We're delighted that you're interested in chatting with us in the new improved ICL chat. If you're the type who just dives in and starts chatting -- you'll just need to visit our entry page, then register and have at it. But if you like to go into these things with a little more info, this article should cover most of the things you'll want to know.

IDENTITY CRISIS

First, you'll need an identity. You can't chat if you haven't set up a username and password. Now, if you had a username and password with the old chat, they have vanished with the old chat. You can register with the same name (assuming someone doesn't beat you to it. If they do, and you really loved your old username, let me know and I'll see if I can't work it out for you.).

Sometimes your chat identity might be called your chat account - don't let the word "account" worry you. There's no charge and we're not collecting the information for nefarious purposes. It's just to give you an identity once you log-in.

You'll create your identity here [INSERT URL] - the only information you need to give is your username and password. Since we're not saving that other information, you don't need to give it.

When choosing your username, think of something simple to remember and not too long. You may want to use a variation on your name or your name linked with something you enjoy or simply a word that is meaningful to you. Make sure it's something you don't mind being called if chatters shorten it. For examples, there could be great usernames:

If folks want to write your name on the fly, they could call you "bob" or "mom" or "luv2" and that isn't likely to be icky for you. These chat names might need a rethink

The first is so complicated, there's every chance you'll forget it. It's also going to be a problem for other chatters so you'll need to simply accept that they won't type it right. You might get fewer private messages with a name like that. The other two may lend chatters to shorten your name to "rat" or "loser" and that might not make you feel so good.

When choosing a password, choose something you know you'll remember. It might be a mix of letters and number (like the first initial of each of your children plus the year you got married) or simply a word that you easily associate (like writergod) - whatever you choose, make a note somewhere of your username and password so you don't forget them (I keep a text file of all my usernames and passwords for chats and message boards).

After you've created the account, you'll use that information to log in at the chat room http://www.institutechildrenslit.net/iclchat/chat/flashchat.php -- you won't be able to log in until you are registered. If the log in page doesn't seem to recognize your username and password, just drop me a note and I'll check out your registration.

YOU AND YOUR COMPUTER

If you have flash installed on your computer, you basically should have no problems hopping into this chat. How do you know if you have Flash? Well, if you do, the chat log-in should come right up when you go to the log in page. If you don't see the log in on that page, you probably don't have Flash. There is a download link on the entry page and it's free. It won't hurt your computer so go ahead and install it.

IN THE ROOM - THEN WHAT?

Now for the good news. We don't have to ask "what version of chat are you using?" as we did with the old chat program. Flash is easy -- when you're in, you'll see the same thing as everyone else. When you log in, the room will look like this:

SPECIAL TOOLS FOR OTHER CHATTERS

Once you are in the chat, there are a number of tools available to you. First, you can simply chat. To do that, you type your comment into the long rectangular message space at the bottom of your chat screen and click the round pretty SEND button. Alternately, you can type your message in the message rectangle and press your enter key -- it will do the same thing as the SEND button.

This spiffy new chat offers you a few options for embellishing your chat statements -- you can add a fun smilie face, or set the text in bold or italic.

Smilies can add a bit of whimsy to your message. Just click the smiling button and a box will pop up offering you a variety of little pictures you can add to the message. Just click on the picture you want and a tiny bit of code will be added to the message line -- then when you click the SEND button or hit enter, the message will appear in the chat window with the cute picture and everyone will see it.

Bold can add emphasis to your words. Click the bold button just before the text you want bolded. Then click the bold button again when you are done making the text bold. This will let you bold just part of a sentence if you like. Or you can set Bold at the beginning of your chat session and everything you type will be bold in every message until you turn it off.

Italic works just like bold except that it renders the text in italics. That can be great when we want to talk about books -- again, do it just like bold.

Still want a little more fancy options? You can change the color of your text also. That's what the button that looks like a chalk board is for. Just click on it and pick the color you want -- keeping in mind that you'll want a color that will show up well on the chat background. The messages you type and send after you choose the new color will all appear in that color. That can be very handy for making your words stand out from the crowd.

However, you can do more than simply send messages into the room for everyone to see. You can send messages to the moderator, or to just one other chatter as well. Let's look at how that works.

When you're in a room, you can see who else in the in the room. On the right hand side of the screen, you'll see the list of people in the chat. If you see no one in the list, that means you're alone. You might want to check in later to catch folks in the room. But if you see people in the list, you can chat with them by directing messages into the room as described above. Or you can direct a message to only one individual on the list. This is easy, just click on the person's name in the right hand list. A small drop down menu will appear and you'll see your options for that person.

Private Message

Clicking on this will bring up a teeny chat room box where you can send messages just to that person that no one else will see.

Invite

If you want a user to come and meet you in a different room, this is the place to ask. You click on the person's name and then choose what room you want to meet in and why you want to head off to that room. It's like a private message with a purpose.

Ignore

Is someone bugging you? Does someone seem to have popped in just to be annoying? You can simply silence the person -- often if you won't listen, the pestersome folks will just go away. And always feel free to drop me a quick email if someone is really behaving badly and I'll pop in to deal with it. We don't normally have any problem with folks acting out in chat -- but there's always a first time.

Profile

Clicking on this will bring up another webpage that contains any information the chatter chose to make public when he/she registered. It's normally not terribly informative.

GETTING IN THE RIGHT SPOT

The chat rooms offer three preset rooms - all are available all the time to all users and you'll see them listed on the right side of the screen along with the list of which chatters are in which rooms. In general, the "forum" will be where we have scheduled forums where the web editor gets to pontificate in response to writing questions -- and a transcript is made of each forum. The "hang out" is for general conversation and socializing. It's not against the rules to talk about writing in there, but it's not an "on topic" room -- you can simply be friendly. The "coffee shop" is simply a second socializing room in case the chat becomes crowded. Sometimes having many people in a room can make it a little tough to follow the conversation and you might want to invite someone to a different room for easier conversation.

If you are in one room and want to move, it's really quite easy. Simply look at the top of the chat conversation box -- after the word "ROOM," you'll see the name of the room you are in. If you want to move to a different room, click the up/down arrows at the right side of that room bar and you'll see a list of all available rooms. Click on the one you prefer and you'll immediately move to that room.

DO YOU NEED YOUR OWN TRANSCRIPT?

One great use for the chat room is to meet with your critique group in a quiet setting. If you schedule a time outside the forums, there is a good chance your critique group can have one of the rooms all to yourselves. Then you can discuss manuscripts or other business. And at the end, you can create your own transcript of your time together by clicking the SAVE button that sits right beside the bright smilie face. This will open a new window with the chat transcript in it. Just click "File" then "Save" on your browser menu bar and you should be able to save the transcript.

HOW DO I ESCAPE?

There are two ways to log out of chat. You can click on the pretty round button at the top right of your chat screen. Or, you can tell the chat to log you out with a message -- type /quit or /logout or /part as your message on the message line. Any of these will log you out.

WHAT OTHER TEXTUAL COMMANDS ARE AT MY FINGERTIPS?

Commands you used in the old chat may not work. But these will:

To Signal Your Status
/away Sets user as away and they word "away" will appear next to your name in the name list. Typing this command again sets user as "here."
/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".

Managing messages
/back [number] Shows the last [number] of entries of the rooms chat.
/backtime [minutes] Shows the last [minutes] of the rooms chat.
/clear Clears the chat screen. This only affects your screen, not the screen of other users.
/me [action] create a message with your usename followed by the action you chose like "MissJan dances and sings" if username MissJan types /me dances and sings.
/msg [user] [message] Initiates a PM with [user] and fills PM box with optional [message].
/query [user] Initiates a PM with the user you specify

Need a Moderator?
/sos [message] Alerts moderator in current room or all moderators. [message] is optional.