I agree with you – I have never come across a website that has 24/7 moderation, and at Just Chat we make it clear that we are unable to provide this. Thank you for adding your ’side of the story’ and addressing the comments left by a couple of this blog’s readers.

Please bear in mind that at no time have I stated any opinion as to the credibility or operations of Chat-Avenue; indeed, as you correctly state I still actively link to them from Just Chat. The views expressed by readers that comment do not necessarily represent my own view or opinion.

I happen to be a long time user of Chat-avenue.com (5+ years) and was once a volunteer chat moderator at that site. I quit as a moderator because of relocating jobs and I am also creating my own site which i will not mention here. Never have i seen such behavior as that mentioned above by “Smiley” (owner of justchat.co.uk) and MR. WOC (owner of worldofchat.co.uk) with regards to Chat-avenue.com. Their chat rooms all have moderation and to make false accusations like you have stated is really inappropriate (both ethically and legally) I don’t think any site has true 24/7 moderation. (especially larger sites) I have seen facebook and myspace laced with pornographic content and nothing done about it. However, to suggest that chat-avenue.com encourages “mixing perverted adults with children” is completely inaccurate. There are mods on constantly throughout the day making sure this sort of activity does not occur.

I have directed this article to the owner of Chat-Avenue.com and hope he responds to it.

Speaking to the “Chatmaster” (the nickname of the person who actually hires the moderators for the chat) at the site, he told me that MR.WOC did not remove the links because of what he saw. I was told that actually Chat-avenue.com removed links to his site FIRST because they were of no meaningful value due to google banning his site (removing his PR) because their robots picked up his black hat SEO tactics at that time (many months ago) I have not verified this but he says that MR. WOC reasoning for removing the links is completely false.

As for “Smiley”. It looks like his site still links to chat-avenue.com, so if he was so concerned about chat-avenue.com activities, surely he wouldn’t link to them, would he? Oh, that would probably hurt his site SEO if they discontinued the link exchange. Hmm. Probably, just a case of jealousy and “bad-mouthing the competition” here.

I guess the moral of the story is be careful of what you read on the Internet and check the sources and the facts first.

I am an ethical man though and there are certain types of ads I won’t have.

I block all ads that alienate a community. Flashing/vibrating ads, pop-ups, those annoying ads that forward you to a full-page ad where you have to click “continue to such and such page” to get rid of it.

I also refuse to exchange links with sites that mix adults with minors. I’ve had a few fellow new chat communities request link exchanges, I’ve checked them out to see they allow adults and minors to mingle on the same domain.. I won’t have any of that.

So, I do have my ethics.

Cody – I agree; provide content that is focused and specific to your niche, and you’ll already be offering something that the larger communities don’t.

Angela – You have exactly the right strategy – you understand your community and know what information is of interest to them. Not only that, but you provide them with what they want. No wonder your community is buzzing; well done!

Smiley – You are starting to segment your community which is the right thing to do as your site grows to ensure you keep the community feeling. Just don’t segment your site too quickly!

I like your concept about advertising the adult sites; I considered this at Just Chat but have a personal policy to avoid all sexual content for the foreseeable future, even if it comes from advertisers.

You found a great opportunity there!

If i ever open an adult-only community I will be sure to use that technique.

The chatter asked “why do you have an ad soliciting sex dating if you want a perv-free clean friendly site?”

My answer — “so any visiting perverts will click on that link and bugger off away from here.”

it’s true, too. Any pervert is bound to click on that. They’ll go away AND they make me money. Two birds with one stone. Best way to keep a chat site clean. Make sure you have ads that will attract perverts to click on them and leave your site alone.