From Transsexual Support

Contents 1 About these rules 1.1 Be respectful of others. 1.2 Be supportive of others. 1.3 No kind of misogyny or misandry is allowed here. 1.4 Maintain confidentiality. What is said here should stay here. 1.5 Do not dominate the conversation in #transsexual_support with topics that have nothing to do with support. There are channels set aside for topics that tend to be problematic, please use them when appropriate. 1.6 Do not promote or glorify illegal activities, unsafe behaviors such as self-medication, drug and alcohol abuse, or other forms of self-harm and self-mutilation. 1.7 The channel staff have discretion in enforcing these rules, as well as in curbing any behavior that impairs the ability for the channel to function as a safe and supportive place for transsexual individuals. The instructions of staff members are to be regarded as a supplement to these rules, and should be followed as such. 1.8 Other Rules (mostly technical stuff)

About these rules

This is a comprehensive set of rules for our chat. It is comprehensive in the fact that it covers the situations we have experienced a need for specific rules to cover. It is not all inclusive because we cannot foresee everything, and the general principles outlined in the headings and on the shorter form of the Chat Rules always apply, and will guide staff decisions as far as what is appropriate and what is not.

Be respectful of others.

• This is not your average chat room, it is a support group for transsexual and questioning individuals, and the people in their lives.
• Don not private message others in the channel unless you are invited by them to do so, or know them well enough that your message is welcome.
• Do not come here trying to pick up a date.
• Do not argue and do not fight.
• Understand that some of our members have been subject to abuse and other traumas, and may find certain topics to be triggering. Respect triggers, and use side channels when necessary to avoid making someone relive traumatic experiences.
• Use the proper name and pronouns for other members of the channel. Accidents happen, but using the wrong name or pronouns out of disrespect will not be tolerated. Any /accidents/ that happen during an argument will be presumed to be disrespectful.

Be supportive of others.

• We are here to help each other. We may disagree, we may be on different paths, to different destinations.
• Never criticize or judge someone for their life decisions.

No kind of misogyny or misandry is allowed here.

Misogyny and misandry are aimed at all of us in our day to day lives, and bringing them into a channel that should be safe for everyone is never appropriate. It is understandable that a lot of people have issues with others of their assigned sex, but there are people of all genders here, and comments like \\\"men are stupid\\\" do not help the channel be a safe place for everyone.

Maintain confidentiality. What is said here should stay here.

• Do not repost logs or excerpts from the channel elsewhere. Better yet, do not even keep logs of the channel.
• Do not post pictures of other people in the channel without clear permission to do so, and do not repost pictures of members anywhere else.
• Consider your own privacy when deciding what to share. While we have a strong stance on privacy, and will respond harshly to violations, we cannot force other members of the chat to respect privacy, only respond to what we are aware of.

Do not dominate the conversation in #transsexual_support with topics that have nothing to do with support. There are channels set aside for topics that tend to be problematic, please use them when appropriate.

• #transsexual_support was created for support-related topics. As the channel grew, it became apparent that it also filled another need - a place for people who the world sees as different to just be themselves and be accepted. As we have evolved, we have grown to accommodate a lot of conversations that have nothing to do with support or transsexuality, and this is cool. At the same time, we are still a place for people to get support, and that is the primary purpose of the channel.
• Some topics are triggering to others, or are highly disruptive. These almost always belong in a side channel, or don ot belong on the network at all. Examples include anything to do with weapons, sexual assault, politics, or religious beliefs. Take these topics to the side channels to begin with. If they come up in a support context, do not drag the channel into an extended discussion on them.
• Keep an eye on the channel when you are chatting. Pay attention to new people, or regulars that might be seeking comfort or support. Stop general chatter in #transsexual_support if it is going to drown out someone needing help.
• You may be asked by a member of the channel to move something to a side channel. Please take their needs and feelings into consideration, and do so out of respect.

Do not promote or glorify illegal activities, unsafe behaviors such as self-medication, drug and alcohol abuse, or other forms of self-harm and self-mutilation.

• These are issues for many people here, and a lot of us are trying to recover from them. Promotion of them can only interfere in that recovery.
• It is understandable why people may be considering self-medication, but as a network we cannot either promote or enable that.

The channel staff have discretion in enforcing these rules, as well as in curbing any behavior that impairs the ability for the channel to function as a safe and supportive place for transsexual individuals. The instructions of staff members are to be regarded as a supplement to these rules, and should be followed as such.

• Arguments often flare up despite the best of intentions. There is very little difference between argument and debate sometimes, and it may be hard to tell. In order to keep the channel running smoothly, and the conversation respectful, staff members will sometimes end conversation about a topic. Please do not try to get the last word in. You may continue your conversation in a side channel or in private if appropriate, but take it out of the main channel.
• Topics which tend to lead to conflict, or to trigger others may be halted by a staff member before they become problematic. If appropriate, the conversation may be moved to private or to a side channel.
• Channel staff may immediately respond to disruptive behavior to include flooding, repeating, bots, harassment, malfunctioning scripts, or anything else that keeps the channel from running smoothly.

Other Rules (mostly technical stuff)

1. Do not flood the chat room (flooding is repeating something many times to get attention or annoy others, or pasting many lines at once into the chat room). This disturbs everyone and will get you the wrong kind of attention.
2. Do not run bots in the channel.
3. You are expected to be in full control of the IRC client you use on the channel. If it posts annoying messages, inserts colors into everything, changes your text to be accented characters that barely resemble your original text, or does anything else to be an annoyance, you will be asked to make it stop. In particularly serious cases, or if this happens while you are away, you may find yourself temporarily removed from the channel. If you have scripts loaded that may cause this sort of behavior, disable or remove them as necessary to make sure that they are not a nuisance.
4. Avoid the use of colors on the channel. Not everybody can see them, and those that cannot usually see text mixed with weird codes. Not to mention, they are only cute for about the first five minutes, and for most of us, that five minutes was up years ago.