This Help section is for technical operation of the chat room only. For help with alien abduction, please use the alien abduction reporting section of this website.

To log on:  Enter your username (or handle) into the text box and click the "submit username" button.  Usernames may be up to 24 characters in length.  Your username will be displayed in the user list in the left column to confirm your logon and a message will appear in the room announcing your arrival: username appears in the room

Avatars:  An avatar is a picture that you may associate with your username.  When an avatar is included with a user login, the image is displayed above the username's handle in the user list.  The image must be currently hosted on the web. Avatars are added by entering the web address (URL) of the image you wish to display.    Be sure to include the complete file path to the image (not just the website address) or the avatar will only display an empty outline of a picture, with a red 'X' in the upper left hand corner.  For more information about how to use an avatar, click here.

To chat:  After logging on, simply enter your message in the text box and click the "post this" button.  Your message may be up to 250 characters in length.  You may simply press the "enter" or "return" key instead of clicking the button if you prefer.  As an example, if username entered Hi there!, the displayed message in the chat room would read, username: Hi there!

To add action:  Action can add character and excitement to your chat.  Simply enter /a as the first two characters of your message.  Actions eliminate the colon after the username and put the entire message in boldface.  An ordinary message from username might read, username: I am running around the room.  If the user enters /a runs around the room, the new message would read username runs around the room.  A message with an action will print in green, as displayed here.

To add emoticons (emotion icons):  such as happy faces and other images, enter // before the image you wish to display.  Some images have shortcuts and do not require the double slash command.  For a complete list of icons and commands, click the icons link from the Alien Chat header or click here.

To log off:  Logging off is a polite way to let other chatters know you have left the room.  Simply click the "log off" button and your username will be removed from the user list.  A new message will be displayed announcing your departure: username vanishes from the room

Becoming inactive or 'lurking' after logging on:  Users that become inactive for 10 minutes are removed from the user list.  Users that lurk for more than 10 minutes may simply post a message to make their username reappear in the list.  It is NOT required to exit the room and log on again.

Nobody is in the room?  It might appear that way but sometimes chatters are lurking both inside and outside of the room.  A good strategy to attract them is to log on, enter the room, and hang out for a few minutes.  Chances are, someone will stroll by before too long.  Nothing attracts chatters like other chatters!  Please be sure to also check our chat schedule, for conveniently scheduled group chats on weekends.  The chat schedule is accessible from the Main Menu and you may also click here.

The chat is moving too slowly?  Technically, the chat program itself is inherently quick in design and should perform well under normal conditions.  Some factors that can contribute to a slow down in performance include: downloading while chatting, slow performance of the users internet service provider, large numbers of visitors navigating anywhere throughout this website, and too many different emoticons being used at the same time.  Additionally, the Netscape 4.7 browser performs notably slower than Microsoft Internet Explorer.

HELP!  Everything was working just fine and then the chat messages screen turned white!  This is an infrequent scenario that we suspect occurs when a user's internet service provider re-routes their connection.  It does not affect every chatter in the room.  Simply refresh (or reload) the Alien Chat web page in the current browser to restore the chat messages.

Note:  Alien chat text prints in the blue font as seen on this page.  Action messages, as well as arrival and departure messages are printed in green boldface.

Still have questions?  Please email us at Tech Support for a prompt reply.

If you accessed this page from inside a chat room:  this page will appear in a new browser window.  Simply close it to return to Alien Chat