Communicating on voice chat brings with it some unique challenges. In the spirit of imagining each other complexly and making the voice chat experience as awesome as possible, here are some suggestions for how to use it:
- When you are doing something that creates a lot of noise (like eating something crunchy or rustling around), please mute your microphone or turn on Push to Talk. Also, unless it’s open mic night, keep instrumental and vocal serenades to a minimum.
- When you are talking to someone or doing something that is not directly related to the people in voice chat, please mute your mic or turn on Push to Talk.
- Be aware of your airtime and be considerate of the fact that many people wish to participate. Merely waiting for your chance to speak, as opposed to listening actively, creates a less-than-optimal environment.
- Administrators and Emcees can both do a “Mute” where the member’s audio is cut from the voice chat. This power should be used VERY sparingly. With great power comes great responsibility.
- There is also a #AFK (away from keyboard) channel that can be used when someone has stepped away from their computer but left their mic on, sometimes creating background noise. When a user comes back, they can move back to the voice channel they were in.
- Also, be aware that you can individually mute anyone else (it will only apply to you, everyone else will still be able to hear them). But muting a member and forgetting about it creates a lot of cross-talk that is very difficult for others. So if you mute someone, make sure you UNMUTE them again.
- Keep in mind that people, including brand new people, enter the chat all the time. We would like people to not be scared away within the first minute. It’s also nice to say hello and goodbye to people.
