Members can start private chats with other members on the network, turn sounds on or off, pop out the chat window or disconnect from Chat. Members will also find that they can access Chat on their iPhones, iPads and other devices by clicking to view the regular version of the network.

The chat room has two main areas. The “Main Room” and “Members Online.” Of course you are more than welcome to enter in an entry in the “Main Room.” Click on it and the window will expand. Your cursor will be automatically placed in the text entry box. Note the smiley emoticons. Type your text and hit return. It will appear in the chat room.

When the Main Room tab is minimized, a red indicator with the number of unread messages appears. Clicking on either tab will expand the windows to let you see messages or message other members privately. You can also stretch the chat windows to make them taller by clicking the center of a chat pane and dragging it upwards. The taller chat windows will even stay the same height when you move between pages on your network.

The other section, “Members Online” gives you a representation of those who are currently available in the chat function.  Any member who is currently signed into a GHS will show up as online. That means members will appear online when visiting any page, unless they actively toggle their chat status to “Offline.” You can opt out of the chat function by expanding this section and then clicking on the gear icon and unchecking “Connected to chat.” FYI, If there is a green light here, you are in the chat function. If there is a red light here, you have opted out. You can also set the chat notification volume by clicking on the volume icon

In either window, if you want to begin a private chat with another member, click on their name. This will open another window to begin the session with this individual only.

The chat also has it’s own dedicated page, under the “Discussions” tab or here http://www.gohaynesvilleshale.com/chat