[Scroll down for
instructions on how to participate.]
Click here to go
to chatroom.
How to Participate:
- Enter a User Name. Be sure that it's something recognizable to
everyone else.
And please use first and last names so that I and everyone else knows
who's speaking.
- Press "Connect" button under where you just typed your name.
- A message will appear on the screen that says you've just joined the
chat room. You'll see something like this:
">> Jane Doe has joined room # Churchchat."
You'll usually get a lot of annoying pop-ups at this point too.
- You can adjust some settings by pressing the little hammer icon
underneath the chat screen. Under "Text Font", select either "Small" or
"Medium." You can
select whichever color you like, but try to pick one that's not
currently in use so that each person can have a unique color (makes it
easier to follow who's saying what--try not to pick yellow, though,
since it's usually too light to see). The icon with the four arrows
will expand your screen. When you want to contribute
something, type your comments in the black rectangular box at the
bottom of the screen, and press "Send."
You should now see your comments added to the bottom of the discussion.
- To log off, hit the button at the top right of the chat box that
says "Log off".
- Important Procedures for Chatting: Chat rooms can sometimes
get chaotic, especially if there are a lot of people in them at the same
time. A question can be asked, and then before an answer is given,
someone else makes an unrelated point, and so on. We can minimize these
problems if we observe the following procedures. If you ask me a
question, end your line with "GA." That stands for Go
Ahead and signifies that you're done with your contribution. Then
everyone else please withhold making additional comments before I respond
to the first question and end with "GA" to indicate that my answer is
done. Sometimes one has to use several lines to ask a question or
respond with an answer. So don't just assume that someone is done when a
line of text appears in the chat room. Wait for the "GA." Everything
should go more smoothly if we follow these rules. And if there are lots
of people in the chatroom at once, I'll try to be the traffic cop and
direct who's next with a question or a comment. Thank you!
