| A place in
cyberspace where you and your friends hang out to talk and share
ideas. Because chat
room messages are spontaneous and instantly visible, there is a
potential for abuse, which may or may not be intentional. Site hosts
typically post a frequently asked questions (FAQ) list to guide
users to appropriate chat room behavior, such as introducing
yourself when you enter a room, making it clear when you are
directing a question or response to a specific user, and reporting
disruptive users, for example. Disruptive users may verbally abuse
other chatters, monopolize the conversation, or even just disable it
by repeatedly typing the same word or phrase into the conversation,
a practice (much frowned upon) known as scrolling.
Chat rooms can be found that
focus on virtually any aspect of human endeavor or interest: there
are current communities based on classic movies, Irish ancestry,
baton twirling, and psychic readings, for example. Various sites,
such as Yahoo, provide a directory of chat sites. Others, such as
MSN Web Communities, guide users through the steps required to
create their own chat room. |
