Chatters love cyberspace

By FRANCIS TILL

In the beginning were online message boards and all was well - if a little dull. Then came internet relay chat (IRC) in 1988 and marriages infamously began to fall apart as unhappy spouses turned to the internet for a little instant gratification with complete strangers.

As the internet grew, slicker messaging services arrived on the scene like a swarm of bees. They were led by ICQ (I Seek You) in 1996, America Online's Instant Messenger (AIM) in 1998, Microsoft, Yahoo!, and hundreds of others in their wake. What they all have in common are real-time messaging communities - chatrooms.

Essentially, a chatroom is a "virtual place" where two or more people meet to communicate online in real time - through text, voice, or video - using the web or special software or both.

Chat started off using text messages and the simpler services - often based on IRC - are still text-centric, but today anyone can get into a voice and video chatroom with the click of a mouse (and the right hardware). And millions do.

About half the American internet population uses chat (41 per cent) or instant messaging (52 per cent), says American researchers Jupiter Research.

There are no comparable figures for the rest of the world, but Jupiter says the youngest group it measured, 13-19-year-olds, spent far more time in chat and instant messaging activities than did older groups.

There aren't any comparable statistics for the rest of the world but the pattern Jupiter describes seems to fairly reflect what's going on elsewhere.

That doesn't mean chat is just for kids, though, because as a global phenomenon chat is entirely user-defined - and anyone is free to make anything of it they want. Imagination, not demographics, is the limit.

For example, many websites have chatrooms dedicated to special topics - the people in those rooms will share at least a common interest, if not a common generation.

Horse Talk has a room like this for chatting about horses, Fulbright New Zealand has one, and there's one dedicated to bipolar disorders. Finding chatrooms of this type is easy through major search engines such as Google - and most major portals have special chat tools and a large inventory of chatrooms on a wide range of popular topics.

Most chatters also use one of the major platforms, even if they prefer bespoke rooms elsewhere.

Yahoo! is probably the most comprehensive and beginners will want to familiarise themselves with it as a benchmark. It's got everything - including voice/video chat at the click of a button. It's both free and easy to use.

Because chat is an anarchic landscape, some bizarre things happen in it - and these tend to quickly acquire notoriety.

In America, for example, a teenage boy recently committed suicide by overdosing on camera during a group video chat. Some in his audience egged him on - and after he'd lapsed into unconsciousness the community argued about whether anyone should attempt to interfere. Several eventually tried, but unsuccessfully - his contact details obscured his real identity and his cellphone, the number to which he had posted online, was turned down too low to attract the attention of his mother, who was in the next room.

That doesn't mean video chat is bad. Using video chat to communicate with distant loved ones, especially a scattered family all at once, is an amazing experience - almost enough on its own to make one run out and get that overpriced broadband connection.

Still, when you first wade into chat on one of the major platforms, you'll probably have to pass through some genuinely tasteless scum on your way - and that's because, in part, the tools have become so easy to master.

Unfortunately, that means many people who can't get talk radio to answer their calls have turned instead to spouting off online, often in packs, taking comfort from the anonymous company of strangers.

On the other hand, as I write this, "Audine" is talking about her grief at losing her father on China's Room 3, and being comforted by "Cranberry", who is singing her a folk ballad. In Arab American Chat Room 4, "Ahmed-al" is upset with America's Homeland Security programme and on the main Parenting room, "Cindy-Sue" just had to break off because her children were screaming - one of her sons was trying to tie a cat to the hood of her car. In the main Military Room, "Jane" is running her webcam and talking about her boyfriend, who has just been deployed to the Middle East.

It's a brave new world out there. Boot up your computer.

Chattering classes

DO

* Do scout around to find chatrooms and services that suit your needs.

* Do use your public profile and picture to give the impression you want strangers to see - but don't put yourself at risk.

* Do be creative in choosing your "handle" - the screen name others will know you by.

* Do pay attention to the chat flow in a new room before you jump in.

* Do direct your basic questions and complaints to the moderator.

* Do be prepared for anything from anyone, anytime. And do have fun.

DON'T

* Don't use your own name or put identifying personal details in your chat profiles.

* Don't SHOUT (use all capital letters). And don't be rude just because someone else is - let the moderator handle it.

* Don't use an email address you value.

* Don't believe anything you see or hear - and don't take abuse to heart.

HorseTalk

Fulbright

bpd.net (Borderline Personality Disorder)

Yahoo! chat