Call for Artists, Making Money at Juried Art Fairs, Craft Shows and Festivals
The Chat Function That No One Uses
A year ago Connie asked me to explain all the features of the chat function and I'm finally getting around to doing that. I wonder how many of you even realized there was a chat feature to AFI?
First of all, the chat feature is either open on your screen or it's closed in your status bar at the bottom of the page. It's labeled "Art Fair Insiders Chat and next to it it tells you how many people are on this web site. If you click it, the Chat dialogue box will open. It's best feature is that it will tell you who is lurking about on the site. This is the list of members on the right side of the box. I always look to see who's here.
On the left side is the public chat function. Connie has been posting a welcome message to everyone when she gets on in the morning. You should all try saying hello when you get on AFI. On the left side there is a box at the bottom underneath the smiley face. Click in that box and your cursor will appear there. Start typing. Don't be afraid, someone might actually see your greeting and feel good. See the smiley face (called an emoticon) you can augment your post with an emotional symbol. If you click the smiley face 12 emoticons will pop up. You can add one at any time expressing how you feel. Go ahead add that angry one when you are mad at the world. You will feel better. Next to the emoticons is the sound icon. When someone types something in the chat box and then clicks the Enter key on your computer, your message will appear in the above box and everyone will hear the sound. You can increase or decrease the sound so that you can hear when someone is sending a message to the group. If you find this annoying you can turn the sound down to the bottom and you won't hear a thing.
If you want to have a private conversation with someone, just click there name in the list on the right. A drop down list of functions appears under that persons name. Profile--you can access a persons profile. Give a Gift--you can give someone a gift from here. In between Profile and Give a Gift it says Private Chat. I'm going to send Connie a silly private chat message. When you click the Private Chat function, your Chat Box gets divided into two parts. On the left is the main/public chat box that everyone can see. On the right is the private chat box with the persons name. I just sent Connie a silly private message that I only want Connie to see. She knows I messaged her because she heard the funny little bell that lets her know I messaged her. If she responds while I'm writing this I will here the ding and go to the chat box to see what she said. When you are done with your private session, you can end it by clicking the X on the far right of the persons name who you are having a private conversation with.
There are two other functions that I should explain. At the top of the Chat dialogue box there are 2 icons. The first is a box with an arrow point to the upper right. You can pop the Chat box out so you can move it around the screen and keep it out of the way. You can also maximize this to make the Chat Box full screen. The second icon has a green dot in it and it says offline. This gives you the ability to turn off the chat feature altogether. This is good when you are being inundated with messages from people because you are extremely popular and everyone wants to chat with you. If you go offline, you can just click it again and viola, your chat box is active again.
It's that easy Happy Chatting.
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Comment by Nels Johnson on March 9, 2011 at 5:14pm -
Oh gee Barry, maybe it is because you use a non-Mac platform, that you didn't notice the little line on the bottom of the screen where it says "Art Fair Insiders Chat Disconnected." It has been like that for several weeks now. I left your glasses and soap dish in plain site on your van seat, we call it Ybor Chumming to see who opens up the door and walks away with the colorful soapdish.
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Comment by Nels Johnson on March 9, 2011 at 5:17pm
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Oh, it just occurred to me why that function has been disconnected. Connie probably did that as a service to you, because, anybody who has "never ever been juried out of an art show" is going to get inundated with requests for your secret formula. Gives you more time to smoke cigars and figure out how to sell like a sum-of-a-gun at shows. Later Gator.
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Comment by Connie Mettler on March 9, 2011 at 5:50pm -
Hmmm...I'm just now discovering that when I click on that "chat disconnected" maybe it cuts off the chat for everyone, not just me. It's on now and there are a bunch of people online.
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Comment by Leo Charette on March 10, 2011 at 10:54am -
When using AFI with a browser on a computer, the chat bar anchors to the bottom of the screen, as it should. I find when using the iPad, the chat bar does not anchor itself to the bottom of the screen, instead it embeds itself about a third of the way down the screen making it impossible to read the text below it. Does anyone else experience this problem? This happens in both the forum and blog. I would just as soon have the chat function turned off if it is not being used.
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Comment by Barry Bernstein on March 10, 2011 at 12:21pm -
Leo, you can always undock the chat box and enlarge the screen.
Connie, I doubt that when you disconnect from the chat, you disconnect for everyone. Disconnecting and then connecting again, clears the screen of previous chats. Nels, I got my stuff. Parking in front of your house is safe and free. I ate at Bernini's again last night. Great place. Today, I'm in St Petes on the way to the Dali Museum since it is raining.
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Comment by Leo Charette on March 10, 2011 at 5:45pm
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Barry, the best I can tell, on the iPad, the chat feature is totally dysfunctional. The bar embeds itself on the screen and can't even expand to use the chat function. It just becomes an inconvenience when trying to read a post. No biggie, I'm just letting you know.
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Comment by Linda A Shields on April 4, 2011 at 10:45am -
Barry, thanks for this highly informative and useful article.
BTW If you are fast, you can copy yourchat and paste it into a Word doc you have waiting and open. I was having a fabulous business discussion of which I wanted to capture every word; and did jut that.
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