Live Chat - #VintageRadio

About Live Chat

Below is some information that will hopefully assist you with your chat session. Live chat is free and is as anonymous as you wish to make it so it is a perfectly safe way to communicate with other people interested in vintage radio and related activities without having to use e-mail and wait for lengthy responses.

How to log in to the chatroom

Once you arrive at this page you'll go straight into the chatroom. Java takes a few seconds to load you in the first time but subsequent visits are a bit quicker. If you are a member and are logged into Vintage Radio you will automatically have your username show as your chat room nickname when you enter the chatroom. If you are not a member or are logged out you will enter as a Guest but can choose a nickname by typing /nick YourNicknameHere in the form field below the chat window. If you just want to watch you are free to remain as a Guest. After that just type as if you were talking to someone by typing your sentence then pressing the return/enter key.

How to log out of the chatroom

When you are finished your conversation you can end your chat session by simply navigating away from this page. When you leave this page the chatroom window will close and you will be disconnected from the chat server. You can always come back to this page at any time, whereby you will be automatically logged back in.

What to the characters at the start of the names (-,+,%,@,&,~) at the top of the list mean?

These characters indicate a level of host-status. Most chatrooms have hosts who are people with trustee status. Hosts help to control the flow of chat by kicking out or banning those who do silly things like flood or hurl abuse. We'd like to think that this won't happen in #VintageRadio because radio collectors are mature people who get on well with others. With this in mind we probably don't need any human intervention in the chatroom. Our robots can look after the room for us whilst we get on with enjoying ourselves.

Who is &Bot?

&Bot is a chatroom robot. It is an automated chat connection that 'watches' any conversation for signs of bad behaviour. If someone floods the chatroom with repeated postings or if they use foul or degrading language &Bot will 'kick' them out of the room for ten minutes as a punishment and to help those who are behaving to enjoy the chat facility without disruptions.

Who is &Chat?

&Chat is also a chatroom robot. It is there to hold the chatroom open but does very little else.

What do I do if the chatroom doesn't load?

If the chatroom doesn't load for some reason then you need to check for a couple of things. Make sure your browser supports Java applets - most do. Though if you have an older operating system like Windows 98 or 2000 then you will need to load Java from the Sun Microsystems Java website and then come back here once you have it installed.

If you have Java installed but the chatroom freezes when it tries to connect to the chat server then simply refresh the page.

Is live chat open to everyone?

At this point in time live chat on Vintage Radio is open to both members and visitors.

Does the live chat facility collect any personal information from me?

Definitely not. Live Chat here operates under the same privacy policy as all other facilities here. You are able to remain 100% anonymous if that is your desire. No information that identifies you is collected, re-distributed to others, etc.