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HOW TO ACCESS THE CHAT ROOM

 The chat will be held in a user-created room called “Daimbert” on Yahoo!’s chat platform in the Entertainment and Arts category.  You must have a Yahoo! account in order to participate.  These rooms hold a maximum of 40 participants, so be sure to get there early.  Try to be in the room fifteen minutes prior to start time.

The instructions for accessing the chat room follow.  If you are not familiar with Yahoo! chat, you are strongly encouraged to familiarize yourself with it in advance.  If you find you are having difficulty accessing the chat area, and have exhausted the advice of the Yahoo! help pages, feel free to email the chat moderator, Jim Lindsay, at [email protected] for further assistance.

 Step One 

Go to http://chat.yahoo.com/  If you have a Yahoo! account, sign in with your login name and password in the spaces provided.  If you do not have a Yahoo! account, click “Sign Up For Yahoo! Chat!” and follow the instructions; when you have successfully completed registration, return to http://chat.yahoo.com/ and sign in.

 Step Two

While following these instructions, you may at some point be asked if you wish to download and install Yahoo! chat software.  If this happens, click “yes.”

After signing in, you will still be on the same page, but the login box will have disappeared.  Directly below the Featured Sponsor ad is a list of Chat Categories.  Find the category “Entertainment and Arts” and click it.  A new page will open on which you will see a list of chat rooms.  The numbers and smiley faces on the right indicate how many people are in each chat room, how many have voice capability, and how many have webcam capability.  We will be using text chat only.

Step Three 

Above the column of smiley faces, you’ll find a small link that says “User Rooms.”  Click this link.  The “User Rooms” link will now be in bold face, and you will see a different list of rooms.

 Step Four

In the list of chat rooms, find the link “Daimbert” with the description “Coffeehouse Chat, Members Only.”  The rooms are listed according to the number of people in each room rather than alphabetically, so you will have to scroll through the room list to find it.  Once you have found the “Daimbert” link, click it.

If you are having trouble finding the “Daimbert” link, use the “find on this page” function in internet explorer (click “edit” and pull down to “find on this page,” enter Daimbert into the search field, and click “find next”).

Step Five 

After clicking the “Daimbert” link, you will see a page with a large advertisement and a small box on top with what appears to be a rotating horizontal blue and white barber pole labeled “Loading Yahoo! Chat.”  When the label becomes “Yahoo! Chat” and the barber pole is solid blue, click the continue button.

Step Six

You will be taken to the chat room.  A line of text at the top of the page should say “You are in Daimbert:1.”  If it says you are in a different room, you will need to go back to the chat room list and try again.

The large window that takes up most of the page will contain the text of the chat in progress.  The smaller window below, with the flashing cursor, is the text entry bar.  The window on the right, the “Chatters” window,  contains the names of the participants currently in the room.  Daimbert2002 is our guest author C. Dale Brittain, gitar_slinger is your host, Jim Lindsay.

 To send text to the room:  Type your message into the text entry bar with the flashing cursor.  Click “send.”

To send a private message to someone also in the room:  Double click the recipient’s name in the “Chatters” window.  This will open a separate instant message window.  Enter your message in the text bar with the flashing cursor and click send to send your message.

To exit the chat:  Close your internet browser.

PROCEDURAL GUIDELINES FOR AUTHOR CHAT

 Finding the Room

Please see the section titled “How to Access the Chat Room” for instructions.  The chat room will be created 30 minutes in advance of the chat.  Please try to be in the room at least 15 minutes prior to start time.  As the room holds only 40 people, it is advisable to arrive early.

Submitting Questions or Comments

Once the official chat begins, do not post in the room without approval from the chat host.

Submit all questions in private message to the chat host, gitar_slinger for this chat.  Double click gitar_slinger in the room member list to open a private message window.  This will place your question or comment in queue.

When your turn arrives, the chat host will respond to your private message and give you the go to post your question or comment.  You are encouraged to have the question or comment ready to go in the text entry box so that all you have to do is click “send” when you’re given clearance to post.

If You Are Having Problems 

The chat host will be available for instant messages through Yahoo! Messenger in case you are having problems accessing the chat room or if you have questions.  Please remember the chat host will probably be extremely busy at that moment, so expect a slow response.  Again, you are encouraged to access the chat room early to guarantee entry.