Chat- Everything You Ever Wanted to Know

[Emerald]

Hello! 
I wish all of you to understand what Susan's Place Transgender Support Chat is about and why we are here.

We are first and foremost a TG Support Chat. Our mission statement is to:

    * Prevent Tragedy
    * Offer Information & Education
    * Provide Conversational Companionship
    * Supply Moral & Emotional Support

Our Chat acts as a 24-hour self-help support group where people may come and go as they please. Everyone with an earnest desire for information, moral support, or to casually chat or quietly lurk, is welcome. Generally, our users are transgender, but not all. We have regular visits of GG's, SO's, and polite admirers also. There is no age limit to who may chat at Susan's. Chat users' ages have ranged from 13 to 70-something.

As in every support group, we (moderators and users) provide each other with various types of nonprofessional, non-material help: offering relevant information, relating personal experiences, listening to others' experiences, providing sympathetic understanding, moral support, and establishing friendly social relationships. Chat is not limited to transgender subjects. We often discuss food (chocolate is a favorite), tell jokes, and chitchat about everyday life. We offer a warm, non-judgmental atmosphere. Discussions about sex, religion, and politics are kept to a minimum. We do try to keep the talk on a PG-13 level. Cybersex, HNG's and instant A/S/L's are prohibited.

Chat moderator assistance and duties include:

    * Ensuring every new arriving user is happily greeted.
    * Listening carefully to others needs.
    * Interacting with the users in a positive way.
    * Answering questions to the best of our abilities.
    * Finding relevant resources on the Internet for users.
    * Encouraging discussion on interesting points.
    * Affirming all forms of gender expression are as valid as our own.
    * Silencing those who are annoying the users, if need be.

We are blessed with a blooming gender garden of staff members on Chat!
For example, currently among our Chat moderators you will find:

    * Rana (CD) is our most thoughtful and gracious of moderators.
    * Ilsa (TS) is our resident explosive bundle of laughs.
    * Elleane (Androgyne) is a witty fountain of charm and information.
    * And I, Emerald (GG), act as Chat Administrator.

There is no advertising at www.susans.org and there are no membership fees. Susan's Place a totally free website. The Chat Staff consists entirely of unpaid volunteers who generously donate their time, many often contributing more than eight hours per day.

We invite you to enjoy some time at Susan's Chat. Become part of what makes Chat so informative and so much fun! Ask questions (we have answers). Bring your troubles. Announce your triumphs. Share a laugh. Make new friends. You are not alone. Come and see!

Chat can be accessed by many means:

To use Susan's Place Java chat page click the link below:
https://www.susans.org/chat/index.html

Use our Stealth Java chat page if you are wary of others peeking over your shoulder (useful in cybercafes etc.)  The page is cookie free and contains no direct reference to the nature of the chat. Click on the link below:
https://www.susans.org/chat/chat.html

If you are currently logged into Susan's Place Forums with your registered username you may click the link below for instant access:
https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php?action=chat

If you prefer using your own IRC client, our address is:
irc.susans.org
Port 6667

We hope to see you soon!
-Emerald 

[kristie]

Emerald,
Thank you so much for the invitation to utlilize the chat room.  I have done so a couple of times and have found the girls there very helpful and supportive.
Kristie

[Lynnn]

Thank you so much Emerald, I have a computer at work and one at home and i enjoy visiting with different people in the chat rooms, but i cant seem to connect to any chat rooms from work, only on my home computer, do you have any ideas why? And thank you again this is the best site i have ever found.