GSOM Questions?

 

Rooms

Lobby - A room for informal chat
Al-Anon Chat -  A room for Al-Anon recovery chat
Al-Anon Meeting - A room for Al-Anon Meetings
Serenity Room - A room for the Meditation Meetings and Combined Meetings.



CHAT ROOM LINGO

After a few visits, chat room lingo becomes second nature. Here are a few hints:

BB--------AA's Big Book
brb-------Be Right Back
bbiab-----Be Back In A Bit
esh-------Experience, Strength, Hope
f2f-------Face to Face
gm--------Good Morning
gn--------Good Night
imho------In My Humble Opinion
imo-------In My Opinion
kcb-------Keep Coming Back
lmao------Laughing My Ass Off
lol-------Laughing Out Loud
nm--------NeverMind
odat------One Day At a Time
omg-------Oh My God
rofl------Rolling On Floor Laughing
tc--------Take Care
ty--------Thank You
tyfs------Thank You For Sharing
yw--------You're Welcome
((name))--that's a hug
!---------raising a hand
!!--------holding hands

Profanity is filtered with %%%%%, even though you may see what YOU write.
 

General Guidelines (if you have not yet read the 'Newcomer Package' please read it here.)

Respect
Respect and treat others in the same manner that you'd like to be treated. All members are held to the same rules and policies of the community.

Mistakes
Everyone makes mistakes. People post things in a chat that may be inaccurate, or said in the heat of the moment. Be forgiving when it comes to these mistakes. Flaming a person or laughing at them doesn't do anything except anger someone else; it's not productive. The day will come when you make a mistake.
Opinion
Everyone has their own opinion. The people you interact with in a community come from all walks of life, many different religions and beliefs, different family income levels, different points of view on many of today's hot topics of discussion. In a nutshell, each person is entitled to his or her own opinion. Discussion about it is the best thing to do, after all that's what communities are for. If it turns into some kind of sparring match, agree to disagree and move on.

Sharing of Information and Privacy
Chat rooms are a place where people will feel comfortable sharing information about themselves and their personal lives, but you should be careful of sharing your address, telephone number, IP provider, social security number, or other identifying details. Global State of Mind is not responsible for violations of anonymity resulting from any information you reveal. If you would not walk up to a stranger and tell them where you live or where your kids go to school, don't do it online.

Everyone has the right to privacy. Posting personal information about another member is completely inappropriate, and may result in the member being banned. Private issues between two people should be left as that, private. Discussion of these types of things should be taken to private message or somewhere else that is not viewable by the public. Do not ask about other members within the rooms. If you wish to ask if someone has been in the rooms recently, please PM someone to do so.

Safety and Discomfort
Discomfort offers us the opportunity to practice being aware of how we are feeling, how we deal with those feelings of discomfort, and how we can handle conflict in a healthy fashion. There are many positives to be found within this process, including patience and the practice of humility.

Stepping back, not taking it personally, speaking about it directly in pm are a few of the ways we can deal with discomfort or conflict. Using 'principles above personalities' and 'keeping the focus on ourselves' are also good reminders.

Site Guidelines 6: If something/someone in the chat upsets you or triggers you, feel free to hit 'ignore', leave and take care of yourself FIRST.

Site Guidelines 12: Should you have a disagreement or conflict with another member, don't discuss it in the chat room. Try to resolve the problem in private message and in a civil manner. If this is not possible, contact a Room Guide and ask for assistance.
 

Room Guides & Administrators

Online communities are great social networks and for globalstateofmind.com particularly, are a great recovery forum. Online forums have rules and guidelines (there are links on our home page) that everyone agrees to when they become a member.

Yet as our site attracts many new great people, there are times we will attract the rare person whose intent is to incite problems and conflicts (either willfully or not.) To help address these issues, our room guides will be wearing green in the listing of the names when they are available to help with issues.

They are NOT here to babysit, tell you what to say or NOT say, they are here as a resource to you. They have an additional set of guidelines to follow.

For those with past history with moderators on other sites, please let the past go. Our room guides have the ability to gag a troublemaker only and under very specific circumstances. We are trying this as an experiment first as we phase in our regular meeting chairs to serve as guides.

And as clarification, our administrators have other privileges along with responsibilities. We can log on invisible (tho Amar's cloak never works) as we see to other admin tasks to be performed. Rarely do we have time to "spy" nor do we have the desire to do so.

That being said, realize that ANYTHING said in cyberspace is vulnerable. An email I sent to a friend 15 years ago is still floating out there in cyberspace...shakes head....ok, it was from Stephen King to me ((((namedropper)))). My former employer had a keystroke recorder on our computers. A good rule of thumb, if you wouldn't say it to someone's face, ask yourself WHY are you saying it.

If you have ANY concerns about Administrative matters, please let either amarjah@globalstateofmind.com or hope@globalstateofmind.com. Thanks.