But several are open-access and these are by far the most popular. The title of a channel is a general indication of the main interest of the participants. People, identified by their electronic persona, their nicks, move among the sprawl of channels, typing messages back and forth, watching words and descriptions of actions scroll past on the screen. Each channel is an interactive narrative, sort of an electric singles bar, where veterans and newbies buzz around each other, creating both public and private discourse. Indeed, one of the significant features of the system is the ability for people to communicate privately with each other, either while still maintaining a role in the public arena or taking part only at the unseen message level.
Public discourse is generally less personal and less graphic than private messages.
It would be common, for example, to ask public questions about geographic location or college affiliation or age, but then, on the other hand, to make private inquiries about someone's physical features or sexual preferences. Yet even when, as sometimes occurs, the most personal information or graphic descriptions are presented in public, they still lack the impact of private revelation. This may be because, in public, anyone can comment upon, redirect, or derail the fragile connections that seem the aim of more private conversations. And because people so rarely step out from behind their nicks in public, everything stays at the level of a game. Since anyone can change his or her nick at will, a number of participants have different nicks they play with.