Lesson 5 Assignment - Groups,Forums,Chat

Newbie Nellie is anxious to get out and make new friends here on WdC, but she's which is the best way to go about it: Groups, Forums, or Chat. Here are her questions for this week.

1) How do I find a group or forum that interests me?

If you click on the "Browse by Type" option on the left of the screen, you can choose either Group or Forum to take you to a listing of all of the Groups or Forums on WdC. You can choose a specific sub-type of Forum to help narrow down the options, and also sort by Most Viewed, Newest, or alphabetically. For Groups, you can narrow down your search by the sort option on the left side of the search bar, or by entering keywords in the search bar, such as "Reviewing," "newbies," or a genre of choice.

2) What are some of the types of forums and how are they used?

Activity, Contest, Social, Game are some of the forum types. Contest is probably one of the most widely used, as people set up contests for writing or reviewing with prizes offered. Raffles are sometimes listed under Game, and Activity might list contests, or reviewing forums, or auctions.

Unfortunately, a great many forums are grouped together under "Other" as people don't categorize their forum, making finding them sometimes much more difficult.

3) When I find a group I like, how do I join it?

Each Group's main page will have instructions on how you can join if you would like to.

4) Please tell me how to get into a Chat Room.

Click on Writing.Com Tools in the sidebar navigation and choose Chat. Check the box that says you understand the agreement that pops up, then click the "I understand" button at the bottom. You will then enter the chat lobby and immediately be able to chat.

5) What are some of the benefits of using the Chat Room?

It's a place to meet new friends, catch up with current friends, host group meetings, ask questions of other members with real time answers, or discuss WdC items in real time. It also lets you save which is useful.

6) What are some of the downfalls?

It doesn't work very well with Firefox, so you may have to use it with another browser.

7) What to do think is the best way to meet and make new friends on WdC? Why?

I tend to like finding groups with like minded individuals, as it promotes you all work together on a thing you signed on to help with. It promotes working with one another, for reviews, for contests, for writing in general, and that gets you noticed by others that might actually be interested in you.



Take some time and go to the Chat option. Have some fun, meet some new people. Create a room of your own. Whatever you would like to do there is fine, all you have to do for sure is navigate your way around the different Chat Room areas. Once you finish, write a few paragraphs (200 to 350 words) about your Chat Room experience in your Lesson Five Assignment - Groups, Forums & Chat static item. Be sure you answer the following questions.

1) Did you enjoy your time in the Chat Room? Why or why not?

It was okay. There were two-to-three people in the chat when I visited. RICH was friendly and talkative, and I was welcomed by the other, but it was fairly quiet. I can see this as a place to ask questions somewhat easily for real time answers, but other than that I'm not sure I'd get a great deal of use out of it otherwise. There simply aren't enough people to get a lively conversation going.

I did try out creating my own chat room, which could be useful for a one-on-one conversation. Possibly helpful to discuss in real time a written piece one is trying to create with a co-author. I remember, however, from years ago when you could be in two chatrooms at once, and it is almost odd that this program does not allow for that.

2) Do you think you will use the Chat feature again in the future? Why or why not?

If I have need to have a question answered quickly, or to create a real-time option to chat with someone extensively, I could see using the chat feature. I'm glad it seems to have a "Save" option, as that would be necessary if I was having an important discussion about a written piece. Otherwise, I'm not too enthralled by the feature and don't really see myself using it much at all.