what is chat?- 

chat is different from a message board. a message board does not allow immediate interaction ~ it is a forum  to post messages on. chat is an interactive environment that is instant ~ many people all in one room , a scrolling screen with all posting or speaking at the same time. it may include voice chat or web cams. 

-what's this thing it wants to download and install??-

Many users will get a screen that says, do you want to install..... XXXXXX chat..... or audio conferencing. (MSN, YAHOO, etc...) Say  YES  on the security warning box, this is what you need to have java chat. If you say no you can end up with a distorted screen or in the html version of chat.  Or may not even get in chat at all!. 

• Html chat means you will see the font tags  like this  

  • <b><font face="Verdana" size="10"><font color="#b10000">We are
    Y</font><font color="#b13900">ahoo Cha</font><font color="#b17100">t Help:1

• instead of this.... We are Yahoo Chat Help:1  

-accepted  the download? and still cant get in? -

chatting from work? that may be prevented by a firewall. check your employee handbook.

the download finished but still no room? it is possible you need to check for windows critical updates and or virtual machine ( virtual machine makes java work) 

did all that? and still no go?  check with your isp. SOME dsl/ cable users are in high growth areas and dont have dynamic java support for all users (yet) 

-I keep getting booted!-

If you are in html, that's no boot~ you need to click the refresh button every so often. 

in java chat or messenger ~ if you saw a bunch of crap on screen first~ just means an idiot flooded the room and your connection couldn't keep up or basically said... forget it.. and left the room

some ways to stop the boot ~ set your private messages to friends only  and select show pms on screen.  (only you will see them  and just click where it says answer or respond for a box to reply to )

or, many chatters on yahoo swear by a client. yahoo has no chat admin's moderators, hosts, etc .. so a client helps block some of the junk that idiots send because there are no mods, admins, hosts, etc. MSN room hosts will have a gavel by their id. Don't take the word admin or host in a name as the truth though, unless you see an icon as well.

how do i get in chat?-

pick a chat server ~  PalTalk help   ~  yahoo chat help   ~  MSN  ~ Excite  are just a few

once you have signed up for a user name ~ you can just click on the chat room name. and enter.....some servers may have a schedule, or special events and you should be able to just click the icon or link for it to enter..

• side note  ~ special chat events will have a different set up ~ there will be a section of the screen that has the moderator and the special guest, then a chat section, and a section for questions to send to the moderator.  if go to these events, the screen will take some extra time to load. chat servers will denote an admin with a special graphic next to their name and they will often be at the top of the list.

- what do   asl,  lol , brb , :) , :(  mean?  check help  and smiles pages 

 -if you feel invisible, just realize that sometimes the connections may be slow, the servers may drop a message ( yours or another chatters), and you are not being slighted. its the wonders of technology. just say hello again. and if you need help, be as specific as you can. it helps