Travel Tips Chat chatroom intro page

Preliminary remarks on Travel Tips Chat chatroom chat (and instrux for those new to the medium)

If you're not an AOL member, and if you don't have the AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) software client loaded on your system (it's free, and you don't have to be an AOL member to have it on your system), you will be given a chance to download it when you click to the Travel Tips Chat chatroom.

[NOTE that recently we have been having some security problems with illegitimate visitors to the chatroom who have been engaging in aggressive and abusive behavior, so if you encounter this, simply leave the chatroom by closing the chatroom window, send a 2-way private instant message to any AirhitchNN screenname you can find online (where NN is can be any whole integer starting with 00), or to airhitch, or AirhitchCentral, reporting the problem, and we will instruct you as to how to proceed. Do this especially if you happen to see the screennames "airhitchcommandr", "AirhitchCaesar", and/or "rssegelbaum" in the chatroom namelist, as these are attempts to "impersonate" Airhitch-related AIM screennames.]

[ALSO NOTE: If for any reason you run into problems with the download, it's not necessary (though it is preferable) to download, instead you can browse to the Web-hosted version of the client through AIMExpress, and access the AIM network via your browser; however, in this case, you will need to follow the chatroom SELF-INVITE instructions!]

"If at first you don't succeed...", instead of trying again over and over, just email us at aoscentralemail at airhitch dot org* with a subject-header of "CR help please" and we'll help you troubleshoot!

You'll generally find us, the Airhitch® Online Staff (AOS), in the Travel Tips Chat chatroom around-the-clock  throughout the 24-hour daily cycle; however, since occasionally staff shortages or system-down conditions prevent us from being there, we GUARANTEE to be there ALWAYS between 6 and 7PM Eastern time daily including weekends (Mondays an extra hour, until 8PM), and between 11AM and 12noon on Tuesdays and Thursdays. And, even when we're not there, there is a high probability that one or more of our "trainees" (they are like graduate students!) will be there "holding the fort", and you can talk to them just as beneficially as you could talk to us -- taking into account, however, that they are still in the training phase of Airhitch® staff-dom, and as such do not speak with total authority.

There is a weekly AOS recruitment/training seminar held, usually on Saturday or Sunday, during the 6-7PM time-slot; and a weekly AOS editorial skills brushup session during the Wednesday evening time-slot, however, non-participants in these sessions are also welcome during these hours, i.e. members of the general public with Airhitch® questions, etc.

For users new to the online chat medium of communication, entering an online chatroom for the first time can sometimes be a somewhat bewildering experience, so we offer the following tips for "newbies":

 * When you first "enter" the room (i.e., when your chatroom window opens), look in the upper right-hand quadrant of the window to determine who's "there". Normally AOStaffers use identifiers beginning with "AH" or "Airhitch", and staffers-in-training (SIT's) use identifiers of the format AH_ii_lll, where "ii" is their initials and "lll" is a three-character location code (e.g., CHI=Chicago, NYC=New York City, etc.). Of course, anyone can use any identifier they want, so beware of impersonators! You will soon find out, during the ensuing conversation, whether or not the person claiming to be an AOStaffer actually knows what (s)he is talking about! (Impersonators are very rare, so don't worry about this too much -- just a word to the wise!)

* We suggest you "say" something to announce yourself, by typing a greeting or brief statement or question into the panel at the bottom of the window, IMMEDIATELY upon entry, as that will let everyone "present" know you have entered -- it can be as simple as "Hi" or "Anyone here?", and typing something will cause effects on their screens such as flashing icons or audible signals, which will alert them to your arrival, but if you don't type anything, and those present are not watching their screens, they will not know you have "arrived"! Once you have typed your initial greeting, then WAIT a bit for a response -- or continue with other tasks, and check back every so often: people might not be focussed on their chatwindows!

* Ultimately (or perhaps immediately!), you will get a response of some sort, and you can then pose your question or state your business or whatever, and from then on the exchange becomes very similar to a face-to-face ("f2f") conversation, like one you would hold between friends at a party (with some notable differences!). However, because of the absence of paralinguistic cues in the online medium, a set of paralinguistic symbols (known variously as "smileys", "smilies", or "emoticons"), indicating a kind of emotional environment for any given utterance (joy, sorrow, anger, perplexity, etc.) has arisen over the course of development of the medium. But don't worry too much about these -- you can ignore them at first, until you get used to them! In a straightforward context like that of air travel, they generally add a little bit of information to what is being said, but usually nothing critical...

Click here to proceed to the Travel Tips Chat chatroom  or here to proceed to AIMExpress
 
* (To see why we don't put the dot or at-sign in our email address, click here.)
 
 
 
 


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