When talking with individuals in chat rooms, never give out your home telephone number. Why? Because individuals can use your telephone number in a reverse lookup and gain your mailing address, thereby finding out where you live.
Do not give out your home address in online chat rooms. This is a recipe for disaster and the reason is because you do not know who is in the chat room or who is watching and you do not want perfect strangers to know where you live.
Never announce your daily schedule in chat rooms. Not that anyone would knowingly do this, in part because it makes no sense, but users must be careful of how they answer certain questions. If you are a college student and mention a specific class, someone could ask what college you attend and ask what time your class is later on in the conversation. Without even realizing it, you have told a room full of strangers where you will be and what time you will be there. For obvious reasons, this is probably not the best idea.
A lot of people do this, but caution should be given when sending a photograph to anyone in chat rooms. Everyone likes to have a face to go with the name of their new friend, which is understandable, but try to avoid sending a picture to everyone and anyone that you meet in chat rooms.
As a final thought for safety in chat rooms, common sense will get your through the process safely. The internet is a wonderful way to meet new friends and can provide an outlet for people to find comfort in the shoulder of a stranger, but there are important rules to follow when using chat rooms. If the topics become extreme or the conversation turns strange in any way, sign out and ignore the individual with whom you were just talking. Using chat rooms as a hobby can be a lot of fun, but never allow it to become your entire social circle.
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