# New Player Guide:
CHATTING AND CHAT RULES

Horse people are a chatty bunch, and on Horse Isle we are no different! However, there are some rules that, for the protection especially of our youngest players, the Moderators enforce on all players, regardless of age:

- Absolutely NO giving out personal information of any kind! No names, street or city addresses, ages and/or birth years, schools, phone numbers, email addresses, personal websites, or anything that a person can use to pin down your identity. Saying which country, state or province you live in is acceptable, and what day your birthday is without giving away your age or birth year, is okay.

- No shouting! The use of ALL CAPS is a long-standing, pre-internet shorthand for screaming and yelling at others. As such it is considered extremely rude and if not caught by the chat filters, will be caught by the mods!

- No name-calling. If you have a problem with another player, tell a Moderator and/or file an abuse report. Look in the PLAYERS list; see who has a green star, and PM them, telling them the problem you're having and with whom. They should give you advice on what to do. Most often you will be told to mute the player and file a report if it is serious. Both of these actions can be done via the PLAYERS button in the game. Anyone calling another player names will be muted, regardless how right or wrong they may be.

- No whining, no drama! This isn't a rule, exactly, but it drives the moderators and other players mad. Please do not shout, "Mods!!!" when you want to talk to one, and don't say, "Mods! PM me!" Just go ahead and PM a mod yourself. They don't bite. Also, please, if you don't have something (a horse, money, etc) that other players have, do what they did: earn it! Saying, for example, "I only wish I had a horse! cry, cry, cry!" will only get you ridiculed and if it keeps up, will get you muted.

- No Soliciting Dates! Horse Isle is NOT a dating service, and most mods will immediately mute anyone who advertises for a boy/girlfriend. Asking, "Whoever's a boy please PM me" will result in severe action by the mods. What gender another Horse Isle player happens to be can be found on their STATS page if you are curious, but whether the person is actually that gender or not is none of your business as it has absolutely no bearing on the game.

- No swearing or profanity. Both of these are utterly unnecessary and will result in a player being instantly muted and probably banned from the game.

- No trying to avoid the chat filter. It's there for a reason. Trying to get around the filter by spacing out the letters or putting things between the letters will earn you an instant mute, chat violations and probably get you banned.

You may read the chat and game rules in more detail here. Always remember, you were asked to read them, and you agreed to abide by them before you first logged in. The mods will hold you to that promise.

A note about "chat-speak." Amongst younger people in the USA especially, it is considered "cool" and "in" to speak in chat-speak (that is, to say, "is ne1 going 2 sell me ur horse" instead of "Is anyone going to sell me your horse?" While people who are used to chat speak understand it or can at least eventually figure it out, people in other countries and people who are not native English speakers find it confusing at best. Several people have complained that they feel that by using chat-speak, American players are trying to deliberately exclude them. Please show consideration to other players around the world (especially those who are trying to learn English) and use Standard, proper, English in Global Chat.

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