"Online chat" describes a number of different mediums for Internet-based communication, but is primarily meant to refer to direct one-on-one, text-based electronic conversation done in real time (as opposed to via email or message board). This form of online communication, generally done in Internet Relay Chatrooms (IRC) or using Instant Message programs (such as AIM, MS Messenger, or Yahoo! Chat), provides a venue for continuous conversation with people across the world. It can involve text-based group chat with a number of people or direct one-on-one private chat. Many major Internet Service Providers and web-based corporations offer online chat and messaging services free of charge, allowing anyone with an Internet connection to easily engage in conversation with other users.

Web chatrooms can also be implemented through web sites in realtime, allowing visitors to the site to communicate with one another. They are distinguised by their easy-to-use commands and their simple function through a web browser, making it easy for novice users to take part without installing programs or learning a complex series of commands.

Unlike other user-oriented sites such as discussion forums and social message boards, web chat sites typically require no registration or identity verification, giving their users an anonymity that makes them attractive to online predators. Individual chat sites quickly rise and fall in popularity, and individuals with bad intent may lurk in places you'd least suspect them, posing as completely non-threatening personas in order to trick the unwary. There are cyber stalkers, criminals, and other predators all over, from pedophiles posing as children to gain the confidence of minors to prostitutes flirting with men in order to lure them unwittingly into a financial exchange for sex.

Dateline's Chris Hanson has been hosting the program "To Catch a Predator" on NBC, revealing the sinister truth about online pedophiles and opening the eyes of the world to this previously overlooked issue. By shedding light on these hot-button topics and revealing the true depredations of online criminals, Chris Hanson's Perverted Justice crime squad is fighting back against the people who would victimize the innocent and unsuspecting. With BadScreenNames.com, you can join the fight against online predators, and help protect others from Internet crime.