And, because chat seems to draw deep expression out of participants, psychiatrists such as Michelle M. Weil are investigating its potential application as a treatment. A host of ethical and legal issues may thwart chat's use as a serious therapeutic tool, she points out. And chat may ultimately be supplanted in popularity by an approaching wave of low-cost video conferencing tools that threaten to make every Internet home an Internet television station very soon. But for now, chat has a warm place in the hearts of young and old members of the online community. Technological advancements notwithstanding, chat rooms probably will always be home to a large, vocal sect of keyboard clickers.
Users log into one of the hundreds of server sites all over the world.
Usually, at least three windows open on the monitor. The main panel is the chat screen itself, with its scrolling transcript of people talking. Below it, a text box allows you to enter your own messages in the discussion. Nearby, there will be a constantly changing list of who is logging in and out of the room. The latest developments in free software now translate scrolling IRC text lines into cartoon like graphics.