To that end, children should avoid unmoderated newsgroups, unmonitored chat rooms, and unfiltered search engines. Newsgroups are areas that organize postings on specific subjects such as dog owners, Jimmy Stewart fans, or philosophy. Often newsgroups are moderated in order to keep the postings polite and on subject. Some of the worst newsgroups are those that are unmoderated and contain vulgar language and explicit photos. Chat rooms are areas of the Internet where comments from users are posted simultaneously on the screen.
Celebrities often host chat rooms to take and answer questions from fans.
Friends and family members often use chat rooms to communicate cheaply long distance. Unfortunately, chat rooms can bring out the worst in many users. Many individuals who enter chat rooms conceal their identities. Monitors can often sit in on chat rooms to kick out those who use bad language. Monitors, however, can not always detect when adults are pretending to be children in order to strike up abusive relationships.