DrCozmickz's chatting hints and tips for the unenlightened

Chatting on the net is a great way to meet people. I usually chat in Yahoo!'s Trivia Madness rooms, which is not only fun, but sometimes a great source of information. If you do head into Trivia, don't be put off if you don't get anything right. It doesn't mean you're stupid. the key to playing trivia, apart from knowing the answers to questions, is getting in there first with the answer. Below is a list of hints and tips for playing at Trivia.

• 1. Always ask your question in Capital Letters. While in most chat rooms, typing in caps is a sin, In Trivia it is accepted, so that the question stands out from the other chatter.
• 2. Don't type in capitals unless it is your question. This is common courtesy to the person who is asking the question, and to those who may be trying to answer. Typing in caps is also taken as though you are shouting at someone.
• 3. No Yellow!!! This is the most annoying colour to use, basically because no-one can read it on a white screen. Try and also be sympathetic to those who are NOT chatting on a white screen. A lot of people have problems with the glare coming off a white screen, so they may have defaulted their system to something a little less harsh on the eyes, like grey. (I have my system configured this way, and I find myself asking fellow chatters to pick a different colour, usually when they are typing in green, as I can't read it on my screen) And if you are using a program such as Cheetachat, also be sympathetic by not using too many colours. If you are going to do a colour blend, stick to a max of 3 colours. Any higher, and it starts to get hard to read, especially if they are odd colours.
• 4. Give hints. People may get annoyed if the answer is given without any hints.
• 5. Don't ask questions that are too specific e.g. "What is the little plastic thingy on the end of a doorknob called?" People will generally not be too happy with questions like that.
• 6. People may get annoyed with endless questions on one topic. If you want to ask questions about music, that's fine. But throw in other questions such as movies, history etc. Don't just stick to your pet subject! If you want to be in a room with specific Triv questions, open up your own room, and invite friends.
• 7. Be aware of the type of question. By this I mean that there are questions that aren't as straight forward as Q and A. Chatting in Trivia, you will come across questions such as Tribonds, Before/After questions, Crypto Movie plots and so on and so forth.
• 8. Avoid Spamming at all costs. SPAM stands for Spurious Amounts of Messages. If you type the same phrase in over and over, this is seen as Spamming, and may earn you an ignore from fellow chatters. Being ignored is NOT fun, especially when trying to answer a question that someone who has you ignored is asking.
• 9. No Number Questions. These types of questions, e.g. "How many times did so and so win the Nobel Prize for Literature" are not really accepted well by trivsters. Mostly bcause everybody starts typing single numbers, and the screen starts scrolling WAY too fast, and it can be seen as a form of Spamming. Also, if you have Auto-ignore in effect, you can end up having half of the room ignored by accident. This can also apply to year or date questions e.g. "Which year did Buddy Holly die?". Most number questions are pointless anyway, so if you see a number question asked, politely remind the asker not to ask such a question. If they persist, say you are sitting down in protest. People will eventually get the idea.
• 10. Avoid Multi-part Questions Multi-part questions can be seen to be unfair to some who don't know the complete answer. For example, say the question is "WHAT ARE THE PRIMARY COLOURS?" The answer could either be "Red, Yellow and Green", "Red Blue and Green", or "Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black" depending on whether you are talking about screen based, pigment based or print based colour. (O.K., I did have an example relating to coffee, but thanks for this one go to a friend. Seeing as how I study multimedia, and colour is a thing we work with a lot, I am surprised I didn't come up with this one myself!) Basically the whole point is, these questions are about as fair as number questions. They can also drag on forever while people try and guess possible answers. If you see a question like this, same advice as for number questions, politely advise not to ask such a q, or make it obvious that it isn't acceptable.

That's basically it for Trivia "rules"...Here is a list of some types of Questions you may come across:

• Tribonds - Believe it or not, for 6 months after starting to chat in Trivia, I had no idea what a Tribond was. A Tribond question is a question with 3 things in common. e.g. If I asked the question "TRIBOND - PAGE, HENDRIX, CLAPTON" then the answer would be Guitar players. Also common are Duobonds, Quadbonds, and so on. If you are going to be asking a Tribond, specify when you ask the question.
• Before/After Questions - These may sometimes be tricky to work out. So tricky in fact, that I have had to ask fellow trivsters to give me a hand!!! (Hey, no-one's perfect, not even me!!!) So, here's an example: If the question was "BEFORE/AFTER: DENNIS QUAID GOES INSIDE THE BODY TO FIND PIZZA THE HUTT?" The answer would be "INNER SPACEBALLS"
• Lyrics Questions - The basis of these types of questions, is, someone types lyrics to a song, and the room guesses which song. Perfectly simple.
• Crpyto Movie Plot Questions - I haven't come across many of these, but here's an example. "CRYPTO MOVIE PLOT - BOY MEETS GIRL, BLAH BLAH BLAH, SHIP SINKS MANY LIVES LOST"...the answer of course being "Titanic".
• Rhyming Questions - These questions can sometimes be tricky, but here's an example: Say I was a member of the trivia room, and someone asked the following: "RHYMING QUESTION: TRIV PLAYER/SYMPTOM AFTER ACCIDENT/WHAT YOU USE A KEY IN" The answer would be "DOC/SHOCK/LOCK". Sometimes these questions can be as tricky as the Before/After questions.
• Synonym Questions - I don't normally ask these questions myself, in fact I've only ever asked one. But these questions can be fun. Here's an example: If I was to ask "ALBUM SYNONYM: MULTIPLE CHURCHES?" the the answer would be Houses of the Holy
• Get to Know You Questions, or G2K - Rarely seen in main trivia rooms in Yahoo!, but it can be fun sometimes to play G2K as a way of getting to know your fellow trivia chatters. Questions are usually about yourself, for example, what you favourite colour is, what your first pet was, and so on.

Here is a small list of common abbreviations that may be found in a Trivia room, some are common to any room (if I give examples i'll use my nickname...it's easier that way):

• WTG - Way To Go, usually said when someone gets a question right.
• WD - Well done, same as way to go.
• LOL - Laughing Out Loud, an alternative to typing "hahaha". Can also be used in conjunction with a name e.g. lol @ drcoz, lol doc, lol @ doc
• LMAO - Laughing My Arse Off, when you find something totally hilarious e.g. lmao @ drcoz, lmao drcoz etc.
• ROFL - Rolling On the Floor Laughing, used when you are laughing really hard e.g. ROFL @ drcoz (i do get this a lot...not blowing my own horn, but it is true)
• AFK - Away From Keyboard, good to let people know when you are not at your keyboard for some reason or other.
• BRB - Be Right Back, usually used when going AFK (see above), common courtesy, really.
• WB - Welcome Back, usually used when someone returns from being away form the keyboard, or from another room. Another common courtesy thing.
• BBL - Be Back Later, said when going AFK for an extended period, maybe you're going out and you're not going to be leaving your computer on...another one of those courtesy things.
• J/K - Just Kidding, used when poking fun, e.g. "You are such a moron, j/k".
• IMO & IMHO - In My Opinion, In My Humble Opinion, used when stating an opinion e.g. IMHO, baseball sucks.
• GJ - Good Job, an alternative again to WTG or WD.
• OMG - Oh My God, used when something you just can't believe has been said e.g. someone says that some famous person has come out of the closet... "OMG!!!! I don't believe it".
• IRL - In Real Life, used when saying you have met someone in real life e.g. "oh yeah, i've met him/her IRL once..."
• PPL - People, just an abbreviation.
• NFI - Generally meaning No F***ing Idea in trivia. just easier than typing "No Idea", I think.

Some of these abbreviations can be altered or added to, there is really no limit, but these are the most common ones i have seen. Some also have OTHER meanings which people make up that I am not going to go into, basically because it's usually people trying to be funny or being cheeky, especially to newbies (that's new people). It may be hilarious to poke fun at newbies, I've done it myself, BUT, we have to remember that WE WERE ALL NEWBIES ONCE!!! If you ever see questions like "What does ____ mean?" referring to an abbreviation, just be polite and tell them. The only time to really be rude is if they keep persistently spamming, which is not only annoying, but SERIOUSLY rude.

Here is a short list of those wonderful little graphics called smileys. Smileys can be used in just about anything, email, chat, ICQ conversations, even on webpages. While I normally chat in Yahoo, where smileys actually show up as little yellow smiley faces (and some of them look downright evil...lmao) I will give descriptions of how to execute smileys, although, ususally if you just type them as you see them here, they should work:

• :) - Your basic smiley face. This is one of the ones that looks evil in Yahoo!. If you are using Cheetachat, you have to put a space before you do the smiley. This may be applicable for Yahoo!'s interface, but seeing as I rarely use it, I have since forgotten.
• :o) - Smiley with a nose. I use this smiley in my emails and non-chat conversations, whether it's ICQ or Yahoo! Pager. I think it looks cuter and more defined than the usual :) smiley.
• ;) and ;o) - Winkey smiley. This is used to let people know what you are on about e.g. "oh, yeah, gotcha ;)"
• :P and :oP - Pokey tongue smiley. Usually used when being sarcastic, e.g. "Oh yeah, i really had fun talking to my mother in law :P"
• :( and :o( - Sad face, usually used when unhappy about something e.g. "I have no coffee left :o("
• :D and :oD - a REALLY happy smiley face, like you're so happy you could bust
• :| and :o| - I guess this is an indifferent smiley, sort of like you don't have an opinion either way
• :o{ - Thanks go to my friend snp, who showed me this one...she says it's a drunk guy with a moustache, I thought it was cute!
• :x or :ox - I think there are 2 different meanings to this one, the one I first learnt was it means you are laughing so hard you are just about to gag. The second one is a kiss, e.g. "Goodnight :ox" (Awwwww, how sweet)