CLICK & DOUBLE CLICK: CHAT: WITH PROPER GROUND RULES, THIS INTERNET `BAD BOY' CAN BE FUN (COLUMN 88)

The bad boy of the Internet is probably chat. While some of the bad reputation is deserved, chat has some redeeming value.

Just remember, in chat you are basically anonymous and so are the people you talk to. For many people this is what is appealing about chat. It's also what can be dangerous.

If you're lonely or have a need to speak with other people, it's a great way to communicate without a lot of personal investment.

You can find chat rooms or groups that match your interests.

People worry a lot about young children and teen-agers and chat. Rightly so.

Peggy: If kids are going to chat, they should be in a moderated chat room. And keep the computer in a busy room of your home, not in a child's bedroom. The best advice is be with your child when they chat.

Joni: Set some ground rules. People who do the dating scene may be better equipped to chat because they're wary. In many cases, it's like walking into a bar. You wouldn't stand on a chair and announce your name, age, address and how much money is in your pocket. Discretion is advised in chat rooms as well.

Peggy: On the good side, you can meet people from all across the world. We've met nice people from Australia. They have become family friends, via the Internet.

Joni: A lot of chat rooms require a special program such as ichat. But some don't, like Yahoo Chat. It uses Java, which is already included in your browser if you're using at least a 3.0 version of Netscape or Internet Explorer.

Peggy: Yahoo Chat offers opportunities for general chat as well as talking with guests. Olivia Newton-John was on Monday night. Grease is still the word. When you sign up there's a LONG disclaimer. Talk about legal mumbo jumbo. It just shows that people should be careful with chat.

Joni: Our choice of chat topics included: 30 plus, sports, stock talk, romance, movies, general chat, computers, music and current events. You can also make a private chat room for you and someone else.

Peggy: Chat is its own language. Everything is shortened. Also, avoid typing in all capital letters -- that's considered shouting. You can use emoticons, which are facial expressions using your keyboard, but don't overdo it. :-) Most newcomers just sit back and watch, which is called lurking, until they get used to chat.

Joni: Chat is a bit overrated. It can be disjointed, and it can be a lot of people just saying "Hi" and "Where are you from." But once you get the hang of it, chat can be addicting. At this particular time, there are more than 418 users in Yahoo Chat Central. And many are rather odd.

Peggy: Yahoo is easy. You don't have to download chat. But people are interested in other places to chat. You can find a guide to chat on the net open 24 hours.

chat.open24.net:4080/chat/world/html/index.html

Joni: You can find lots of chat on specific topics. Some are role playing. Others are virtual communities. There is even a virtual theme park. You can chat with all kinds of people.

Peggy: These sites use ichat, a program you would need to download. You can get a version free. You can talk about everything Social Security to hair loss to Christian chat.

Joni: Most of the big sites have a chat component. And you can find chat rooms by searching for "chat" on any of the search engines.

Peggy: At our house, The Palace is the chat of choice. The Palace offers 3-D chat. You can download free Palace software or if you want instant gratification, the Palace offers a Java-based chat.

www.thepalace.com

Once you have the Palace program installed. You have to start the Palace program from your desktop. It's difficult to get to the chat rooms -- more than 1,000 -- from the Web site.

Joni: Once you get the Palace up and running, go to the pull down menu for palaces and look for Kid's Nation.

Peggy: It's a chat room for children, monitored by volunteer adults. Most of the children who visit are between 7 and 15 years old. The monitors, called wizards, can kick people out if they misbehave.

Joni: We had a brief chat with Little Byte, the wizard on duty Monday. She'll kick people out for using foul language or dirty props. Props are the pictures you can use to illustrate yourself. She also said it's easy for the wizards to tell the adults from the kids by their conversations.

Peggy: My daughter and sister and I have visited at Kid's Nation with children from around the world, including Canada, Australia and Denmark. Kid's Nation is open 2 and 5 p.m. and 7 and 10 p.m. our time.

Joni: New on the chat scene are desktop messengers. These are fast and easy programs to communicate with people you know. It's like e-mail on your desktop.

Peggy: There are several big ones. Yahoo has one. So does America On Line. But our favorite is ICQ.

www.icq.com

Joni: Like the chat programs, you must download a messenger program to use it. ICQ has over 11 million subscribers and over 3 million unique users daily. The program is free.

Peggy: With these pagers, you won't have to worry about busy signals while you're online. You can be notified if any of your friends go online. Then you can send each other messages or meet to chat.

Joni: You can also find a random chat partner or go to thousands of public chat rooms. Chat by age, by interest, around the world. We found lots of chat rooms for genealogy. We requested a random chat partner, and guess what. We ended up with a college student in Pueblo, Colo., who is majoring in journalism. Small world.

Peggy: All these chat sites encourage you to set up your own groups. Families could meet at a specific time and chat with each other and avoid long distance costs. I meet my sister often.

Joni: Also chat is a great forum for children, or adults, who are shy. It's a lot less intimidating to have a conversation from the safety of your living room than on the playground or wherever you hang out. What's your favorite chat site? E-mail us at click@semissourian.com

See you in cyberspace.

~Peggy Scott and Joni Adams are members of the Southeast Missourian online staff.