a mean person from
being there and trying to find out personal information about you or your family. Always be very careful
no matter where you decide to chat!
Once you have decided where you want to chat, use your fake Internet name. If you have not decided on a
fake name yet, you might try choosing the name of one of your heroes. You could also use the name of a
favorite cartoon character. Often someone else will already have chosen your name. If that happens you
may have to add some numbers or something to get the one you want. Everyone wants to use names like
Batman or Barbie. You may have to choose something like Batman234 or Barbie632. Just don't use your
real name, birthday, or something like that!
If they ask for a phone number or address when you are
signing up just make up fake ones like I always do. I might say I live at 1234 Mickey Mouse Road, New
York. Some of you may say that this is not being honest, but it isn't their business where you live or
what your phone number is. You are simply not revealing your personal information. If you would rather
not have to give a fake address or phone number find a website that doesn't ask for that kind of
information. The thing to always remember about chatting is to keep your personal information a secret!
It's not lying. It's just being smart!
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