Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)

Welcome to ICQ-Chat.

These ICQ-Chat services are provided to you by private network owners. By entering or using ICQ-Chat and it's services you are consenting to be bound by the ICQ-Chat network services Acceptable Use Policy. Please read and abide by this policy. If you do not agree, do not enter or use ICQ-Chat.

Our goal is to provide a pleasant atmosphere for people to enjoy socializing in an online chat environment. In order to make this possible, we have determined that certain rules and restrictions are necessary to avoid violations of generally accepted laws and codes of conduct, and for the protection of our services and those who use them. When necessary, these rules and restrictions may be enforced across all of the services we offer, including these message forums, our gallery pages, our helpdesk systems and any other services we offer now or in the future.

In order to enforce this policy, violations may be dealt with in a variety of ways ranging from warnings up to and including a ban from the network. We reserve the right to remove disruptive users.

It is against the policy of this network to allow children under the age of 13 years to be online here - not even with adult supervision. If discovered, they should be reported to the network Ops Team so they may be removed and their account(s) closed.

I. General Behavior


  • No flooding. This disrupts the chat.
  • No Unsolicited Advertising (Spam). This is not your ad space.
  • Please do not use AUTOMATED invite messages of any kind.
  • No Harmful or illegal activity such as pfishing, spreading viruses and trojans, or solicitations.
  • "Recruiting" activities are generally prohibited. In particular (but not restricted to) recruiting or inviting other users to join groups that promote negative or illegal activities/behavior.
  • No Overtly sexual or sexually explicit nicknames or posts.
  • Some subjects of a sexual nature are severely moderated or disallowed completely on this network, particularly those subjects that are deemed unlawful by most governments.
  • No Threats against the network or personal threats against others.
  • Do not insult/harass/despise the network or the ops in direct or indirect nor in implied ways, If you don't like it here, you don't have to be here, but don't sit there and post insults.
  • Threats about making attacks on this or any other networks are not appropriate.

    • If you are unsure whether something that you want to post is acceptable or not, please ask the Moderator (ChanOp) on duty, or ask in our #help channel. If you are banned in a channel and repeatedly "jump" such a ban to reconnect, you may be banned from the network. If you repeatedly "jump" a network ban, channel/network operators can take further action, including banning you without any further warnings, following protocols established by this network and it's administrators.

    II. Use/Abuse of Services


    Services are set up to support this network and the users here. We have NickServ, ChanServ, HostServ and MemoServ available. Abuse of the services is not allowed. This includes, but is not limited to:

    Registering multiple accounts (Nicknames) for the purpose of "collecting" so others cannot use them, or to use them for "squatting" (filling up a channel with idle nicknames) is not allowed. Registering an excessive number of channels that you are unable to properly administrate, or for the primary purpose of preventing others from registering them, or for trying to cover every possible permutation of a subject, place or interest is not allowed. This will be dealt with at the discretion of the network owners.

    III. Channels


    This network has a variety of "public" channels administered by network operators. We also allow chatters to open their own "private" channels which they are allowed to moderate themselves and which may be run as restricted access channels or may be open to all network users.

    A. Network Channels

  • Please respect other chatters.
  • Do not harass or insult others. Even joking about such things can be mis-interpreted as serious.
  • This also includes making racist type comments - to say or imply that one race is better or worse than another race is generally seen as "racist".
  • This also includes insulting people's nationalities. This is a form of harassment.
  • Do not use excessive repeating. The channel ops or bots may see it as "flooding".
  • No Overtly sexual or sexually explicit nicknames or posts, and no sexual requests in any form.

    • RULES FOR SWEARING ARE AS FOLLOWS: as long as it is not in anyway abusive [or unnecessarily excessive] but is innocent in use it will be allowed in the rooms, HOWEVER, if deemed abusive to any user in the room you will be warned and possibly kicked and/or banned for the offense...

    Please do not use automated messages in the main channels to greet or respond to other chatters or to open a private (query) window with another chatter.

    Automated messages that are allowed are:

  • 1. "seen" scripts if they respond via NOTICE or private message and NOT in the main chat.
  • 2. Music announcers, as long as they do not interfere with others' ability to chat.

    • A. Private Channels

  • Channel names that indicate sexual subjects or content are generally disallowed. Please contact an ircop or admin if you have questions about a channel name.
  • "War" Channels are prohibited.
  • Channels promoting "hate" issues are prohibited.
  • Channels found to be promoting illegal activities or involved in the distribution of pornography will be closed.
  • Please do not use channel names that imply that they are network channels --- channel names such as #support, #network_support, #admins, #ops_room, etc, may be closed, because chatters assume they are network-supported rooms, and may be mislead by inaccurate information, and assume the channel ops there are network ops.
  • Channels registered by users become the responsibility of the registered channel owner. If not properly managed, they may be closed.
  • Using the auto-op (access list) service is strongly encouraged. Failure to do so threatens the seurity of the channel in the event ChanServ is not available.
  • The presence of the ChanServ (Guard) bot in a "private" channel is optional.
  • Please do not add "everyone" (*!*@*) to your channel access list.
  • Please do not fill up your "private" channel with bots (see info on our Bot Policy).

    • Private channel owners can set their own rules for their channels, as long as they do not violate the network rules, including who they choose to allow or not allow into their channels.

    Note: If users report being being subjected to overt racism, or being threatened or abused by Ops in a Private channel, we do look into such complaints and we may question the channel owner.

    Please contact a Network Operator (Join #Help) if you plan to connect a website or service directly to our network or to a "private" channel on our network. There are issues that may need to be addressed with such situations to avoid problems.

    Network ChanOps do not operate/moderate users' channels. It is the channel owner's responsibility to handle issues in their "private" channel. The network operators can answer questions and give advice if needed, and are allowed to volunteer (but not required) to assist "private" channel owners with problem situations if requested.

    While you may use the Invite command to invite your friends to your private room, or you may simply invite them by private text, please do not "mass invite" or send repeated invitations to the same person, and please do not repeatedly post invitations in our Network Channels or other rooms. Please be careful how you use the invite command. Be aware that many chatters connect here using our website, and the invite command can be annoying and interfere with their chatting, which they cannot block from the website. If we start getting multiple complaints from people being annoyed by invitations to private rooms, we do investigate, and you could be in danger of having your private room shut down if there are too many valid complaints. Please be considerate of others. Please do not "advertise" your private channel in other rooms. Sometimes if you ask the moderator, they may allow you to post one announcement in the channel to introduce your room. Or you can say that you have a room, and other chatters can private you for the room name. Just don't keep repeating it or the moderator may consider it as a disruption and step in to stop it.

    IV. Clones/Mulitple connections

    Clones are defined as multiple connections at the same time by the same user. Clones can be on the same ip or a separate ip, but they are "owned" by the same user. Multiple DIFFERENT users sharing an ip due to proximity (being at a cybernet cafe or living in the same household for example) are NOT generally considered to be clones.

    All clones are subject to the rules of this network and will not be accorded any special privledges.

    Clones are generally discouraged, but having a single clone or second connection may be permitted. Nickserv allows up to three connections, in case of a disconnect, but if an ip tries to make more than 3 connections at the same time, the server will network ban all connections on that ip.

    V. Harassment

    What one person may feel is harassment, another may see as only teasing, but the determination is usually up to the channel operator/moderator on duty. Behavior that cannot be dealt with reasonably with the use of ignore commands, behavior that affects multiple chatters in the room, and behavior that is obviously intended to pester, annoy, insult or disrupt the general flow of activity in the room, whether it is directed at another user/chatter or whether it is directed at the operators/moderators is usually dealt with as harassment. This also includes impersonating staff or other chatters, and posting people's contact and private info into the channels.

    This is our Acceptable Use Policy. It is our set of GENERAL guidelines for acceptable use of these services. The particular Rules may change from time to time as the network evolves and as circumstances change, and some channels may be under different particular rules than other channels, depending on whether they are Network-administered channels or Privately-administered channels, whether they are channels geared towards teenagers or our older adult users, etc. The Moderators (ChanOps, IrcOps) usually give warnings if you are in danger of violation a channel or network rule, or if you have violated a rule, unless it is of some nature that it is deemed necessary to immediately remove you, OR IF YOU HAVE BEEN REPEATEDLY WARNED IN THE PAST FOR THE SAME OR SIMILAR BEHAVIOR. Please pay attention to Moderators' warnings, whether they just ask you nicely or whether they give you an "official" warning.

    While we have the right, but not the obligation, to monitor and moderate the chat rooms and other services here, this is an open network. ICQ-Chat is not responsible for the content that passes through it's servers. This includes, but is not limited to, content and links posted by the users of these services.

    Please check the Acceptable Use Policy regularly for any changes, as it may be updated at any time. Lack of knowledge about our current AUP does not relieve you of responsibility for your own actions.


    this notice has been approved by ICQ-Chat Network owners/admins/opers


    latest update: 12 May 2017

    Network Bot policy

    ICQ-Chat does allow bots on the network, as long as they and their owners comply with our Bot Policy. Bots and owners who do not abide by this policy are subject to removal from the network. You are responsible to read and understand the network policies, and failure to read them does not exempt you from being required to abide by them.

    Every Bot must:

    • Act in accordance with the Acceptable Use Policy, the same as any other user.
    • Bots must have a registered NickServ account, independent of any user. It must be registered with a valid email address to contact the owner if necessary. The only exception to this rule are IRC Search crawler bots.
    • If the bot is online in a public network channel, the owner must be present in the channel also, and the owner must be registered with NickServ.
    • It must be obvious who the owner of the bot is. This may be by the owner's primary nick being in the real name field, and/or the owner's name in the associated metadata for the bot's NickServ account (Metadata is viewed with the command /msg NickServ info See /msg NickServ set property for details on how to set the information. The command must be run from the bot.)
    • The bot owner must be able to be contacted and must respond promptly to any requests for information from network admins.
    • very bot must serve a purpose. Bots may be used in private rooms for channel protection, statistics, informational or even entertainment. A bot that has no function is considered a filler and is prohibited in the Acceptable Use Policy.
    • It is encouraged for bots to have user mode +B set, which identifies it as a bot if someone performs a /whois nickname on the bot nick.
    • Bots programmed to answer any type of inquiry should respond via private message, as auto messages are generally not appropriate in the public chatrooms. (This would include bots that run a "seen" script, news bots, google response bots, and the like. It is up to private channel owners whether to allow such bots to post into their private channels.
    • Please do not post more than ONE bot in PUBLIC NETWORK channels.
    • There is a limit of no more than 5 bots in a private channel, except for Approved channel bots channels. (see Channel Bots Channels)
    • Bots are also subject to the same rules as any chatter and can be warned, kicked, and banned if they violate any of the network's rules.

    This network does not provide bots for private channels, however some chatters may offer this service. You may ask about such bot owners in #help or through the helpdesk.

    Anyone contemplating offering channel bots to private channel owners MUST get permission from the Network Operators. Please use the helpdesk ticket system to do this. Only a limited number of such channels/services are allowed on this network. Approved Channel Bot Channels are allowed up to 10 bots in their bot holding rooms, and will be limited to a certain number of bot holding rooms per service. (Network Operators will advise.) If you have any questions about these policies, or any other, please ask in #help or on our HelpDesk.

    this notice has been approved by ICQ-Chat Network owners/admins/opers 12. August 2016