Tech Talk: Chat


 
 

Chat away: Part 2
by Emily Wilska


In this issue: Keep it to a whisper, Find out who you're chatting with, Actions & emoticons, Meet up with a friend in chat, Learning more


Last month, we covered the basics of MSN Chat. This month, by popular demand, we'll take a look at some of the more advanced things you can do with Chat.

If you missed last month's article or want a refresher course, choose this link: Chat away: Part 1

Now here are a few of the things you can do once you're inside a chat room.


Keep it to a whisper
Picture this: you're chatting away in a crowded room, and you find yourself drawn into conversation with one person in particular. You want to be able to chat privately with this person, but you don't want to have to leave the room and go elsewhere.

Here's where the Whisper button comes in handy. When you whisper, you type a message to one other person, rather than to the whole room. Messages you whisper will appear on-screen only for you and the person you're whispering to; other people in the room won't see them.

To whisper to someone in a chat room, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Whisper from the menu on the left side of the page.
  2. A panel will appear with a list of all of the people in the chat room. Check the box next to the name of the person you want to whisper to. (You can whisper to more than one person at a time if you want.)
  3. In the box on the right side of the panel, type the message you want to whisper.
  4. Choose Whisper Message when you're done.
When someone whispers to you, their message will appear on-screen like this:
someChatter (to you): Hi there!
The words "to you" in parentheses indicate that the rest of the chat room can't see this message.

To learn more about whispering, choose this link: Whispering Help

€ Back to top


Find out who you're chatting with
Because the pace of conversations in chat rooms can be fast and furious, it's not always easy to see who else is in the room with you. You can see a full list of everyone chatting in a specific room by choosing the People button from the menu on the left side of the page. A list of everyone currently chatting in the room will appear on the page.

€ Back to top


Actions & emoticons
If you were actually in a room having a conversation with people, they'd be able to see when you were smiling or frowning, when you stepped out to grab a soda from the fridge, or when you were jumping up and down with excitement. Though people can't actually see you in a chat room, you can get across these ideas by using actions and emoticons.

Most bits of a conversation in a chat room look like this:

SuperChatter: I'm going to raid the kitchen for some chocolate!
Actions, however, look like this:
SuperChatter is going to raid the kitchen for some chocolate!
To perform an action in a chat room, type
/me at the beginning of your message; whatever you type after /me will appear to others in the room as the action you're doing.

For example, to let everyone know that you're jumping up and down, type /me jumps up and down. Your message will appear on-screen as

YourName jumps up and down.

You can also add emphasis to your messages by using emoticons — symbols created by typing combinations of punctuation and letters.

Here are some sample emoticons:

:) Smile
;) Wink
:( Frown
:D Big grin
:| Straight face
One of the best ways to find out how to create emoticons and learn what they mean is to ask your fellow chatters. Chances are you'll pick up some cool new ways of expressing your emotions online.

Similar to emoticons are abbreviations, which chatters use to get their point across in brief. For a rundown of some common abbreviations you might see (and use) while in a chat room, choose this link: Abbreviations in chat.

€ Back to top


Meet up with a friend in chat
Whenever you use MSN Chat, you can find out whether someone you know is also using chat at the same time, and join them in the room they're chatting in. All you need to know is the person's MSN Chat nickname.

To find someone you know in MSN Chat, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Find friend from anywhere in MSN Chat. (The Find friend button appears on the menu on the left side of the page.)
  2. In the panel that pops up, type the MSN Chat nickname of the person you're looking for, and then choose Find This User.
If the person you're looking for is currently using MSN Chat, you'll see a list of the room/s they're chatting in, and you can choose the room you want to join.

If the person is not currently using MSN Chat, you can try finding someone else.

€ Back to top


Learning more
Remember, a good place to learn more about MSN Chat is Help. Check out Chat Help from the main Help index, or from any page in Chat. And remember, there's the New2MSNTV chat room, where your fellow MSN TV chatters can help show you the ropes.

In closing, /me hopes you have a great time chatting! :)

€ Back to top