Chat Gateway Rules

CHAT GATEWAY RULES

1. UNLOCKING CHAT WINDOWS

Mutual Follow Required: You can only message students if you follow each other. If one side unfollows, the chat gateway locks up automatically.
Self-Chat Guard: You cannot start a conversation with yourself unless you are using the official broadcast system to push announcements.

2. CHAT AVAILABILITY STATES

If a student marks their profile as inactive, a full-screen warning page blocks you from typing to them until they come back.
Guests who look at a chat link without logging in will see a blurred locked screen and a popup window asking them to sign in.
When you block someone, they see an absolute block screen that stops them from loading your conversation data entirely.

3. LIVE STATUS DOT COLORS

Green Dot (Online): Shows your friend is active right now or logged in within the last 24 hours.
Yellow Dot (Away): Shows your friend was last active between 1 to 3 days ago.
Orange Dot (Offline): Shows your friend was active between 3 to 10 days ago. Anything longer shows the exact calendar date.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

The typing indicator shows up instantly at the bottom menu bar whenever your friend starts typing a reply to you.
If someone hides their profile or deletes their account, your message window closes down instantly for privacy.
All message logs run securely using your official university tracking tokens to keep group chats safe.