Your Safety

Sunderland Chat is committed to ensuring your safety when using our chat rooms. When using our site you should always take the following precautions.

1. Be careful - people online may not be who they say they are.
   
   
2. Keep your identity private! Don't give out any personal information (e.g. where you live, your school, telephone number etc) - you may end up being contacted by people you don't want to hear from.
   
   
3. Never arrange to meet someone offline unless you are sure who they are. If you do arrange to meet someone go accompanied (if you are under 18 by your parent or carer) and meet in a public place.
   
   
4. Do not reply to any messages that are hostile, rude, abusive or make you feel uncomfortable in any way.
   
   

The real danger of young people using our chat rooms comes from the people who wish to develop a relationship with them with the intention of contacting them offline. Our chat site focuses on football and football issues and will attract a lot of young fans who should not under any circumstances give out any personal information to other users who may ask for it. When you are in a chat area you are in a very public place. You don't necessarily know the true identity of anyone you are talking to in our chat rooms. Some people can pretend to be helpful and compassionate to gain the trust of a young person by being keen to 'listen' to their problems and provide friendship, but the reality can be very different! Beware!

If you think you are too grown up to get into trouble you are terribly mistaken. If you think you are safe chatting from the comfort of your own home you are wrong again. Always be on your guard when using the Internet, especially the chat rooms in particular.

It's fun to talk to people you don't know, have a bit of friendly football banter and make new friends on the Internet - especially friends who support the same club as you and have similar interests, but be very careful if they start asking you for your home address, phone number and other personal information. Remember that strangers can be good or bad and sometimes adults can pretend to be a child or vice-versa. Get to know a person before coming into personal contact.

Remember that if someone in our chat rooms says anything insulting or threatening, it's not your fault. If someone asks you to do something you can always say 'no'. Remember to watch your own safety and always use your common sense.

For further information about how to stay safe using online chat please look at these two sites: www.chatdanger.com and also to www.thinkuknow.com