152 LANGUAGE AND THE INTERNET
(e.g. #41plus) or the use of a technology (e.g. #mac, #www). A
large network, such as EFnet, Undernet, IRCnet, or DALnet, has
thousands of channels, and regularly connects tens of thousands
of people, each of whom is identified by a session nickname (nick).
Many medium-size and local networks also exist. Any user can
create a new channel and become itsoperator(op); operators have
total control over their channel, deciding who joins or is excluded
(banned). Like Talk, it is a text-only medium. Unlike Talk, it uses
the whole screen, though most communicative activity takes place
at the top. Also unlike Talk, it allows either private communi-
cations, between just two people (who may or may not be on
the same channel) or public communications (where everyone
on your channel can see what you type). It may or may not be
moderated.
Both types of synchronous chat depart from the principles un-
derlying face-to-face conversation (see chapter 2). As with asyn-
chronous groups, the notion of turn-taking and its associated con-
cepts (such as interruption) is once again undermined. Even in the
one-to-one situation of Uni xTalk, it is not always the case that A
waits for B to finish typing a message before A sends a reply. Of-
ten the two parties are typing simultaneously or in an overlapping
mode:
A sends message 1
B starts to reply to message 1
A sends an afterthought to message 1 while B’s reply is still
coming in
AreactstoB’sreply
B reacts to A’s afterthought
B makes another point
etc.If A’s message becomes at all lengthy, B may react to the first part of
it, not waiting for A’s later points to be made. A may then choose
to postpone making those points, and take up what B has said,
or choose to ignore B’s intervention and carry on with them. A
may then look back at B’s intervention and react to it, along with
any other interventions B may also have made in the interim, in