I finally overcame my reluctance and joined in on a chatroom tonight - supposedly to discuss aspects of RC with fellow enthusiasts. I've never, ever, been on any chatroom before. It will be a long time, if ever, I do it again. It appeared to be overtaken by a small group of perverts that "chased" me off with their nonsensical chatter. One person seemed to sense my consternation and we attempted a conversation only to give up after a short time. Are these unmonitored? I was under the impression that these were hosted by a moderator. Was my experience typical or was this an isolated incident? I'm soured by my first attempt at joining a chat.

N/C

mw

I'm sorry, Mark, I don't know what N/C means. Ed

ED,

I beleive I am to blaim. I am ever so sorry if I made you uncomfortable, it was part of an attempt to lighten the mood up a bit. Chat is full of great guys full of experience, and I hope you please consider coming back again.

Sent you a PM (private message)...

Best Regards,

Paul

Just my opinion but chat isn't for everyone anyway. I've tried it a few times but I just don't get on with it. To me it's often like being at a noisy party with multiple shouted conversations going on. People rudely jump in and just start talking about what they feel like without considering what's currently going on. I can't follow any of the conversations properly so I give up.

I'd stick to the forums, they're much better controlled (chat is rather too real-time to moderate very successfully IMO).

Steve

I enjoy the Thursday night session very much and usually end up chortling into my beer, although it has to be said that sometimes my typing is just too slow to keep up with those pesky kids!

tim

"chortling".....great word...seldom used, always appreciated.

N/C= No Comment.

mw

I, too, was kinda "turned off" to Chat at first.

I tried it again and found out that there are some good things there.

Steve explained it perfectly . . . . "To me it's often like being at a noisy party with multiple shouted conversations going on."

If you do find a person that has a particularly good topic, you can switch ovwer to "private" and really go through some good dialog (sp??).

All I can say is try it again, and mentally filter out those childish comments that pop up now and then.

Viper

I'm very sorry to hear that you had an unpleasant experience. I'm open to any suggestions you might have that will help us create a better chat atmosphere.

Jim

I was alittle disappointed with 'chat' also, thought it would be cool back when we pondering the idea. Probably even voted for it (if we voted, I don't remember).

They're not big things that put me off, one of them being my typing speed. I type with 2 fingers, one on the keyboard, other in my nose. Add that in with my inability to put what's in my noggin into printed words which increases lag time even worse.
Also, when you first sign in, you're totally lost in the conversation. Mostly cause you can't see it, it ain't there. So it takes alittle time to catch up. Maybe a way to 'view' chat before logging in ?

There is always going to be a big difference between forums and chat. In the forums, you leave a message with a clearly marked title in area reserved for that subject. Then, anyone who is interested can take a look later and reply. In an IRC chat room, however, you've got messages from anyone that's there all coming at you at once.

As William A says being able to type fast helps, but it's not absolutely necessary. For a start, you don't be too fussy about spelling and grammar; no one minds if you make a mistake. Punctuation is oftenabsent; it isn't usually necessary and slows you down a lot. If you watch a while you'll also see that a lot of abbreviations are used.

If you've got a complicated question that will take a while to type out, then the forums are probably better. More people will see the message, so it's more likely that someone with a solution will see it (usually there aren't more than a dozen people chatting at once; more would be just too confusing)

Also, when no one has anything R/C related to talk about, the conversation is going to drift off topic. There's nothing wrong with that; otherwise, if noone has anything interesting to discuss, they'll just leave. Then when someone new comes in, there'll be noone to talk to, and they'll leave.

William A asked if there was a way to view the chat before you join in - basically there isn't. Just join the channel, say hi, and watch for a minute to see what's going on.

I think I have heard too much. I read the chat logs too about captain ed's expirience in chat, and I can not think how that would create the reaction by Jim Bourke to threaten bans on people. By the way Captain, how are you enjoying that Super Whattmeter?

Chat is a loud party going on with many conversations, with many regulars in there. What are we supposed to do? All sit in chat quietly and wait for a conversation to begin? HOW HARD is it to read the buffer and wait for a response from a person your talking to? Chat is not for everyone, and perhaps it is something you need to get used to.

Sorry if I dont have the red carpet out dressed in my butler outfit with my lips ready to kiss the next new guys butt!

What has our society become? A bunch of Whining little over sensitive babies? I sure hope not.

Here is how you fix the problems

1. Accept the fact that some people may get insulted by little things that should not insult people
2. Do not over police the chats, or hurt the core group of chatters, or you end up with no chat at all
3.Realise what Chat really is, and accept it.

One other thing: Captain Ed says he was chased off by a "group of perverts". I saw the comments that were made, and that's is a pretty insulting thing to say based on a couple of jokes that were at worst slightly off colour. The exact same thing happens on the forums all the time (Mark Wood knows this).

If you want to see something perverted take a look at the ads for the new Zagi Twin that are on every single page on ezonemag.com ( http://www.rcgroups.com/banners/zagitwin.gif ). I thought this was supposed to be a family site!? (guess the rules go away when you're paying money!)

I guess it's time to stick my two cents back in. Bill, yes, I'm enjoying the Whattmeter a lot. It's made a big difference in getting my power set up properly.

I indicated that it was the very first time I'd ever participated ( or tried to ) in a chatroom. It WAS a shocking experience for me. The stated purpose and standards of behavior were clearly not being followed that night. My question was - is this typical? I wanted to make a decision on whether to give it another go or not. I know I can't change it to what I thought it was or what I'd like it to be.

The replies to my thread have done that. The comments show me that what I saw that night is not that rare. In fact, the comments indicate that people KNOW they're stepping over the edge, and will continue to do so. This is not the place for a person like me. There was a time I may have enjoyed the experience, but at age 57 this kind of thing is not MY cup of tea.

One of the early replies to my post was an apology from someone who must have recognized that he had stepped out of bounds and was sorry he did so. I appreciate that apology and hope others who read this thread will recognize the errors of their ways. This behavior will prevent me and most likely others from using a form of communication that has great potential for furthering our enjoyment of RC - the reason we all got to this site in the first place.

Maybe the answer is a chatroom just for mature ( age AND behavior ) folks like me. Perhaps a 50 and over chatroom where typing speed is not a handicap. But for now I'll stick to the forums where I can think before I speak and edit if I don't.

Thanks to all for your thoughtful replies. Ed