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New Player Guide:<BR>CHATTING AND CHAT RULES</FONT></H1>
<P>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 <A HREF="mods.html">Moderators
</A>enforce on all players, regardless of age:</P>
<UL>
	<LI><P><B>Absolutely NO giving out personal information of any kind!
	</B>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 <I>without</I> giving away your age or birth
	year, is okay.</P>
	<LI><P STYLE="font-style: normal"><B>No shouting! </B>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!</P>
	<LI><P STYLE="font-style: normal"><B>No name-calling.</B> 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.</P>
	<LI><P STYLE="font-style: normal"><B>No whining, no drama! </B>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: <I>earn it! </I>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.</P>
	<LI><P STYLE="font-style: normal"><B>No Soliciting Dates! </B>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.</P>
	<LI><P STYLE="font-style: normal"><B>No swearing or profanity.</B>
	Both of these are utterly unnecessary and will result in a player
	being instantly muted and probably banned from the game.</P>
	<LI><P STYLE="font-style: normal"><B>No trying to avoid the chat
	filter.</B> 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.</P>
</UL>
<P STYLE="font-style: normal">You may read the chat and game rules in
more detail <A HREF="http://master.horseisle.com/web/rules.php">here</A>.  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.</P>

<P STYLE="font-style: normal"><B>A note about "chat-speak."</B>
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.</P>
<P><BR><BR>
</P>
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