Psubs chat instructions

[Jonathan Wallace <jon@whoweb.com>]

Thanks to Ray for creating the web link to the chat area for
Psubs.  Here are some general instructions for using the chat
service.

1. Click on the chat link at http://www.psubs.org/chat
   The web chat interface is coded in java and will take a
   few moments to download and appear in your browser, so
   be patient.

2. When the chat interface has been dowloaded, you will see
   a form to enter in your nickname, real name, and real
   email address.  Only the nickname is required and it
   defaults to "Guest".  You can change your nickname at
   any time after you have logged into the chat area.

3. Do not change the "IRC Server" or "Room to enter"
   information.  It is preconfigured to automatically
   log into the PSUBS chat area.

4. Press "Connect", and again be patient as the software
   attempts to connect to the server.  However, it should
   not take much longer than a couple of minutes at the
   longest.  If you don't connect in, let's say 3 minutes,
   send me some mail and I'll see if I can figure out what's
   going on.

5. You should see the following lines when attempting your
   connection:

	Connecting to psubs.org:6661
	Waiting for server to respond...

   If the connection is successful, you will see a bunch
   of welcome messages and server information messages
   appear.

   The chat window will be divided into the following
   four sections:

	left top:  This is labeled "Audience" and shows
	the nicknames of the people currently logged in.

	left bottom: This is labeled "My nick name" and
	is where you can change your nickname.  Since we
	are a rather small group and the chat server is
	not publicly advertised, we most likely have little
	need for nicknames, but it's there if you want
	to keep your identity secret.

	Top Right: This is where you watch what others
	write and view your own words as well.  All text
	is preceded with the nickname of the person who
	entered the text so you'll know who said what
	and can respond appropriately.  It's the main
	message area.  All text is delivered in real
	time.  When you enter it, we see it immediately.

	Right Bottom:  Enter your text here. Press return
	or "enter" on your keyboard, and watch it appear
	in the message area.

   Press the "Exit" button when you've had enough psubs
   chat for the night.  :)

6. RESTRICTIONS
	If you're internet connection is located behind
	a firewall, the chances are pretty good that you
	won't be able to use the chat service.  Firewalls
	specifically have to be configured to allow irc
	socket connections access to the outside world.
	This most likely will affect those of us that
	work for large companies who don't feel a neccesity
	to provide IRC chat sockets to the outside world.
	(assuming you access the internet from your work
	environment.  not that *I* do, mind you.  No, that
	never happens from my desk)

	If you're paying for your internet access via an
	ISP, you should have no problems connecting.  The
	chat area can be accessed 24 hours a day, although
	it's much more rewarding if you can coordinate
	being connected there when someone ELSE is also
	logged in.

	Currently, there is only one room.  I have other
	software available (if it gets crowded enough) that
	will allow us to set up different rooms fr various
	discussions.  


And that's about it.  Check it out.  I think this will be
beneficial for those times when you want to ask lots of
questions from someone and not wait for the mailing list
to go through it's reverbarations of sending out mail and
then waiting for replies.  Again, the conversation through
chat is real time.

Have fun.
Jon