Whatsapp Group Guidelines

Here are some Whatsapp Group Guidelines.

• Don’t share irrelevant messages about other topics.
• Do not spam the group with memes, adverts, deals or irrelevant pictures.
• No birthday wishes in groups
• Politely excuse yourself before you leave a group.
• Post your message in one single chunk of text, don’t post every word or sentence in a  new message.
• Do not have one-on-one conversations in the group. Switch to private messages.
• Do not post in any group between 21:00 and 07:00 unless it is an all-out emergency. By emergency, we mean the “blood, floods, and broken bones” type of emergency, not the “I needed the scone recipe at 2am because I had the munchies” type of emergency.
• If someone asks a question and you don’t know the answer don’t respond with “I don’t know”. Just wait for someone who knows the answer to reply.
• Please don’t send in a hundred “thank you” messages. If you feel gratitude towards someone – tell them in a private message.
• If someone asks a question of a personal nature (like asking for advice) don’t respond if someone else has already answered, or else respond to the person directly in a private message.
• Groups is not political or religious platforms (unless you have specifically set it up for this purpose)
• No arguing, no heated opinions, no fear mongering, no hyped-up drama, no fake news. Check your sources before you share.
• Never EVER use a group to berate someone else or air grievances. If you have an issue address it one on one with the relevant person.
• Don’t send data-insensitive messages. No-one wants their last 3GB used up on uninvited memes.
• Hit “Mute” on your Whatsapp group (unless you’re part of an emergency rescue group). You will still receive all the messages, but your phone won’t buzz or make a noise for every one of them.
• When sharing videos, state what it is so that people in the group can decide if they want to download and view it.
• Stop with the chain letters. It was annoying then, and it’s still annoying now.
• Don’t reply to every chat. Radio silence for a few hours is fine. You don’t need to have an opinion about everything that someone posts to the group.
• No ghosting.There’s no dignified way to exit a group. Instead, mute the chat. Your WhatsApp settings has a mute function. Hey, you can even mute for up to a year!
• No fake news. Most of us are probably guilty of it. You see a post on social media and immediately believe it. Next thing you know, you’re sharing it on the group chat. An aunt once posted a picture of some random woman to the group, saying that people should be careful because she’s been seen around primary schools trying to abduct children. Long story short, the woman in question went straight to the media and demanded to know who was spreading lies about her.
• Don’t be offensive. This refers to jokes as well. Just because you might find it funny, doesn’t mean the rest of the group will. So anything that has to do with race, religion and sex is most probably a big no.