From the newsletter of
The Kim Komando Computer Show
Issue Date: Jan. 8, 2005 -- Vol. 9, No. 2
Q. This may be the dumbest question you've ever gotten! I hear so much
about chat rooms, but I have no idea where to find one. Can you help
me? -- Mary in Austin, TX, listening on KLBJ 590 AM
A. Mary, this isn't even close to the dumbest question I've gotten.
To tell you the truth, I never address those. But if you ever hear me
screaming with laughter, you'll know one has arrived.
Chat rooms are all over the place. Portals that try to attract visitors
by aggregating interesting stuff invariably have them. Those would
include Yahoo! and America Online.
Yahoo! is free. AOL charges $23.90 per month for dial-up service,
or $14.95 per month if you already have broadband service. Chat is
included as one of AOL's services. Here are their links:
http://chat.yahoo.com/
http://www.aol.com/
Let's start with Yahoo! It lists 19 categories. Within the categories,
there are many chat groups. For instance, under Entertainment & Arts,
there are 14 chat rooms. Among them are Art Chat, Body Art and The
Darkroom, for photographers.
AOL has loads of chat rooms. When I checked Wednesday afternoon,
71,000 people were chatting. Guess they didn't have to work! Given such
a number of chatters, you should be able to find an interesting topic.
These are just the tip of the iceberg. There are countless other chat
rooms. Enter your topic along with the word "chat" at a search site
like Google, and they will pop up. Own a Honda? You'll find chat rooms
dedicated to both the cars and motorcycles. The same goes for hobbies,
babies, home improvement and anything else you'd like to discuss.
Personally, I find chat a little disconcerting. There can be quite a
few people in a chat room. Side discussions develop, and sometimes they
are difficult to understand. It's like a party, with small knots of
people in their own conversations.
There is no body language to reinforce or leaven what is said. So it's
easier to offend people in a chat room than when you talk face-to-face.
You may think that what you say is clever, but others can't see your
smile. So choose your words carefully.
And remember, be careful what personal information you divulge and
also, what you believe. People can be whomever they want when typing
behind a computer monitor.
Hope this helps! And thank you for listening to the show. Be sure
to tell 10 friends. It doesn't matter where they live, by the way.
Kim :)
