Module 2 - CHAT

OK, it is Sunday 04Jan and we've just had a chat in ICQ. I don't know how many people were there, but it showed me again why I don't particularly like that form of chatting. While I like being able to speak with a number of people at once at times, I really don't like the screen "moving" by itself. I much prefer to have some form of control over the screen - to have it stay there while I type my answer to a person, and then move on when I hit the send button.

Yes, we know....I'm a control freak. I don't like pop-ups suddenly appearing on my screen (which is why I usually have them blocked), I don't like programs suddenly asking my firewall for permission to enter or exit, and when that email was being sent around years ago telling you that microsoft would give you a free can holder for your computer, I never liked that.....(even though I didn't notice it opening my disk drive to start off with because my tower was under my desk), I don't even like unexpected noise coming from my computer so I keep the sound off all the time. And yeah, I really hate it when the techs remote into my computer and take it over while they fix something for me.

I don't use Skype - when my husband was in the US, we tried using it, but it froze both of our machines, so we didn't use it again. I use MSN & ICQ for one-on-one chat, but I keep myself in "offline" or "invisible" mode. This is because my computer is always turned on when I'm at home, but I'm not always in front of it. That way I don't have people looking for me and getting upset when I don't answer immediately. Also, if I'm busy doing something else, I can let the messages come in without feeling like I have to answer people immediately, and once again, because they don't know if I'm there unless I answer, they don't get upset if I'm not answering their every comment immediately. My friends know I do this, and they know that if I'm available and I'm not busy (schoolwork etc) then I'll answer them immediately.

I use email for a form of chatting with my daughter when I'm at work. Neither of us can access any other programs like webmail or IM sites through work, so if we need to talk we email back & forth. We don't need to phone each other then, other people aren't listening in on our conversation and if we are busy when a message comes through or aren't at our desks, we can answer it a little later. While what may have been a 5min conversation may take all day, we answer each other as we can, and by not trying to rush through a conversation we are each more likely to remember something else in particular that we needed to say.

Other than that, I use chatrooms. I've got two I generally go to, though lately I've been too busy to go to either of them. They are both html chat, but in one you can change things like your font and post any pictures, in the other you have to use their pictures unless you are a paying member, and you can't change the font. With both of the chatrooms the only way the screen changes is when you hit the "send" button. That gives you a chance to read the post, answer the way you want to, and then send the post. Then you read through the other posts that came through while you were typing. They also give you the chance of speaking privately to one or more people while also chatting with a group of people.





I've been involved in this sort of chat since 1999, and have met a number of people in real time as well as through the internet. It was through this chat method that I learnt how to download and use first ICQ, then yahoochat and then msn. This is all still in real-time (though some people don't want to know that it's 11pm on Sunday night for you, while it's 7.30am Sunday morning for them), like MSN & ICQ, just in a different format.