Please log out when you're done; the Reaper will eventually
kill all zombies, but people can end up talking to you when you
aren't there. If you get cut off,
you can log in "over" yourself if you are reconnecting
from the same IP address.
You can add your email address to the notification list and get
a message for each person who enters the The Waiting Room
until your notification time runs out. To remove your
name sooner, select "Remove" and re-enter your email address.
Hint: once you log in, you can bookmark the URL and it will be an auto-login,
including your name and set parameters.
SCREEN SETTINGS
To adjust your screen settings, either use the pulldown menus
on the login screen before entering, or pull down the "Send to all"
menu and select Configure (it can take a few seconds to appear, because
it gets refreshed just like the text; you can refresh your browser to
force an immediate update).
You should make the number of lines
and font size small enough to fit on your screen without scrolling,
with some leeway for long lines that wrap. TEXT is the number of
lines of text on the screen, FONT is the font size, REDRAW is how
many seconds between screen refreshes, BAR is the height of the
gray private message bar, SEND is the height of the bottom
bar that sends text, and LINE is the the number of lines of input
(multiple lines allow cut & paste, but you have to press the 'send'
button; you can also change the width, e.g. 3x80).
You can immediately switch between 1 line of input and 3 lines of input by
selecting the "multiline input" or "1-line input" in the pulldown menu.
If you need to "look back", don't adjust
your parameters, just read the current logfile using the Log link
by the Exit button. You can see where people are (probably)
from by pressing the 'Nino' link.
A Refresh time of "Manual" (from the front page) will only refresh
the page when done manually, and only new lines of text are printed.
PRIVATE MESSAGES
To send a private
message to someone, select their name instead of "Send to all".
The private message bar will show the last two messages sent; to
see earlier private messages, click the "Msgs" link. You don't
have to be in the same room to send private messages.
PUBLIC & PRIVATE CHAT ROOMS
You can create new chat rooms by selecting "New room" from the
"Go to room " submenu.
Enter the name of the room (letters, digits, hyphens, and spaces only)
and one will be created, or select one from the list of currently occupied
rooms. Others can join you by going to that same room. Your room will
be added to the list unless the 'unlisted' box is checked. Your chat
room will "exist" (i.e. the logfile will persist) as long as someone
uses it at least once a week.
People in the same room as you have their names in boldface at
the top of the screen; people in unlisted rooms are denoted by *asterisks.
People with red names chatting in "The Auditorium", or anyone chatting in
"Public Address System" can be heard in all occupied rooms that aren't
unlisted ("The Aviary", even though it's listed, is treated as
an unlisted room). The main room everyone enters is "The Waiting Room".
Only "The Waiting Room" is logged; all permanent rooms are cleaned
each night.
FILTERING CHATTER
"Hear red" and "Hear all" are intended to help filter chatter when
there are a large number of chatters trying to talk to a member of
the Firesign Theatre (their names are in red).
Selecting "Hear red" will only show messages from people with red
names (Firesign Theatre members or chat moderators); it won't
show you what other people in the room are saying, or alert you
to people entering and leaving. You can still
send private messages to other chatters, or look at the log (which
shows everything), but your normal chat window will only show what
people with red names are saying. Typically, the moderators will
"hear" everything in order to filter questions to the Firesign Theatre,
who can only hear people with red names. This allows the moderators
to sort through and feed questions from the audience to the
main speaker in an orderly manner.
Catherwood will do a few things for you, if you say something
like "Catherwood, bring me a drink" or "Catherwood, call me a cab",
or just beckon him by calling his name.