Chat

The great thing about chat is there is no waiting around. The people you want to talk to are there ready to give you an answer straight away.

On the internet - as in real life - there are people chatting about a huge number of different topics.

The easiest and most popular form of chatting is chatting in web chat rooms. All you need is a browser!

Getting started

When you first enter a chatroom you'll be asked to choose a nickname. Make sure you never use your real name.

Every chat room has a list of all of the people in it and after you enter your name should appear on it. It's called the user list.

When people enter messages they appear in the message area.

You can't see any of the messages in the chat room from before you entered so the message area will appear blank until someone sends a message in.

Often there will also be a list of the other chat rooms available on the same website. This is useful as it's often easier to change chat room here than go back to the main menu.

Sending your message

To send your own message you first type it into the message box. No-one will see what you type unit you click the 'Send' button.

Then sit back and wait for the replies from the other people in the room.

Often the punctuation and spelling used in chatrooms isn't strictly correct. That's because people are more worried about getting their message out quickly and generally no one minds.

Abbreviations are also popular online. Here are some of the more common ones:
A/S/L? - Age/Sex/Location?
B4 - Before
CYAL8R - See you later
IMO - In my opinion
LOL - Laugh out loud
TY - Thank you

Rules

Never give out any personal details - it's easy to do but you can never get them back.

Your name, address, phone number and e-mail address should remain private as people can use them to track you down in real life.

Never arrange real life meetings with chat buddies. They may not be who they say they are. If you must go - always go with an adult friend.