Athena Message Board:

            Rules: (adapted from a variety of chatrooms)

                       

  1. No Posting Personal Information:  Never give out or ask for personal contact information or any information that would help someone locate you. To be clear, DO NOT post or ask others for last names, phone numbers, credit card information, street addresses, town names, zip codes, neighborhoods or school names (big cities are okay -- it's safer to say you live "near Ft. Worth" than to say you live in Arlington, Texas). Additionally, DO NOT post or ask for Internet contact information such as email addresses, AOL messenger service #s, MSN messenger service #s, ICQ #s, or any other instant messenger.
  2. No Shouting: Do not use all capital letters when posting messages. The use of all capital letters when posting a message in a in a chat room or during an Instant Messaging session is considered shouting and very poor manners. Here is an example of shouting: THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF SHOUTING. Shouting is also very irritating to a lot of users. 
  3.  No Flaming: Do not engage or participate in any activities directly or indirectly which harass, threaten, abuse or intimidate other users. In other words, don't be mean to others. Always treat others as you would want them to treat you. The final judgment of what is ruled to be "flaming" is at the sole discretion of the Athena staff.
  4. No Offensive Language: Do not post, or attempt to post by disguise (represent swear words with symbols or numbers), any words which are "foul", "obscene", or "cuss" words. Additionally, explicitly violent talk, fights, racist language, or other abusive language is not allowed. Strong language and vulgarity are prohibited. Use a similar standard of language to what you might hear on major network TV, on the radio, or in any other public forum. Crude sex words are strictly prohibited. Using asterisks or other symbols in place of letters does not make a word okay to use. Please use common sense and courtesy. If you wouldn't say it in polite company you shouldn't say it here. The final judgment of what is ruled to be a "foul" word, an "obscene" word, or a "cuss" word  inappropriate for viewing is at the sole discretion of the Athena staff.
  5. Please do not debate or preach on this site. We accept ALL beliefs as long as it is not forced upon others, but is NOT a religious discussion room.
  6. Laughter is the best medicine for the blues. Please do not show anger to someone trying to show a positive attitude. This message board was created with a positive outlook on mental health in mind, for people that want to enjoy themselves as well as people who are looking for ways to overcome their problems.
  7. No Posting of Web Sites : Do not post web site addresses (URL) to the chat room.
  8. No Posting of Other Chat Rooms or Instant Messaging (IM) Services: Do not post to the chat room the web address of other chat rooms, chat services or IM services. Also, do not post invitations to other chatters to join you in other chat rooms or IM services.
  9. No Cyber Romancing: We do not allow boyfriend (BF) or girlfriend (GF) soliciting or romancing.
  10. No Sharing User Name or Keyboard: "Sharing" your user name means you are allowing someone else to use your identity
  11. Breaking rule #10  is a very serious matter. The reason it is such a serious matter is that "sharing" is a security risk. When you share your user name or keyboard we do not know for sure who is on the other side. That means we have to assume whoever it is using your keyboard is not who you or they say they are. When that happens our service is no longer secure. Breaking this rule may also cause for termination of your membership.
  12. Perhaps the most important rule of all is a rule you have probably already heard of: Treat all others the same way you would want them to treat you.