Ask Me Why… Work From Home

Way back in about 2001, I first coined the words “chat netiquette”. No I didn’t bother to trademark it… I wanted it used.

As of today, I googled for the term and came up with over 600,000 references. Many of those are actually “rules for chatting” at various venues.

What I wrote then, is even more valid today… therefore, rather than allow what I wrote to die in the “big bit bucket in the sky”, I’ve salvaged them from an old domain and am reprinting them here.

10 Unwritten Chat Room Rules for Successful Business Chats

You need a few rules to enjoy and profit when utilizing Chat Rooms as part of your over-all marketing strategy. Here are the 10 most important rules for you. Adhere to them and you will benefit greatly. Ignore them and every other businessperson in that room will ignore you.

Rule #1 — There are no rules on the Internet! That’s right, no rules, just “Terms of Service” and “Privacy Policies”. Every business program, chat program, mailing list group, newsgroup, etc. has a “Terms of Service” and Privacy Policy. You must read each of them in order to have a clear understanding of the “rules” of the group.

Rule #2 — Think of a chat room as a gathering place. It might be your favorite pub, or clubhouse. It might even be considered one huge party. With that in mind, consider how you act when you enter into that scenario. Do you SHOUT your arrival? Probably not. You generally ease into the room and LISTEN for a short while before you strike up a conversation. It’s the same way in an on line chat room.

Rule #3 — No one really cares about your business opportunity. I know that sounds incredibly harsh but that’s the truth. Especially in a business chat room. You can expect that if you’re involved in a certain home-based business, there will likely be several others there who are in the same or similar business. So, DON’T START ADVERTISING YOUR BUSINESS! All that will do is make the other chatters angry and you’ll be ignored for the rest of your time in that chat room.

Rule #4 — Private conversations are just that. They are entered into by mutual consent. NEVER INVITE TO A PRIVATE CHAT WITHOUT FIRST OBTAINING PERMISSION!

Rule #5 — Because there are no rules, you must rely on the basic “Golden Rule”. That means: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” That means if you are annoyed by a particular action, then don’t perform that action upon others. Treat others with respect and you will be treated with respect.

Rule #6 — It is not in YOUR best interest to speak negatively of other’s business. This will ALWAYS cause you grief. Chat rooms are not the proper place for such playground activities as “mine is bigger than yours”. The consequence of that activity is to be placed on ignore status.

Rule #7 — Your font (size and style of your printing) must be legible but not OVERPOWERING to the other chatters. You also should refrain from using light colors, as they cannot be easily read on many screens.

Rule #8 — TYPING IN ALL CAPS is a written way of SHOUTING. Learn to use capital letters properly and you’ll get along well in a chat room.

Rule #9 — There are many shortcuts in the “chatter’s language”. Use them sparingly and a lot more chatters’ll understand you.

Rule #10 — In a business chat room it is NEVER appropriate to ask “a/s/l” which means “age, sex, location”. Save that jargon for the personal chat rooms and you won’t look like a total jerk.

Follow those 10 “Unwritten Chat Rules” when you come to a business chat and you’ll be welcomed into even the most seasoned group.

Choose to ignore those rules and the majority of the chatters will ignore you. Bad news is that you may not even know you’re being ignored.