Compuserve chat rooms

About

What's your experience with "chat rooms"? All you need is a direct Internet connection, not one through a firewall. And even some firewalls allow you to use Internet Relay Chat. You must connect to a server to use Chat; there are rooms that are available to the public without a password.

Description

You can't.

This is one of the benefits and hindrances of having an Internet Service Provider with exclusive features. This means, of course, that if you're a CompuServe subscriber who wants to have a chat with a non-subscriber, you're out of luck. The tradeoff is ease of use -- in my experience, Internet Relay Chat has been one of the most difficult areas for newcomers to get into.

Post Script: AOL's Busy als America Online's frequent busy als have not only made headlines but also generated some clever some might say desperate workarounds. Several readers wrote to mention that subscribers can use the proprietary AOL software through a direct Internet connection from a different service provider.

One wrote: I have been reading about the AOL's fiasco. I'm at AOL cpmpuserve less than 1 second, every time, any day, any hr.

Sort of like calling from New York roomx California and getting billed by both Nynex and Sprint for the long-distance charge. The column is published weekly, on Fridays. You may view questions and answers fromor the archive for sorted by topic or by date.

The online industry is also working with a leading worldwide standards group to develop a chxt for rating online content. It also blocks access to AOL chat rooms.

Incoming Internet e-mail can be restricted, as well as access to specific Internet sites. AOL offers CyberPatrol to all its subscribers.

For more information, phone This Internet filtering software allows blocking by content category, time of day, or specific Internet site. The latest version, Cyber Patrol 3.