Chat room Tips

[Dallas]

Hey All!

Some Exciting changes have been taking place on the MAK board lately.
One of them is the ability to post pictures; another is having a searchable database.
Those are only a few of the great things that have come to pass since we got the new BBS.

Phil has allowed me to be the one to announce that we will soon have a chat room where we can go and chat in real time. It's being tested right now and if all goes well will be out within the next week or two.

In the spirit of that upcoming event, I'd like to post a few tips for the use of the Chat room.

1.) The ID used in chat is the same as the ID for the BBS.  You won't need to re-enter your user ID when entering the chat room.  If you log out of chat and want to re-enter chat, just remember to use your BBS ID.

2.) Right Clicking on the chat button will enable you to open chat in a new windows (for Microsoft IE users) or a new window or tab  (Firefox users).

3.) Some colors don't work well with some of the backgrounds.
          Blues, and grays almost disappear on all of the backgrounds.
          Reds become hard to read because of the contrasts, which don't work well together.
          Black is hard to see on some of the busier backgrounds
          Yellow is readable on most of the backgrounds
          Greens, at least lighter, brighter ones seem to work well.
          The original white works but is kind of boring after while.

4.) Some of the testers have complained that the chat screen dozen't scroll fast enough and that they've had to log out and back in.
What I think is actually happening is that there are so many fast connections that the server can't keep up with the immediate load.
If your screen stops scrolling the text, wait a minute or two for the load to catch up to your computer.

As I get more information, I'll list it on this thread.

Watch Us Grow!

[/b]

Thanks,
Dallas
Chatroom Moderator
And all around Nice Guy!

[plyonsMC9]

You can undock the chat room participants list by putting your mouse pointer over on the lower part of the participant list, then DRAG the list over to the main window.  As you drag the window, it will undock.  Frees up your chat window space.  To re-dock the window, just drag it back to the original area where it was docked.  This is usually to the right of the main chat area.

Hope this helps, Phil

[DrivingMissLazy]

You can also click on the vertical separation bar between the posts and participant list. Click and drag the bar to the right to reduce the physical size of th participant list.
Richard

You can undock the chat room participants list by putting your mouse pointer over on the lower part of the participant list, then DRAG the list over to the main window.  As you drag the window, it will undock.  Frees up your chat window space.  To re-dock the window, just drag it back to the original area where it was docked.  This is usually to the right of the main chat area.

Hope this helps, Phil

[Dallas]

Here's a tip that Phil came up with that I thought I'd pass along to everyone:

Chat is only available for users with the DEFAULT theme.  Other themes such as classic, and simplicity will get the chat button in the next week or so.

And here is one I came up with when trying to read the chat when other people were using colors that didn't show up well with my back ground:

While in chat, click on "Options" then click on "Text" From there look for a line that says: "Use My Text colors for all received messages". Click on the button next to it and that will change all of the text to the default color you have chosen.

I hope This Helps Everyone!

Dallas
Chat Room Moderator

[DrivingMissLazy]

An easier method to read all posts, regardless of color the sender is using, is to go to OPTIONS, choose EFFECTS and then DE-select (un-check) Background. This will give you a black screen that all colors except black (I think) will show up on.
Richard

And here is one I came up with when trying to read the chat when other people were using colors that didn't show up well with my back ground:

While in chat, click on "Options" then click on "Text" From there look for a line that says: "Use My Text colors for all received messages". Click on the button next to it and that will change all of the text to the default color you have chosen.

I hope This Helps Everyone!

Dallas
Chat Room Moderator

[DrivingMissLazy]

Chat Room Conversation
When first entering the chat room it is difficult to catch up with the on-going conversation. In order to see what has transpired in the past few moments there is a code to use that will take you back a period of time so that you can review the past comments. Maybe even find out that someone has been talking about you!

Here is the code: /back 60. If you decide that 60 is not far enough back you can use any number up to several hundred IE. 600. I personally have found that 60 units will be sufficient to allow me to know what is going on.
You can use the slide on the right to scroll back to the start of the time you have selected.

This topic will be sticky for a few days

[Dallas]

Hi all!

I just thought I'd post some of the more common chat room abbreviations since SOME OF US, (Read That as Your Friendly, Modest Chat Room Moderator) are keyboard challenged and sometimes can't keep up with the room and type too.
Some of these are useful too us and some aren't. Use what you like best!
We can add more as they become useful to us

Dallas

      AFAIK             As Far As I Know
      AFK               Away From Keyboard
      ASAP              As Soon As Possible
      BBL               Be Back Later   
      BBN               Bye Bye Now
      BBS               Be Back Soon
      BEG               Big Evil Grin
      BF                Boy Friend
      BOTB             Break Out The Beer
      BRB               Be Right Back
      BtB               By the Bye
      BTW               By The Way
      BWL               Bursting With Laughter
      C&G               Chuckle and Grin
      CID               Crying In Disgrace
      CNP...            Continued in Next Post
      CP                Chat Post
      CSG               Chuckle Snicker Grin
      CYA               See Ya
      CYAL8R            See You Later
      DLTBBB            Don't Let The Bed Bugs Bite
      EG                Evil Grin
      EMSG              Email Message
      FYI               For Your Information
      GF                Girl Friend
      GFN               Gone For Now
      GMBO              Giggling My Butt Off
      GMC               The Finest Coach In The World!
      GMTA              Great Minds Think Alike
      GTSY              Glad To See You
      H&K               Hug and Kiss
      HABU              Have A Better 'Un
      HAGN              Have A Good Night
      HAGU              Have A Good 'Un
      HHIS              Hanging Head in Shame
      HOS               Husband Over Shoulder
      IC                I See
      IGP               I Gotta Pee
      IMO               In My Opinion
      IMHO              In My Humble Opinion
      IRL               In Real Life
      IWALU             I Will Always Love You
      JMO               Just My Opinion
      JTLYK             Just To Let You Know
      KIT               Keep In Touch
      KOC               Kiss On Cheek
      KOL               Kiss On Lips
      L8R               Later
      L8R G8R           Later 'Gater
      LHM               Lord Help Me
      LHO               Laughing Head Off
      LHU               Lord Help Us
      LOL               Laugh Out Loud
      LSHMBB            Laughing So Hard My Belly is Bouncing
      LSHMBH            Laughing So Hard My Belly Hurts
      LTNS              Long Time No See
      LTS               Laughing To Self
      LUWAMH            Love You With All My Heart
      LY                Love Ya
      OIC               Oh, I See
      OL                Old Lady (wife, girlfriend)
      OM                Old Man (husband, boyfriend)
      OTTOMH            Off The Top of My Head
      PDS               Please Don't Shoot
      PM                Private Message
      PMFJI             Pardon Me For Jumping In
      PMP               Peed My Pants
      POAHF             Put On A Happy Face
      Poof              Has left the chat room.
      QSL               Reply
      QSO               Conversation
      QT                Cutie
      ROFL              Rolling On Floor Laughing
      ROFLAPMP          ...And Peeing My Pants
      ROFLMAO           ...My A** Off
      ROFLMAOAY         ...My A** Off At You
      ROFLMAOWTIME      ...With Tears In My Eyes       
      ROFLUTS           ...Unable to Speak
      RTSM              Read The Stupid Manual!
      SETE              Smiling Ear To Ear
      S&S                Stick and Staple
      SHID              Slaps Head In Disgust
      SO                Significant Other
      SOB                Some Other Brand
      SWAK              Sealed With A Kiss
      SWL               Screaming with Laughter
      SYS               See You Soon
      TA                Thanks Again
      TOY               Thinking Of You
      TTFN              Ta Ta For Now
      TTYL              Talk To you Later
      WB                Welcome Back
      WTH               What/Who The Heck
      YBS               You'll Be Sorry
      YG                Young Gentleman
      YL                Young Lady
      YM                Young Man
      ttyl              talk to you later
      ttys              talk to you soon
      tcob              taking care of business
      ttfn              ta ta for now                     
      WOS            Wife Over Shoulder

[Dallas]

Here is a list of commands that users can take advantage of to make using the Chat Room easier to use.
Remember, in order to use these commands, you need to type / and then the command with no space between the forward slash and the command.
Like this:

/back 100

[/b]

Options for Users
/away    Sets user as away. Typing this command again sets user as "here". This action may also slow down the chat ping time for the "away" user, depending on the setting of msgRequestIntervalAway, which is set in /inc/config.php
/here    Sets user as here. This reverses the "away" and "busy" states.
/busy    Sets user as busy. Typing this command again sets user as "here".
/back    Shows the last entries of the room's chat, including any chat text that was present before arrival to the room.
/backtime    Shows the last minutes of the room's chat, including any chat text that was present before arrival to the room.
/clear    Clears the chat screen. This only affects your screen, not the screen of other users.

* user <action> Issues an IRC-like "action" to the chat. "/me" will be changed to your user name, and the text in <action> will appear as a system message. For example: "/me is thinking" would translate to "Joe is thinking".

/join <room>    Switches the user to <room>. For example: "/join The Lounge"
/part    Logout of the chat.
/quit    Logout of the chat.
/logout    Logout of the chat.
/version    Shows which version of the chat you are using.
/invite <user>    Invites "user" to the room that you are currently in.
/ignore <user>    Ignores "user" until /unignore "user" is issued
/?    Display a list of currently available IRC commands.
/helpall    Display a list of all available IRC commands.
/whowas <user>    This only works when FlashChat is used in a registered-users manner (not the "free for all" chat mode). Shows profile page for any registered user.
/whois <user>    Same as /whowas, but the user must be logged in.
/motd    Displays the message of the day, as defined in /appdata/motd.txt
/sos <message>    Alerts moderator in the current room of your message. Message text is optional. Message behaves like an /alert
/names    Shows a list of all user names in all public rooms.
/showignores    Shows who you are ignoring, and who is ignoring you.

[Dallas]

I've come up with a list of easy rules for use of the Chat Room.
There are only 11 items and it may make it easier for users new to the Chat Room to join in.
Most of these are only suggestions to get you started.
I also ask that if anyone can think of other helps and hints, please post them here.

Chat Room Etiquette

1.   When entering the room, say something like, "Hello Everyone!" or simply, "Hi All". Then wait for a bit to see who is in the room and what topics of conversation are taking place.

2.   Remember that you are not anonymous. Most chat rooms keep files of all interactions. When you log on the chat server it has a record of what your IP is. Remember that no chat is private. The chat server keeps files and can identify your IP. They can forward the files to your ISP who can pinpoint the exact address of where the PC he/she was using is located.

3.   Address the person by their nickname or handle when chatting. People cannot make eye contact in these rooms so it can get confusing if you are not clear about whom you are directing the message to.

4.   Use caps only for emphasis. All Caps indicates shouting and is considered rude behavior.

5.   Be respectful to other chatters. If someone is disrespectful to you, ignore him or her instead of arguing with him or her. Avoid the use of language or attitudes that may be offensive to others.

6.   Respect and welcome all newcomers to the chat. Remember, you were once a "newbie".

7.   Please don't use obscene, profane, sexually explicit or abusive language. Remember, there may be people present who don't care for that type of behavior and will take offense when it is used around them. We have a MOOO in place to help with accidents, but not all words can be caught by it.

8.   Allow all users to make comments and ask questions. Don't try to take control of the room by flooding it with your own entries.

9.   Feel free to have fun and express yourself in the room.

10.   If there is a problem, with the room or with a particular user, feel free to contact any of the moderators.

11.   Last but not least, use the room. It has been set up for your enjoyment.

[Dallas]

I've noticed that some people come into the chat room and never say anything and after a few minutes leave. Even when I type a greeting, I get no reponse.
I wonder if some of these people have'nt found out how to type a response.

Maybe I can help!

When you come into the room, look down to the botom of the screen.
You should see a button that says, "Send".
If you click the area just to the left of that, you will get an outlined area with a flashing cursor.
That is where you can type your response.
Once you have finished typing, simply press enter and your message will be posted to the chat room board.

I hope this helps as the chat room is for everyone!

Dallas