Chatbox Rules

The Chatbox is an area given to all members of the site to simply chill out together. It should be used as an opportunity to get to know the people you are writing with, catch up with friends during the day, and a space where plotting is highly encouraged by all. We, the HAB Admins, encourage all users to use the Chatbox to its full potential wherever possible.

However, as with all public places, you must remember that anything said within the Chatbox is public, can be shared with any and all members, and you are responsible for what is said. The Admins do have the power to clear the Chatbox, but this will be at their discretion only. If you don’t want personal information being given to the site at large, please do not put it in the Chatbox.

To aid you in your use of the Chatbox, the following rules have been compiled by the Admins and should be followed at all times. We have implemented the following rules so that everyone can enjoy the Chatbox, free from worries:

1) As the site is diverse in it’s members, this means that some topics may be highly disputed between members of the site, and we do not wish to invoke problems. Should you experience a topic that you find to be offensive to you, or others, please flag this to an Admin immediately. The following topics should not be brought to the Chatbox:

a) Religion ( in a manner that could be seen as religion being attacked or pushed upon. The mention of God(s) is acceptable, however).
b) Politics (in a manner that is offensive to others, or if there are differing viewpoints. If it is merely sharing of a current situation -- and everyone is alright with it -- it is okay)
c) Racial issues


2) It is a known fact that, in life, not everyone is going to get along. We’re not going to ask you to like everyone in the Chatbox. However, the Admins do expect everyone in the Chatbox to be civil, polite, and respect others at all times. If you cannot be these three things to someone in the Chatbox, then it is you that should leave the Chatbox.


3) The Chatbox should not be used to pester other users to post. People will post in their own time. You may ask once, or twice (in case someone didn’t see), but please do not badger people into posting. This could deter them from posting altogether, and everyone wants the site to be as active as possible.

This also goes for plotting. Please do not pester people to plot with you.


4) Chatbox is a public place, for all members. This means that topics should be kept to ones everyone can participate in. Of course, individual plotting is allowed -- and encouraged -- but if there are four people in the chatbox and two are dominating the conversation, leaving others out, we will ask you to change topic and take your conversations elsewhere.


5) The Chatbox is, primarily, for Out of Character (OOC) chats -- a place to simply hang out, plot, and discuss topics as yourself. However, we are aware that sometimes your character gets the better of you and wants to put their opinion across. The odd comment, or a small snippet of conversation is allowable within the Chatbox, but the Chatbox should not be used for a full roleplay.

It should be noted, also, that In Character (IC) relationships should be kept to Roleplay settings, i.e. if your character doesn’t like someone else’s, then this should be left in the roleplay, the same with characters who are madly in love, we don’t need to see Public Displays of Affection in the Chatbox.


6) Topics of a triggering nature that would normally be headed with Trigger Warnings in Roleplay situations should not be brought to the Chatbox under any circumstances.


7) This also includes topics that make people uncomfortable -- if someone states that they are uncomfortable with the current topic being spoken about, please be courteous and drop the subject.


8 ) Bullying will not be tolerated under any circumstances in the Chatbox. Should a member of the Admin team note that bullying is taking place, you will be removed from the Chatbox instantly.

If you feel like you are being bullied by any member on HAB, please contact an Admin immediately so that we can resolve the problem.

Should something be said in the Chatbox that you deem to be bullying, please copy and paste the Chatbox so that the Admins can look into this further.

If you feel an admin has been bullying you, please contact another admin with proof of the bullying.

9) Strictly no advertising should take place on the site. Links to other forums with intent to ask people to join are prohibited. We have an OOC section for such things, and this should be used instead.

If you are simply sharing a thread in another site (after being asked) you may link to another forum. However, doing so without an invitation (if nobody asks for it), you shouldn’t post the link.


Note: Anyone found to be breaking the above rules will be subjected to a ban dependent on the severity of the rule break. The ban will be decided by the Admins, and a Private Message will be issued to the offender explaining what they have done wrong, and the length of the ban. Bans will be applied to all character’s under the individual's control.

Should they log on to another user’s character to gain access to the Chatbox, the other user will also be banned from the Chatbox.