Chat Room FAQ

Question: What are you talking about?
Answer: Anything and everything. Bring something up, or watch and jump in when you feel ready.

Question: What is this madness?
Answer: Chat. We like crazy here (unless it's wielding an axe. Then we run. Madly.)

Question: Who's fluffybunny/squirrelgirl/tomandjerry/boxcar/blahblah?
Answer: Wait to see who replies. You'll learn everyone's name (and their eleventy-seven nicknames) eventually, if you stick around.

Statement: That was random.
Reply: Not for chat!


*bows*

hi i'm new around here and can someone tell me about this website and what you can do?

Hey there, ancientlife! Though this forum is actually for chat-specific questions, I'll just give you a quick guide to help you around the site.

Welcome to YWS! The black bar on top gives your your profile, messages and notifications (things that are happening where you previously posted). The last one lets you post writing work. Just click and follow the instructions.

The black tabs are the home page, preferences, where you can set your avatar, friends and username, browse, where you can look at and review people's work, forums, where you can delve into the madness that is YWS, people, which shows what your friends are thinking, storybooks, where you can join a story written by a group of people (great fun) and blogs, where you can make your own and read others' blogs.

You can also chat (yay!) with the chat bar at the bottom of the page, or the big chat button on the left of the home or forum page.

Basically, YWS is a site for writers to have fun and improve their skills. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask me. The Information Desk will help you.

Have fun!

barefootrunner

I went to go in a chat room on the forums, typed out what I wanted and pressed ENTER. Nothing happened.

What's wrong?

Hi Red! The chat can act up at times, just like everything else. You should be able to enter and type just as everyone else, so try again a few times (maybe on a different day as well). If the problem still persists, you might want to PM Nate about it.

Stori wrote:Right now the chat isn't loading, merely a white field with the logo and menus. What's causing the problem?

I have the same problem... what's going on?!

Is your flash updated?

I am sure that @Fortis and I broke a few rules last night... hehe

Demeter, there should be the rules for Wink Murderer in here, too.

timmyjake wrote:I am sure that @Fortis and I broke a few rules last night... hehe

Bad Timmy. Bad!

Why won't the chatrooms I create delete (even after everyone has left?

I typed in all caps/chatspeak. Why are people telling me off?
As it says in the chat rules, both are frowned upon on YWS. (However, some of the most common abbreviations, like "brb" and "lol" are accepted.) If you type properly, people will like you a lot better.


ok so, people, including mods, or whatever they are called here, told me that CHATspeak is typically used when CHATTING or texting. Then they all proccedded to get angry with me because i wasusing CHATspeak, while CHSTTING, in a CHATroom..
understand? HELP PLEASEE!!

Haha @cdog121201, I understand your frustration.

The difference is the intended audience. When you're texting on the phone or chatting on Facebook, you're almost certainly doing so with people who know you personally. So using shorthand when texting with them is completely natural. It's like when you're talking with a friend and the two of you use inside jokes and short phrases to communicate.

On the other hand, when you talk with a stranger, it'll take at least twice as long to say something as it would with a friend because the two of you aren't accustomed to one another. It's the difference between saying, "'Sup Mike?," and "Hi, my name is Lee. What's your name?"

When you're in the YWS chatroom, you're essentially talking to a room full of strangers. So just as you more carefully enunciate your words when talking with someone you just met at school, you should be more careful about how you type in the chatroom or in the forums. That is, when you use chatspeak or random capitalization (as you did above), it makes it more difficult for the rest of us to understand you. Even if you do know many of the people in chat well, you should still take the time to type correctly as a courtesy to those who don't know you.

Moreover, YWS' purpose is to promote creative writing as a favorite pastime. As part of that, we encourage one another to use good grammar as much as possible.

tldr; Use chatspeak when talking with friends who know you. But just as you don't say "'sup" to a stranger, you shouldn't use chatspeak in areas online where people don't know you. It makes it more difficult for them to understand you.

How do I change my username?

@jemming17 - PM a global moderator or an admin (someone with a dark green or red username) and tell them what you want to change your username to! They'll do it for you. Keep in mind that junior moderators (light green names like me) don't have the power to. Also keep in mind that you won't be able to change your name again for six months, so be sure you like your new one!

(Also, in the future, this might be a better place to post questions: Ask a question here (or start a new topic!) People will be more likely to see it.)