Snowgoose, I am absolutely sure I am more computer illiterate than you are! I don't touch anything I don't have to and I don't know how to do anything than shop, post and send e-mail! But, I did download "i-chat" last year because I wanted to chat--can't even remember what forum(maybe DVC forum). Anyway, it must have been pretty easy because I did it all on my own. Then I went to chat once, and never went back.
BUT, after going to my first pin party (Parkhopper's) I decided I'd have to learn to chat; so I went to my first pin chat 2 weeks ago, and the few people I knew were very welcoming and friendly and helpful, since they knew I was new and very nervous. It was difficult--and I mostly "watched", but had a really good time. Then I missed the next week (Aug.2)but went the other night (the 9th)and did much better! Of course it was easier because there were so many less people there. The conversation moves very quickly, and quicker if there are lots of people. The conversation moves UP the screen, so if you miss something you have to scroll up to go back and reread. There are usually several conversational threads going on at once, with different people talking to each other--and "they" are basically ignoring the other conversations; or if something catches their eye, they will join in. It's sort of like a party at a restaurant--even though you are all at the same table, it is sometimes hard for everyone at the table if it's a large table to all be talking about the same topic, so smaller groups break off and talk about separate topics, but then maybe all come together, and then split again. I could tell the other night when there were less people, and I could "practice" more, that it just takes time to get the hang of it.
I couldn't even figure out at first how to type what I wanted to say! As Debbie says there is a window at the bottome of the screen that you type in to talk--(it looks like the window at the top where you type in a web address), click the cursor in the window and go, and then it enter. When you are looking at the screen you will see everyones name as they talk, like "Duckfan says" blah, blah, blah, or "Ramva says" blah, blah, blah. When you type, you will see come up "You say", but the other people will see "Snowgooseltd says" (That confused me). Then you will see "statements" that don't start with "says". What I mean is it will say "Duckfan" laughs hysterically at Ramva; or "Ramva cries when EpcotKilterFan bonks her on the head". This is called "emoting" I think, and they are all good at it! There are 2 ways to do it: the one they taught me is to type a colon before I type my response, and that will eliminate the "says" and just give the word so it acts like a verb. It sounds confusing, and you don't need to know how to do it, I just thought it would be easier if you knew about it ahead of time.
It is a great way to get to know everybody and really start to feel like friends; plus you'll learn a lot about pins! I hope you come and try--really computers are really not "user friendly to me! I got private messages from Duckfan and Luv2roam a week ago, and didn't know it 'cause I didn't know what a PM was or how to find it if I even knew I had it!!!
I know, I know, I wrote a book again....Sorry!
