Chatting online is very much like walking into your neighborhood hang out or hot spot. Except, you have brought a change of clothing (masks). You have many masks in your bag and you change into different ones during the evening. You never know who's going to be there or what they're going to say but that's part of the excitement of discovery . Live chat is just like most things in life: unpredictable, sometimes stimulating or disgusting, always interesting, with new chats and identities to meet just around the virtual corner. Identiy is always an issue. Be yourself or be whatever, but expect that the people you are chating with are more than likely doing the same. Now.... a couple of things you may want to know before starting.

You'll often hear the word "netiquette" when reading or discussing things online. Basically this means using common sense and good manners. Don't say anything in a chat room, on message boards, or in e-mail that you wouldn't want your grandmother to hea r. The key is to simply be polite. If you disagree with something a person says, discuss the issue, do not flame (verbally attack) the person. Just as we tend to raise our voices in real life, it's possible to do that online by typing in all caps (capital letters). Typing in all caps is interpreted as shouting, which is considered rude in cyberspace. If you accidently have your caps lock key on and send something to the chat screen, just a simple "I'm sorry" will help keep others from asking you not to shout.
Acronyms and Emoticons Two of the unique features of cyberspace talk are the acronyms and emoticons (smiley faces) you'll see. Here is a guide to the most commonly used acronyms and emoticons. There are quite a number of them, but these are the ones you're most likely to see.Chat acronyms are abbreviations for common phrases that will help get your feelings across to others in the chat room.


AFK= Away From Keyboard

BRB= Be Right Back

BTW= By The Way>

GMTA= Great Minds Think Alike

IAC= In Any Case

IMHO= In My Humble Opinion>

IMNSHO= In My Not So Humble Opinion

LOL= Laughing Out Loud

REHI= Hi Again (when someone returns to the chat room)

ROFL= Rolling On Floor Laughing (used when something is hilarious)

TTFN= Ta Ta For Now

TTYL= Talk To You Later

WB= Welcome Back

WTG= Way To Go




Emoticons are smiley faces which can help get your point across.
In cyberspace we can't see the person's face, or body language
so emoticons can be very helpful.

>:) = smile

;) = wink

:D = big grin

:X = my lips are sealed>

:P = sticking out tongue

>:) = devil