Microsoft released a statement indicating that it will be shutting down many of its chat rooms out of concern for user safety. We at Christian Women Today (CWT) wanted to take this opportunity to remind you of the features and services of our chat rooms that are in place for your safety.

Supervised Chat Rooms CNN.com reported that Microsoft “made the decision following the growing abuse of the Internet, particularly in unsupervised, anonymous chat rooms.” All of CWT’s scheduled chats are supervised and moderated by trained monitors who ensure that all users keep to the rules outlined in the terms of service. These rules cover the use of inappropriate language – both choice of words and subject matter – as well as courtesies such as showing respect for all participants, and refraining from personal attacks during discussions. Because of the systems we already have in place to protect user safety Women Today will not be making any changes to our current chat room community. We do not require a credit card to participate and have no plans to change this policy. Trouble Report Button MSN spokesman Matt Whittingham told CNN: “Recently we have become increasingly concerned about the level of inappropriate communication, including spam, the grooming of children by pedophiles, and sexually explicit language and imagery in chat rooms.” ~ (Source: CNN.com) To ensure the safety of our chatters and the close adherence to the terms of service, we have a trouble report button set up in the chat rooms, for use especially during general times of unmoderated chat. The trouble report button is available during room hours, 7 days a week, and users can report concerns they have at any time regarding disturbances during the chat session. When a monitor receives a trouble report, she immediately enters the chat session in question and deals with the situation, expelling the offending user if necessary. Ignore User Feature If you feel that someone in the chat room is being disruptive, you can block their posts by highlighting their name and then clicking the ‘ignore user’ button. Once that is done, none of that person’s comments will be visible to you. The CWT chat room exists as a place for women to come together in community and discuss the articles and issues on the site. CWT has a zero tolerance policy for people who continually cause trouble in the chat rooms. We are careful to maintain the high standards of our chat rooms for the safety and enjoyment of our chatters. Here’s what some of our chatters had to say:

• “I have been in many, many Christian chat rooms over the last 10 years, but none are like this.”
• “This is a wonderful room - the women here are such blessings - always willing to listen, encourage, and most importantly pray with you”
• “When I found the CWT chat room two years ago, our family was facing a crisis. I had so much encouragement and prayer from two very special ladies who made me feel welcome and comfortable in the chat room.”
• “I had heard all kinds of nasty things about chat rooms out there, you know. I wanted to see if there were any places for Christians to chat. Lo and behold, I found CWT.”
• “When people say nasty things about chat rooms, I tell them about this terrific room they really ought to try out!”

It is our hope that the chatroom will continue to be a place of encouragement and caring community for all of our readers. If you have any questions or comments about the CWT community, please feel free to write to us at info@christianwomentoday.com

CWT Chat Terms of Service & Guidelines

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