Chat Room

Chat rooms are "virtual locations" on the Internet where two or more users can communicate with each other in real time (Answers.com ), like a typed version of a conference call over the telephone. They are the online equivalent of a physical social gathering place. Other virtual social places, like forums and discussion groups, allow users to post messages and answers to the questions, but do not have any capacity for real-time interactive messaging.

Most of the online chat rooms use Internet chat relay (IRC). IRC is a system that allows users all over the world to chat using the Internet. There are two options when using chat systems:

• Web sites, like Meebo.com, allow users to use chat rooms on the Internet without having to download any software; and
• Chat-room software provided by other Web sites, which a user needs to download; examples are Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, Skype, and MSN Messenger.

Users have to create an online account with a username and password in order to start using the chat room. The user has the option of selecting a screen name by which she can be recognized in the chat room. After logging into the account, the user can select the chat room in which she wants to start having a conversation. Inside the chat room there are generally other users that are online. Users can select the person with whom they want to chat by double-clicking on the display name that appears in the side panel. The users can start chatting with the person by typing the message in the small text area and clicking the "send" button or pressing enter to send the message.

Nowadays, several new features are built into the chat-room tool, for example:

• Live voice and video chat over the Internet, where the user can actually see the opposite person on video and talk with the person via microphone. (Note: This requires both participants to have a web-camera attached to their computers.)
• Send emoticons , which enable users to express emotions using the keyboard
• Send voice messages when the intended recipient is not online, similar to leaving voicemail on a telephone

Users have the option of selecting either a single person to chat with or chatting with all the people in the chat room.

Chat rooms are vulnerable to abuse because they are spontaneous and instantly visible. For example, disruptive users may verbally abuse other chatters, monopolize the conversation, or even just disable it by repeatedly typing the same word or phrase into the conversation (a practice, which is much frowned upon, known as "scrolling"). You should therefore read a chat room's "Frequently Asked Questions" section that provides information about etiquette and policies for chat-room use. You should also avoid disclosing any personal information in chat rooms because this information becomes publicly available to all chat-room users. You can find information about Yahoo's chat privacy policies , as an example.