Definitely making sure people know what you expect of them when they enter is a good thing, and a quick hand on the ban button helps too..

Larisa – You need to make it clear exactly what your site is for, and what is not permitted. Write up some rules, and promote these throughout your site. A clear, prominent mission statement would also help.

I would welcome some advice, we are running asocial networking site at present and trying to position it as non-adult, how do I keep guys off the site who only wish to sit in front of the webcam with their ding dong on display?

Advice welcome!

Here’s a snippet;
ChatBlazer Helps Companies Meet New Mandatory Government Compliance Requirements

Winston-Salem, NC December 18, 2006 — Friday, December 1, 2006, a story hit news stations nationwide that would change businesses forever. The U.S. Supreme Court administration approved rules that would require businesses to track e-mails, instant messages (IMs), and other electronic communications and store that data for use in litigation that affects the business. Many businesses will now have to deal with the stress of finding software solutions that comply with these new rules.

Link;
http://www.chatblazer.com/news__a__events/press__releases/pr1166472886000.html

I’ve had to include this in my privacy policy to make sure my users know they can trust me. I only ever read public transcripts. I never, ever, EVER read private transcripts unless there has been a serious complaint via the contact form.

Only I have access to the transcripts, too.

Privacy Policy on transcripts;
http://www.friendlychatrooms.co.uk/privacy.html

Cody – I agree with you. I think there is still a place for online chat rooms but sites need to be able to offer more if they want to retain their users. This is the reason why Just Chat now has a forum, a free email penpals section and free ecards.

Smiley – I wasn’t aware of the legislation you refer to, can you provide a link?

Not sure if cam is private actually or group cam only. But if it’s group we can see them. Anyone doing naughty things they shouldn’t will be banned, despite paying for it.

I do plan on adding audio/video in the future, obviously it will have to be a subscription service. So only users who want it will have it. Their paid subscription along with banner ads will hopefully cover the costs.

Martin, Flash isn’t ‘quite’ there yet – but it is coming along very nicely. ChatBlazer v7 is very nice, but is not without its bugs and flaws. CB v8 is out this summer, I’m anticipating its release and very excited for it. It looks promising.

I love how customizable it is. I’m learning new things about it every day. What I’ve done though, as you’ve said you don’t want to overwhelm people, and for some reason my site gets a lot of people that are new to chat rooms and the internet all together. Must be something in my keywords that attracts them. I’ve removed most of the public features. In public.. well actually I’ve removed them all. It’s just type and press enter, except for emoticons & fonts.

Amongst the rotating banner ads, I have instructional banners to help people with private features. Picture sending, picture drawing, personalized audio messages etc. So they can learn and play over time.

Screenshot;
http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/629/flashbu9.jpg

Chat rooms have come a long way, huh?? I really don’t think their end is nigh, either. I think traditional chats are coming to an end, and I think people are growing tired of big chats because of the perverts.

I believe a site with an anti-perv mindset really has a future.. in the future. Just takes time.