Foggy Friends Chat Room Help

This document should help answer some of the most frequently asked questions regarding the Foggy Friends chat room. If you do not find what you need in this document, please post your question in the "Forum And Chat Room Problems" section on the forum. This document does not describe the basic usage of the chat room, however, because it is assumed that it's fairly obvious (answer: type a message and click send!).

What IRC commands are available in the chat room?

There are several command-line options that users and moderators can use for advanced functionality. These options do not exist in the FlashChat interface, but they are available to you by typing them directly into the message input box. These commands are "IRC-like" since they begin with the backslash. The following table summaries these options:

Command Description
/away Sets user as away. Typing this command again sets user as "here".
/here Sets user as here. This reverses the "away" and "busy" states.
/busy Sets user as busy. Typing this command again sets user as "here".
/back ## Shows the last ## entries of the room's chat, including any chat text that was present before arrival to the room.
/backtime ## Shows the last ## minutes of the room's chat, including any chat text that was present before arrival to the room.
/clear Clears the chat screen. This only affects your screen, not the screen of other users.
/me Issues an IRC-like "action" to the chat. "/me" will be changed to your user name, and the text in will appear as a system message. For example: "/me is thinking" would translate to "Joe is thinking".
/join Switches the user to . For example: "/join The Lounge"
/part Logout of the chat.
/quit Logout of the chat.
/logout Logout of the chat.
/version Shows which version of the chat you are using.
/invite Invites "user" to the room that you are currently in.
/ignore Ignore "user".
/broadcast Only available to moderators. This broadcasts a message to all users in all rooms. For example, "/broadcast Hello everyone!"
/kick Only available to moderators. This kicks "user" from the room.
/boot Same as /kick.
/ban Only available to moderators. Bans "user" from the chat.
/banip Only available to moderators. Bans the IP address of the user from all chat activity.
/gagX Only available to moderators. Gags the user for X minutes. For example, /gag5 joe. If the user's name has more than one word, then it must be enclosed with quotes. For example: /gag5 "Joe Shmoe"
/alert Only available to moderators. Sends a popup alert to the user. If the user's name has more than one word, then it must be enclosed with quotes.
/roomalert Same as /alert, but sends the message to all users in the room.
/chatalert Same as /alert, but sends the message to all users in all rooms.

The purpose of the IRC commands listed above is to make the use of the chat room more familiar and intuitive for users who may be accustomed to IRC systems. Thus, many of the commands that they already know can be used in the chat room.

How frequently does the chat room check the server for new messages?

By default, the chat room will check the server for new messages every 3 seconds. You may notice a delay when sending or receiving a message. The 3 second delay also helps to slow the chat room speed down so that users are able to keep up with the chat easier.

How do I send a private message?

There are two ways to send a private message in the chat room. You can either find the user's name in the room manager and click on the name, or you can type "/username:" in the chat input box, followed by your message. The recipient will be alerted of the private message, regardless of the room that they are in. If you send a private message by clicking on a user's name in the room list, then a small private message window will be opened, which you can keep open indefinitely. This is useful if you want to send multiple private messages to one person, or if you want to engage in several private chats simultaneously.

How do I insert text in bold or italic print?

At the bottom of the chat room you will see some buttons. Use the (B) button to send a message in bold print and the (I) button to send a message in italic print.

How do I use smilies?

You may send a smilie in one of two ways: select the smilie from the list of available smilies, or type the smilie code into the chat input area. For example, :red: is the code to display the blushing-face smilie. The chat administrator can enable or disable any smilie.

What is the sound "Pan" feature?

This option allows you to set the amount of sound coming from the right and left speakers on your computer system.

How do I logout of the chat room?

The best way to logout is to click on the "X" in the upper right hand corner of the screen. However, if you simply close your web browser, then you will also be logged out after a period of time. The system will "time-out" after some interval. Thus, users who close their web browsers to logout will still be visible to logged-in users for a short period of time. However, clicking on "X" immediately logs you out of the system.