LGC Chat Guidelines

Lesbian & gay community's purpose

Our purpose is to present to you, on behalf of the Microsoft Network, a comprehensive service geared to the social, entertainment, educational and political interests of a vast and varied community of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Beyond that, we want you to be happy and enjoy using MSN's Lesbian & Gay Community. If you have any comments you'd like us to hear, please send them to the Chat Manager..

Legal Responsibilities - Disclaimer

McDonald Underhill, the MSN Lesbian & Gay Community (LGC) and its management and employees (collectively known as "Staff") are not the publisher or author of any works posted by its members. It's bulletin boards and chat rooms are a passive service for storage and/or dissemination of the works that Lesbian & Gay Community members may choose to post and distribute via the Lesbian & Gay Community. LGC management does not screen works before they are posted, and no prior approval is required for posting. The Lesbian & Gay Community and McDonald Underhill disclaims all copyright and ownership in such works and all responsibility for them.

The Lesbian & Gay Community is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. The Lesbian & Gay Community, McDonald Underhill and its staff will not be liable for any incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use of this Community.

Our staff is responsible for ensuring that MSN members do not violate the MSN Member Agreement and Lesbian & Gay Community policies. If any member is found doing so in LGC, we reserve the right to remove associated bulletin board postings and/or to remove and ban a member from our chat rooms. Please see our remaining policies for more information.

Statements from members of the LGC staff, including our Volunteer staff, should be considered their opinions only. Opinions expressed by our staff do not necessarily reflect those of McDonald Underhill, LGC or MSN.

Lesbian & Gay Community Behavior Policies

We are committed to maintaining an open, non-discriminatory and friendly environment. We believe everyone is entitled to free speech. However, it is neither appropriate nor permitted in MSN's Lesbian & Gay Community to gay bash, harass, stalk, cause distress or otherwise disrupt any member.

Those found behaving as described above will be BANNED from chat rooms; disruptive newsgroup postings will also be deleted. Lesbian & Gay Community staff and members are encouraged to report seriously disruptive members directly to MSN, which may result in exclusion from the Microsoft Network.

Dealing with Disruptive Members

To more successfully control bashing, we rely on the assistance and cooperation of our LGC members. If a member is offending you in a chat area, we recommend that you simply place the member in "Ignore" mode. To do this, right-click his or her name in the right-hand section of the chat window. Then select "Ignore".

Gay bashing and disruptions are something that we will never have the ability to stop. Sadly, queer web sites can sometimes attract homophobes and cyberbashers. We encourage the use of the Ignore feature in the chat rooms as a way of controlling this type of behavior. Usually, it's attention that disruptive members are seeking. Therefore, it's best to Ignore them!

LGC management does not have the ability to remove these members from MSN or the Lesbian & Gay Community. However, if present, an LGC Host can "Ban" the member from the chat room, when the incident occurs. If a host is not present in the room, you may try going to another chat room within the LGC Community (all of our room names begin with "LGF_") to see if a host is available in another room, and then alert him or her to the problem.

Please note, hosts are not here to interfere with personal disputes, even if asked to do so by an LGC member. If you have a disagreement with an individual, please resolve the situation yourselves, as you would in person. Hosts will not be victim to members who wish to use us as parents!

Lesbian & Gay Community Chat Areas

Please note that except where specified, MSN's Lesbian & Gay chat rooms are for any age groups. If you wish to discuss adult matters or take part in adult conversations, do so in the LGC Adult Chat rooms or create your own chat room and invite members to join you there.

MSN's Lesbian & Gay Community also includes several chat areas that are intended for certain audiences. These appear in bold in the Finding LGC Hosts Online section below.

Please respect the safe spaces that we've created for these groups, and only participate if you indeed are a member of their targeted audience. Those who do not respect this request, may be banned from the chat room. LGC hosts *do* have authority to ask you to leave (or Ban you), if you're being disruptive or are not a member of the target audience of a particular chat room.

Finding LGC Hosts Online

A member who has an asterisk "@" in front of their Nickname (in the right-hand listing of chat room participants), is known as a Host. Anyone can be a Host of their own room, if they create it themselves. However, LGC has about 20 rooms that are hosted by volunteers that are here to help.

Please note: Some members have Member ID's or Nicknames that begin with "LGC", or "Host". This does not mean that they are affiliated with LGC! LGC management does not have the ability to prevent people from using these characters at the beginning of their nickname or Member ID. However, we do ask that people not create Nicknames or Member ID's with these characters, as it confuses some of the members.

If you wish to find an LGC Host online, they can usually be found in most of our official LGC Chat Rooms. All of our rooms begin with a pound sign "#" and then the characters "LGF". Rooms that contain "LGF" but do not start with a plus sign "#" are not official rooms!
Any member in one of the chat rooms above, who has an asterisk "@" in front of their Nickname, is most likely an LGC host -- though in cyberspace, there are no guarantees -- there are ways to appear as a host, even though you're not. If you suspect that a member has gained unauthorized host capabilities in an LGC chat room, please notify LGC as soon as possible by emailing to: Chat Manager.

Staff Members Agreement

LGC has many assistants. They help us moderate chat rooms. Most of them are volunteers, not paid LGC staff. We are very grateful for their willingness to help run MSN's Lesbian & Gay Community. Assistants must abide by the following agreement:

As an LGC staff member, I agree to:

Have a full understanding of and abide by the MSN Member Agreement and the Member Guidelines and Community Policies, and to set a good example for others.
Maintain a professional, non-judgmental, and impartial attitude.
Not to bash other staff members or MSN customers and associates.
Be team-oriented and not power-hungry.
Have a friendly online personality.
Have a good sense of humor.
Have initiative, dedication and time.
Nurture my assigned area and work toward making LGC a vibrant community.
Keep track of my LGC participation and responsibilities via time logs and status reports and attend scheduled online staff meetings.
Keep up to date on staff policy and procedures outlined in the Community Leader's Manual.
Maintain confidentiality related to LGC, MSN's Lesbian & Gay Community, and its members.

Reporting Problems with LGC Hosts

Normally we don't have any problems with our LGC assistants, and all abide by the above agreement. However, if you experience any difficulties with our hosts, please send detailed e-mail to the Chat Manager.  Please include the correct spelling of the host's member ID and any corresponding e-mail, message, or chat log that you may have.

Thank you for joining us here on MSN's Lesbian & Gay Community!