Chatbox - Definition of terms

This is a good place to go in the event you come across a term you don't recognize. Send me an email for requests for other definitions or better explanations. Alias: An alias is sort of a nickname for a nickname. Everyone using Chatbox has selected a nickname for themselves that has some meaning (see Nickname further down the page). These nicknames may not be descriptive of who that person is in real life, so to help those whose memories can't sustain that information, you can create an alias. Right-click the user's name in a chat room and select "Alias" to enter a little bit of text. Maybe you want to put the person's real name, maybe a funny quote. Whenever you see a message from that user, you'll see their alias to help remind you of who they are. The settings are visible only to your computer, so there's no worry of what someone will think of their alias. The same limitations exist as with nicknames in terms of length and unallowed characters. Away: When a user does not intend to be at their desk or available to chat for an extended period of time. A user may set themselves Away by using the menus under Room Options in a chat room, or under Options on the main window. When a user sets themselves Away, their Away message is displayed in all rooms they are currently in, and if anyone sends them a private message, they receive a notification that the user is currently away. The user who is Away may use the same menu items to set themselves Back. Back: The user who has set themselves Away is now back and available to chat. When a user sets themselves Back, a message is displayed in all chat rooms they are currently in letting everyone know they are back and saying how long their were gone in the format H:MM:SS. Chat room: A space created on the chat server where users may share thoughts and ideas in a specific group. All members of the room will see a list of users who may view and participate in the discussion. A chat room has several properties which may be edited to maximize the chatting experience, such as a room topic, user limit, room key, and room invisibility (all terms defined on this page). Client: A computer or program that relies on another computer known as a server for certain functionality. In this case, a Chatbox client requires a Chatbox server to communicate with other Chatbox clients. Deop: The act of taking room operator status from a user. Only a room operator may deop someone, and only if the target user is a room operator. This strips away all privileges and reduces the target to a normal user. Getting deopped in a room will not affect room operator status in other rooms. Emote: An emote is a line in a chat room or private window that looks like an action. A normal chat entry would look like:      UserXYZ: I like to eat crayons An emote would appear like this:      *** UserXYZ likes to eat crayons You may perform an emote statement in any chat room or private message by starting the message with "/me". To write the above line, type "/me likes to eat crayons" and "/me" will be replaced with your nickname when the message is received by everyone else. Emoticon: See Smiley Invisibility: See User invisibility or Room invisibility Key: See Room key Kick: The act of being forceably removed from a chat room. A user who is kicked from a room no longer has the ability to read or submit messages to that room. It is possible to rejoin the chat room after being kicked, but this could be made more difficult with user limits or a room key. Room operator status is required to perform this action. Mute: The act of losing chatting privileges in a particular room. A user that is muted may still observe the conversation going on in that room, but may not participate until a room operator unmutes them. Getting muted in a room will not affect chatting abilities in other rooms. If a room operator is muted, that user loses their room operator status and is reduced to a muted user; therefore, they cannot unmute themselves. Room operator status is required to perform this action. Nickname: Also called a "nick", it is the name selected by a user to identify themselves. A nickname may be a variation of the person's real name if they desire, such a B_Smith, or it may be some other reference that holds significance to the user, like Wish I was Surfing. The user's nickname must be unique, meaning a server can not support two people with the exact same nickname. The limit for a nickname is 200 characters, though it is discouraged to have one that long as it would disrupt the appearance of the chat room. Certain characters are not allowed in a nickname, and the server will report an error to the user if they attempt to use any of those characters. Op: Depending on the context, it refers either to a room operator, or the act of giving someone room operator status. A room operator has the ability to change room properties like the room topic, user limit, room invisibility, and setting or removing the room key. In addition, room operators have the ability to op or deop other users in the room, mute or unmute users, and even kick users out of their room. Room operator status is on a room-by-room basis, so having this ability in one room does not give a user any abilities in other rooms. Room: See Chat room Room invisibility: When a chat room is created, everyone connected receives a notification of the new room's name and each user's list is updated. When everyone leaves the room, the users receive another notification and the room is removed from the list. If a room is set to be invisible, the other users connected to the server will not receive those notifications. The invisibility setting may be changed after the room has been created. Room key: Essentially the equivalent of password-protecting a room. The room creator may set a room key, and any room operator may change, add, or remove the key. The key is a case-sensitive text string up to 200 characters in length that is required for a user to join the room. Changing the room key settings requires room operator status and will not affect the users currently in the room. Room topic: A brief description (currently 200 characters max.) of the topic of conversation in a particular chat room. A room topic is not required, and may not be kept up-to-date with the current conversation. Modifying the room topic requires room operator status. Script: A script is a single command that will perform one or more predefined commands in a particular order. Scripts can become useful for shortening repeated statements or commands. Read more about Chatbox Scripting. Server: A computer that hosts a service to which other computers may connect to use that service. One of the most popular implementations of servers today is the use of web servers which host web pages like the ones found at CNN.com or Google. In this case, a server is a computer that has an instance of Chatbox running that will accept connections and act as the central point of communication for all those connected. Smiley: Also known as an emoticon, it's a small picture that will replace certain text in chat rooms. The text ":)" will be replaced with this image: There are many smileys that may be used in the chat rooms or private messages, and they are accessible through the Smileys button on any window. Topic: See Room topic Unmute: The act of removing a mute status imposed by a room operator on another user. Once a user is unmuted, they are free to contribute to the conversation. Unmuting a user returns them to the level of a normal user, and will not affect their status in other rooms. Room operator status is required to perform this action. User invisibility: When a user joins the server, all other users are notified so that user lists may be maintained for easier private messaging and room invitations. If a users selects the option to be invisible, no one will receive these notifications. This setting may be changed after the user has connected. User limit: A chat room will allow a nearly limitless number of users to join unless a predefined limit has been set by a room operator. The limit must be between 1 and 1000 (inclusive) or the room limit will be removed. If the room limit has been met, no further users will be permitted to join until the room limit is changed or someone leaves the room. It is possible to set the limit lower than the current number of users in the room. This simply means that no one will be allowed to join until enough users leave so that the user count is lower than the limit.