Chat At Me! was created to provide a forum for all people to discuss, share viewpoints, and defend opinions.  Chat At Me! encourages people around the world to interact with each other to stimulate a better understanding of each other’s point of view.

As users have their own unique beliefs, we ask everyone respect each opinion posted on the website.  You can vehemently disagree but do so in a respectful manner and please do not cross the line.  Chat At Me! strongly believes in everyone’s First Amendment right to free speech but there are common sense guidelines for everyone to follow.

• Hate Speech:  We encourage anyone to share their opinion regardless of how unpopular it may be perceived.  Hate speech is any content promoting hatred or violence against individuals or groups based on:  race or ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity, religious belief, age, gender, or veteran status. We encourage people to post if they vehemently disagree with a topic or opinion, just do so respectively.  Hate speech of any kind will not be tolerated.  Posting will be deleted and account subject to termination.
• Threats, Harassment, Defamation, and Cyberbullying:  Passionate and opinionated responses to content on the site are encouraged.  Content viewed as personally offensive naturally occurs with very diverse viewpoints.  Free speech allows us to hold these opinions and will be supported.  Chat At Me! will not tolerate any material containing:
  • Threatening, stalking, or intimidating content to individuals or groups;
  • Abusive comments;
  • Posts to deliberately humiliate an individual or group of people in any manner;
  • Sexual references, advances, harassment of any individual or group of people;
  • Comments designed to incite others to harass, threaten, intimidate, or commit violent acts against any individual or group of people;
  • Content containing false statements designed to harm someone’s reputation.  Chat At Me! exists to promote the free interchange of opinions.  Do not abuse the system with comments intended to defame someone.
• Graphic, Violent, Dangerous, Illegal, or Terrorist Related Content:  Chat At Me! is a forum for people to share and discuss opinions.  Current news events, political, and social issues, etc. will be posted for debate.  Content containing graphic or violent material to express a viewpoint and material encouraging dangerous or illegal activities will not be tolerated.  Chat At Me! prohibits any content designed to promote or celebrate terrorism and terrorist activities, recruit for terrorist activities or organizations, or incite violence against any individual or group of people.
• Nudity and Sexual Content:  Discussing pornography, sexually related issues, addictions, or abuses on Chat At Me! is not encouraged.  Posting content containing pornography or sexually explicit material is strictly prohibited.  Any material exploiting children will be reported to the appropriate law enforcement agencies.
• Age Appropriate Content:  Chat At Me! is designed all users 16 years of age and older.  Parental or guardian oversight should be enacted with all users under 18 years of age as some content may not be appropriate for younger viewers.  If a parent or guardian views or listens to a post without a warning label you believe warrants one, please click on the three vertical dots in the upper right hand corner of the upload to report it or use the Contact Us form under the gear icon in the bottom right hand corner; reference the post in question, and detail why you feel a label is justified.  A response will be provided within 24 hours.

Posted material violating any of the above conditions will be removed and the account subject to permanently deletion from Chat At Me!.  Report any content you find violating the above terms using the Contact Us form or emailing to abuse@chatatme.com.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.