h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I personally don't use IRC mode, but there are others who do. Also, if you get more than four chatters, it automatically switches you to irc layout.... or at least it used to (and mine still does).

Ah, I think it's a six user limit now. It can be quite annoying... the only real solution is to democratically kick someone out of the forum so you can get back to drawing ASCII art and leaving blank lines all over the place .

Does kicking still require the concensus of all involved parties?

*perk* ... did someone say party?


(Sorry, been lurking in the Psychiatrist's Chair. )

ICQ is one of the bits of software I encountered in my multimedia course; dutifully, I loaded it and tucked it away; I don't use the thing unless someone asks to chat...and I find that mostly that's people I could just as easily call up anyway.

The annoying part of chat for me is I tend to want to think out what I'm saying before I say it, and this, I'm told, doesn't work very well for chat lines. Also, my typing is fairly awful and constant backspacing stops the idea flow in a chat.

Email may be a lot slower, but I get to think in coherent sentences, pose ideas in greater detail, and have time to absorb info before replying. As long as we're on a communications-topic, can anyone tell me why using a cell-phone in a car is more complicated than conversing with a passenger in the same vehicle? I've done both, and found the cell/car phone to be much more dangerous, although I don't understand why.

Fruitbat

For a one on one 'chat' using ICQ you can always just use the 'instant message' default mode rather than an actual chat - it has the advantage of hiding any typing deficiencies & backspacing.

I hope the mobile phone in the car is in hands free mode - else the explanation of why its harder than chatting to a passenger is rather obvious

;^)#

I really don't mind people seeing my lousy typing skills all that much, and for that matter, live type does tend to improve that.

However, I rarely use the chat function of ICQ much these days, although I do have to admit guilt of getting parties together when it was the latest new toy.

One advantage I haven't seen mentioned to the chat thing is when you're trying to help someone with a problem. You get the finer points, but there are a few things you're not sure of.. or they just dropped a problem in your lap that is totally beyond your comprehension. You happen to have a personal aquaintance who -does- know just about everything there is to know (Read: Personal Guru), however, this person is prone to talking in tech terms that your other newbie-type friend would probably just nod to and have no idea what guru is talking about (even if the guru is very friendly and would translate if he knew this). So you pull up a chat, pull in the guru, and translate.

(Uhm... If this makes it sound like I have -any- experience in the above scenario, it's just a coincidence. Honest! *ahem*)