Users Guide

Sending a Message

To send a message, type it into the message entry box at the bottom of the chat box. The message will be sent to the other people in the chat room when you press the return/enter key.

Visitor List

The Visitor list is a list of people that are currently chatting in the group. Each name has a pawn next to it, and the color indicates their status. The pawns are:

	Guest
	Member
	Moderator
	(Main) Owner
	Ignored
	Banned
	Available
	xat staff
	Celebrity
	Pink power
	Blueman power
	Purple power
	Gold power
	Ruby power
	Everypower

When you send a message, your pawn, in the visitor/friend list, will glow green to indicate you are talking. When others send messages, their pawns will glow as well.

When a user is available, it means that they might receive your message, but you might not receive a response.

Smilies

Smilies are emoticons that can be added to messages. You can add smilies by either clicking on one of the default smilies above the message entry box, or by directly typing the code for the smiley. For example, 🙂 is the code for the standard yellow smiley. There are lots of additional smilies that are not part of the standard set, which can be found on the free smilies page.

Anytime you are on a chat page, and you want to display the full list of smilies (besides the subscriber smilies), look to the left of the chat box, and above the red x is a tiny icon with four little smilies on it. Clicking that icon will bring up the smiley list. Simply click on a smiley and the code for that smiley will appear in your text box. If you want to see the code, so you can manually type it yourself, just hover over the smiley you want the code for.

There are also several shorthand smiley codes. Here is a list:

• 🙂, 🙂 – (smile)
• :d – (biggrin)
• 😉, 😉 – (wink)
• 😮, 😮 – (eek)
• :p – (tongue)
• 😎 – (cool)
• :@ – (mad)
• :s – (confused)
• :$ – (redface)
• 🙁, 🙁 – (frown)
• :'( – (crying)
• |-) – (sleepy)
• 😐, 😐 – (rolleyes)
• :-* – N/A
• :[, :-[ – (vampire)

Tabbed Groups

The owner of the chatbox you are on may have added a chat group to their chat box. This will appear as a second tab next to the main tab. A chat group is a shared chat room created for a specific purpose. This could be:

• To discuss a particular subject (e.g. music, anime, surfing, computer games)
• For a specific age group or type of person e.g. 20-something, students
• For a specific country or language

You can also access the chat groups directly by clicking on the green speech bubble on the bottom left of the chatbox. If you would like to find more chat groups.

Turn sound & radio on or off

You can turn chatbox sounds on and off by clicking on the speaker icon on the bottom right of the chatbox. A disabled sign will appear on it once clicked. To turn sounds back on, click again. If you want to turn the sound up or down, hover your cursor over the speaker, then move the arrow up and down to increase or decrease the volume. If you are a main owner of a chat group, you can set all default sounds to on or off by clicking the “Edit Your Chat” button on the bottom right of your chatbox. Then go to “Extra Features,” scroll down and you will see “Default chat box sounds to OFF”. Check the box next to it, scroll down and click “Update these Options”.

If a chat has a radio station, you may click the radio icon to turn it on or off. You may adjust the volume the same way as you can with chat sounds. If you’re a main owner, click “Edit Your Chat” then “Extra Features” to set up a radio station. Read more about setting up a radio station here.

Sign In/Out

To sign out of the chatbox, press the Sign Out button located at the bottom right of the chat, next to the text box. You will be shown at the bottom of the Visitors list and will be listed as offline. You will not be able to see or send messages until you press “Sign In” or refresh the page.

Receiving/Sending a Private Message

A private message appears in the chat window but has only been sent to one person. It is like being in a room full of people and whispering something to someone that you only want them to hear. If you see a message that has a gold padlock next to it, that person has sent you a private message that only you two can see.

To send a private message to another user, click on their name in either the chat or the Visitor list. On the menu that pops up, click on “Private Message” and a large padlock will appear on the left side of the text box. This indicates that the next message you send will be a private message, to the selected user.

Starting/Responding to a Private Chat

A private chat is a conversation with only two people; it is like leaving a room full of people and finding a private room to talk in. When you are sent a private chat message, a tab will appear with the sender’s name on it under the message window. It will flash to indicate a new message and the speech bubble will remain green to show that you have not read it yet. Click on the tab and you will be in a private chat with that person. While you are having a private chat with one person, you may also see the main room and other private chats flashing and remaining green to indicate new or unread messages. You can switch between these and maintain conversations with several people at once if you want to. When you have finished with a private chat, move your cursor over the tab and press the red x that appears to close it.

Have you been automatically signed out?

If you haven’t typed a message for over 15 minutes, the chat box will automatically sign you out. To sign back in, press the “Sign In” button on the bottom right. Owners and Moderators are not automatically signed out, so they should take more care to sign out when they leave to prevent visitors from wondering why Moderators/Owners are not responding to them.

Have you been kicked?

If you have been kicked out of a chatbox, you will need to sign in again if you wish to continue chatting. There will be an information message that is sent to everyone in the room that says who was kicked, who did the kicking, and the reason for the kick. You will also be “Gagged” (unable to send messages) for 15 seconds after being kicked.

Have you been banned?

If you have been banned from a chat box, you will have received a banned information message, your pawn in the Visitors list will have turned brown, and your name will have changed to “Banned”. You will still be able to see the messages being sent (this only applies if the chat doesn’t have Banish or Banpool assigned), but the other people in the room will not receive any message you try to send. The ban may be for a limited duration and if so, you could return later. The ban may have been a warning and they may un-ban you sooner if you remain online for a while.

If you believe you have been unfairly banned, you should click “Report Unfair Ban” on the large window that appears upon being banned. This will send a message to the main owner of the chat saying that you’ve been banned, why you think it’s unfair (if you included text), and your email (if you included it). If the ban happened while you were online, it will send a transcript of what was recently said on the main chat prior to you being banned, and give the chat’s creator an option to demote the person who banned you.

If you are banned, only users who have added you as a friend can see private chats you send to them.

Profile Dialog

Click on your name at the top of the Visitors list to set up your display name and avatar. If you are new to the chatbox, you will have been assigned a “toon” name like WuggyBunch and a random picture. These, however, are easily changeable.

How do I change my name?

Click on your name in the chat, then enter your desired name in the “Name” box, as you want it to appear on the chat. You can use smiley codes in your name also, and these will be displayed on the Visitor and Friend lists.

How do I change my avatar?

To change your display picture, you can choose one of the default images shown by clicking on it. Every time you choose one, you will get another selection from which to choose. If you wish to look at a wider selection of images see the default avatars page. Alternatively, you can use any picture you like by getting the “Direct Link” of an image (you can easily upload images here). After copying the “Direct Link,” paste the link into the “Picture” box and click OK.