Frequently Asked Questions: FAQ
The answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) are meant to be informative, for the benefit of new visitors to GirlChat and to put in focus the general rules of procedure to keep in mind when posting in the GirlChat community. In posting any message to the GirlChat board you agree to honor the rules and consequences as stipulated in the FAQ. Notwithstanding these necessary provisions, unless otherwise stated, GirlChat posts are Copyright ©, 2000 — 2005 by the individual authors.
Last Update: July 9, 2002
Questions & Answers
Who are these people posting here?
They are a portion of the male and female population ranging in age from their teens to quite old who share a bond of having a particular affinity for teen and/or pre-teen girls. In most cases this encompasses a clearly sexual attraction. Many choose not to act upon their sexual attraction, while others advocate a girl's freedom to sexual choice. Most of those posters accept the label 'girl lover', which is often abbreviated to 'GL' or 'GLer'. Society would call them "Pedophiles." We always have a few posters who do not identify as girl lovers, and who range from supportive to hateful.
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Can I be here?
The short answer is a definite yes. GirlChat is an open forum. However it is primarily a forum for mutual support of males and females, young and old, who are attracted to girls. As such it can also be useful to any persons who need to better understand girl love.
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Are there risks in posting here?
The worst risks are not specific to GirlChat, but are part and parcel of risks inherent in use of the Internet for anything confidential, together with the risks of becoming known as a girl lover. It takes considerable expertise to find out anything about an individual poster from the logs that are automatically kept by Web servers. These logs are only available to the server administrators and the GirlChat administrators, who purge the logs as frequently as possible. It would take a court order for anyone else to legally access the logs. However, there is no way we can stop you inadvertently revealing your own identity through something you post here. You should also be aware that your browser keeps records of sites you have visited; that, in some jurisdictions, some of what is posted here could be construed as illegal speech; and that your very participation here could conceivably be used as evidence against your character.
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Is it ok to use my real name?
At GirlChat we do not permit the real names of participants to be used. On any public forum on the Internet unless you are seeking public recognition in your real name, it might be wise to always use a nickname. From time to time persons who are openly hostile to girl lovers post here and more of their kind probably lurk here. One reason that GirlChat is so popular is that the Web Board structure provides such a simple means for effective anonymity. Even posters who are "out" in their private life or who are here only as sympathizers, not as girl lovers, generally opt for the protection of a "nick". And using a consistent nick enables your personality as a poster to develop in ways that enrich the GirlChat community and make it easier to give support.
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Are there restrictions on what I can post?
You should firstly keep in mind that GirlChat is meant to be a supportive, safe, creative and fun forum for girl lovers to discuss their
thoughts and feelings, sometimes not even related to girl love. We will not allow illegal material of ANY sort to be posted to this forum. However, seven simple rules are listed below to help guide posters.
How long can my message be?
Technical considerations mean that very short or empty messages are a bad thing. It is equally wasteful to post something that is so long that nobody will bother to read it. So the answer is somewhere in between is preferable. Graphical browsers generally allow you to scroll to any length in the message
window, and it is generally easy to paste in text that you have written (and spell checked) in your word processor. However browsers such as Lynx
may only have a fixed size text entry box which gives you a define limit.
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Why are they all talking in another language?
GirlChat is somewhere near the top of the heap when it comes to posters prepared to experiment with forms of expression. Poetry, philosophizing
and cryptic conversations abound, especially within sub-groups who have built up strong relationships. But if you are looking for a direct response, plain English is the best starting point.
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I can't find my message!
If you just posted it, you may need to Reload or Refresh the index which is otherwise retrieved from your cache. Later, it is likely that it will have been moved to the Archive. Because of the amount of traffic on GirlChat, the main index is trimmed regularly and the posts are archived.
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Who runs this place?
Administration of GirlChat is handled by a volunteer Committee and financed by contributions. For more information on how you can contribute to GirlChat, contact our treasurer. The Webmaster can be contacted here.
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Why are posts hostile to Girl Love allowed here?
GirlChat believes it is important to keep the board as open as possible. There is a strong body of opinion opposed to replying to blatant
attacks. But there are also many important points made by people responding to hostile posts. If you do not like the tone of the board, the best way
to do something about it is to start your own thread.
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Is it safe to contact people here personally?
Not all of the people who post to GirlChat are girl lovers or supportive of girl love, so ultimately this must be your decision. There
is no doubt that we will be visited by vigilantes asking for personal contact in attempted sting operations, and by others impersonating a girl lover who just intend mischief. But in such cases alarm bells are likely to ring quickly. There is also no doubt that there are real girl lovers behind most of the regular nicks. However, we have our differences and you should take your time to build a relationship in cautious steps and not invest in unwarranted expectations.
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Can I send private e-mail to a poster?
This board is not intended to be used as a substitute for e-mail. So, if you are comfortable about a poster's identity, and his nickname appears
highlighted as a link at the top of his message, that shows he has provided an e-mail address. Clicking on that link in many browsers will drop you into an e-mail form automatically addressed to that poster. But beware. Do you want to provide an anonymous poster with the address that you use for your regular e-mail? Remember your normal e-mail address will appear automatically in the From and Reply to spots unless you configure your browser to provide a more anonymous address.
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How do I get anonymous e-mail?
One of the best resources for information regarding e-mail is SafeMail.
A helpful guide to security on the Internet can be found on our site. Security Links is a comprehensive, well thought out reminder of the traces we leave as we surf the web pages, send e-mail, and do IRC/ ICQ. Be informed about your security.
I just want to chat with somebody!
The nature of GirlChat is for responses to posts to come at any time over the next 24 hours or more, so it is not suited to real time conversation, although at times a couple of simultaneously connected posters will achieve a rough approximation by frequent reloading. This is generally frowned upon because of the resources it uses. The Webmaster has been known to temporarily block people's ability to post if they consistently attempt to engage in
real time chat on GirlChat. Internet Relay Chat (IRC) or ICQ are much better suited to such purposes, although some find it a little less civil than GirlChat.
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Can I post pictures/fiction?
NO! Do not even think about using GirlChat as a place for exchanging pictures, nor to post fictional writing. In different localities different materials are considered illegal. For instance a fictional story involving children while not illegal under federal law in the US, is illegal under federal law in Canada. Therefore we must ban all such material. This restriction is not because GirlChat is pro-censorship, even the subject of child pornography elicits a range of opinion here. It is because our support role is too valuable to be compromised by the kind of attention that even a hint of pornography would bring. The only pictures allowed inside posts are our signature pictures associated with the user authentication. The only justifiable reason for posting a link to a picture is if it is genuinely important to the content of your post and is legal in the UK, Canada and the US.
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What are the URL and link boxes for?
Posters who have girl love-related home pages frequently include the link to their page by putting its short description and URL in the boxes provided which show up as an active link next to a solitary bullet at the bottom of their posts. This facility is equally useful if your post refers to something you have found on the Web or if you want to link to a post which has been consigned to the Archive. You must use the full form of the URL, starting with "http://" for it to be recognized as valid.
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Can I try out some HTML here?
This is not intended to be a place to learn HTML. However as long as posters who know HTML use it appropriately to enhance the appearance
of their posts, and close their tags and quotes, it will probably remain enabled. A link to another GirlChat post can be provided in the body of
your message by using <a href="99999.htm">...</a> with the actual post number substituted for the "99999" part. Other appropriate uses of HTML include citing quoted text and creating distinctive personal signatures. You can check how your HTML will look by using the preview option before posting ... which you really should so any time you make extensive use of HTML. One of the BoyChat regulars has prepared a Guide to HTML ,as well as a guide to understanding IRC and ICQ, which can be a big help.
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Can I link to here from my home page?
Girl lovers usually first find GirlChat through pointers from friendly pages, so the short answer is yes. However, for your own protection,
you probably should never mix your implicit admissions about girl love with anything which reveals other aspects of your life. So, if you want to point to GirlChat, you should do it from a page which cannot be readily traced back to your real life identity.
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I didn't post that!
If another post appears under your nick it most likely means that you are the victim of an impostor whom we suffer from time to time. The first time it happens, the best thing you can do is to post a simple "not me" message. The worst thing you can do is react in such a way that marks you a target for the impostor's amusement. Posters usually become so distinctive that others will immediately notice and note an impostor. Regular posters will also want to register a password to authenticate their posts.
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Where can I get more information?
Definitional questions about the nature of girl love and of the hostility directed against it are an ongoing feature of the discussions on GirlChat. The girl loving community has a presence on the Internet and our associated Links page maintains a list of links to those resources.
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GirlChat User Authentication and Registration:
Even semi-regular posters are encouraged to register their nickname and submit a password, to help guarantee the poster's identity. Posters who are not authenticated may simply not fill in the "password" field and they are still able to post. Posters who do send in a password must use it with their nick, and their nick will appear in bold characters.
Posters may choose to send us a picture of themselves or a graphic image to appear with their nick. As well, other text/HTML may be included to appear automatically alongside your signature picture. Please e-mail your request to register@annabelleigh.net and include your nick and password. You will be notified as soon as it set up ready for use, which may take a few days.
Once it is set up, you can begin to use it. When making a post, use the nickname you submitted. At the bottom of the posting form there's a checkbox called "Automatically append sigpic?". If this is selected (it is by default) your sigpic will automatically appear at the end of the post. Un checking this box will disable the sigpic, but you'll still need to enter the correct password to post.
You can also force your sigpic to appear anywhere in the post by typing "$sig$" (minus the quotes) in the post body. If you want to check what it looks like before you sign a post with it, just use the Preview
button.
Please note that you must use the exact name given to you with the password. If you registered the name "Joe" you can't use "Joey".
Note: Posters who register may also request to be registered to use the chat room after having posted as a registered member of GirlChat for 2 weeks. But you will need to request access to this privilege after your two week get to know GirlChat period. The purpose here is too enable all chatters to be at least somewhat familiar with each others nicks before involving in this more intense chat.
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You may click on any rule to read its detailed interpretation.
Flagrant repeat offenders may forfeit their right to post. Either the Webmaster or any of the Moderators may enforce any of these rules.
Copyright © 2000 — 2004, The GirlChat Committee.