Ok hai there. first things first. I’m new to LPU, I’m not a trial member.
When I first joined the chat, it wasn’t crowded or anything. People where talking about this and that and the messages popped in and I felt ignored.
There are a couple of reasons for that:
The tiny chat window and the number of character restriction
If someone is on cam you only see 10 lines of chat. Following a conversation is a hard thing to do. People are forced to send short messages so the number of messages increases. People use chat jargon, if you’re not used to it it makes it even harder to understand anything
(If you can enlarge the chat window, please tell me how)
If you start scrolling back up you miss new messages and the whole thing starts to become a vicious circle.
LPU Insider
“Poopies” for one sounds mean! You see someone call somebody else poopie and don’t understand it. I know now that this is not mean at all. You should not forget that new people can’t know that so cut some slack.
The bond between a long-established community
Some people know each other - for long, maybe even in person. That’s ok!
Everyone knows everybody’s real name. It’s hard to keep track of that and to get the hang of it.
I really didn’t know and I still don’t know if it’s ok to call anybody by their real name if he/she uses a nickname in chat and a real name is nowhere to be found on their profile.
I just do it and see how it works.
Idling on cam
It was new to me to join a webcam-chat where someone who is on cam is not even lurking but really idling. So if I saw someone on cam I adressed him/her and got back … nothing. So for a couple of hours it was annoying. Sentences like “ok newbies let me tell you about people on cam” sound condescending.
So these are just some reasons why someone could feel unwelcome. But please don’t be. I know I would act the same. Just stay for a while, you will get what’s going on by the time. (I don’t mean weeks but days, took me 3 days)
It’s just the way it works joining a new community. You join and feel overwhelmed by everything but if you stick around long enough you get the hang of it. I for my part have found some very amusing conversations in chat. The chat introduced me to a couple of people I like talking to - number increasing on a daily basis.
For those of you who belong to the old-established circle
If someone new annoys you, SAY IT! But don’t be mean, choose your words wisely. If the chat is not enough write a massage. Explain, what’s the problem. That is what the community is for.
How will someone new know that he/she is annoying if you don’t tell him/her but ignore him/her entirely.
Don’t even think about being subtle, ironic or sarcastic. Chances are high the new member is not a native English speaker and does not get it even remotely.
For the Babies
The chat rules are there. They are there for a reason. Obey the rules!. Or you don’t need to wonder about mean behaviour or even a ban from chat.
Stop popping “ASL”-question to every girl that reveals herself.
If you find it hard to follow, keep calm, if someone says something, you want to know more about, start a private chat. (NO ASL!)
If you want to talk in your native language with another user (who speaks your language too), open a private conversation or share facebook accounts.
The last two of course only apply if consensual
just my 2ct
edith: I just realised that you need a Tiny Chat account to start private conversations…so write a message to the user via LPU site
So I said that I’m trial too and I can’t even access the chat room page (and last night I missed Chat with Chaz) :(, and I think that if the give an access to us through trial, would be the same access to everybody, or even give a trial access, cause these types of “restrictions”, (like contest, chat as I said, videos… ) make we feel uncomfortable and kind of constrained.