What is a chat room?

A chat room typically takes the form of one or more ‘windows’ on


the screen that contain line after line of text. One line is a response

from a single person, their ‘Nic’ (Nickname) or ‘Handle’ is generally

shown alongside. The people in the chat room enter a line of text

and then press ENTER, where it is displayed for everyone to see. It

then continues in a free-for-all chat session where one person may

be having a dozen simultaneous ongoing ‘conversations’ with

different people. It can get very confusing to follow as there are

typically many people carrying on different conversations at any

one time. Crowded chat rooms can appear completely random at

first glance.

Once you first jump into a chat room it can be quite a shock, and

will take you some time to get used to what is going on and what isbeing said. It is best to just sit back for 5-10 minutes and watch


the action to get a feel for the topics being discussed and the mood

of the people. It is not unusual to see a lot of swearing, personal

messages that you have no idea about, and lots of acronyms.

It’s a good idea to make up a unique handle for yourself and

stick with it, that way people get to know you. It’s not unusual to try

and enter a new chat room only to find someone is already using

your handle. Some chat clients like Yahoo! Chat assign you a

permanent handle, which means that no one else is able to use it.

Volunteers moderate some chat rooms, and people who swear

constantly or provoke other people are kicked off. Moderated chat

rooms are a much nicer environment to chat in, so it’s a good idea

to start off with those ones if you can.

Disadvantages of Staying Anonymous

Yes there are disadvantages to staying anonymous, so it’s in your


best interests to weigh up the pros and cons. Generally it’s ok for
 
girls to remain anonymous, but for guys it’s a big decision that could


seriously decrease your chances.

The major disadvantage is that it looks like you have something

to hide. Not everyone you meet will understand if you don’t want to

tell them your real first name or give them a phone number. You

may of course have a genuine reason for hiding your identity, but

trying to explain that to someone who has never met you is not

going to be easy.

Even the simple act of having a Hotmail or Yahoo! address is

enough to raise the suspicions of some people. Obviously they have

no idea of the benefits, but that’s how they think. Generally you

won’t be at any disadvantage by using an anonymous address as

long as you appear genuine and don’t try to hide anything.