While this article doesn't intend to bring a sense of distrust or paranoia to your online chat experience, it is important you know a number of pointers in order to make your experience in the chat room an enjoyable and safe one. Here are some basic safety tips when going online for a chat:

Don't reveal personal information

Never reveal any personal information while you're in the chat room, either aloud on the screen or in a private message. Personal information means your full name, phone number, address, school, town, banking details, passwords, etc. Ignore such requests for personal information as ASL and be very vague with your answers to questions such as WITW. Also choose a non-identifiable and clean screen name.

If you've been chatting with a person for some time now, and you feel that it will not cause you trouble to give him or her more personal information, you should do it through e-mail. Many chatters make a special e-mail address using hotmail or yahoo of other free e-mail service as their chat email address. It is highly recommended that you also make one for easy organization.

Beware of posers and scammers

Many chatters believe everything what their chatmates show and tell them. But you should remember that many people in the chat room are only showing you some part of their true identity. Even those you've been chatting with for quite some time are probably not showing you their true selves.

Beware of scammers who misrepresent themselves and tell sorry stories of extreme poverty to beg some money. Ignore these chatters. Don't believe their stories. Where does a homeless chatter asking you some money get his or her internet access? If chatter tells you that almost all the churches in your town have not helped them, ask yourself: "Why does he or she think a non-professional like me would help him or her?"

Ignore trouble makers

If trouble makers come in while you're chatting, don't engage them in conversation. It is certainly not a good advice to reprimand them, pray for their souls, scream at them, wish them the deadliest disease on earth, or whatever. Just ignore them. Trouble makers visit chat rooms just to get some attention. But they get bored and eventually move on when you ignore them. Some chat rooms have "block" and "ignore" features, allowing you to filter those you don't want to chat with.

Tips for parents

The role of parents is to protect their children. Parents should always look after they children when they go online for a chat. Teach your children to log off properly if they are not comfortable chatting online. Tell them not to spill any personal information. In addition, tell your children not to start an argument with their chatmates. Finally, you must never allow the Internet to babysit your young children, and make sure that you know every person your children are chatting with.

Anything you and your children type in the chat room can be seen by every chatter in the room so you must be very careful of what you type. Overall, caution and common sense should always prevail when chatting online.