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Chatting You don't have an AOL account and you have discovered that you cannot access the AOL chat rooms without one. You've tried accessing the web chat rooms and you've discovered that the format leaves you a little flat. Have you thought about the undernet? You have may have heard that you need an additional piece of software in order to access the undernet. This is true. It is also true that a search of the Web for PIRCH or MIRC will locate two of the easier programs to install and use. You may have heard that there is never anyone there, that people depart suddenly and without apparent reason, and that people carry on conversations while totally ignoring new arrivals. All of these statements are true to a certain extent. Using the undernet chat rooms, or channels, is much like using any other form of communication. If you don't know when the "regulars" arrive and depart you will almost certainly miss them. There is an effect called a Net Split, during which one or more computers become disconnected from the rest of the net. To those people on the disconnected computers it looks like everyone else leaves the net as a group.. Finally, it is true that people in these chat rooms appear to ignore new arrivals. This is due to the fact that the net sometimes becomes lagged. That is, the time it takes for your message to travel from your computer to the other people on the net sometimes grows large enough to be measured in minutes rather than in seconds. When this happens, the other people may not see your initial greeting until you have been gone for several minutes. The times that the chat rooms are the busiest depends on the dominant country using the channel and the work habits of the regular users. The #Parkinsons chat channel on the undernet started out as an 8:00PM CST - 11:00PM CST (U.S.) made up of primarily U.S. residents. The "busy time" has shifted to a somewhat later time as more Australian and European residents joined in the fun. At one time there were three of these busy times. One was around 5:30AM CST when the Ozzies were going to sleep and the Yanks were getting ready for work. There was a second one around 8:30PM CST when the two groups were doing turnabout. A third group consisted of those who were having trouble sleeping during their "night’. The main point is, in a word, don't give up after a few attempts. Which ever method you use to chat with other PWP, be it Web Page, AOL, or Undernet, keep trying. You will connect with someone eventually and believe me, the experience will be worth the effort. Marvin Giles Channel Manager #Parkinsons On the Undernet.