I'm relatively new to being active here, though I've been reading the site for longer. Hi all!
I see I'm not the first person to have commented that the Chat room is as Quiet as a Disused Graveyard at Midnight on a Winter Night (LOL!), but I'm having trouble understanding how the Chat Room 'works' on this site. Partly this is mechanics (on one occasion I was typing but the other people there couldn't see my words!), partly I don't know the etiquette. What (if anything) am I doing wrong?
From experience on another forum, when I am around and happy to chat I look in on the Chat Room. If there is anybody there (green dot?) I click in and usually offer a cheery greeting. Only rarely do I get any sort of response! Is this because I am using the wrong internet soap? 'Is this coz I's a Vicar'? (people are afraid that I am a stalking religious maniac looking for a victim, so sidle quietly out of the other door)? Or is it because unless you deliberately click yourself out of the Chat Room it looks like one is still here when you are in fact somewhere else...?
I've had some great chats with a few people - thanks guys! - and I've inadvertently missed a couple of people who have said hello to me only to find that I've gone elsewhere but left my ghost behind. My apologies to them! Oh, and if my greeting to person A is on the screen and they disappear but someone else appears, can person B just arriving see the greeting I previously uttered?
And what is the etiquette re 'Private Chats' please? I've assumed these are a room with a 'do not disturb' notice on the door, so not clicked on that. Am I right? How do you have a 'private chat' - assuming anyone ever wants to talk to me of course?
I'm sorry to ask about things which are obvious to everybody else. I'm trying to 'do the right thing', but grew up in a pre-computer era, so don't know the niceties! I want to be a friendly and participatory member of a great (unique?) site: I am in a happy relationship, but otherwise have few friends simply because of where I live. And mutual support from people who 'know what it's like' is priceless. Any thoughts, folks? Thanks for reading this!Chris