How to use the chatroom - How to stay loggin in

FAQ027 = How can I get my name and email to automatically be filled in?
FAQ027 = How can I use the Chatroom?

Part I - How to use the Chatroom
================================

Rather than creating a long thread in the QBasic Forum with posts every 2 minutes, it may be better to discuss the issue in the chatroom.

By the way, when you go to the Subforums Index, if anyone is in the chatroom already, you will see a CHAT box at the top with the number of chatters currently there.

Click "Chat"

When the screen comes up, click on "start chatting" (You need Java scripting enabled)

If you succeeded, you will see a screen at the left entitled "Members" with your network54 userid, or guest... if you have no such userid.

Under the "Members" panel are some options:

"Members" - That brings up the Members panel so you can see who is in the chatroom.

"Options" - That has two things you can fix
- Personal Description - This will be displayed after your network54 userid in parentheses. My userid is iorr5t, so I enter a Personal Description of "Mac" so you can know who I am (if I remember).
- Reload interval - This is how often you want to check if anyone has posted anything. (Don't hit REFRESH to try that. REFRESH will lose stuff and start over. Instead, set the interval lower.)

Then send your message. You can select "All" to send to everyone, or name the logged on user you want to see the message.

There is no need to send the message "Is anyone here?" You can see in the "Members" panel who is here. However; you may want to encourage people to come:

1) Post a new thread on the QBasic Forum "* I am in the chatroom"

2) When the last person leaves the chatroom (that might be you if nobody shows up) then post a reply in that thread "* Nobody in the chatroom any more". When I see that, I will delete the thread.


Part II - Network54 Userids
===========================
If you have no such ID and want one, log on to www.network54.com. It doesn't much matter what name you choose. For purposes of the QBasic forum, when you post and are logged in, the name will be the last one you typed in. The email will be the one you supply to network54.

To stay logged in, do this when you sign up: Edit your account and select "account options" and set "Auto Logoff" to quarterly. That way you don't have to keep logging on. I have noticed that "hour" seems to log off immediately when you close the LOGIN screen.