rooms.) In chat, you’re having a conversation with one or more people
in real time, and your entire conversation appears in the chat window.
Here are some characteristics of chat you should know:➟ When the chat is over, unless you save a copy, the
conversation is typically gone.➟ Interactions are in real time (synchronous), which
means you can interact with others in the moment.➟ Several people can interact at once, although this can
take getting used to as you try to follow what others
are saying and jump in with your own messages.➟ When you find a chat you want to participate in, you
simply enter the chat room, enter your message, and
submit it. It shows up in the stream of comments and
others may — or may not — reply to it.When you’re talking to someone in a chat room that
multiple people are visiting, you can, if you’d like
invite him to enter a private chat room, which keeps
the rest of the folks who wandered into the chat room
out of your conversation. Also, others can invite you
into private chat rooms. Be careful who you interact
with in this way, and be sure you understand the
motivations for making your conversation private.
This may be entirely reasonable, or it may be
that you’re dealing with someone with suspect
motivations.Before you get started, check out the Web site’s Terms
of Use, privacy, and monitoring and abuse reporting
procedures to understand the safety protections in
place before joining a conversation. Some sites are
well monitored for signs of abusive content or interac-
tions; others have no monitoring at all. If you don’t
like the terms, find a different site.152
Part II: Using the Internet While Dodging the Risk